What should one do to ensure that loosing a sales person doesn't mean loosing customers ?

Question

A salesperson's exit can cause headaches for the management, who rightly fear that the sales person's customers could leave along with him. Although customers are buying the company's products, their relationships are with the sales person. What can one do to ensure that loosing a sales person doesn't mean loosing customers ?

Answer 1

This is a real possibility.   So, if possible you should work with the salesperson to change whatever you feel is not right.

What is the problem?  It would be better to deal with it than lose customers.  

Answer 2

It is always better to have,

1.   Customer Relation Executives, to take leads from Sales Person(s), and ensure sales co-ordination with existing and perspective customers.

2.   Keep rotating Sales Person(s) territory.

3.   Company's Image building process should be continuous exercised.

In process, you will make your organisation, greater than any individual.

With all the Best.

Answer 3

Organisation is bigger than an individual...

Otherwise also... marketing / sales personnel should not be posted at one place... they should be rotated at a suitable period / tenure…

Answer 4

nothing .... except trying to appoint a new and if not better atleast as good a sales person..

most customers that a firm gets are usually not from a sales person

they are from somewhere called WORLD.

if you think that the customers come because of a sales person ..you better leave the administration to someone else who could have a better command over both his employees and himself..

if you still think that your customers are do not come to you for what you supply....think again...

Answer 5

Not knowing why the salesperson is leaving...on bad terms or good terms I'm not sure if that would affect what you should do, but I'd say i t is important to establish relationships with the customers and y ourself or another salesperson.  If someone can get in there and know what is happening with each client and make them feel comfortable...no hiccup from the changeover that will help.

For example I was just dealing with a sales person for a few months with a company I was spending thousands of dollars on and she ended up getting transferrred and a new salesperson took over, but she did not know what was going on and didn't take the time to build a report with me...consequently a huge problem errupted from her lack of awarenss and it almost cost the deal.

Answer 6

The time tested tactic of retaining a customer is to maintain atleast 2 points of contact that in turn don't share anything. i.e., there should be atleast 2 ppl who interact with the customer (say A & B) and A,B shouldn't be knowing each other personally. The later condition of A not knowing B assumes greater significance in the case of Smaller Companies. The reason being that if A, B know each other and the relationship between A,B is stronger than the relationship that either A or B shares with the company, then you face a real risk of both A,B attriting or A (or B) helping B(or A) in the case of either of them leaving the company.

Answer 7

Retaining and maintaining, relations with existing and perspective customers, directly after obtaining lead from Sales Persons.

With all the Best.