B2B Organic Growth Blog

Tell me to increase shareholder value and I struggle to identify something I can do as an employee to raise earnings per share. Tell me to understand and increase customer value, and I can think of a dozen things to do, most of them actionable, measurable, and beneficial to our bottom line. Many of these I will find inspiring… as will others. Our research shows companies pursuing shareholder wealth grow slower than others.

More in Chapter 4 of Business Builders by Dan Adams

The cathedral-builder has counted the cost in years and is willing to pay it to create something of enduring value. He recruits and apprentices the finest stone masons and wood carvers he can find. Because these craftsmen know the passion of the builder, they are secure in their employment, and they work with pride. Do you have such builders?

More in 2-minute video at 3. Be a business builder

You can have an intelligent, peer-to-peer conversation about pressure ratings, fluid specifications, etc. And expect greater B2B interest vs. B2C, since your innovations can help the hydraulics engineer become a hero with his next new product. Without innovative suppliers like you, his path to recognition is a difficult one. The more you understand B2B vs. B2C, the more you can “take advantage of your B2B advantages.”

More in white paper, B2B vs. B2C

When recruiting John Sculley from Pepsi, Steve Jobs asked, “Do you want to sell sugar water the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?” Most employees paid no attention to your last quarter’s earnings-per-share. But they’ll tell their grandkids how their new product turned an industry upside-down.

More in Business Builders, Chapter 4

It’s likely that entering call reports into your Customer Relations Management system (e.g., SalesForce.com) is more important than your sellers think it is. At least this is what our research shows. In a study of 12 voice-of-customer skills (with 396 responses), salespeople rated their competency in making CRM entries the lowest… and the least important. And yet, this VOC skill had one of the strongest correlations to beating sales quotas. Whoops.

Download AIM Institute research report, VOC Skills that Drive B2B Sales

Technology development is science-facing and converts money into knowledge. Product development is market-facing and converts knowledge back into money. Both are critical, but don’t confuse them. And never do any product development until you have quantified, unbiased, unfiltered data on customer needs.

More in white paper, Commercialize technology in six foolproof steps

Some companies have a small staff of “interviewing experts.” But large businesses chalk up thousands of face-to-face customer meetings each year… as sales and technical service reps go about their normal duties. Why not train these people to become VOC experts? They’ve already gained customers’ trust, they know the customer’s language, they’ll get key information first-hand, and there’s no extra travel cost.

More in white paper, Everyday VOC

It’s usually a sign the new-product team has a supplier-centric mindset, not a customer-centric one. Validating hypotheses is converging around a supplier solution… which should occur after diverging around customer needs. It’s important to get the sequence right. Look around and study Problem Solving 101: Divergent thinking nearly always precedes convergent thinking.

More in 2-minute growth video #21, Give your hypotheses the silent treatment

I worked in manufacturing in the 1970s, when it seemed like “overkill” to train operators in statistics for quality control. But this is expected today. I met Dr. Deming in the 1980’s and heard him say, “It is not necessary to change. Survival is optional.”  Compared to statistics, the science of B2B customer insight is quite simple. Will you be GM or Toyota in the innovation wave?

More in white paper, Catch the Innovation Wave (page 12)

Key account managers have a HARD job: Members of the customer buying team are… HIDDEN (the person saying “no” may be completely unknown), ABUNDANT (on average, 5.4 people are involved in B2B buying decisions), RELUCTANT (stakeholders believe they’re “too busy to meet with a salesperson”), and DISAGREEING (they have different perspectives on what is needed). To overcome this, try Key Account Blueprinting… New Product Blueprinting applied to one large account at a time.

More in white paper, Key Account Blueprinting