The Challenge: Our client, a components supplier, wanted to significantly improve its relationship with a major customer in the telecom equipment industry. In particular, the client was looking to evaluate the potential for a stronger long-term partnership with the customer.

Assessment: Blue Canyon used its proprietary Relationship Management Tier Toolkit methodology to perform an internal baseline assessment of the client’s current relationship with its major customer, evaluating the relationship along multiple key dimensions versus industry wide best practices. The assessment process identified specific areas and actions the client could take to potentially elevate the relationship with its customer. Blue Canyon augmented the internal assessment with a comprehensive set of customer interviews covering all major relationship touch points.

Strategic Solution: Based on the internal assessment and customer interview feedback, Blue Canyon identified potential pathways for relationship development depending on the client’s intentions for future levels of engagement with its customer. One pathway focused on maintaining the current relationship, another on expanding the relationship and building the client’s presence with the customer, and the last outlined plans for a formal partnership.

Results: The client selected the final pathway. The client planned for developing a formal partnership, including details on what a partnership would look like, the customer’s specific wants in a long term partner, and the organizational structure needed to support it. The partnership between client and customer improved and the partners worked on collaborative new projects.