Sept. 28, 2020

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Creating unbreakable, long-term relationships with your customers

One thing (of many) the pandemic has clarified for us is the importance of durable, long-lasting relationships – and that applies to our personal lives every bit as much as our professional lives. In the world of B2B, our customer relationships have been (and are still being) tested like never before. For me, at least, it has been a strong confirmation of the importance of the SAM approach to sales – an almost daily reminder that we're only as strong as our relationships with our most important customers.

In a new post at the SAMA blog, Raj Parkeh of CuebridgeCX writes about the limitations of customer relationship management for managing the ongoing delivery of value. He argues that customer experience management (CXM) is a huge, untapped competitive differentiator for B2B suppliers and breaks down how it differs from – and complements – traditional CRM. Read his piece here


So what about if your customer is a large integrated delivery network (IDN) that only came into existence a year ago through a mega-merger of two seemingly unrelated entities (a la CVS and Aetna)? That would certainly seem to introduce a layer of customer relationship complexity that would have been unimaginable just a decade ago! Also on the SAMA blog, Advisory Board's Brandi Greenberg offers five healthcare trends (including the rise of IDNs) and a roadmap for SAMs to use to navigate them. Read her piece here.

Another item that's risen to even greater prominence during the pandemic is digital transformation. While it's always been an area of focus for SAMA, it's become even more so today. Whether it's strategic account managers moving to all-virtual sales or consumers who only want to buy online, the future is now. In a short, insightful piece from The Enterprisers Project, Gordon Haff tackles five ways the pandemic has reshaped buying behavior and what it means for sales organizations. Read it here

For much, much more on how the pandemic is reshaping our relationships with our most important customers, I invite you to register for the 2020 SAMA Virtual Annual Conference Nov. 9-11. To see a list of speakers, sessions and ways to connect, click here

Best regards,

Denise Freier, President & CEO, SAMA