Customer Serivce/Sales Divide Can Be Overcome

There's No "I" in Team But There Are Two In "CommIssIon"

That's the way a Senior Operations Executive I know half jokingly describes the sales/operations ballet.

The balance between sales and operations often is a delicate dance, but as we see weekly on "Dancing with the Stars", it's the partnership that wins the prize.

The following are three observations that usually provoke angst:

1. There are many salespeople who know more about operations than many operators.

2. There are many operators who are better at selling than many salespeople.

3. Both will go broke very quickly without the other.

So what is it that creates the divide?

Some say "compensation" and that often is a fair assessment. There certainly are better ways than others to align compensation toward common goals.

Some point to "customer advocacy." The sales role as the "voice of the customer" inside the service organization is a valid and needed role, but I know of no successful operation that doesn't quickly adapt to what the customer wants and needs

Some say "line of sight" to the customer. This has validity as well and today's economy may well lead to postivge and productive organizational restructuring.

In my experience, the best way to enhance sales/operation interaction is old fashioned Face Time: meaningful time together building relationships, respect, common interests, freindships and support. Face Time can be structred learning, opportunity analysis, process enhancement ... or maybe just fun.

So spend more time together. You might just be surprise by how much you really have in common.

The important thing is bring people together on an equal footing to commit to a single goal to DELIGHT CUSTOMERS!