Transition management can make or break a customer relationship

This is a busy time of year. Aside from the holiday cheer and gift buying, many organizations are bearing down to close the year on a high note. Whether it is closing sales, meeting delivery dates or calculating the year’s financial performance, there is excitement in the air.

This is also a period of transition. The transition I am speaking of today is the transition of business relationships. More specifically, the transition or change to the interface between our organizations and our customers.

As I have discussed in previous columns, there are numerous customer types. Suffice to say that any change in the primary contact point between your organization and any of your customers is a transition. Therefore, the challenge is how well your organization manages these transitions.

There is a natural inclination to inquire about the whereabouts of someone we have come to expect to be in a particular position. The inquiry ranges from the waitress at our favorite diner to our physician. For most of us there is a momentary, if not longer, hesitation about the transition because we have become accustomed to the customer service offered by the previous customer service provider. These moments of hesitation by your customers and the manner of your organization’s responses can be the difference between retention of a client and the loss of that client.

There are nearly as many reasons for transitions as there are transitions. From an organization’s perspective, there could be a strategic change in direction that results in a massive transition. Just think of all us who were customers of Sears.

On a national level, the transition in health care insurance coverage has become an annual ritual for most of us. Coverages, costs, location of services, continuity of care and new rules and procedures represent a transition that might be unsettling for many of us.

Individually, someone you have worked with may be leaving one position for a better opportunity. Good for them. However, their departure becomes a transition for all of their clients. The opposite is also true when performance has not met expectations.

The growth in social media has created another element to the transition discussion. Some organizations are encouraging their customer service providers to establish social media links with their clients. I have found that as a relationship grows and we become more dependent on that relationship, the loss of that relationship is an issue. So, as my relationship grows with my sales associate at X or my personal trainer at Z and they leave for other opportunities, there becomes a need for transition management.

Transition management is the organizational requirement to minimize the negative impact on the customer, when there is any change to the interface between the customer and the organization.