60 SECONDS: Who Really Powers Your Firm?

People—not technology—power the success of a printing company. Technology certainly makes your firm competitive but, ultimately, employees make or break a business.

Staff make up what I call the “bigger sales force” of an organization. Production, support operations, customer service and administrative staff—all touch the customer somehow and thereby determine a firm's long-term success. Consequently, everyone in a company needs to realize that they are part of the selling machine. People control the quality of a company's reputation. Employee attitudes, skills and their understanding of client goals is the foundation for building relationships that yield superior performance and products.

Managers need to invest time in guiding employee relationship building, both internally and externally. This requires playing multiple roles: cheerleader, coach, teammate or all three at once.

Solid relationships between staff in the plant make an excellent impression on customers. A plant tour that begins with a preproduction meeting for a new customer speaks volumes and reveals considerable detail about the team that the customer is about to engage. This is especially important for publication customers who need the printer to be an extension of their staff for daily, weekly or monthly production tasks.

Building strong bonds with clients requires educating staff on customers' unique issues and challenges. It is wrong to expect your people to embrace a condition or circumstance unless it has been explained. Remember that communication works two ways—listen carefully to staff feedback.

If some employees think customers are too demanding, that is important for you to hear. The challenge is either to change that perception or deal with it if true. Listen to employee complaints and frustrations and offer understanding and perspective. Honesty is critical here. Knowingly exaggerating a need, overstating a truth or blowing out of proportion the significance of a client request will erode the confidence of staff, negatively affecting success. It may be tough to accept at times, but our fellow employees are customers too!

Overall, a firm's net worth to the customer should be more than ink on paper. Professionalism needs to pervade an organization. Mistakes need to be objectively evaluated so all can learn from them. Be humble enough to accept and understand criticism. Always recognize that a top customer is someone else's top prospect.

Customers need to feel confident in their supplier's “take charge” ability and ownership of a task. Direct employees to be aggressive for them and act like an extension of their staff.

Encourage staff to learn about clients. How did they get started in the business? What keeps them up at night? How can you serve them better? Keep track of what is said; otherwise, it becomes a shallow effort in conversation.

The reality is we operate in a changing and fluid business environment. As a partner to customers, be the constant, a pillar of what represents good product, people and service. Recognizing the organization's extended sales force family and working as a team gets customers what they want and need—and ultimately increases sales volume.