A Customer-oriented Manager for B2B Services: Principles and Implementation

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.

Table of Contents:
Foreword ix Preface xiii Part 1. Understanding the Fundamentals of Customer Orientation in B2B Services 1 Introduction to Part 1 3 Chapter 1. Customer Orientation 5 1.1. Outlines and challenges of customer orientation 5 1.1.1. Customer orientation framework 5 1.1.2. Benefits of customer orientation 6 1.1.3. Implementing customer orientation 8 1.2. Marketing as the source of customer orientation 12 1.2.1. Marketing as a corporate culture 13 1.2.2. Strategic marketing 15 1.2.3. Operational marketing 16 1.3. The manager’s customer orientation in response to marketing issues 18 1.3.1. Restricted marketing 18 1.3.2. Marketing exposure to technological challenges 20 Chapter 2. Reality and Challenges of Service 23 2.1. Economy and service: from data to discourse 23 2.1.1. The economic weight of service 23 2.1.2. Discourses on service 26 2.2. Defining the service 29 2.2.1. The organizational angle: the concept of servuction 29 2.2.2. The market angle: a process and an outcome 32 2.3. Characteristics of the service 35 2.3.1. Intangibility 35 2.3.2. Simultaneity 36 2.3.3. Heterogeneity 37 2.3.4. Perishability 38 Chapter 3. Markers of B2B 41 3.1. Reality of the market 41 3.1.1. Market option 41 3.1.2. Derived demand 45 3.2. The relational issue 49 3.2.1. Framework of the client–provider relationship 49 3.2.2. Relational excellence 51 Part 2. Knowing the Customer 57 Introduction to Part 2 59 Chapter 4. Modeling the Industrial Sector 61 4.1. Direct market 61 4.1.1. Knowing one’s market in its entirety 61 4.1.2. Segmentation 64 4.1.3. Targeting 67 4.2. Indirect actors 68 4.2.1. Identifying the actors 69 4.2.2. Managers’ responsibility towards indirect actors 71 Chapter 5. Understanding the Purchase 79 5.1. Buying center concept 79 5.1.1. Composition of the buying center 79 5.1.2. The buyer 82 5.2. Buying process 87 5.2.1. The launch 88 5.2.2. Call for tenders 91 5.2.3. From short list to contract 93 Chapter 6. Identifying Service Targets 97 6.1. Different types of targets 97 6.1.1. Targets within the direct client organization 97 6.1.2. Targets in the sector 101 6.2. Target satisfaction challenge 103 6.2.1. The notion of satisfaction 103 6.2.2. Measuring satisfaction 107 Part 3. Making the Most of the Offer 111 Introduction to Part 3 113 Chapter 7. Acting Against the Risk of Commoditization 115 7.1. Understanding the phenomenon of the offer commoditization 115 7.1.1. Characteristics of a commoditized market 115 7.1.2. Explanatory factors 116 7.1.3. The commoditization trap 119 7.2. Countering the commoditization of the offer 123 7.2.1. Strategies for presenting the offer 123 7.2.2. Strategies for enriching the offer 131 Chapter 8. Formalizing Your Offer 135 8.1. Positioning the offer 135 8.1.1. The notion of positioning 135 8.1.2. The manager and positioning 137 8.2. Design of the service offer 139 8.2.1. Structure of the service offer 139 8.2.2. Service innovation 142 8.3. Plasticity of the service offer 147 8.3.1. Levels of plasticity 147 8.3.2. Presentation of the service offer 150 Chapter 9. Taking Care of One Commercial Action 153 9.1. Commercial proposal 153 9.1.1. Documents and materials 153 9.1.2. Oral presentation 155 9.2. Commercial negotiation 158 9.2.1. Preparing for the negotiation 158 9.2.2. Negotiating 160 Part 4. Delivering the Service 165 Introduction to Part 4 167 Chapter 10. Unlocking Human Potential 169 10.1. Associating the client 169 10.1.1. Principles of client participation in the service 169 10.1.2. A more complex reality in B2B 171 10.1.3. The manager orchestrates the client’s participation 173 10.2. Mobilizing the team 179 10.2.1. A team in a service situation 179 10.2.2. An expanded team 184 10.2.3. Customer-oriented leadership 186 Chapter 11. Managing Service Operations 189 11.1. Operational efficiency 189 11.1.1. Operational effectiveness framework 189 11.1.2. Specificities of operational efficiency in services 192 11.2. Manager’s responsibility for customer-oriented operations 193 11.2.1. Operations and quality of service 193 11.2.2. Operations and service experience 195 11.2.3. Operations and profitability 197 Chapter 12. Marketing the Tangibles 201 12.1. Tangible elements of the service 201 12.1.1. Nature of tangible elements 201 12.1.2. Dual function of tangible elements 203 12.2. Challenges of tangibles 206 12.2.1. The human being in a physical environment 206 12.2.2. Tangible element of the service brand 207 Conclusion 211 References 215 Index 227

About the Author :
Valerie 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.