Category Archives: Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)

Why Authentic Value Proposition ?

The lingering pandemic, the Ukraine war, supply chain problems and inflation has all types of organizations reviewing their “value” proposition. The idea of an explicit contract in B2B and an implicit contract in B2C used to involve fewer parties. If there was a serious dispute there was arbitration, courts or government regulators who would step in and try to sort things out. No longer true in the world of instant social media. Think of Elon Musk’s Twitter purchase situation.

For everyday business it’s simply keeping your promises to your customers. To be fair, our experience is that Elon Musk is pretty good with Tesla in keeping customer promises. No matter how the Twitter acquisition plays out.

Since marketing is about customer value, it’s important to clarify the idea of value proposition in these challenging times:

B2B 6: Do you like being judged? Marketer tips for Supplier Evaluation

The sixth and final step in the B2B buying process is supplier evaluation by the Buyer Organization. And frankly, no one likes being judged! But evaluations are a must in every aspect of life – if we are to develop,improve and evolve.So too with supplier evaluation. As a B2B marketer it’s good to have a growth mindset. Because it keeps you and your organization nimble and agile no matter what the changes in technology and globalization.

B2B 5: Purchase order is the start of your B2B relationship

Once you get the purchase order (PO) as a new supplier: Congratulations! Your B2B relationship just started. How? It gives you a reason to stay in touch. It allows you to designate account managers who manage the account. Depending on your industry the relationship manager at the selling company keeps track of everything going on. In software and SaaS businesses the “Customer Success” role tries to help the customer get the most out of your product.

B2B Process 2: Why does product specs/SoW feel like a rigged job description?

In Step 2 of the B2B Buying Process, the buying organization develops the Product Specifications/Scope of Work (SoW). This is the document that will be put out for request for proposals (RFP) or tenders. If you have never supplied to the buying company, and you are generally capable, you can face a sudden roadblock. That roadblock feels similar to rigged job descriptions that our dear readers have all experienced.

“Business need” starts the B2B buying process

If you research “B2B buying process” you’ll come up with the steps that a business goes through in the B2B buying process. These include (1) Business need recognition (2) Developing specifications of what will meet the need (3) Request for proposals (RFP) (4) Comparison of proposals/bids and negotiate with suppliers (5) Purchase order placement (6) Delivery and receipt of goods or services (7) Evaluation of suppliers.

Is your Value Proposition Authentic?

Before the Internet and Social Media you needed to have a team dedicated to dealing with public relations.

Choose between market share or customer satisfaction- not both

If you have satisfied customers – you would feel that word of mouth including social media should help get more market share. “It’s all about happy customers” …..Well that is not true. Based on data for 200 companies between 1994- 2006 for 800,000 customers from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) there are some interestingContinue reading “Choose between market share or customer satisfaction- not both”

Don’t organize your website by your organization structure: 5 tips for effective website stuctures

This post was originally published on February 22, 2016. Since then we have great interest from our readers on How to organize a website? We also look at various Google Analytics reports for different types and sizes of organizations and are surprised at how the website structure does not seem to address the interests of stakeholders. This post is updated on March 9, 2021 with a new image and some additional explanation. We hope will help all businesses improve their website organization to try and speak to each category of stakeholders. This should in turn improve the impact of all websites as we come out of the pandemic.

Why it’s hard to share feedback in B2B Markets

Frank,regular and constructive feedback is hard to give or receive in any work relationship. For example, HR performance appraisals are dreaded by both the boss and the employee. If you are a great leader your employees deserve to know how they are doing on a frequent basis , according to the legendary Jack Welch (Also seeContinue reading “Why it’s hard to share feedback in B2B Markets”

A Checklist for Understanding your B2B Customer’s needs

B2B customers buy everything for some value addition to whatever business they are in. In contrast, B2C customers buy for personal satisfaction. B2C customers do not plan to sell something on eBay at the time they decide to buy.

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