Building a Zippered Network

Gideon Sundback, a Swedish immigrant and electrical engineer who worked for the Universal Fastener Company, invented the “Separable Fastener” in 1917, though the term zipper originated with the B. F. Goodrich Company when it used Sundback’s invention on a new design for galoshes. Apparently, Goodrich felt that “separable fastener” was too clumsy a term so it chose one with more zip. Goodrich might be surprised today at how we are using the term to describe networking between supplier and customer organizations, but it’s an appropriate metaphor. A “zippered network” is one that extends from top to bottom across both organizations—with links between senior executives, between relevant managers and departments, between technicians and support people and those they support, and so on. What binds these multiple levels together is mutual interest in serving the customer’s needs. Zippered networks are not born; they are made. And having huge gaps in them is as undesirable in customer networking as it would be in a pair of trousers.

In our experience, most B2B companies do not build zippered networks as thoroughly as they should, so being more disciplined about networking can be a behavioral differentiator. Practically speaking, how does one do that? First, you have to understand how customer organizations are wired, and here we are going to borrow another metaphor from Gideon Sundback, who, you may recall, was also an electrical engineer. Companies have formal organization structures and reporting relationships, which are generally shown on organization charts. But the truth about how companies work—how the juice really flows—is never apparent on an organization chart. What’s missing are the lines of actual communication between people and groups; the power relationships based partly on hierarchy and position but largely on each person’s knowledge, reputation, influence, and working relationships; and the dynamic ebb and flow of those who are rising in the organization, those who are on a plateau, and those whose star is dimming. In effect, this is how the company is actually wired—how the work gets done, how priorities are set, how influence is exercised, and how decisions are made. In short, how the power flows.

To network effectively within any customer organization, you have to comprehend how the place is wired, and you have to build relationships with the people who are making or influencing the buying decisions today, as well as those who will be making such decisions tomorrow. Further, if you want to know what’s really happening inside the customer’s organization, you have to be talking to people at all levels—from the executive suite to the project offices and from the cubicles to the lunchrooms. Hence, the importance of building a zippered network.

This is particularly important in global customer organizations where decisions are usually decentralized and there are multiple centers of power and influence. John Gardner, vice chairman of Heidrick & Struggles’s board services group and managing partner of the firm’s office of the chairmen, advises being systematic in developing global client relationships:

You have to look very broadly at a client’s organization and business issues and be part strategist and part psychologist. You also need to know enough about the industry to know the DNA of the competing companies and the implications of their differences. What is unique about your client? What are they trying to accomplish with the resources and leadership they have? Then you reach out and penetrate the client’s organization, mapping the terrain, so to speak, knowing who’s who in senior management and human resources globally. You match your depth and capability with the client’s organization and needs, and then you actively develop the key relationships.¹⁰

Effective networks don’t just happen. You have to be systematic in mapping the terrain, as Gardner said, and then be proactive in establishing contact and building the relationships.

You also have to take the long view about customers. Initially, you should operate in the “no-pitch” zone, striving to come across as a thought partner rather than a vendor trying to close the sale. Some tools you might use to bring the right people together from your company and the customer’s organization include seminars, customer forums, idea exchanges, brainstorming or problem-solving meetings, team-building events, private trade shows, product launch events, and social gatherings. Of course, a number of companies do use such tools, but we have not seen many that are as systematic and thoughtful about using these tools as they could be. Some sales managers make good use of them; others use these tools haphazardly if at all. Farther up the high-technology food chain are virtual networks using WebEx, eRoom, or similar platforms to create online chats, discussion boards, document repositories, and so on. Some companies have also created proprietary Web sites that give customers private information or enable them to track shipments or projects, monitor order status, and configure their solutions.

Of course, the key to building an effective network in the customer’s organization is not technology, which is only an enabler. Rather, it’s having both the personal and the institutional skill and will to do the networking in a systematic and disciplined way—and doing it so that it is visible and valuable to customers. Most companies lack the skill and the will, so you can differentiate yourself behaviorally by following a few simple guidelines:

Make networking a formal and deliberate part of your relationship-building process. Manage it and measure it. Develop and use contact plans to make your network building systematic. Include a “Value Provided” field on your contact plans so that you can create and document your effort to establish quality face time in every interaction with the customer. Most companies know this, but few do it. Doing this alone will differentiate you from three-quarters of your competitors, who will not have the contacts when they need them, won’t gain as much intelligence on upcoming opportunities, and don’t have as much influence in the customer’s organization because they lack the broad zippered network you will have built.

Create bios of the customer’s key people and refresh your memory before meeting with them. Know as much as you can about the people before coming face-to-face with them. As you talk to them and learn more about them, remember the facts of their lives (birthdays, children’s names, favorite sports or books, where they’ve vacationed) and inquire about them from time to time.

While you’re interacting with customers, disclose some things about yourself, not only the facts of your life but what you like and don’t like, your operating style, your weaknesses and pet peeves. Be human with people, and you’ll form stronger bonds.

Include the assistants and secretaries in your network. They know more about what’s going on in the organization than many other professionals. Treat them well, remember their names, and don’t ever condescend to them or be rude. Believe it or not, this will differentiate you from many of your rivals. There are people who have thinly veiled contempt for those they consider beneath them. Happily, these fools are the behavioral contrast that makes your kind and respectful treatment of everyone in the customer’s organization a positive differentiator for you. Secretaries, receptionists, and assistants will talk to their bosses about you. They’ll say when you have been friendly, helpful, respectful, kind, and understanding—and they’ll go out of their way to baste you if you’ve been unfriendly, gruff, dismissive, demanding, and rude. Remember that every customer touch point is an opportunity for behavioral differentiation.

Find every reasonable opportunity to meet with the key people in your network informally (during meals, sporting events, social occasions, industry social gatherings, and so on). Informal contacts help build personal bonds.

Be absolutely responsive to them at all times. Return telephone calls and e-mail messages promptly.

We know that the advice we’re offering here is not new. It goes without saying that you should return phone calls as quickly as possible. These tips have been bandied around in sales books, articles, lectures, videotapes, and sales meetings for decades. Nonetheless, although the advice may sound old hat, the fact is that many people don’t do these things consistently. These old saws keep recycling through sales courses and books because they are best practices that aren’t practiced universally, and the people who do practice them tend to be the stars. When asked for the secrets of their success, the best-in-class people and companies invariably cite these kinds of practices. What do we make of this? Simply that practicing the best practices is bound to differentiate you behaviorally from a number of your competitors who know what they should be doing but don’t do it—and aren’t holding anyone accountable for doing it. Indeed, a great deal of what we’re discussing here as behavioral differentiation in early middle game can and should be integrated into a company’s sales management and performance review processes.