This is the ninth in a 10-part series, How to Be a Better Sales Manager. It’s my belief that the sales manager is underserved. There’s plenty of training and coaching available for sales people, but managers, the unheralded heroes of sales success, are all too often left to their own devices. These posts are designed for sales managers who want to do better and are looking for ideas.
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One of the finest sales managers I ever knew — now retired — made a habit of getting to know customers all up and down the organizational chart. What a difference it made.

He worked with very large, multi-location accounts. When he visited a customer, he’d greet the receptionist by name and ask her how her first grader was adjusting to the new school. He’d visit with the staff in accounts payable and help them iron out problems that most of us would consider “beneath the level” of a Vice President of Sales. He knew the buyers quite well, of course — but he was also on a first name basis with the CEO, the shipping and receiving manager, the CFO, the customer service manager, and even a few programmers.

This kind of mile-deep customer relationship served everyone well.

• He set an outstanding example for his sales staff.
• He was intimately aware of concern or problem a customer might have, as opposed to ones specific to the purchasing department or C-level executives.
• As a result, he earned across the board support for his company and products. This was invaluable. For instance, when a hairy IT issue reared its head, programmers went the extra mile to fix it instead of complain about it.
• As a result, customer issues were resolved quickly, smoothly, collaboratively, and effectively.

What more could a customer ask for? Not much — customers rarely left his firm.

Now, top notch sales reps do the same thing. But it doesn’t hurt for sales managers to do the same,at least with key accounts. When customers have a problem, they appreciate knowing there’s more than one person they can call. This is key, because some customers are reluctant to “go over the head” of a rep when they think they need to. Maybe they’re worried they’ll get a lukewarm response. Maybe they don’t want to have a confrontation.

Bottom line — if they know you and know you’re there to help, customers will make the call instead of calling the competition.