Don’t Be the Salesperson Everyone Hates
Because Happy Internal Customers result in Happy External Customers
“People will soon forget what you said.
They will never forget how you made them feel.”
from Maya Angelou
A friend and sales leader who I worked with in the past called to encourage me to write about “internal customers.” This, based on his experience after joining a new company, that lack of attention and respect towards internal customers was leading to poor customer service, missing parts in deliveries, and an overall inability to achieve the desired double-digit sales growth. Only after addressing those internal issues did the company regain its reputation and growth externally.
Because the truth is that it is just about impossible to have happy external customers when you have unhappy internal customers.
Every point of contact made by an unhappy employee will negatively impact the external customer relationship. Even when employees do their very best to hide their displeasure, it comes across through voice inflection, what they say and what they don’t, how hard they work to please the customer or to produce a better product or deliver a quality service.”
On the contrary, strong customer service can help a business retain customers, develop new business, increase spending per customer, and boost the company brand. The vast majority of the discussion around customer service focuses on relationships between internal customer-facing staff and external customers. This is an extremely important component of customer service; however, it isn't the only element.
Everyone within an organization works with internal customers, who could be their bosses, direct reports, and, most importantly, colleagues from other business units or departments. These are stakeholders who work within your company and require assistance from another individual or department to get their job done.
When an operations manager agrees to assist a sales manager with process improvements, and the sales manager feels it will benefit customer acquisition, the sales manager is an internal customer of the operations manager. When the finance department asks for data from the marketing team, the finance department is an internal customer of that team.
Sometimes, within larger organizations, goods or services are provided to internal customers for a charge, often based on cost+ models. Does that improve the standing of an internal customer? Maybe.
Unlike external customers, internal customers don't generally have a choice. For example, if the payroll department doesn't agree with guidelines or processes created by HR, the payroll department can't fire human resources. In most organizations, they continue to be obligated to use the service and pay for it.
While the dynamic between internal customers and their internal contacts is different in many ways from the dynamic between a customer-facing employee and an external customer, the basic concept of good customer service can be put to excellent use when working with internal customers.
Beyond the feel-good psychology, though, using the term “internal customers” may have some tangible benefits. For teams who work with both internal and external customers, it can help them prioritize problems and timelines to improve inter-department communication. Treating everyone as a customer may also encourage employees to take each other just as seriously as they would take a referral or complaint from an external customer.
John Guaspari encourages us to recognize that the internal customer model is a means to an end rather than an end itself: “Yes, people realize this intellectually; they say so all the time. Want to know the sure sign that not everyone has internalized this difference between ends and means? Whenever you hear somebody say: "Oh, I have nothing to do with real customers. All of my customers are internal," that's when you know you still have work to do.”
And in Sales?
If you are in sales, you have plenty of internal customers and are one in turn yourself. Besides, you are in a unique position to also deal with external customers, and often being the companies’ face to those clients.
Here is an original voice from the field: “I remember many times during my media sales career when I just needed that invoice number, just wanted the remote equipment fixed, just wanted those spots to run as promised. I quickly learned that I had internal customers as well as those who buy advertising. And I realized that if I treated my internal customers with the same care as my external customers, just like I got more money from my clients, I would get more help from others in the building.” (Kitty Malone)
I have seen my share of bad internal customer relationships and service, both from sales and from other departments.
What triggers people to provide bad service to internal clients? A self-centered rationalization. It's what happens when people devise self-satisfying but incorrect reasons for bad behavior. The service technician who feels it is the sales reps’ job to tell a customer to wait their turn. The sales rep that feels that everyone should stop everything they are doing when their client has an issue.
And here are a couple of best practices on how to work with your internal customers when you are in Sales:
- Build relationships. It is natural to help a friend but be genuine about building those relationships.
- Help. Take care of those who are taking care of you.
- Provide background and context. Share so that the importance or urgency of a matter is clear, not just because you say so.
- Communicate. Even beyond an acute need, share what you see in the world.
- Talk. Don’t just email.
- Do not belittle. This is an interdependent partnership, a relationship of equals, not sales handing down the scraps.
- Recognize. A job well done internally deserves the same "Thank you" you provide to the external world. Celebrate wins with all who contributed … because oftentimes it is a team effort.
- Language matters. Be as respectful and friendly in your choice of words as you are external.
In my experience, all of these are very worthwhile. Treat your internal customers like you treat your external ones. Treat others like you want to be treated. Think of the entire organization as one team.
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Lin Grensing-Pophal – Why Your Company Needs to Focus on Internal Customers
Chrissy Kidd, Heather McLatchie – Internal vs. External Customers: How Are They Different?
Adam Toporek – What Is an Internal Customer?
Kelly Graves – 5 Tips for Improving Internal Customer Service
Kitty Malone – Dealing With Your Internal Customers in Media Sales
John Guaspari – Creating Value From the Inside Out
Photo by Anne Gosewehr