I was sitting in the office of the President of the North American Business Unit of one of the most successful chemical companies in the world. We were discussing business strategy and the needs he sees for his team and business as we develop a new business acumen learning solution that incorporates a hands-on business simulation.
His business strategy and value proposition to his customers is pure customer intimacy and his team executes it flawlessly. Despite the commoditization of most segments in their space – and increased Asian competition pushing prices even lower – this organization is a case study for how to have great alignment, organizational discipline, and a deep understanding of their customer’s business from both the technical and business perspectives.
One of the more interesting business challenges we were talking about as we discussed the skills needed for 2015 and beyond was how to get more efficient at being customer intimate. He then said something so profound that I stopped the meeting so that I could write it down for this blog:
“The most important thing that we need to do this year is develop innovative skills to drive operational efficiencies so that we can get even closer to our customer.”
For the thousands of participants who have been through our Advantexe business acumen programs and business simulations and read this blog on a regular basis, you know that we push very hard on the concept of choosing one value proposition when developing a business strategy and being the best at it in your market and industry. Many participants and organizations struggle with that concept and don’t understand why you can’t have a great product with great service and deliver it at the lowest price. The reason of course is that in this global business marketplace you really can’t be all things to all people.
If one is not well practiced in the art of business strategy and execution, you could make a serious mistake and misinterpret the statement our client made by thinking he was saying that you should be innovative, and operationally excellent, and customer intimate all at the same time. Too many companies are still trying to do that, and they continue to fail. But in fact, what our client was really saying was that his vision was to leverage innovation and efficiencies to enhance customer intimacy. It is very subtle and very important to understand the difference.
As we talked more, I asked him to share some ideas of how he plans to execute his thoughts and business strategy so I can include them in this blog. He shared that there are three primary focus points for the rest of the year to accomplish his goals:
Implementing a new and customized CRM system
His current CRM is ok, but he needs to take it up a level and leverage technology to acquire and disperse more customer analytics and provide it on-demand and virtually through mobile devices.
Leverage Social Media
Our client feels that his organization is missing a great opportunity to be even closer with his customers and prospects. Social media is faster, more effective, and cheaper than traditional sales and marketing, and more importantly, when used right, creates even closer customer relationships.
Mobile Inventory Management
Supply security and making sure there are enough products in inventory is critical to long term success in this business. Investing in a more robust inventory management system and pushing out the data to smartphones so that sales people and service people have instant data is an innovative and operationally efficient way of being more customer intimate.
I am fascinated by this story and their business strategy. I can’t wait to check back with him in July and see how they are progressing. I will be sure to provide an updated blog then. Stay tuned!
