How can you overcome resistance to cross-functional collaboration in aftersales?

Whenever I've come across the miss-alignment of sales and aftersales (we'll call it CS), it's almost always an issue with the culture at the leadership level. In my opinion, this is the first step to addressing the root of the problem. Once the root of the problem has been defined, then it's time to move on to identifying common objectives, building trust, etc. Next, get the individual contributors to see what's in it for them to make a change. For sales, it should be some version of "customer retention equals more commission". For CS it could be that sales stays involved and helps reset client expectations if needed. Or possibly sales will handle contract conversations, thus taking the onus off of the CS role.

Strategic Framing: Toyota strategically emphasized aftersales, resulting in high customer retention rates. Enhanced Communication: Tesla's real-time data sharing streamlines issue resolution, showcasing impact of communication in the automotive sector. Innovative Metrics: Amazon's use of customer feedback refines aftersales, a testament to the power of innovative metrics in shaping customer experiences. Holistic Learning Approach: Siemens' cross-functional training improved collaboration, yielding effective problem-solving. Forward-Thinking Culture: Rivian's integration of remote diagnostics & align with evolving customer needs. External Resources Expansion: GE's collaboration with external experts optimized aftersales perspectives.

Trust between sales and CS is of course the obvious ingredient to overcome this challenge. Trust must be modeled by leadership and emulated out to reps on both teams. Here is the biggest part; it must be genuine or reps will pick up on the lack of authenticity and nothing will change. Again, build trust from the basis of how this benefits the individual contributor.

Equally important is identifying the key themes of challenges that surface. Is sales overselling the product and setting CS up for a difficult transition? Is CS downplaying the potential impact of the product/service? Each organization will have their own unique patterns of disfunction. Getting direct managers to agree on which patterns are problematic, will be key to adjusting team strategy and addressing behavior/habits that need to change.