Regardless of which industry our businesses operate within, invariably business owners want to talk about improving their people skills.
I often say to business owners that we don’t do business with other businesses - we do business with people.
Understanding people and cultivating winning relationships is paramount.
In this blog, I want to expand on the different personas that exist within every business. Customers, Employees and Suppliers are all key cohorts of people that we need to build relationships with.
Let’s look at the personas within these three groups.
CUSTOMERS
Customer personas can typically be segmented by:
Premium
Transactional
HM – High maintenance
Premium
Our premium customers are a pleasure to do deal with.
They regularly buy from us, provide invaluable feedback, respect us, refer us to new customers and happily pay us on time.
Premium customers are loyal and stay with us for years (sometimes forever).
They can even become friends!
Always maintain high integrity relationships with premium customers and never take them for granted.
Hunt and gather as many Premium customers as you can.
Transactional
Transactional customers are welcome and provide a B2B relationship where there is a transfer of products/services for a price.
They are valuable as a contribution to overall sales revenue and must be respected.
Ensure transactional customers are served on point, and where appropriate try and grow them into Premium customers.
Where the relationship is static or struggling; avoid providing extra to schedule, discounts or extending credit terms.
These customers generally won’t provide the profitability or ‘value-adds’ that premium customers do.
Take on transactional customers on the understanding of fulfilling the current transaction, always understanding that they may leave tomorrow.
HM – High Maintenance
HM customers are a nightmare.
These customers draw down on your resources, always ask for more, haggle, query you, ignore your terms and pay you late (if at all).
You know you have a HM customer when you get heartburn (or your head hurts) seeing their name on your phone or inbound email.
They may talk negatively about you long after they have departed, normally misrepresenting you or the business relationship.
HM customers often run out of businesses to serve them as they cycle through you and your competitors. They burn bridges and render relationships irreparable.
They universally have low emotional intelligence and little self-awareness of their actions and the impact it has on others.
The best advice I can give you is to avoid them like the plague.
It’s not worth the money or hassle – for you or your team.
Sack HM customers, or even better, make a policy to not take them on if you identify one in preliminary discussions.
EMPLOYEES
Employee personas can typically be segmented by:
Guns
Constants
Transients
Guns
We love ‘Gun’ employees.
They are accountable, deliver and simply do things the right way every time.
They are company first and create powerful relationships with us as owners but also customers, fellow employees and suppliers.
They are big on integrity and help to support leadership and management to run your business.
The regularly go the extra mile.
We need to recruit, retain, empower and reward Gun employees on an ongoing basis.
But Guns need us to keep them being Guns.
Creative employment terms, recognition, promotion, extra leave, paid education, continuous development, employee benefits, bonuses, incentives, profit share and even equity are just some of the tactics you should use to retain your Guns.
Try and keep your Guns forever.
Constants
Constant employees are the employees that do a solid satisfactory job, without hitting the lights out.
Some Constants need honest feedback every 6 months, while some need regular praise. Some need both.
Every team has Constants and you need to modify expectations of this persona to maintain balance.
Constants do a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay.
Nothing more – nothing less.
They often see their job as a means to an end.
They are not in love with your business, or their career.
But Constants are mostly punctual, polite and satisfactory in fulfilling their job responsibilities.
Constants often fill repetitive or monotonous roles that can be hard to fill.
Be fair and reasonable with Constants and they may stay on for years.
Constants are necessary in all businesses.
Transients
Transient employees are personas that are non-committal and hard to read.
You’ve seen the job applicant with 8 jobs in 10 years.
Why won’t you be next?
Transients are often the silent saboteur who never speak in meetings, refuse to make eye contact and resent any change in their role or new policies.
Transients lead the way in the new ‘quiet quitting’ phenomena where employees do the bare minimum and work simply fills the void in between life.
At their worst, they can lead the cynical water-cooler discussions and seem to thrive on rumour and innuendo. They often have internal disputes with management, co-workers, suppliers and customers.
In their minds, they are oppressed. They are never wrong and simply a victim of their environment.
Transients are costly both culturally and financially.
They won’t be at next year’s Christmas party because they will have left.
When hiring, extend probation periods where you aren’t sure on a newbie and trust your instincts. If in doubt, terminate employees within their probation period.
For difficult employees, remove Transients from your business through performance management at all costs (subject to employment law advice).
Avoid and shed Transients.
SUPPLIERS
Optimizing supplier relationships and understanding supplier personas is often overlooked by business owners.
Supplier personas can typically be segmented by:
Critical
Commodity/Transactional
One-offs
Critical
Critical suppliers are often key to many businesses. They are a vital cog in business operations and continuity.
Product-based suppliers may supply key parts or components that are constantly required on time, cost and quality.
Service based businesses may offer critical advice required for compliance, risk mitigation, strategy or long-term success.
Critical suppliers often contribute to your business maintaining a competitive edge.
They are generally extremely supportive, provide industry insight, loyal, share your values and work to keep your business viable and sustainable.
Work strategically to consistently align your business with Critical suppliers.
Like Premium customers, Critical suppliers can become friends.
I recommend you identify your Critical supplier personas and ensure you build and protect these relationships.
Commodity/Transactional
Commodity/Transactional suppliers are suppliers that you merely use for speed, cost or ease of doing business.
I generally suggest you have at least one back-up Commodity/Transactional supplier in the event your existing provider stops supply, dramatically increases prices or negatively changes trading terms.
Always have a ‘B Plan’ for moving to another Commodity/Transactional supplier in need.
Don’t allow your internal systems to rely or be dependant on Commodity/Transactional supplier systems or Infrastructure.
Also don’t allow your team to become too familiar or dependant upon doing business with them.
Maintain a respectful arms-length relationship with Commodity/Transactional suppliers, but never get too close or over-dependant.
Always keep the fire exits clear, just in case.
One-Offs
One-Off suppliers are simply suppliers you are likely to only use once.
These suppliers should be dealt with carefully, given they have no track record with you.
Purchase orders, signed terms and clear scope of agreement must be put in place every time.
I generally recommend you always try and get an introduction for one-off suppliers to mitigate risk. If that isn’t available, ask them for some trade references or conduct online reviews.
Don’t spend valuable time investing in relationship management or supplier management.
Just get the transaction done on time, cost and quality and pay them.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Think about the different personas in your business world and optimize them.
Adopt a proactive high-integrity approach to building and managing relationships across the personas within your customers, employees and suppliers.
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