The notion of customer orientation is becoming a necessity rather than a choice for many companies. It is a lasting response to competitive pressure and supports the company in a renewed definition of its mission, beyond direct economic gain. Within B2B services, the manager, through proximity to their team, their market and their client, is the essential actor in the deployment of this orientation.
A Customer-oriented Manager for B2B Services provides managers with the knowledge and tools necessary to implement customer orientation themselves, with the involvement of their extended team. To this end, this book presents a four-step approach: understand the fundamentals of customer orientation in B2B services, know the customer, make the most of the offer and deliver the service.
Part 1. Understanding the Fundamentals of Customer Orientation in B2B Services.
1. Customer Orientation.
2. Reality and Challenges of Service.
3. Markers of B2B.
Part 2. Knowing the Customer.
4. Modeling the Industrial Sector.
5. Understanding the Purchase.
6. Identifying Service Targets.
Part 3. Making the Most of the Offer.
7. Acting Against the Risk of Commoditization.
8. Formalizing Your Offer.
9. Taking Care of One Commercial Action.
Part 4. Delivering the Service.
10. Unlocking Human Potential.
11. Managing Service Operations.
12. Marketing the Tangibles.
Valérie Mathieu is Associate Professor at IAE Aix-Marseille, France, where she is Director of the Management and Service Marketing Master’s and Associate Dean in charge of Corporate Relations, Graduates and Continuing Education.