Four Steps to Building Strong Internal Relationships
Developing successful internal customer and supplier relationships involves
recognizing, producing and communicating what is important for your
customer's success. Here are the critical steps to building those strong
relationships:
- List your possible internal customers and suppliers. This typically
contains departments such as order fulfillment or operations, marketing,
sales, finance, purchasing and quality control.
- Identify the language each of those departments uses. For example,
translating the meaning of your department's average speed of answer into
dollars, showing the cost of added seconds on hold and of added seconds
waiting for the computer to give the rep the needed information, can help
departments such as IS and finance recognize the value of the information.
When you speak a language different than your customers, successful
relationships are less likely to occur.
- Determine what information you have is valuable to others. You first must
know what the other departments objectives and goals are and then find the
information that can help the departments meet those and provide it in a
format they can use.
- Think about how other departments can contribute to the success of your
department. For example, do you have a busy season when the system is used
more than usual? Let IS know, so they can put their people on alert and
shift assignments if necessary. It will save them from having to struggle
with a demand at the last moment and allow your department to have faster,
more reliable access to the system.
5. Think about how each of you contributes to the overall success of the
company. Your internal customers will pay attention to you if you can help
them succeed.
Source: Creating Connections to Build Internal Relationships, Customer
Relationship Management magazine, Royer, Patricia (1996) Vol. 1, #1, p. 27.
