We spent the better part of the next 5 years changing the culture of the Diebold Sales, Manufacturing, Service/Installation, Administrative, Data Processing and R & D organizations. They all had to understand and embrace the new world of technology oriented; systems, and self service products.
The sales organization was the biggest challenge. They had to develop new contacts and prospects in their existing accounts that in many cases their old contacts did not even associate with. We were asking them to talk to data processing, systems, and retail bankers instead of security and construction people. In some cases where they had moved up in the organization and made contacts with higher management in financial institutions it was easier. Unfortunately that was not the norm. In many cases the sales people were afraid to go to new people, fearing they would upset their established relationships. We were aware of all these challenges due to our interaction with this organization during our Product Management days. The frequent trips to the field helped develop an understanding and empathy for our field organization. This also helped me select, orient, and develop the five new Automatic Banking specialists that were hired to provide support and sales assistance to our field organization in the field. We wanted them located in the Five Area Sales management offices so they could be closer to the field and become part of that culture. We also added account managers for the larger financial institutions and a field support organization.
The field support organization was designed to support the sales and service team with customer specific systems designs for proposals and installations, training for our customer and sales personnel, and service support related to systems issues. As you can see this was a very critical resource. Interestingly it was the first time, as a company, that we ever employed women in a professional salaried position interfacing directly with customers. Another culture change for our company and I discovered later for some of our customers also.
I think it is worth a short digression here to relate some of the challenges these women faced. As much as I tried, I am not sure I completely prepared them for some of the situations they might face. Inappropriate advances were made by both some of our people and customers. Our employees were easy to deal with. They were terminated immediately. Unfortunately you cannot terminate a customer. However I did find myself a few times having to have a very serious discussion with customers. Having committed to our associates that any inappropriate behavior was unacceptable, I did tell, even, customers that we would cease our relationship with them if the behavior continued. I recall one convention where I found our first and best support person, Judy, crying in the study of the suite we had rented for entertaining and socializing with our customers and prospects. It was the last day of a very busy week and she had worked long hours every day. She had just forcibly rejected a married customer that she had worked with for some time back in her territory. She was both shocked and worried that she would damage our relationship with the bank. I reassured her that she was more important than any customer relationship and we can fix the relationship by doing the right thing. I spoke to the banker and asked him to apologize to her the next time she had occasion to be in his bank. He apologized profusely to me and did put her at ease over the next few weeks. I told her to take the rest of the night off and moved her to first class with me for the trip home. We talked a lot about a number of similar situations that she had endured but was afraid to talk to anyone about. I think I was able to assure her that she was more important than any customer that could not use proper decorum when working with her and she should not be afraid to tell us about these situations. This of course prompted me to call the entire field support team into Canton and discuss our policies regarding these situations. It was also a great opportunity to get their input on all the issues they were dealing with.
I will discuss the sales and service culture changes in the next chapter.
Lessons learned:
1. Take time to understand why people resist change.
2. Help everyone understand the reason change will be good for them and our company.
3. Take time to listen to the people who are interfacing with your customers.
4. Do not hesitate to demonstrate your moral and ethical principals to both associates and customers.
5. Always treat people as the valuable asset they are and be sure to let them know it.
No comments:
Post a Comment