Effective Communication Plans

9 Basic Components

The following are nine basic components of Effective Communication Plans:

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Are Big Accounts Good For You?


Everyone we know agrees that the famous 80/20 Rule or some variation of it applies to the customer base of most companies.  The rule states that most of your revenue comes from just a few of your customers.  More importantly, most of your profits come from a small portion of your customers.

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Is the Relationship Healthy?

As the retail industry has learned, customer satisfaction research provides an efficient and effective means to learn about customers' perceptions.  From the fast-food industry to the automobile industry, customer satisfaction surveys are used to continuously monitor the pulse of market perceptions and to adjust product and service offerings accordingly. 

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Quantifying Value

Why is it important to quantify the value I provide to my customer? What are possible ways to add value?  How do I identify value-added services?

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Most Effective SAMPs

The most effective Strategic Account Management Programs (SAMPs) we know of share a mutually beneficial relationship with their suppliers. That means they deliver superior value to their customers that in return deliver superior value back to them.

Defining these two-sided values requires that firms know—or be willing to learn—what they do not know about their strategic customers.  In many cases, suppliers need to replace their current assumptions by creating a new listening focus for their strategic accounts.

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20-80 Costs

Every firm has what we call 20-80 costs, where 20 areas provide 80% of its cost base.  If a supplier can create a solution for one of its account's 20-80 costs and can quantify the value added over and above price, it can then justify a premium price and create higher barriers to competition.

Customers can say to low-ball competitors. "Sure, you can give me a better price on X, but can you provide me with Y, which saves me some $750,000 a year?"  One of the Strategic Account Manager's jobs is to understand, create, quantify, and deliver the value-added initiatives that, we argue, are the hallmark of strategic account management.

 

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Unleashing the power of business relationships.