Creating the Strategy : Winning and Keeping Customers in B2B Markets

by Gould, Rennie

• ISBN13: 9780749466145
• ISBN10: 0749466146
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-10-25
• Publisher: Kogan Page Ltd

Summary

A practical guide that brings together the most important elements of business strategy, B2B marketing theory and sales management, Creating the Strategyis aimed at managers wanting to structure their organizations around the acquiring and retaining of customers in B2B markets. Rennie Gould introduces a significant number of new models and frameworks that have been developed from management workshops with clients such as Nokia and Mercedes-Benz. Including diagrams, workshops and case studies, this book follows Gould's proven learning device, The Business Performance Value Chain, in order to: -stimulate awareness of various issues affecting business performance and the techniques to address them -create understanding of how these issues and techniques can come together -encourage generating insights into what this understanding means for the organization's specific situation in its own marketplace -inspire managers to take the appropriate action by providing a guide for them to follow Bringing together the essential elements of both strategy creation and strategy implementation, Creating the Strategyis designed to show managers and leaders how to improve organizational effectiveness and business performance.

Author Biography

Rennie Gould is founder of Customize UK Training and a highly qualified consultant and professional practitioner in B2B sales, customer strategy and sales management, with an MBA from Cranfield Business School and management experience with Ford Motor Company and BT. He has worked with a variety of clients from around the world, including Nokia, Royal Mail and Pirelli

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Sales and Customer Strategy	p. 3
Sales and customer strategy in B2B markets	p. 5
The importance of sales and customer strategy	p. 5
The Business Performance Value Chain	p. 7
The role of management	p. 8
Business performance	p. 8
Creating strategy	p. 9
Managing strategy	p. 9
Workshop tested	p. 10
Self-assessment questionnaire	p. 10
The sales and customer strategy self-assessment	p. 11
The self-assessment	p. 11
Creating Strategy	p. 15
Strategic direction	p. 17
The external environment	p. 19
SWOT analysis	p. 21
Vision	p. 25
Overall goals	p. 26
Core competencies	p. 26
Market definition	p. 27
Competitive positioning	p. 27
Strategic direction and business strategy	p. 29
Implications for management	p. 30
Workshops and case studies	p. 30
Customer strategy	p. 36
Customer strategy and marketing theory	p. 37
Customer importance	p. 42
Customer understanding	p. 43
The Customer Relationship Matrix	p. 43
Customer importance mapping	p. 46
The customer journey	p. 49
Sources of customer information	p. 52
Customer profiling	p. 53
Previewing sales process	p. 55
Workshops and case studies	p. 56
The value proposition	p. 63
Products and services	p. 64
The total proposition	p. 64
New product development	p. 68
Differentiation	p. 69
The Differentiator Matrix	p. 71
Creating customer value	p. 73
Aspects of value	p. 75
Value mapping	p. 78
Creating value propositions	p. 79
The Value Balance Sheet	p. 80
The value proposition creator	p. 81
Workshops and case studies	p. 82
The sales process	p. 85
The sales process	p. 86
Stages in the sales process	p. 87
Developing the sales process	p. 96
Activity management and account management	p. 98
Business buyer behaviour	p. 102
Choice of development account	p. 104
Development account entry strategy	p. 106
Time and territory management	p. 107
Automating the sales process	p. 108
Workshops and case studies	p. 108
Managing Strategy	p. 115
Business purpose	p. 117
Strategy and business purpose	p. 120
Culture	p. 121
Beliefs and values	p. 122
Communicating business purpose	p. 123
Primary mechanisms of culture	p. 124
Secondary mechanisms of culture	p. 126
Leadership	p. 127
Workshops and case studies	p. 128
People and performance	p. 131
People	p. 132
Structure	p. 133
The Organizational Blueprint	p. 137
Performance	p. 139
Controlling performance: The sales performance framework	p. 140
Key performance measures - the ends	p. 140
Intermediate performance measures - progress	p. 141
Competence - the means	p. 143
Knowledge, skills and behaviour	p. 147
Standards of performance	p. 149
Example competency profile: Account manager	p. 150
Workshops and case studies	p. 159
Appendix 1: Job specification	p. 166
Appendix 2: Field appraisal process	p. 168
Development and motivation	p. 170
Development	p. 171
The personal development plan	p. 171
Training needs analysis	p. 172
Creating a philosophy of development	p. 172
Training v coaching	p. 173
Developing competencies	p. 173
Developing knowledge, skills and behaviours	p. 174
Coaching	p. 176
Team development	p. 179
Team life cycles	p. 180
Note on recruitment	p. 183
Motivation	p. 184
A motivation exercise	p. 184
Some traditional theories of motivation	p. 185
The motivational framework	p. 192
Some common sales motivation issues	p. 196
Workshops and case studies	p. 198
Implementing Strategy	p. 205
Implementing strategy	p. 207
Priorities for action	p. 207
Strategic v operational change	p. 208
Leading operational change	p. 209
Leading strategic change: Lessons from consultancy	p. 211
The Art of War	p. 216
Glossary	p. 221
Index	p. 231
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