We’ve Been Given 5 More Years!

The customer is a shining example for enormous complexity and immense diversity. More importantly, this customer company is rapidly gaining global ascendance in political and economic clout and is most famous for its astounding growth rate. We have just won a contract to be part of the day-to-day running of such a company for the next 5 years. If we do this well, our organisation’s name in history is well assured.

 As an organisation, for the last 5 years, we have delivered on the stringent SLAs as per the contract, and although we didn’t do well in all of them, we made our presence felt. The charisma of our CEO, multiple communication/contact programs with even lower level employees in the customer company, and appreciation for dangers posed by competitive/disruptive forces external to the company are the factors that helped us win.

The battle with competitors to win this renewal contract was as bruising as it was brutal. We won it, at prices higher than the last one! Like the CEO said, “Let us repay the customers’ confidence in us with an even better performance.”

 If you walk the corridors of our company, you will hear three interpretations of ‘even better’:

i.              The customer knows what we can do, and we now know what makes the customer happy. Just stick to the script and continue with what you were/are doing. This win is a pat on the back. Let’s give them more of the same.

Whenever there was a lull in the interaction, we had a brain-storming session, and came up with a scheme with a catchy acronym. We built a powerful marketing communication program around the new idea and made sure everybody heard about it. Once our actions rolled out, even those with any doubts were left speechless by the sheer frenzy of activity.

Our first 5-year tenure was punctuated by many such events and made for a great story when we went for the renewal of the contract.

Got the customer to even forget the few SLAs that we didn’t meet. It is a proven template. So, ‘even better’ will mean having a ready list of such events and rolling them out at pre-fixed times. (We were lost for ideas a couple of times during the last 5 years and had to hurriedly scramble something. Let’s be better prepared.)

ii.             A section of the crowd in the company felt that this second tenure ought to be our time to cash in, and build a solid, unshakable support base in the customer company.

There are sections/departments in the customer place that favour us unabashedly and see us as people who will help them achieve their vision.

They have been vociferous, and also want to settle a few scores.

It is high time that we repay the loyalty that this section of people has shown us by working on their agendas and help them realise their superiority in the customer place.

They believe they deserve a bigger voice and more clout in the pecking order. We can get them that authority, and, in the bargain, secure our own future with the customer. What can be ‘even better’?

iii.           A very small minority in the company felt that this can be a golden opportunity to collaborate with the customer and take them to new heights that they will never be able to attain without us. Let’s write our own aspirational list of deliverables that go way beyond merely meeting the contractual SLAs. Let’s behave like we have a JV with the customer.

They win, we win. They lose, we lose big. Let’s bet our last rupee on this customer’s success.

Everybody knows, accepts and believes that this customer company deserves a much higher position in the global pecking order. Challenge the customer to do better, be the glue that connects and integrates all parts of the customer’s business, re-write the metrics, establish meritocracy by showcasing our best talents, fix fundamental processes, show zero tolerance for mediocrity, help the customer company surge ahead.

What are we going to do?