Relationships & Profits

L I S A D E N N I S , P R E S I D E N T
Building Stronger
Relationships,
Building Stronger Profits
Workbook
Copyright 2015, Knowledgence Associates

Today’s Presenter
Lisa Dennis, President of
Knowledgence Associates, brings over
twenty-five years of marketing and sales to
client engagements. She has hands-on
experience with both the marketing and
selling of business-to-business and business-
to-consumer products and services.
The focus of Knowledgence Associates is the
transforming of marketing, sales, and
customer service information into customer
knowledge. That transformation enables
clients to truly “see the world through the
customers’ eyes.”
The firm’s consulting practice includes
marketing strategy, marketing campaign
design & execution, value proposition
development, relationship and partner
marketing, customer service assessment
programs, sales effectiveness assessments,
and sales & service training.

Knowledgence Clients

Agenda
 Relationship
Marketing, Selling
 Anatomy of a
business
relationship
 Relationship
Stages
 Engagement
Options
 Strategies to Build
 Tactics to Execute
 Benchmarking &
Assessing

Relationship Marketing, Sales & Service
 Definition: A set of strategies and processes that enables an organization to identify,
acquire, retain, and nurture profitable customers by building and maintaining long-term
relationships with them.
 Activities aimed at:
• Building customer loyalty (winning and keeping customers)
• Providing value to all parties involved in the relationship
• Demonstrating customer knowledge and understanding
 Key Aspects:
• Strategic approach
• Tactics aimed at 1-to-1, 1-to-few
• Process oriented and cross-functional
• Value-creating for buyer and seller
• Focus is building relationships over time
• Relationships can be differentiator in highly competitive markets
• Must have both qualitative & quantitative measures

Relationship Marketing, Sales & Service
What it is:
• Moving a target along the RM
continuum
• Relationship has define-able stages
• Marketers and sellers meet targets
“where they are”
• Blend-able with other marketing
and sales approaches
• Relies on internal partnership of
marketing and sales organization
What it isn’t:
• Transactional
• Short-term
• Stand-alone
• Marketing-only
• Sales-only
• Single campaign
• Not a replacement for other
marketing methods

Inventory of Relationship Development
Factor Meaning
Awareness Pre- exchange, recognition, no interaction
Exploration Testing period, search and trial activities, determine
compatibility
Expansion Increase in derived benefits, interdependence, risk taking,
testing & reaffirming perceptions
Commitment Achieved value, satisfaction, lower focus on alternatives
Dissolution Can occur at any stage in the relationship development process
Enhancers Communication, Cooperation, Conflict Resolution
Source: Inventory of Relationship Development, Dwyer, Shurr and OhCopyright 2015, Knowledgence Associates

P E R S O N A L I Z I N G A N E M A I L S E L D O M A
R E L A T I O N S H I P M A K E S .
Anatomy of a Business
Relationship

Real Business Relationships:
Factor Meaning
Bi-directional 2 way response, mutual awareness
Require behavior
changes
In tangible and intangible ways
Benefit both parties Value offsetting costs of participation
Interactive Exchange of information content
Changeable over time Iterative – leading to increased efficiency, convenience, comfort
Trust-based Both parties act in mutual interest
Ultimately Unique Real relationships are not 1-to-many or 1–to-few. So programs
have to feel 1-to-1 even no matter “how” you deliver them

Relationships are on a Continuum
- Discrete
- No history
- No defined future
- Limited communication
- Narrow content
- Every interaction is
“new”
- Connected
- Past transactions
- Future transactions
- Repeated, related
communication
- Broad content
- Interactions build over
time
Transactional
Collaborative

Effective Relationship Marketing/Selling
• Communicating with the
account / individual “where
they are”.
• Understanding how
needs/desires change as the
relationship stages change.
• Delivery of
marketing/sales/service
activities tailored to fit that
path.
• Assessing/knowing what stage
the account/individual is in
• Deciding the optimal mix of
marketing / sales / service
activities at stage (1 size does not
fit all)
• Executing the appropriate
activities based on stage and on
strategy (acquisition, or expand
the footprint, retention)
Requires:

F I R S T B A S E , S E C O N D B A S E , A N D T H I R D B A S E
S T I L L C O U N T !
Relationship Stages

Considerations for Selecting/Defining Stages
• Stages should reflect exterior reality,
not internal desire
• Buying cycle ≠ the relationship cycle
• Actual progression of a relationship
in your industry/sector
• Trusted advisor status ►►►
what are the stages of the buyer’s
experience to get there
• IMPACT - The language we use
to name and define each stage impacts
the application of appropriate
marketing strategy and tactics
for each stage
Relationship
Definitions
Stages

Relationship Stages
Co-Creator
Champion
Collaborator
Customer
Explorer
Not every
Relationship
Reaches
Every Stage

Relationship Stages - Definitions
Explorer Customer Collaborator Champion Co-Creator
Mutual awareness
Attraction
Pre-sale
Highly exploratory
Initial discovery
Potential needs
Expectations
Applicable expertise
Significant interaction
Validation of the
client's decision
Industry knowledge
Client knowledge
Customer satisfaction
Build Trust
Mutual goals realized
Intimate dealings
Mutual credibility
Increased Stability
Revenue Growth
Internal and external
introductions
References &
Testimonials
Relationship extends
Overt supporter
Willingness to
represent to
Other internal buyers,
External professional
network
Deeper loyalty
Collaboration
Significant trust
Aspirational in nature
Bigger than the sum
of individual
relationships
Embedded within
respective businesses
Cooperate at a highly
strategic level,
Driving mutual
innovation

Relationship Stages - Definitions
Explorer Customer Collaborator Champion Co-Creator
Mutual awareness
Attraction
Pre-sale
Highly exploratory
Initial discovery
Potential needs
Expectations
Applicable expertise
Significant interaction
Validation of the
customer’s decision
Deeper industry
knowledge
Deeper customer
knowledge
Customer satisfaction
Build Trust
Mutual goals realized
Intimate dealings
Mutual credibility
Increased Stability
Revenue Growth
Internal and external
introductions
References &
Testimonials
Relationship extends
Overt supporter
Willingness to
represent to
Other internal buyers,
External professional
network
Deeper loyalty
Collaboration
Significant trust
Aspirational in nature
Bigger than the sum
of individual
relationships
Embedded within
respective businesses
Cooperate at a highly
strategic level,
Driving mutual
innovation

Y O U C A N ’ T M A N A G E
W H A T Y O U D O N ’ T M E A S U R E
Benchmarking & Assessing

Picking Your Targets
 Which relationships in the account are worth the investment of
resources in tailored relationship marketing, selling and service?
 Not all accounts need
(or deserve) RM
 Remember, it’s a overlay
to existing sales, marketing
and service efforts
 Consider role, recency, access to
budget, tenure in organization

Understanding Targets and Stages
- Who are the targets?
- Identified Accounts
- Existing individual customers
- Targeted new prospects
- What imperatives do they
have?
- What do they typically
respond to?
- What stage are they at?
Move them from a homogenous
group to like groupings of
relationships:
1. Select programs for the right
targets AT THE STAGE THEY
ARE IN.
2. Deliver a stream of marketing,
sales and service activities that
are stage appropriate and drive
the relationship forward to the
next stage.

Assess What’s Relevant

Tracking the Relationship
RELATIONSHIP
MARKETING &
SALES ACTIVITY
RESULTS OCCUR
OVER TIME.
After benchmark,
need to reassess on
a periodic basis –
quarterly or bi-
annually.
Way to gauge how
your RM activities
are moving the
needle on the state
of the relationship.
PATIENCE IS KEY!!

D O N ’ T A S S U M E T H A T I W A N T T O D O
W H A T Y O U W A N T T O D O .
Engagement Options

Key ‘Relationship’ Questions to Ask
Team/Peer Who else in the organization does the targeted relationship plug into?
Rep/
Individual
New sales rep? Or new player in the account, or both? What can be
leveraged or captured from previous connections/relationships?
Interaction How is the function interacting with other functions in the
organization? Where do departments have to play together?
Level What does the level of conversation need to be at each stage for this
target?
Value What relevant role value statements need to be communicated by stage
with this target?
Decision
Role
What role do they play in the decision making process that may impact
messaging and approach?

Engagement Types
Relationship
Marketing , Sales
& Service
One-to-One
One- to-Few
Peer-to-Peer
External Influencer
Brand, Field, Corporate
Marketing:
One-to-Many
Consider how your target
typically engages – and
make informed choices
on the approach and the
messages they want to
hear.

W I T H O U T A P L A N , A N Y R O A D
M I G H T G E T Y O U T H E R E …
O R I T M I G H T N O T .
Strategies to Build

Building Relationships isn’t Easy
 Barriers are inherent in the
furthering of any business
relationship
 Understand what the barriers
are in your market or segment
 Take a look at any specific
barriers by title or role
 Factor this into the selection of
strategies you will apply to this
target
 How will I overcome or
leverage the barrier?

Consider Potential Barriers
BARRIER Description
C-Level Hard to engage. Work gets done below the C-Level. Key challenge to get regular access to
these people.
Finance Bi-directional relationship: Process (signature authority over others); and Commercial
(possible opportunity in Finance).Also – have strong external consulting relationships
that they go to for IT input
Operations Bi-directional relationship: Process (signature authority or input over others);
Commercial – (possible opportunity in Operations).
Account
vs.
Individual
Need to look at the relationship stages of both the overall account and the individuals.
May not be at the same stage.
Leverage
changes
New role within the same organization or moving to different department or division –
difficult to leverage relationship in context of this type of change.

Factoring a Barrier into Strategy

W H E N Y O U K N O W T H E “ W H A T ” ,
Y O U C A N P L A N T H E “ H O W ”
Tactics to Execute

Review/Consider Key Messages
Make sure they are stage
appropriate!

Create a “Flow” of Tactics

R E L A T I O N S H I P S T A K E W O R K .
B U I L D I N G T A K E S T I M E .
S T R O N G R E L A T I O N S H I P S = P R O F I T S
Getting Started

Building a Relationship Plan

S T A Y T U N E D F O R A N O F F E R !
Questions?

Knowledgence Offer
360 Degrees of the Customer
Strategies & Tactics for Marketing,
Sales and Service
By Lisa Dennis, Charles Dennis and Lori
Richardson
Marketing, Sales and Customer Service are three disciplines
that all overlap at the same point: the customer. All
customer touch points should be integrated with each
other, a theory that makes perfect sense in the abstract, but
is hard to do in the reality. Presents strategies & tactics to
keep the customer promise.
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