Comparing business to warfare has gone out of fashion. Fewer CEOs are reading Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun than they used to. I was never sure how that would apply to my job. Was there going to be a sequel called "Customer Service Secrets of Attila the Hun"? I wasn't holding my breath. Good thing I didn't.
But is there anything that customer-facing representatives can learn from the art of war? Let's see. There are five fundamental principles of defensive marketing warfare strategies:
- Always counter an attack with equal or greater force.
- Defend every important market.
- Be forever vigilant in scanning for potential attackers. Assess the strength of the competitor. Consider the amount of support that the attacker might muster from allies.
- The best defense is to attack yourself. Attack your weak spots and rebuild yourself anew.
- Defensive strategies should be the exclusive domain of the market leader.
Always counter an attack with equal or greater force.
Customers don't want to be attacked, but they do want you to attack their problems. If they point out that they're having a problem, attack it with equal or greater force. Don't just tell the customer, "I did everything I could" or "No, we don't offer that service." Keep working at it until you can say, "Here's what I did for you." If policies and products have to change, try to change them.
Defend every important market.
Call centers sometimes seem like a numbers game. You win some and you lose some. A sales manager told me, "If you ask enough people to buy, eventually someone will say yes." But that doesn't mean that you should take No lightly. Ask yourself, "Did we lose this customer because another company could serve their needs better than we could?" If so, suggest to managment how your company could serve needs better. If not, keep serving them, keep thinking, until your company has served their needs.
Be forever vigilant in scanning for potential attackers.
Dpn't rest on your laurels, as the Romans would say. Don't decide that what you're doing is good enough. That's no way to get promoted, for one thing. Every time you solve a problem, ask yourself, "How could I done this better? Do other customers have the same problem? Does our company need to change our processes or products so that the next caller doesn't face the same discouragements? What problems can we fix now before they get worse?"
The best defense is to attack yourself. Attack your weak spots and rebuild yourself anew.
What a lesson for call centers, and one that we too rarely apply to ourselves. Find your weaknesses and fix them, before another company does and takes your customers.
Defensive strategies should be the exclusive domain of the market leader.
In other words, if you're not already number one, don't try to defend your position. Don't tell yourself that you're doing well enough. If you were doing well enough, you would already be number one.
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