September 26th, 2023

Why do Organizations Struggle to Get Above the Line of Safety?

In our last blog, we discussed the Line of Safety and some of the benefits of working on topics that are relevant to buyers who are empowered to independently solve problems at their respective companies. Most organizations are aware of the need to sell to and build relationships with high-level buyers (e.g., C-Suite Executives). Despite … Continue reading “Why do Organizations Struggle to Get Above the Line of Safety?”

September 13th, 2023

The Line of Safety – What Is It and Why Is It Important?

Companies today are constantly working to differentiate themselves in the eyes of the market and their most valued customers. However, for many organizations, standing out amongst increased competition in commoditized markets has never been more difficult. For companies feeling uncertain about their future in the market, the journey towards identifying a clear strategy begins with … Continue reading “The Line of Safety – What Is It and Why Is It Important?”

February 20th, 2023

The Chief Commercial Officer as a Growth Differentiator Part 4

In this fourth and final post in the Chief Commercial Officer series (Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) role is a growth differentiator , Role and Responsibilities of a CCO , Strategic Actions of a CCO), we address how an organization might proceed with leveraging a Chief Commercial Officer to drive transformational growth. It probably goes without … Continue reading “The Chief Commercial Officer as a Growth Differentiator Part 4”

October 18th, 2022

The Chief Commercial Officer as a Growth Differentiator

Driving organic growth is consistently one of the top goals of for-profit businesses or organizations. Other goals such as quality, customer and employee satisfaction, research and other investment, cash flow, and capital deployment are also important depending on the industry and customer expectations. However, many of these goals are ultimately derived from a healthy growth profile … Continue reading “The Chief Commercial Officer as a Growth Differentiator”

June 19th, 2015

Customer Intimacy: Messaging to Enable Sales

Since it’s so important to success, let’s talk about messaging and the sales force. You must differentiate your business with clear messaging attributes which include:

  • An Idea Sellingstoryboard
  • Answers to key questions like:
    – “Why” they should do this
    – “How” they can do this
    – “With whom” should they do this

The Idea Sellingstoryboard must be complete but concise.  Glean out a 2-3 minute explanation of why examining the Idea is so important for the customer group – The Idea Statement.  If the story takes 15 minutes to explain, it is by definition not messaged well, too complex, or too focused on your firm’s capabilities, for this stage of your journey. 

February 26th, 2015

Developing Compelling Service Chain Linkages

Linkages are pre-planned connections from one offering that pulls through the next offering. The connections are made by carefully pre-planned and executed sales activities. Of course in reality, linkages do not begin at the end of one project and end at the beginning of the next. Linkages are positioning activities that take place during the initial sales process and during projects. The positioning may not only be related to the next project in the Service Chain, but also can be made with regard to the entire Service Chain.

December 14th, 2014

Evaluating Ideas: Criteria to Foster Customer Intimacy

When developing Service Chains™ it is important to evaluate their business value and your ability to implement them in the market. At McMann & Ransford, we recommend tracking the following criteria to help foster customer intimacy:

August 12th, 2014

Leading with Ideas: The Key to Customer Intimacy

Let’s take some time and discuss the power of ideas and their importance as the central component of a True Solutions.  Good ideas facilitate the road to true customer intimacy. 

A solution is the embodiment of an idea – and how the idea can be realized.  The idea is the kernel of the change in the relationship from pushing products and discussing business opportunities.  Often conversations that are supposed to be about solutions are really about how to better use our products and get more bang for the buck in our relationship; these are valuable issues but not True Solutions™ discussions. 

November 29th, 2013

Beyond Solution Selling: Customer Intimacy as a Path to True Solutions

During the first stage of the Customer Intimacy Journey it is important to create and deliver solutions that have a visible impact with your clients

 As you know, terms like “solutions” and “customer intimacy” are overused in the management consulting industry, and I believe often mean too little.  In this blog, we’ll try to distinguish our thoughts with not-so-clever use of the terms True Solutions™ and Intimacy Engine™.  I want to talk about what True Solutions™ are and how it is crucial to the building of the Intimacy Engine™ business model.

March 4th, 2013

The Customer Intimacy Journey: A Blueprint for Change

The challenge for any significant change initiative is maintaining motivation and focus throughout the effort. Most change initiatives fail because of this very issue. Both individuals and corporations suffer from this phenomenon – personal improvement (like weight loss) is difficult because the change in habit must be maintained for a long period of time without … Continue reading “The Customer Intimacy Journey: A Blueprint for Change”