Different kind of customer care - the three hat model
A common way to make sales in the software industry is to over-promise and grab the deals, leave the consultants to struggle by themselves, and return to the customer only when the contract needs renewing. The end result: a dissatisfied customer, a late and failing system and burnt-out consultants. That’s not good. That’s why we rebuilt the steps and created the “hat trick”, the three hat model.
1.
In Finland, the seller already knows when he goes to the first sales meeting that if the deal is concluded, he will become both the project’s customer manager and supervisor to the consultants. If you know that the job will take ten months, you don’t go promising the project in five months, like the customer wants. No matter how tempting it would be to close the deal.
2.
Once the project has started, the account manager will sit down with the consultants every month. At these “pulse meetings”, the manager hears how the project is going and if there is anything to worry about – for example, the consultant’s knowledge or enjoyment of the project, or their home situation.
3.
The account manager takes the “pulse meeting” greetings to the customer’s control group every 1-3 months. In this way, we can come up with ways of solving the challenges together. The result: a satisfied customer, a system that fits like a glove and happy consultants.