Winning with Customers: A Playbook for B2B

Chapter 3. The Playbook

As we have worked with companies over the years, our philosophy has evolved. In the early stages we were focused on projects. We would work our tails off to find people and businesses that got it. "Got it" means someone who fundamentally believed that injecting a rigorous customer perspective into his or her business would yield meaningful business results. There were plenty of professionals who wanted to have the dialogue but not nearly as many who were willing to take on the real work of incorporating the customer's view beyond a survey, or something else that did not take much time. This was true for practitioners and service providers alike—even for some who were considered thought leaders. Imagine that.

As a practitioner and thought leader, Keith Pigues has gone through the school of hard knocks in his career pursuit to lead companies through the painstaking process to become a more customer-focused organization. Jerry Alderman's career has been half and half. He developed his passion for the power of customer focus as a practitioner and for the past 10-plus years has worked to help companies as a thought leader and solution provider.

Through these experiences (the good, the bad, and the ugly) we have come to a common place in a "Playbook" that represents our best insights into what it takes to "Win with Customers" and maximize your profits. This is a playbook developed for serious players who want to win and win big.

After reading this chapter you will ...