Why team loyalty makes cross-selling difficult
Why is cross-selling so difficult, even when everyone agrees it makes sense?
An article in The Economist offers part of the answer. People form allegiances remarkably quickly, a phenomenon known as the minimal group effect. At work we carry nested identities: loyalty to the firm, but also to our office, department and immediate team.
So the corporate team may not be deliberately undermining a firm’s growth plans when it fails to introduce the employment team. Its members may simply experience the client as ‘ours’, and colleagues elsewhere as a separate group.
Cross-team projects and more opportunities for contact can help. So can a clearer view of how each team’s work contributes to the wider organisation.
Client feedback has a part to play because it shows people the needs of a shared client, their experience across services and the contribution each team makes to the whole relationship.
Silos will not disappear because leaders ask professionals to cross-sell more. Working across them has to feel natural, easy and worthwhile to the people expected to do it.
Comments