We all know that CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. But is that what CRM really does? Can it really manage our customer relationships? Of course not. Most peoples views about CRM seem to fall into two separate camps. They either love it, as it supplies plentiful supplies of data and metrics that they [...]
Building strategic relationships take time and involve building trust and respect. Building trust and respect means being consistent and doing the obvious things well. I was talking with a consultant friend of mine recently and he reminded me that it often is not the smart analytics or process that we bring to the table [...]
One the best indicators is the state of your top clients. Ask yourself these five questions. 1. Are my top clients growing and am I keeping pace with their growth? If your clients are growing and you are not, then there’s a strong chance you are losing market share and therefore share of wallet. That means someone [...]
What is a strategic partnership? So many times we hear the term “strategic” and “partnership” used, abundantly and wrongly. But if you put them together, what does it mean? How do you form one and know if it exists? In this series of “How Do You Know You Have A Strategic Partnership”, my last three [...]
What is a strategic partnership? So many times we hear the term “strategic” and “partnership” used, abundantly and wrongly. But if you put them together, what does it mean? How do you form one and know if it exists? In this series of “How Do You Know You Have A Strategic Partnership”, my last two articles [...]
How do we make sure we don’t lose the customers we can’t afford to lose?The Top 10 to 20 accounts of any B2B organization typically represent 60-80% of revenue and profit. In some cases, they are as high as 95%. The consequences of losing one of these customers are dramatic, and in today's business environment, [...]
Over the past few years, I have realized the importance of process. If there is no process for doing something, then I invent one. For example, writing this article involves having a template. Once I have decided on the subject I’m going to write about I start to create the blog with a lead. Then I [...]
I've been seeing quite a few references to the term Trusted Advisors recently, and I've been talking to people about what they think it really means. The term seems to be applied more often than not to the field of consulting. However, I would suggest a Trusted Advisor is something we should all aspire to, [...]
How do we develop a strategic customer relationship? What are some of the things that we need to do? Experience has taught me that to be successful it starts with understanding what your customer wants. So many times I’ve observed people that go to see customers and all they’re interested in is getting the customer to [...]
How can we evaluate our current relationships, measure progress and adapt for something that is so subjective?A few years ago I was dealing with a major account in the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) business, aka fast food. Their senior management was changing on a quarterly basis and had been over the year. Companies go through [...]