Harvard Business Publishing

This is a very interesting perspective indeed. It has always beeen remarkable how wide the gaps between marketers' views and customers' views can be. Contrary to popular marketing belief, research shows that a large portion of customers are really not interested in a "relationship" with vendors.

The discipline of procurement does of course have ample literature and studies on how to deal with vendors.

On a more personal note, I would like to add that finding the right person to talk to and hold on to them is usually a good strategy. Once you get through the outer layers of the organization, called contact centers, with operator strictly adhering to unrealistic scripts, and find a reasonable person to do business with, you can get proper service and better deals. You then actually do have a relationship: not with a company, but with a person, who is willing to invest in you, possibly because he or she is more exposed and thus committed to the customers positive or negative experience.

If vendors are recommended to other buyers, it will build goodwill and ensure that the vendor tries harder to maintain the relationship.

One more thing that always helps is to be friendly.

Be friendly. Try putting yourself in the seller's shoes and imagine how many people he has to repeat the same thing to, again and again. Talking about things other than what you are buying can help relieve a lot of stress from the seller's busy workday. Everyone appreciates a personal touch to any relationship. It also goes a long way in building a strong bond with the seller.

I appreciate this article, because the relationship created from the customer's perspective to the vendor is often overlooked. I entered a new industry last year, working in a procurement capacity, and would ask protocol and feedback from our suppliers about how to improve my role as a customer. Needless to say, the vast majority of the suppliers I asked were surprised at the question, and took a few minutes to respond with any useful information beyond trying to improve my ego as a valued customer. Thanks for taking the time to list a few good strategies for improving customer value and for looking at this issue from a different perspective - always useful because there is the inevitable transitioning from buyer's market to seller's market and back again.

I appreciate the thoughtful comments posted so far on this important issue.

Given that we as marketers are taught to think about things from the customer's perspective, it always surprises me that a great question like Stephanie's "How can I improve as a customer?" is considered so rarely. I would be interested to learn how vendors have responded when asked this question.

Vishal's simple point about being friendly is well taken...applicable to email as well as telephonic and in-person exchanges. Typically, the person at the other end of the customer service telephone line is underpaid and under pressure...a friendly customer may get his or her problem taken care of earlier and/or more thoroughly.

Keep your comments coming. Thanks.

John

John Quelch has figured out some tips to be a wise customer. I highly appreciate his ideas.

My opinion for an additional customer behavior is:

Be an advocator: The strategy is to show your vendor that you are going to be an advocate for his products/services. Then, you are more likely to get attention and goodwill from you vendor rather than other competing customers.

Customer Relationship Management discussions have historically data-focused on customer behavior. Is this approach a way to discover the individual motivations driving that behavior? Or do we erase everything and just start over at Google?

My opinion for an additional customer behavior is:

Share the vision. Or at least the overall project objective when dealing with vendors. It puts everyone on the same page for the same purpose. And often, it's amazing what short cuts or unbelievably great ideas vendors may come up with that are within budget and do not hinder any critical deadlines.

Susan

Interesting tips ! I would like to add that one should also respect oneself while trying to be respectful, friendly, demanding, surprising, reliable, etc. (in other words, nice) to the vendor. Too much of customer-vendor "intimacy" can often lead to a weakening of professionalism in the relationship (remember the old adage "familiarity breeds contempt). In other words, be close enough to the vendor to be in his or her good books but not too close so as to be taken for granted.

Raj K. Bose
Faculty - Marketing, University of Phoenix

A suggestion or two that I have found that I think makes me a good customer with my preferred suppliers:

1. I respect their advice and take heed of it and then provide feedback in the way of thanking them and telling them why their advice worked so well. This I think, helps them with other customers that they may have to deal with.

2.This happens because I have built up a relationship based on trust and mutual vision of what it is we both want to achieve out of the relationship.

3. We have open and honest communication that is genuine and again based on trust. We know and respect each other's boundaries and work within them to our mutual advantage.

Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to theis informative forum.

Two simple, but often overlooked, techniques that help generate good service are:

Smile - so a seller perceives you as a pleasant person, even if it's a rough day.

Say "thank you" - many sellers are surprised to hear compliments, since most of the time all they hear are complaints.

This is a very interesting article, especially for customers in less developing countries (accounting for many countries in the world) where monopoly is still the common. Many times we have to strungle to have attention of the product/service providers. Many customers while few suppliers leading the situation of low customer service quality and the higher seller power.

Just be nice to the seller. Smile, say thank you when being served, and be patient. So strange is that!

Sometimes it is not possible to be demanding. We must accept what the sellers offer. It is like a hard game with the provider that we sometimes be soft, sometimes be hard. The attitude of the seller is a part of sale culture and depends on the interaction between the seller and the customer.

All amazing. I've got my own tips I've learned from being on both sides of the coin.

1) Customers who are friendly. I really enjoy chatting with some of my clients, so much so that I simply don't mind - and don't bill - when the project goes overbudget.

2) Be a VIP. If you're not a celebrity or in a position to give away free meals at El Bulle, then at the very least agree to fees without haggling them down. Everyone who wants to do business with you will almost always reduce their price in order to get your business. But the lower you haggle the fee down, the less cost-effective your account is, and the less important it is to the service provider's bottom line. By paying full price, you elevate yourself to VIP status. Heck, pay extra. When I pay extra, they sure are mighty eager to do business with me again.

Very interesting article.

We all know companies and people with whom we like to work. Is there any doubt that they will get special treatment? So how can this be taken further ... by continuous collaboration with your vendors.

Being rude to wait staff at restaurants is a common thing business people do, which can actually be dangerous. We won't go into how waiters and waitresses get revenge, it might make you very ill just knowing it.

It's the old "you're just a servant whom I boss around" syndrome.

Being a good customer is an important topic. Thanks for bringing it up. I am going to Twitter this link, maybe get some more comments for ya.

I love Harvard Business School books and am an avid collector of them. Very credible, authoritative, and cutting edge.

http://twitter.com/vaspers

Professor Quelch,

I find your 5 behavioral principles agreeable. However I have a question about the premise that you have used to preface them.

Why must I (customer) punch above my weight? Why must I look to get better treatment than what the seller thinks I deserve? Must I not follow a natural match with a seller who truly thinks I deserve "exactly what I think" I deserve?

Is it because I must follow a principle of 'getting ahead'? Is that a laudable goal? Why?

Is it perhaps because my starting assumption is that the average seller 'will not' give me the treatment I deserve, so that I must enforce it somehow? Almost a game-theoretic view that the seller's optimal behavior will be to underestimate any given customer's importance so that they compete and propel the best customer to the top?

From a personal standpoint, I feel that these 'priors' may often not be worth the effort for most customers. If service delivery confirms these priors, then great. But when it disconfirms these priors (as it will often do), then as customers we will tend to get more involved with "executing these competitive strategies" well rather than focusing on our basic needs.

I get the best treatment when the voice at the other end of the telephone says "Hi, I'm Mary, how can I help you today?" and I respond "Hi Mary, this is what you could help me with" It is not demanding, yet clearly articulates what I want; it is not especially engaging but definitely acknowledges the real person 'Mary' behind the title of service rep. I often find that trying to be stress-relieving by talking about other things steers the person's focus away from the task in a sort of escapist way and does not do much to enhance their self-confidence in their task competence that they can take to their next phone call. Instead, by staying on the task, focusing sharply on my needs, and goading the salesperson positively onward until the task is accomplished, does wonders for their professional self-esteem.

I feel that the best customer experience will come from developing and following a communication with the seller that is based on a clear understanding of my needs and a reasonable degree of caring that I want my needs met. The problem with conventionally successful customer-seller relationships is that sometimes, they each cease to be the individuals that they originally were, and devote their energies mainly to the relationship. So my real needs get slowly get altered as a result of being circumscribed by the relationship. Thoughts? Sorry if I have been a bit obtuse!

An eye opening piece indeed! Reminds me of Prof. Theodore Levitt's legdendary statement: "Relationship between salesperson and customer is like that between wife and husband. When a sale is made, the courting ends and marriage begins...". From experience I know a mutually fruitful marraige thrives on two-way respect, service, understanding, appreciation, and last but not the least, spacing. Yes, my wife and I do apply this wisdom with our vendors and cherish every shopping experience!
Suresh

I love this approach. I would add "reward good behavior". I we are going to claim more control and power in this relationship we should also reward companies and employees that go above and beyond. When was the last time you wrote a thank you note to the manager of that customer service rep or employee who actually went out of their way to help you and solve a problem.

I am in sales, project management, and procurement.

In sales, I find it hard to believe how fragile relationships can be. One mistake offsets a lot of good will. I do not do business with people that abuse me and can change pricing to discourage them from buying from me.

When I have to talk to my vendors, I never blame them for product delays or mistakes. When there is an issue and I let it pass, you can hear the sigh of relief from the customer service reps that I do not get angry with them. I also do not ask for special discounts from clients I do repeat business with - they deserve to make money.

Ultimately, I only do repeat business with vendors that respond on a timely basis and help me with my customer service issues.

Two things struck me in reading this.

First, those of us who deal with customers know the truth: The customer is not always right. The customer is not always wrong, either, but some customers haven't learned to admit they are not always right.

Second, this proposes that as a customer, I should behave in the same ways I expect vendors to behave. The Golden Rule in business - what a concept.

Interestingly, speakers at two conferences I have attended this year, the NetPromoter conference and the QFD Symposium, also spoke directly to the concept of the golden rule in business. I find this trend so inspiring.

This seems to be quite a blended approach of EQ and IQ. its a very much value added strategy indeed.it targets directly to the emotional feelings of a Seller.Its a very much Human psychology to feel good on being shown respect.it give all of us a mental boost.

there comes the "CATCH" , a relationship or a bond is created.this Bond will not only let you get reliable offer and extra valued service but also provide with enough facilities which inferior customers will be deficient.

This is actually smart business where a smile takes the customer a mile ahead.

I like this article. It is true that we should treat the seller with respect and good behaviour which will help to built up strong relation with him and the works gets easy. If we have a good and old relation with the vendore he will be alwasy helpful to us at any given point of time whenever we need him at the deadlines. It is very important to treat the vendor wth calm behaviour and professionally.

In my previous job, I was heading procurement division of a mid size engineering company in India. We always treated our vendors as customers. We use to receive the importanat vendors at the airport, take them out for lunch and see them off at the airport back.At the same time, when we used to visit our vendor's manufecturing facilities, we made it a point to meet the production persons of the vendor, talk to them nicely,request them to produce our goods on priority with a little extra care about quality and any specific requirement we have. This made our job as a buyer, very easy and effective.

In our business as a direct selling FMCG manufacturer based in Malaysia, we have both distributors and end users as customers. Further, with our quest to franchise would the customer base become more complex?

this is very nice article but one aspect i would like to introduce that is QUALITY ASPECT
it is very important & quality concious customer has to choose those vendor who r involved in good quality selling & dont bargain for quality

If I'm still happy of a purchase
or service rendered after two weeks,
I know I'm a satisfied customer.

Mr. Quelch has hit the nail on the head again!

Good marketers understand that customers place value on many more elements of the sellers offering than just the fundamental underlying product or service. Customers often perceive competing products or services as interchangeable and therefore base purchase decisions on all sorts of things like logistics/delivery solutions, nice packaging or friendly, helpful call center personnel.

It is not equally obvious for customers that sellers may value more than just their customers wallets! Customers who are easy or even fun to work with can often get advantages they wouldn't typically deserve. Customers who are clear about their expectations (read demanding) make it easier for the seller to know where they stand and was is required for the relationship to succeed.

By reading the above points i came to know the customer relationship.
i need to know in detail about EQ and IQ approach with examples.

In a competitive market place, customers create or destroy a company; hence customers of any level whether small, big time, frequent or not so frequent should be treated at highest level.

More often we find so many players selling same product line, the winner takes it all the questions of customers whether the questions related to fit, colour scheme, discount, return policy, what was their last purchase, what they like the most.

Each customers should be evaluated by merits, what is their expectations, liking/disliking and should support with shade cards and brochures of their interested productlines. I feel personalised attentions to customers appeals to them and gain goodwill.

Prof Quelch,

The summary of 5 behaviours are very much thought provoking and relevant.

But what is the guarantee that the Seller doesn't take undue advantage of simplicity and friendly nature of the gentleman Customer, to save additional expenses and time.

In some cases ,threats of reporting to higher bosses or legal action,only resulted in solving Customer problem.

In future a new topic may emerge: Vendor relationship management,
for Customers.

Venugopal k sristy

It is telling that the same things that tend to make a good marketer/vendor are the very things that make good customers.

As a customer and a marketer/vendor, I will take to heart the comment to 'smile' more.
What a simple, yet complex, yet effective way to engage as both customer and marketer/vendor.

Thank you for the empowering insight and comments.

Adrienne Zurub
Author
'Notes From the Mothership The Naked Invisibles'
http://adriennezurub.com

One 'customer service' experience that sprang immediately to mind when I read this article was a dishwasher I had purchased - a local brand to replace a well-known (and more expensive) European one.

In its first year of operation, the front of the door parted company with the internal face of the door - it literally fell to pieces. Thinking about it now, I am outraged that the service repair person said it was a frequent occurrence - the SCREWS they had used to join the two surfaces were too short!

I cannot believe that the company would not automatically repair all of the faulty machines, instead waiting for them to break before repairing them. I didn't want to take it out on the service repair guy, but in hindsight I should have written to the company as a canny consumer, letting them know how their behaviour affected me negatively. I swore never to buy anything from that company again, and so far have done precisely that.

That voice up to how a person's CQ is at work. Customer can not be the king all the time . If you think that script each time you play it in your mind map, the seller certainly will reduce his enthusiasm to serve you. You lost your full bargain rating.

By way of social media, companies are paying more attention to what customers are saying about their products. Customers who develop a voice or personal brand online will get the attention they deserve.

Dear Contributors

Many thanks for your comments. This blog has really struck a chord.

Are there any procurement executives out there who would like to add a comment? We hear often about powerful professional buyers screwing down on their vendors to force cost reductions. Can this be beneficial to both parties, by increasing the competitiveness and survival potential of the vendor? Or is it just a one-way street?

Keep your comments coming.

Thanks

John Quelch

A good customer - seller relationship only
happens between the margin what the seller expects and the value what the customer expects match with high probability. So to make this happen very frequently we need to be good customer to any seller. This is not just demand - supply factor , but creating a zero- sum game between seller and customer. The external environment may alter the relationship but still it is good to be a good customer. Thanks to Prof. John Quelch for bringing this to light for discussion.

The customer is King and to be a Leader in the business world it's only fair to treat others with respect. Put others in your shoes. It is a moral thing in most cultures and it's good to know it is relevant in the business community.
I am a Client Service Executive and i know i appreciate it when treated fairly by Clients/Customers and most times i go the extra mile for such Clients without batting an eyelid.
I appreciate the topic.

a good idea but one should be "reasonable" in doing it.The language of the game is "respect is reciprocal"

I've spent more than 30 years a professional buyer, that means a (professional) customer for many vendors. It is fundamental to be demanding, respectful, absolutely reliable, also engaging. Surprising only when the customer pays from his own money.

As the Customer, we should not feel like a King. The Vendor loves being treated like a partner. We should listen carefully of what they need, what they have, and even what their problem.

Its a new dimension where the customers now have to showcase themselves as the best ones.Other initiatives like rendering references can also be a differentiating factor among the whole lot.

All business is relational and is about serving and meeting needs and wants. In relationships where both parties mutually succeed you have the foundation for long term repeat business. When business is one sided, benefitting one at the expense of the other you have dysfunctional relationships. It is important to align supply chain management and measures to reward healthy relationships and introduce consequences for dysfunctional behavior. All businesses need to buy and sell, which means we all participate in the "experience". We need to be more intentional about how we conduct ourselves on both sides of the equation.

Well here then a customer needs to compete amongst each other to really get ahead in a race to attract the suppliers attention.So here there will origin of new concept called Suppliers relationship management.

In the business jungle out there, its timely to show some supplier that we meant business. By telling supplier that we know what we want and we know our right as customer than only we will be respected and get the value as customer. Even if we are ignorant of certain facts about what we are buying, we as customer deserved to be offer the truth and the best. And as customer we must always go for win-win situation.

Its important that as customer we are not short changed by supplier neither do the supplier should loose money on a transaction. Remember, money are ours and products/services are theirs, who knows we might need each other later on so a good relationship will certainly bring great values to all in the future.

Nasarudin
Incona Mega
Malaysia