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

Description

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. Cover Half-Title Page Title Page Copyright Page Contents Foreword Preface Part 1. Understanding the Fundamentals of Customer Orientation in B2B Services Introduction to Part 1 Chapter 1. Customer Orientation 1.1. Outlines and challenges of customer orientation 1.1.1. Customer orientation framework 1.1.2. Benefits of customer orientation 1.1.3. Implementing customer orientation 1.2. Marketing as the source of customer orientation 1.2.1. Marketing as a corporate culture 1.2.2. Strategic marketing 1.2.3. Operational marketing 1.3. The manager’s customer orientation in response to marketing issues 1.3.1. Restricted marketing 1.3.2. Marketing exposure to technological challenges Chapter 2. Reality and Challenges of Service 2.1. Economy and service: from data to discourse 2.1.1. The economic weight of service 2.1.2. Discourses on service 2.2. Defining the service 2.2.1. The organizational angle: the concept of servuction 2.2.2. The market angle: a process and an outcome 2.3. Characteristics of the service 2.3.1. Intangibility 2.3.2. Simultaneity 2.3.3. Heterogeneity 2.3.4. Perishability Chapter 3. Markers of B2B 3.1. Reality of the market 3.1.1. Market option 3.1.2. Derived demand 3.2. The relational issue 3.2.1. Framework of the client–provider relationship 3.2.2. Relational excellence Part 2. Knowing the Customer Introduction to Part 2 4. Modeling the Industrial Sector 4.1. Direct market 4.1.1. Knowing one’s market in its entirety 4.1.2. Segmentation 4.1.3. Targeting 4.2. Indirect actors 4.2.1. Identifying the actors 4.2.2. Managers’ responsibility towards indirect actors Chapter 5. Understanding the Purchase 5.1. Buying center concept 5.1.1. Composition of the buying center 5.1.2. The buyer 5.2. Buying process 5.2.1. The launch 5.2.2. Call for tenders 5.2.3. From short list to contract Chapter 6. Identifying Service Targets 6.1. Different types of targets 6.1.1. Targets within the direct client organization 6.1.2. Targets in the sector 6.2. Target satisfaction challenge 6.2.1. The notion of satisfaction 6.2.2. Measuring satisfaction Part 3. Making the Most of the Offer Introduction to Part 3 Chapter 7. Acting Against the Risk of Commoditization 7.1. Understanding the phenomenon of the offer commoditization 7.1.1. Characteristics of a commoditized market 7.1.2. Explanatory factors 7.1.3. The commoditization trap 7.2. Countering the commoditization of the offer 7.2.1. Strategies for presenting the offer 7.2.2. Strategies for enriching the offer Chapter 8. Formalizing Your Offer 8.1. Positioning the offer 8.1.1. The notion of positioning 8.1.2. The manager and positioning 8.2. Design of the service offer 8.2.1. Structure of the service offer 8.2.2. Service innovation 8.3. Plasticity of the service offer 8.3.1. Levels of plasticity 8.3.2. Presentation of the service offer Chapter 9. Taking Care of One Commercial Action 9.1. Commercial proposal 9.1.1. Documents and materials 9.1.2. Oral presentation 9.2. Commercial negotiation 9.2.1. Preparing for the negotiation 9.2.2. Negotiating Part 4. Delivering the Service Introduction to Part 4 Chapter 10. Unlocking Human Potential 10.1. Associating the client 10.1.1. Principles of client participation in the service 10.1.2. A more complex reality in B2B 10.1.3. The manager orchestrates the client’s participation 10.2. Mobilizing the team 10.2.1. A team in a service situation 10.2.2. An expanded team 10.2.3. Customer-oriented leadership Chapter 11. Managing Service Operations 11.1. Operational efficiency 11.1.1. Operational effectiveness framework 11.1.2. Specificities of operational efficiency in services 11.2. Manager’s responsibility for customer-oriented operations 11.2.1. Operations and quality of service 11.2.2. Operations and service experience 11.2.3. Operations and profitability Chapter 12. Marketing the Tangibles 12.1. Tangible elements of the service 12.1.1. Nature of tangible elements 12.1.2. Dual function of tangible elements 12.2. Challenges of tangibles 12.2.1. The human being in a physical environment 12.2.2. Tangible element of the service brand Conclusion References Index Other titles from iSTE in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Management