Service before sales.

• Position: Marketing News - Customer service tips from John T. Cotton - Brief Article

Before you plunge headlong into a full-scale marketing program, John T. Cotton has a word of advice: service.

"It isn't a good idea to sell anything if the service is not top-notch to support the customer," says Cotton, who is president of Integrated QSG in Birmingham, Ala. "Bad service will cancel any benefit from selling more products." His firm develops tailor-made service and sales culture programs for community banks.

"Further, pushing a product, even with good service is not what your customers want," he adds. "Selling can be accomplished in a manner that truly helps your customers to act on the right product or service for them at the right time."

In order to attain the highest probability of success, Cotton emphasizes these points:

Training. Do...