Article
Three Cs of GAM
Suppliers can simultaneously respond to their shareholders’ growth expectations and their major customers’ expectations for global…
I Would Pay 50% More…
In a recent discussion with an executive client, he commented that he believes his hardest challenge…
Pricing! Pricing! You Can’t Talk about Pricing!
Jim Mora, a former NFL coach, was made famous in a recent beer commercial that featured…
Don’t Forget "How"
Recently, I worked with a client that was implementing a new “customer partnering” initiative that provided…
Where’s The Beef?
Many years ago, in a course on information theory, I learned that one way to measure…
CoDestiny Relationships Between Manufacturers And Distributors
Atlee Valentine Pope and George F. Brown, Jr. discuss issues that can arise in manufacturer-distributor relationships,…
From Assessment To Action: Managing Distributor Relationships
One of our clients in the building systems industry asked us to help resolve a dilemma…
Deleting Voicemail 666
We were having a conversation with one of our clients following a meeting related to their…
Sales Models In Business Markets With Complex Customer Chains
We have often described “major customer relationships” and “third-party channel relationships” as two of the most…
A Blueprint for Strong VAR/Vendor Relationships
William Blake, the English poet and painter, has been quoted as saying, “He hasn’t an enemy…
Whatever Happened To Growth?
Earlier this year, one of our clients invited us to participate in an off-site meeting involving…
Growth Is A Project
Recently, we asked a procurement executive within a large communications equipment company to describe a supplier…
Strategic Accounts As Engines of Growth
Last month, we were invited to meet with a marketing and sales executive at a leading…
Mistakes That Could Have Been Avoided
As we begin to climb slowly out of the deepest, darkest recession on recent record, it’s…
Two Pricing "Constants"
Alan Perlis, the first head of the Computer Science Department at Carnegie-Mellon University, often told his…
Two Percent For Looking In The Mirror Twice
Recent work involving the use of pricing analytics has provided some interesting insights about profit management…
Avoiding The Vicious Cycle Of Pricing
While working on a growth strategy assignment with a major business-to-business supplier, we observed several fascinating…
Using Service Strategies To Avoid Price Pressures
At a recent workshop, we distributed a “quiz” with 10 quotes which we said were from…
Innovation: Fuel For Breakout Growth
At a meeting with one of our clients, we provided their executive team with a short…
Success! Now What?
A company with which our firm worked recently communicated some good news: They had been selected…
Out Of Crisis Comes Opportunity
Our title for this article emerged from a recent client project. We were working with a…
Offices in Chicago And Chengdu: Managing the Complexity of the China Market
One of our clients is the executive responsible for the Global Accounts served by her company,…
Rules Of Three: Managing Major Customer Relationships Involving China
Several years ago, we published an article[1] titled “The Unwritten Rules of China”, addressing the complexities…
Implementation Competencies: Creating Long-Term Growth Foundations
A global industrial systems company found that its business environment was shifting rapidly. The firm had…
In-Career Education and Implementation Competencies
Rudy Giuliani once noted that “Change is not a destination, just as hope is not a…
Pricing Isn’t A Four Letter Word
When the topic of pricing arises, anticipation often follows that the discussion will be unpleasant, putting…
Make Them An Offer They Can Refuse
In the early 70s, one of the phrases of the day was “Make him an offer…
You Might Be A Real Chinese Company…
We have recently written that at the top of U.S. firms’ agendas must be bringing some…
Second Mouse Opportunities For Distributors
We have used the saying “The second mouse gets the cheese” as an analogy for what…
If Speaking Is Silver, Then Listening Is Gold
A recent project provided an opportunity to examine the relationships between a machinery manufacturer and the…