canopus-business-management-groupSeamless Delivery during Build and Operate
Background:
A leading independent terminalling company wants to achieve seamless delivery during build and operate and thus improving client centricity
Condition:
Frequent surprises due to complex stakeholder network and client dis-satisfaction
Budget and timeline overrun on large projects
Lack of accountability for red-flags
Big 3 Actions:
BD process was not formally defined. BD skills were missing and there were no timelines or deliverables
Client experience during the Build (NPD) and Operate phases were not measured. Stakeholder management was only at Sr. Leadership level
Clear Measures of Success for Client Journey were defined
End to End Process was established with involvement of all internal members (200+)
RACI for all tasks with internal SLAs was established.
Background:
An ITES arm of a big software company which works with enterprises across industries wanting to improve its client relationship
Condition:
One of their large account ($1Bn) wanted to terminate their enterprise contract due to issues with ITES services. Hence main focus was to prevent the churn by short term fix and long term actions.
Big 5 Actions:
Based on Client Interviews, employee interview and discovery, identified 4 actions to be immediately initiated (Service quality, Analysis, Client review framework, Org structure change). Facilitated the agreement of action with clients
Identified delight opportunities to clients by performing Horizontal/Vertical synergy studies and subsequent prioritization roadmap
Background:
A leading business services firm provides B2B telecom Solution and services in India wanting to improve responsiveness in pre-sales
Condition:
Clients are unhappy after first month bill. Payment disputes and escalations leading to retail brand damage
Benchmarking study identified company is far behind all competitors in RFQ or leads
Big 5 Actions:
After gemba, interviews and process-walk-thro three broad issues came out.
Process not capable to respond to leads and RFQs at speed
Pre-sales process is broken
Post feasibility study – accountability issues
The entire End-to-End business process spanning all regional teams was re-engineered and later digitized.
Mentoring of re-engineering project teams Leadership workshop on customer experience & client handling across the BU
Meeting Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in B2B organizations can be difficult for a variety of reasons, including:
Complex products or services: B2B companies often offer complex products or services that require specialized knowledge or expertise to maintain or repair. This can make it difficult to meet SLAs for repair or maintenance times.
Long sales cycles: The B2B sales cycle is often longer than the B2C sales cycle. This can lead to delays in the delivery of products or services and can make it difficult to meet SLAs.
Limited resources: B2B companies may have limited resources to devote to meeting SLAs, such as hiring additional staff or investing in new equipment.
Lack of standardization: Different customers may have different expectations for service and support, which can make it difficult to standardize SLAs across all customers.
Dependence on third-party vendors: B2B companies may rely on third-party vendors to provide certain products or services, which can make it difficult to control and meet SLAs.
Limited visibility: B2B companies may have limited visibility into the performance of their products or services after they are delivered to the customer, which can make it difficult to identify and address issues that are impacting SLA performance.
If your are looking for improving ways to meet your SLAs, please contact us
Nilakantasrinivasan J (Neil) (born 1974) is an Indian author, consultant and guide, focused on the subject of client centricity, B2B client centric business growth, business transformation & analytics.
Nilakantasrinivasan J (Neil) is the author of 3 books, The Client Centric Protagonist, The Master Book for Lean Six Sigma & A Little Book for Customer Experience.
There are several common ways to improve the existing account growth in B2B companies, including:
Building strong relationships: Building strong relationships with existing customers is essential for growing their accounts. This can involve regularly communicating with customers, understanding their needs and goals, and going above and beyond to meet their expectations.
Offering additional products and services: Another way to improve account growth is by offering additional products and services to existing customers. This can help to increase the value of each account, and can also help to cross-sell and up-sell additional products and services.
Providing excellent customer service: Providing excellent customer service is also key to improving account growth. This can include responding promptly to customer inquiries, addressing customer concerns, and resolving problems in a timely and efficient manner.
Offering customized solutions: Offering customized solutions to existing customers can help to increase the value of each account. This can include tailoring products and services to meet the specific needs of each customer, and developing specialized solutions that are not available to other customers.
Implementing customer retention programs: Implementing customer retention programs can help to improve account growth. This can include loyalty programs, referral programs, and other incentives that encourage customers to continue doing business with a company.
Regularly gathering customer feedback: Regularly gathering customer feedback is another way to improve account growth. This can include conducting surveys, focus groups, and other research to understand customer needs and preferences. This feedback can be used to improve the company’s products or services, and to develop strategies for retaining and growing existing customers.
They are all prescriptive. The question is, which one of these is relevant to your organization and why? That clearly depends on your current state, ground level challenges and growth aspirations. Only by implementing relevant strategies, B2B companies can work to improve the growth of existing accounts and drive sustainable growth for the company.
If you are looking for ways to improve your account growth, click here
Nilakantasrinivasan J (Neil) (born 1974) is an Indian author, consultant and guide, focused on the subject of client centricity, B2B client centric business growth, business transformation & analytics.
Nilakantasrinivasan J (Neil) is the author of 3 books, The Client Centric Protagonist, The Master Book for Lean Six Sigma & A Little Book for Customer Experience.
Whether B2B or B2C, nowadays growth based organizations have multiple channels to access their customers. Large organizations across sectors such as Automotive, FMCG, Consumer Durables, BFSI, Retail, e-Commerce, Telecom, IT & Tech have both direct sales as well as channel partners. Many B2B sectors such Industry IT, capital goods, aviation, chemicals also have channel partners.
Managing the performance of the channel, channel partners performance and improving overall channel effectiveness is a significant success factor for both the principal and the partner. Towards this, the role of analytics, particularly Sales Analytics is vital in achieving business goals and in making consistent progress.
For managers who are responsible for Channel Management and partner performance, such as Territory Sales Managers, Area Managers, Regional Managers, National Sales Managers, Account Managers, Dealer Management, Sales Analyst, Sales Planners, Business Heads here are a set of important metrics that they can monitor regularly. Once enough data is available, extensive sales analytics can be performed by channel sales managers using simple tools such as Excel to come up with insights for revenue growth. As the dynamics of Channel Partner Management for B2B and B2C are very different, I have split this into two groups – B2C Channel Partners and B2B Channels Partners
The type of metrics include Business Performance Metrics, Product Performance, Network Performance, Partner Profitability, Partner Sales Operations, Partner Staff Effectiveness, etc.
Region/Territory Level (B2B and B2C):
Following are a set of metrics that can be tracked at the Area Office, Region Office or Head Office Level to evaluate the performance of various channel partners and draw comparison between various channels.
Market Share – by Category, by Segment
Conversion % – by Lead Source, by Segment, by Model
YoY Revenue Growth
Network Penetration against potential
Product Mix against competition
Gross Margin – by Product
Partner Cannibalization
Product Cannibalization
Contribution – by Category, by Segment
Cross-sell and Up-sell % – by Channel, By Segment
Customer Acquisition Cost – By Channel
Repeat Business Revenue to Total Revenue – By Channel
Carry over stocks
Unfilled Staff Positions
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Partner Level Metrics for Product Based Businesses:
In sectors such as Automotive, FMCG, Consumer Durables, Retail, Telecom, Technology products, etc, the trade channel includes Distributors, Dealers & Retailers who are appointed by the principal. In addition to the above, companies may appoint Modern trade partners such as large format corporate, e-commerce and have company owned outlets. When it comes to managing partner performance, below metrics that cover areas such as Partner Profitability, Operations, Inventory Management, Staff development are relevant for any Area or Sales Manager.
Days to Break Even
Profit per employee
Sales Productivity – by person, by Segment, by model
Conversion % – by Lead Source, by Segment, by Model, by person
BTL Activity Productivity – by activity type
Sales Process Satisfaction
Overdue Customer Delivery
Enquiry to Sale Lead Time
Avg # of follow ups before lead drop
Order cancel rate
Average Leads per salesperson
Sell through rate
# of Stock Outs – by Model-Color
# days of inventory
Carry over stocks
Inventory Funding
Interest Coverage Ratio
Pending incentive disbursal
Staff attrition %
Unfilled staff positions
Product training adherence %
Win-Loss Pareto
Customer Retention %
Cross-sell and Up-sell %
Repeat Business Revenue to Total Revenue
Partner Level Metrics for Services Based Businesses:
In sectors such as IT products and services, industry IT, capital goods, aviation, chemicals, etc appoint resellers, franchisee, business associates in addition to direct selling done by the brand. When it comes to managing partner performance, below metrics that cover areas such as Partner Profitability, Operations, Inventory Management, Staff development are relevant for any Channel Partner Managers.
Days to Break Even
Profit per employee
Sales Productivity – by person, by Segment, by model
Conversion % – by Lead Source, by Segment, by Model, by person
Campaign Productivity – by activity type
Sales Process Satisfaction
Enquiry to Sale Lead Time
Avg # of follow ups before lead drop
Order cancel rate
Average Leads per salesperson
Sell through rate
% of Leads accepted by principal
Pending incentive disbursal
Staff attrition %
Win-Loss Pareto
Avg Cost of Acquisition
Customer Retention %
Cross-sell and Up-sell %
Repeat Business Revenue to Total Revenue
Once a management routine to measure and report these metrics have been established, performance improvement can be achieved through advanced sales analytics such as:
Trend Analytics – impact of seasons, month, week, day of week, time of sale
Market basket analysis for bundling products Factors resulting in poor conversion
Factors influencing Profitability and Contribution
Effect of Sales Campaigns and BTL (Below The Line) promotion activities