Make sure that your boss has been introduced to your customers. Methodically take him/her to your customers and facilitate the introductions. Bring a customer service person or two to visit your good customers.
If it is appropriate, constantly invite your customers into your facility to meet the people who make things happen inside your organization.
Each of these relationships makes the customer feel more comfortable in dealing with your organization, and increases the likelihood that you will become the preferred supplier.
That’s why this is a best practice of the best salespeople.
Here’s a way to apply this best practice - Start with a self-assessment:
List all of the key people in your “A” accounts in the first column of a spreadsheet. Across the tops of the columns, list each of the key people in your organization. Then, put an “X” in the cell where the two people have connected. For example, if customer John Smith knows your customer service person “Jenny,” then put an “X” in that cell. When you have completed that, use the empty
cells as a guide, and plan to remedy the situation. Over the next few months, proactively introduce those customers with the key internal people until all the cells are “X’d.”
