Purpose:

Most of us are familiar with the three traditional B2B differentiation strategies: 1) Low Cost, 2) Innovation, and 3) Intimacy. Many large B2B companies earned their success riding the wave of innovation. As that innovation loses its novelty and the marketplace becomes more saturated, intimacy must be incorporated into the differentiation strategy, and therefore the business model. Furthermore, adopting a True Intimacy model enables you to become the partner that identifies latent (and blatant) customer opportunities and acts as the guide for solving problems and realizing opportunities for your key customers.

The True Intimacy Model is a cycle of actions that drives you toward greater customer understanding and involvement, enabling a transformational process that rethinks your actions through your customers’ needs. The True Intimacy Model integrates many components including: inverse market segmentation, affinity targeting, account categorization and synthesis, transformative portfolio, account pathways, and Idea Selling.

Benefits: Leveraging True Intimacy allows you to:

• Work Above the Line Safety ^SM with key executives
• Expand your share of wallet
• Improve margin
• Pull through products and services
• Solidify the significance of your role in an account
• Position you as a valued advisor
• Reshape the executive’s view of your personnel

Critical Success Factors: To achieve True Intimacy, you must focus on the following areas:

• Portfolio: Determine the offers that will help solve your customers’ problems
• Account Lifecycle: Establish how you will pull through products and services
• Sales and Account Capabilities: Adjust customer communication to authorize your role as a trusted advisor.

Tools:

True Intimacy Model, Portfolio, Idea Selling ^SM, Service Chains ^SM, Account Pathways