Truck Parts and Service

entire team is capable of providing the level of service it promises its customer base. Within a sales team, this means ensuring a customer receives an identical experience regardless of the employee with whom he is interacting. A customer request at one facility must be handled identically across all lo- cations, and when an outside salesperson receives a customer order and directs the customer to a nearby facility for pickup, that salesperson needs reassurance his teammates will be as informed and pre- pared to serve that customer as he was. Pulling that off requires open lines of communication. From the top down and throughout a distribution business, cus- tomer-facing employees must have the training, tools and autonomy to commu- nicate corporate strategies and pertinent customer information at all times. For distributors eager to stream- line their messaging and amp up their customer service, there are several ways communication within a sales team can be enhanced. Cultivate employee relationships Like any team, employees work best together when they are familiar with one another. Distributors focused on cus- tomer service as a differentiator should take time to create and foster relation- ships between their outside and inside salespeople so both groups can seam- lessly communicate customer requests and needs. This is especially valuable for outside employees who are reliant on in-store associates to fulfi ll customer orders taken in the fi eld, but may spend little time directly interacting with those colleagues during the day. One of the easiest ways to cultivate relationships between a sales team is scheduled on-site meetings. While these meetings can be scheduled specifi cally 15 Cover Story W W W . T R U C K P A R T S A N D S E R V I C E . C O M J u l y 2 0 1 8 | T R U C K P A R T S & S E R V I C E Once everyone is together, you can get those conversations going where everyone starts sharing what they are doing that's working for them and enabling them to be more effective. – Dave Cannon, senior manager of business development at Fort Garry Industries

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