Need to Pay for Customer Satisfaction
May 14, 2010
"The customer has always been right, but now the customer is king," says Joseph DiMisa, senior vice president and head of the sales force effectiveness practice at Sibson Consulting.
He points out that sales organizations need to focus on how to influence and increase customer satisfaction now more than ever. Instead of driving representatives simply to "hit their number," it is critical that a sales plan also measures customer satisfaction with the sales experience and ultimate purchase decision.
"This may help to prevent buyer's remorse, increase product retention and provide a more positive customer experience, all of which can help bolster future sales," observes Mr. DiMisa.
On the surface, customer satisfaction may seem like a relatively simple component to add to an incentive plan. The challenge is in determining how much emphasis to place on the measure and what to measure.
The operations team must ask at what expense other sales incentive dollars have to be cannibalized from the current plan to pay for customer satisfaction. Organizations also need to choose the level at which to measure and pay for customer satisfaction – representative, division, or corporate accounts. If these issues are not sorted out first, the plans can turn out to be extremely costly and even demotivate the sales force.
The other critical decision concerns how to measure customer satisfaction. Mr. DiMisa suggests three ways:
- Speaking directly to customers
- Analyzing customer purchase data
- Linking sales rep contribution to customer satisfaction
"Understanding how your organization views customer satisfaction is an ongoing task that can benefit all participants in the sales process," concludes Mr. DiMisa.