Cut Fake Customer Focus Catchphrase

One of the world’s largest retailers, diy giant B&Q were exposed this week as paying lip-service to principled practice pronouncements.

They claim collaborative, win-win relationships across the famed sustainability 3Ps; people planet profit.

Yet they allegedly have no qualms needlessly shafting a small supplier.

The Times leader from Friday I photo’d for the foot of this post.

Around the same time, the Kiwi boss of the once outrageous RBS bank was on the airwaves proclaiming every such institution should take their lead and “concentrate on customers and their needs”. Astonishing.

I recall with a shudder buying from one of my customers once. Their blue chip external messaging made a feature of holding the hand of the client. Yet in reality, their salesteam pulled all sorts of strokes to shaft their prospect. Shifted prices, altering specifications and even trying to get you to sign a version of the contacts which did not include the clauses you’d had changed.

You could argue that the larger the organisation, the greater the disconnect between straplines of worthiness from on high and the unsupported put-upon rep in the furnace. So when push comes to shove, the pressure on the quota-chaser often leads to playing loose with a distant code of ethics.

Yet it really does not have to be this way.

In fact, I argue that salesteams where the viewpoint of their clients legitimately shape their outlook outstrip competition. Both this period and through a sustained future.

How can you tell if this mindset is truly core?

Start by asking a salesperson to recount their favourite recent story from their base.

It’ll come shining through soon enough…