Purchasing and Customer Service: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Robert Menard
Certified Purchasing Professional,
Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant, Certified Green Purchasing Professional, Certified Professional Purchasing Manager
Steve Coscia is a professional colleague and good friend in the speaking and training business. He and I share a common background and experiences that has helped to grow and nurture our relationship over most of a decade. Accordingly, we trust each other’s’ counsel.
Steve is an expert in Customer Service (C/S) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM), who has chosen to specialize in the Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) industry but any other construction industry in particular and most other businesses in general would benefit from Steve’s services.
How does C/S and CRM relate to purchasing?
In the same way that purchasing and sales are two sides of the same coin, CRM and Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) are two sides of another coin in the same currency.
CRM and SRM are not the same thing but at their core, they have the same principle. That is, to improve and strengthen the relationship between buyer and seller. The sales world may have the ulterior motive of increasing sales and profitability and bravo that! Viva capitalism.
From the SRM side, we also share interest in improving sales and profitability. The fundamental difference is that the supply side is more interested in reducing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
C/S: Image and Reality
In the Business to Consumer (B2C) world, consumers have been accustomed to little to no customer service. Individual retail customers are largely intimidated by large bureaucratic business organizations.
Anyone who has ever dared to dent the C/S armor of business giants knows the frustration of C/S delivered via L/S, lip service. The business model of B2C dictates the downgrade of C/S to L/S. That is, the business tends to have very many customers for relatively few dollars per transaction. It is possible to alienate small customers with negligible impact.
I cover this very topic in my book, You’re the Buyer – You Negotiate It when I point out that one must never accept a “no” from a person who cannot say “yes”. It can be as easy as asking for a supervisor or qualifying the C/S person before proceeding and wasting time. Ask the C/S person about the extent of their ability to solve your problem of “X” dollars or “Y” conditions.
Many C/S organizations purposefully make the first line incapable of saying yes. They act as a roadblock to the chiseler customers who want to pump up the problem in order to extort an unwarranted concession. Recognize this possibility and move past the person if they have no authority. This tactic is akin to the low skilled “Higher Authority” used so frequently.
Steve Coscia writes, speaks and consults about customer service
In the Business to Business (B2B) realm however, no company can ever afford to be as cavalier with their customers. The business model here is relatively few customers for relatively many dollars per exchange. It should be obvious that no customer can be alienated, save for the rare exception when the customer must be fired.
Contact Steve Steve Coscia is certainly the most gifted advocate in customer service; he enjoys a peerless reputation amongst his clientele. One piece of advice epitomizes Steve’s approach to B2B C/S/. When the customer calls with a problem, that is your new top priority. Steve may be reached at 610.853.9836 or steve@cosciacommunications.com. His CDs and videos are available on his site.