I am now three and half years into this industry and a very simple concept just came to me... something that quickly and accurately summarizes the difference between growing copier companies and shrinking copier companies: Short term versus long term view of the customer.
Slick, slimy, sleazy, pushy, salesy… this is the culture of many copier copies I see around the country… and it’s the culture that probably resonates most often with copier customers. Yet there are many quality organizations that act as consultative experts with their customers’ best interests in mind at all times. Why do these two camps exist? I think it falls on the view of relationship duration and when the company plans to make a profit on a given customer.
Because most copier companies are sales organizations first and service organizations second, cultural emphasis has traditionally been placed on “getting the deal” and making profit on a customer in the short term. Hiring “hunters” in the sales team suggests that the organization is all about killing its prey and moving on. This is a short term approach to customer relationships.
Other copier companies focus their culture on the customer experience over the length of the relationship. Sure, these companies still need a sales culture to win new business, but the focus on the customer should intensify once a deal is landed. The culture of these organizations is not that the prey is killed, but that life together has just begun. This is a long term approach to customer relationships.
The successful copier companies of the future must have the long term relationship culture in order to survive and grow. For many established copier companies, they will never make that transition. Culture is the key to the success of a business and it is the most difficult aspect of a business to change. I applaud those copier companies and leaders who have the long term view of customer embedded in their culture, and I challenge them to continue to work hard to move their culture into new realms of customer satisfaction.