Building Interdependence in B2B Customer/Supplier Relationships

Within B2B, customers and suppliers are increasingly recognising levels of interdependence along the entire value chain as they come together to create a product or service.

Historically organisations vertically integrated the entire value chain as they controlled the product / service from start to finish. The norm today is collaboration, partnership, virtual working as organisations seek out a balance of value, capability and competency.

This is the second vital underpinning driver of being customer attuned, as higher levels interdependence will lead to more trusted and equitable relationships.

This is not to be confused with dependence, where a supplier has become over reliant upon a customer and the relationship loses that equitability.
Thus the term interdependence for us means:

Reliance of both the Organisation/Brand/Service and the Customer on each other within the relationship

i.e.

You make me feel part of the team and value the part I play

How has the supplier/customer interface and relationship developed?

We have found an increasing move towards joint working within the B2B relationship through project teams or more formal and structured ‘strategic business units’. This has come about as both sides pursue value creation opportunities within the value chain.

Working in this way requires a significant amount of trust, respect, communication, shared values and an understanding of mutual needs. B2B attunement should form an integral part of true Joint Working with an agreed monitoring/review and adjustment process forming a key part of the overall relationship management process.

What are the differences and changing dynamics within B2B contact?

Within a B2B relationship the contact framework operates as a multiple of levels across numerous functions if the relationship is to be value enhancing.

The relationship is managed by a lead person in each organisation or a team leader who is responsible for setting the expectations and delivering the experiences.

Contact is conducted across a number of media:

Face to Face
E- Mail & Paper based mail
Telesales ~ phone
Web
Customer Service
Social Media

A key factor within attuning your customer relationship is the provision of a regular value enhancing contact framework: despite the technology revolution, personal contact is still important.

In deciding on a review process, all TOUCH POINTS must be considered and a monitoring process put in place to ensure that the full experience is being assessed and issues highlighted.

Increased levels of interdependence have been pursued for a number of reasons: increased loyalty, barriers to exit, development of new solutions and cost release to name but just a few. Greater integration within the value chain can lead to a blurring of the lines between: customer, supplier, and product and becomes more aligned to co-creators.

At the other end of the spectrum are b2b relationships that developed interdependent relationships without fully thinking through the consequences. Initial success gives way to increased reliance on one customer relationship, until ‘inter’ leads to dependent. Without the counter balance of trust and equitability it is a seductive short term solution.

Author
Recent Posts

Dr Mark Hollyoake

Mark is a co-founder and Director of Customer Attuned Ltd. He holds a Doctorate from the University ofSouthampton, his thesis focused on Trust as a dynamic within business to business customer relationships.

He is an expert in B2B Customer Experience and Customer Management. This includes CM strategy development; execution of improvement plans (incl. organisational modelling for customer management); programme design; and partnership & alliance development.

Mark's applied work across FMCG, industrials, medical devices, financial services, business services and construction has led to organisations making, significant improvements to their customer management. A large focus of this work has been moving organisations up the Trust Ladder to enable them to benefit from reduced cost to serve, while continuing to innovate and deliver mutual value.

Mark is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and Member of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management. He holds an MBA in strategy from Henley Business School.

Latest posts by Dr Mark Hollyoake (see all)