As new competitors enter B2B markets, it becomes more difficult to maintain growth, profitability and stability. In many cases, similar offerings create a commoditized market where it may seem unclear how to build competitive advantage, especially with your major customers.

As leading business-to-business growth strategy consultants, we’ve seen firsthand the effect of relationship behaviors on market success. For B2B companies with new clients, we’ve implemented strategies to ensure the relationships were not transient. We’ve also worked with companies to turn around relationships that had deteriorated significantly. Clients have even shared horror stories about failed relationships. Over the years, we’ve found that a strong relationship between supplier and customer often can enable competitive advantage and profitable growth for both companies.

B2B companies can differentiate themselves with major customers by achieving a Relationship Advantage. Companies should embrace best-in-class relationship behaviors to elevate their major customer relationships to higher levels to sustain profitable growth.