Build Customer Relationships That Last

Build Customer

Relationships that Last

by Barbara Bund Jackson

Harvard Business Review

Reprint 85608

HBR

NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 1985

Build Customer Relationships that last

Barbara Bund Jackson

Scene 1: The executive committee meeting ends at

5:30 p.m. and the committee members adjourn,

pleased with what they have accomplished. Their

company, Superior Shipping Services, provides trucking to large industrial users, giving customers reliable

scheduling and careful handling.

In response to decreased regulation in trucking and

related industries, Superior’s executives believe their

company needs a stronger marketing orientation.

They want to build and maintain lasting—and profitable—relationships with their customers. That,

they believe, is what getting “close to the customer”

means.

At an earlier meeting, the executive committee had

decided to recruit a sales-marketing manager from a

renowned marketer in the computer industry. Superior’s president argued that such a person was likely

to have attitudes and values that would fit well with

the company’s reputation for especially high quality

and service.

The president and administrative vice president

then identified possible candidates. The leading

choice was Dale Spencer, a senior salesperson with

an impressive record. At this meeting, the committee

has outlined an offer that Superior’s president believes would be attractive to Spencer.

Scene 2 (one month later): Dale Spencer assumes

the job of vice president—sales for Superior Shipping.

The negotiations have been smooth and Spencer is

pleased. Spencer and Superior’s president have agreed

completely on what Spencer ought to do.

In the past, Spencer had been a patient and success-

ful builder of customer relationships. On occasion,

sales efforts became protracted as Spencer and other

support people devoted long hours to wooing prospects. They eventually won most of the orders—and

the resulting relationships proved close...