…is how much time they invest in making sure that you are happy with their service/product after the product/service has been bought.
I am getting increasingly fed up of companies who invest huge (often disproportionate) amounts of time in getting your order. And then, once you have placed the order, are hardly ever to be seen again. It is not unusual to get bombarded with phone calls from sales folks in the run up to a sale, however, once the order is placed, they are then difficult to get hold of, or in some cases, never return your calls! And certainly, never when there is an issue. That now appears to be someone else’s problem (usually someone you have never heard of in the “delivery team”).
Once they have your money, it seems to be about delivering the service/product at the cheapest cost possible, and any interet in your as a customer, or your satisification with their product or organisaton, goes out the window.
This is hugely disappointing, and IMHO, no way to run a business. We shouldn’t be treating the sales process as purely a transaction, but should be looking at it in terms of building a realtionship. In this day and age, as products and services become more similar, it is often only the way that we deal with customers that separates the different companies. Surely, this is well understood these days. But alas, it would appear not.
I would love to be able to spot these “sales heavy/ delivery light” organisations upfront. Then, I could avoid them! But like many things in life, you don’t find out until it is too late!