January 10, 2024- Customer business reviews are intended to help us and the customer understand the dynamics of our business and relationship at every meaningful level.
From a quantitative perspective, we need to understand several key metrics. What is the customer’s purchase trend? What are their high unit and dollar volume purchases? Are there product gaps? Is the proportion of private label product purchases at a level to help customers get the best value for their dollar? Are they buying private label from my competition and why? How do their purchase patterns compare to other similar customers?
Qualitatively, we need to assess and understand their view of us. Are we trusted as their top tier distributor? Are we a gap filler for them when their lead distributor has product supply issues? Are we considered a consultative resource? Are we viewed as a trusted resource by each key decision maker or simply a transactional convenience? Have we developed a coach with the customer to help guide and inform us?
We would all like every customer to consider us as their most valuable distributor and most trusted resource for their product needs and a consultant when they face strategic issues about their lab business, significant capital purchases and even alignment with GPO organizations. Many large distributors “heat map” their customers and their business patterns. While this data is useful at a high level, every well-established distributor account manager needs to understand their customers intimately, from what they buy to why they buy and to the extent that they invest trust in us as a consultative resource.
Continue Reading in the latest issue of Repertoire Magazine.