Technology provides focus
We often rely on our intuition to help us understand the nature and health of a relationship. Human observation is an effective way to spot behavioral changes in individuals, but it’s easy to miss incremental changes over time — changes that disrupt the polarity map between maximum customer benefit and maximum vendor-partner benefit. Inevitably, as an organization conducts business with others, it uses a proxy of vendor-appointed agents (often a sales force of some type).
These agents generally rely not just on the strength of the product or service they’re selling but also on the strength of the relationship with the purchasers and decision-makers of the acquiring company. These partnerships are pivotal in conducting business. They should remain a core component of any B2B relationship management—despite whatever technological improvements threaten to render the relationships less valuable.
Read the full article by Alan Henson in Inside Supply Management Magazine.
