There are a number of studies within single industries demonstrating that there are superior ways of managing people and organizing their work. Yet although these superior management practices are reasonably well known, diffusion proceeds slowly and fitfully, and backsliding is common.—Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton, The Knowing-Doing Gap
Our traditional markets are rapidly maturing, resulting in a growing number of companies around the world that can provide the same services we do. Our behaviors, and the resulting trust and respect, are proving to be our real differentiators.—Marketing director for a multinational corporation
A remarkable number of managers today are like Wile E. Coyote, the Roadrunner’s cartoon foe who keeps getting hit in the face with a frying pan but never seems to learn from it. Although evidence abounds that superior behavior toward employees and customers can make an enormous difference,* they instead focus on operational efficiency, cycle times, throughput, total quality management (TQM), customer relationship management (CRM), and other such matters that are unquestionably important in running a business but will not distinguish them from their rivals unless those rivals are inept business managers. It is certainly true that you will not create a stellar business enterprise unless you have mastered the basics of business management and have created outstanding teams to run the various parts of your company. However, the managers who fail to grasp the benefits and opportunity of BD will find their growth and profit lines to be about as flat as their faces after being hit yet again by that frying pan.
Some B2C companies have learned this lesson and become exemplars of both customer service and behavioral differentiation, internally and externally. But for reasons that defy comprehension, many B2B companies act as though their markets and customers will be there for them no matter how they behave. Perhaps they were seduced by the roaring 1990s, an era of triple-digit growth, overnight e-billionaires, and customers so hungry for products that you could produce almost anything and sell it overnight. Before the dot-com collapse and a staggering economic reality check, the theme of the 1990s might have been “How to succeed in business without really trying.” Things have definitely changed.
In Chapter 2, we reported the results of research we have done with purchasing executives in customer organizations. In this chapter, we report the results of a supplier survey on current market challenges, using behavior for competitive advantage, and self-perceptions of how suppliers are viewed and what they value most in their company. The results are illuminating because they help us understand why some B2B companies are struggling in today’s markets and why differentiating themselves behaviorally is challenging for them.