The Limitations Of Short Term Thinking
In many businesses, relationships with key customers are based mainly on a short-term view of the supply opportunities and problems.
This means that suppliers are concentrating largely on the immediate outlook and how it affects them.
This is really the equivalent of “tailgating” a customer’s business situation and simply reacting to events affecting the customer rather than anticipating changes and opportunities in a more proactive way. This approach puts you too close to the immediate priorities of an individual buyer to see the wider issues and therefore opportunities to add value or build a longer term relationship.
The Benefits Of Longer Term Thinking
Longer-term thinking involves looking beyond immediate issues and concerns and taking a deeper view of:
- The customer’s business priorities and objectives
- The market in which they operate
- The changes in that market-place
- The effect that these changes will have on their customers and their competitive position in their market-place
This change of thinking and viewpoint provides you with a broader view, helping you to identify issues that could affect how, why and what your customers may need from you as their business situation changes.
From another perspective, you may well discover in advance what changes are required in the way that the customer is serviced and the nature and scale of support they will need or expect from strategic suppliers, as their business situation changes.
Designed for key account salespeople and customer service professionals who need to plan and grow their key account business, our Key Account Management Open Course will enable you to manage your accounts in a way that produces more profitable partnerships.
