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Sales - Changing role of sales

5 important questions on Sales - Changing role of sales

In which 5 steps can you move up the relationship staircase?

1. Approved vendor: An approved, legitimate vendor of products

2. Preferred supplier: Seen as the preferred vendor to do business with.

3. Solutions consultant: A vendor giving potential solutions to a problem, consulting resource

4. Strategic contributor: The solution the vendor proposes has an impact of the strategy of the customer. He sees you as a source of strategic planning.

5. Trusted partner: Highest level, part of the final decision-making unit. Key to customer's long-term succes.

What is the strategic triangle of Treacy and Wiersema?

It consists of 3 parts. The first one is the product leadership, then the operational excellence followed by the customer intimacy.

What are the characateristics of product leaderships in the triangle of T&W?

They want to be the best in their market and be highly valued by customers. They want to be the first ones to bring a new product on the market. This bring big risks because of big investments in innovation. ( Apple , Tesla)

What are the characteristics of operational excellence in the triange of T&W?

They want to offer the lowest prices possible and they do this by lowering their operational costs as much as possible. They want to be the most efficient. And are offering a limited amount of products according to the customer expectations. (Aldi, Dell, Colruyt)

What are the carachteristics of customer intimacy in tht triangle of T&W?

They want to focus on only 1 or a few high-value customer niches. They want to do everything to provide the best customer service. For example, 5 star hotel, customised car,...