Picture this: a great account, in terms of top-line income and reliability. But one part of the order-to-cash process is causing major headaches with customer service and finance. You run the risk that this will overshadow the overall performance of the account and make for bad PR for the business. So – I have to step in and solve the issue. Knowing that there can be sensitivities and not wanting to cause loss of face of the customer – I prepared the meeting thoroughly with my sales manager. We discussed the topic with the customer in a non-confrontational way, opening the door to a solution that would improve the process for both sides. In the event that would not work out – we tabled some other suggestions for improvement as fall backs. We closed the subject – by  making it clear that it would be impossible to continue as we did before. But having started by suggesting positive change – we tried to take the sting out of the message. Will keep you posted on the longer terms results!