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Relationship Blog Archives
Relationship Blog posts insightful comments on the latest international news that render us taken-aback in the domain of the relationship facet of life. Relationship-Blog: Business-Relationship News My best deal: it pays to build a business relationship: November 29, 2007  Andrew Cave explains how one executive learnt the hard way when trying to make a sale with Toyota Rob Mandell made the mistake of annoying a prospective client by going over his head to his boss to try to make a sale. The blunder caused the cancellation of a meeting that Mandell had travelled all the way to Brussels for. However, he later managed to repair the relationship and clinch a deal for his company's software with Japanese motor giant Toyota. Into the bargain, he won a bet with his own boss and ranks the sale as his best deal. Mandell, 42, is head of customer and key accounts at Charter UK, a privately owned UK computer group specialising in enterprise feedback management software, which helps companies including retail chains Argos and Next manage customer satisfaction and retention. He worked in customer relationship management for 15 years with a variety of American and UK software companies, joining Charter, which employs 55 people in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, two years ago. Relationship Blog: Business Relationship News (Continued) "It is not just about the deal. What we're interested in is building a relationship," he says. "It's about building and managing relationships and having a much better understanding of our customers. It's about getting the best alignment with our customers so that we can deliver a solution that will give them long-term satisfaction. It's about selling satisfying solutions." Mandell trained as an automotive engineer at Bromley College in Kent before working in the automotive industry and moving on to information technology helpdesks. His deal with Toyota began as a challenge from his boss over lunch. "Charter had done some local work previously with Toyota in the UK," he recalls. "But my boss said that what he would really like to do was to get a deal with Toyota in Japan. He bet me that I could not get into Toyota Japan within two years and I ended up doing it in one." Relationship Blog: Business Relationship News (Continued) It was not an easy sale. Toyota is well-known for operating in what it calls "the Toyota way," which includes the principles of kaizen, or continuous improvement, and genchi genbutsu, which encourages employees to go to the source of a problem to see it at first hand. The company's operations are carefully structured, with parent company Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan, regional companies in Europe, Asia Pacific and the US and distribution organised through national sales and marketing companies (NMSCs) that it mostly does not own. "Toyota have always managed their customers through NMSCs," says Mandell. "But this did not allow much transparency over what happened with the end customer, who was traditionally owned by the dealer. The issue was that Toyota needed transparency so that they could hear the voice of the customer." Relationship Blog: Business Relationship News (Continued) This structure meant that getting to the heart of Toyota's purchasing operations was extremely difficult. Charter had been dealing with Toyota exclusively at UK level so Mandell went higher and tried to engage with Toyota Motors Europe (TME). He found out who the appropriate executive was at TME in Brussels and sent out an email arranging to meet him. It turned out to be a big mistake. "I got to Brussels and found that the boss did not want to meet me and was saying that I should have a meeting with the buyer," he says. "But I also had an email from the buyer saying: ‘I do not know who you are and I don't want to meet you'. "He was saying that I should be engaging with him, not with his boss. I had left early from London on the Eurostar and there was noone there to meet me. "I had some moules and frites and a couple of beers and went home. I realised that I had to forget the sale. It was all about building the relationship." Relationship Blog: Business Relationship News (Continued) Mandell arranged another meeting directly with the buyer and gradually built a relationship, explaining how he believed Charter software could help Toyota develop a more transparent customer relationship management system. He demonstrated the product to TME and also talked to Toyota's local NMSCs to understand the problem from their angle. At the end of this process, he ended up with a threeyear deal worth close to £1m to supply Charter's web-based, real time system to Toyota at a pan-European level and also in Japan. He also won the bet with his boss "He bet me £1 that I couldn't do the deal in two years and I did it in one year," he laughs. "I'm glad to say that I have taken the money from him. We have a much better relationship with Toyota now." Relationship Blog Comment: Building a business relationship is no different from building a friendship or a love relationship. Both need an element of naturalness, gradualness, spontaneity, discipline as well as real substance to deliver. Even if one of these factors is overlooked, the relationship breaks well before it gets made. Once it is made, it needs being maintained with a great care and sensitivity. If we take the other for granted, the equation gets imbalanced. It's like renewing an old agreement everyday anew that keeps a business relationship ever fresh and alive, giving full satisfaction, service and utility to the parties involved. What Mandell did was that he learned this lesson without wasting any precious time of his, once he got the grunt of trying to do it out of turn in a hurry. Relationship blog has learned a lesson too: Haste makes waste! Before It Goes Irrepairably Sour! 1st Step To Stopping A Break Up... Here's What Everyday People Are Saying... Wanna have a real insight into relationship?  Just go for this beautiful relationship collection by the great relationship expert Michael Webb! I'm sure you won't repent your decision (or else you could easily ask for a refund!). I invite you to subscribe to my E-zine titled Life Coach, free of charge. This E-zine publishes insightful comments on the latest international news that render us taken-aback in the domains of various facets of life. A not-to-be-missed opportunity! Subscribe to it here: I also invite you to subscribe to my Life Blog - no need to provide your e-mail address here. This RSS feed keeps you informed about new developments taking place on this site. It also harbors 25 journal bloglets posting insightful comments on the latest international news that render us taken-aback in the domains of various facets of life. In order to subscribe to the blog, right-click on the orange RSS button (see buttons up to the left) and then paste the URL into your RSS reader. Or click on add to My Yahoo! button or My MSN or Add To Google button if you keep a personalized home page there. If you are not sure what RSS or blogging is all about, click on What's an RSS Feed? here:
       
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