Ask 100 business people for their secret to success and you would get 50 different answers.  Ask those same people if satisfied customers are good for business and they will all answer…Yes.  Unless you have a monopoly or close to one, your customer’s satisfaction is critical to your company’s survival and growth.  When your company embraces “mutual benefit” as its core philosophy, everyone works hard to satisfy your customers.

It starts with your sales team that understands the message that marketing is putting forth.   When sales and marketing are in sync, they know that the message being put forward is what’s needed by the customer, and what the customer will find beneficial to their company. This means that the marketing department has listened to the sales team’s input on the business climate.  They are knowledgeable about their competition, and brutally honest about where their product or service has a unique selling point.  This also means that the sales team is not just out for maximum commission, but understands the company direction and how it will benefit them more than just the short term commission stack rating.

When the operations people understand the marketing message, they will know how to interact with the customer base.  If something is promised by sales or marketing, and approved by senior management, then they will not waste time complaining, they will know that it’s in their best interest as well.  Your vendors will know that when you ask for special adjustments to their service or pricing, it’s with their best interest in mind, as well as yours.  To net this out, when everyone knows that what another group or department has offered the client, it was done with the interest of the whole in mind, not just for their own benefit.