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
Creatively joining the seller company’s
capabilities with customer’s needs to
create value for both parties.
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Managing customer relationships
 Gathering customer information
 Gathering competitior and market
information
 Build customer loyalty
 Gain new customers
 Providing customer services
 Establishing customer dialogues

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Repeated, ongoing relationships
 Solution-oriented, total system effort
 Long time-period before sale pays off
 Continuous adjustment of needs
 Buyer demands creativity of seller in
problem solving

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Customers buy solutions
Seller and selling organization must
understand needs of customer
 Must also understand different
motivating elements between
members of buying center

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Be flexible and responsive to changes in
customer needs

Customer needs evolve as they learn
more about offering
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Successful relationships between
customer and seller involve:
 Mutual
Respect
 Trust
 Each
customer relationship is
unique
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4 Forms of Seller Roles
Exhibit 12-6
Order Taker
Takes orders, ensures correct and timely delivery of
offering. Major effort in the “place” marketing mix
variable.
Persuader/
Sustainer
Proactive role in relationship. Informs customers
about offerings and ongoing updates. Attempts to
convince customer of value of offering, though the
focus is still on needs of selling organization.
Motivator/
Problem Solver
Focuses on the needs of the customer organization,
potentially creating unique customer solutions by
matching supplier capabilities with customer needs.
Considered a resource by the customer.
Relationship/
Value Creator
Build and maintain partnership with all elements of
the customer buying center. Supplier/customer
relationship is mutually inspiring and stimulating. Both
parties recognize an equity in the other’s success.
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4 Forms of Seller Roles
Order Taker




Take orders
Ensure timely delivery of products –
major effort in “place” in marketing
mix
Buyer-seller relationship is not
complex
Simple products, e.g., simple
machine parts
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4 Forms of Seller Roles
Persuader/Sustainer





Proactive role in relationship
Updates customers about offerings
Convinces customers of offerings’
value
Buyer-seller relationship is less
complex
Product/service is not so complex,
e.g., engine lubricants
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4 Forms of Seller Roles
Motivator/Problem Solver
Focused on the needs of the
customer’s organization
 Finds unique customer solutions by
matching capabilities and needs
 A customer resource
 Relationship is more complex
 Product/ service is more complex,
e.g., software

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4 Forms of Seller Roles
Relationship/Value Creator
Builds and maintains partnership with
all elements of the buying center
 Relationship is mutually inspiring and
stimulating
 Both seller and buyer recognize
equity in the other’s success
 Relationship is the most complex
 Product/service is the most complex,
e.g., electronic systems for cars

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B2B marketer must understand the
customer’s:
 Technologies
 Products
 Markets and Customers
 Competitors
 Channels
 Buying Center and Buying Patterns
 Culture
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Relationship Between Field Sales & Field Marketing Exhibit 12-7
Vice President of Marketing &
Sales
Sales Manager
Regional
Sales
Manager
Regional
Sales
Manager
Field
Sellers
Field
Sellers
Marketing Manager
Field Sales
Team
Field Manager
Headquarters
Segment
Specialists
Field
Sellers
Purchasing Influences
at customers who are
contract providers to
end users.
Purchasing
Influences at
integrated
customer
facilities
Specifying Influences
at End User customers
who have integrated
manufacturing
facilities
Direct Sales
Flow
Programs Manager
Field
Marketer
Specifying
Influences at End
User customers
who rely on
contract providers
Outsource/Contract
Provider Flow
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Field
Marketing
Team
Headquarters
Segment
Specialists
Field
Marketer
Specifying
Influences at End
User customers
who rely on
contract providers
Field Marketing
Flow
14
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Transactional exchanges employ an
Arms-Length relationship.
The business market includes items like:
Packaging,
 Cleaning products or
 Commodity-type products or service
activity where bidding is employed.


Occurs when alternatives are few, market is
dynamic, the purchase is complex and the
price is high

Features close information, social, and
operational linkages, as well as mutual
commitments

Switching costs are extremely important to
collaborative customers

Trust is the key and it exists when one party
has complete confidence in their partner’s
ability and integrity
A major consideration before changing
from one supplier to another is the
switching costs.
 Organizational buyers invest heavily in their
relationships with suppliers.

Investments include:
1. Money
2. People
3. Training Costs
4. Equipment
5. Procedures and processes

Retention of profitable customers is
crucial to business. However, due to
competition and internal / external
environmental factors, achieving this
goal is difficult.

One method that is proving successful
for customer retention is the use of CRM
programs.
Established customers buy more.
Cost of serving loyal customers declines.
Less expensive than acquiring new customers.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is
a cross-functional process for achieving:
a.Continuing
dialog with customers across all
contact and access points
b.Personalized service to the most valuable
customers
c.Increased customer retention
d.Continued marketing effectiveness

CRM programs are software systems that capture
information and integrate sales, marketing and
customer service information.

CRM programs can gather information from many
sources including email, call centers, service and
sales reps.

The information is available to the right people in
the organization in real time.
There are many types of CRM programs:
1.
Some companies develop their own
proprietary programs.
2.
Some companies purchase off-theshelf programs.
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Publishing as Prentice Hall
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