VELOCITY - DEE JACOB [149]
And so they settled in for the day. By the end, they had another whiteboard covered with sticky notes and arrows – and there was hardly a doubt in anyone’s mind by then that if they advanced, leaf by logical leaf, branch by structured branch, they would create a sturdy future for Hi-T and everyone connected with the company.
The starting strategy was simple. In Amy’s words, “We will start by using our new strengths and speed in production and inventory management as a platform to build marketplace advantages for ourselves and our customers.”
Next, they conceived of their customers as being in three general groups: existing accounts, lost accounts that could be regained, and new accounts that had not yet done business with Hi-T. They then designed offers and capabilities that would appeal to any or all of these groups.
From these basic strategic decisions flowed a variety of specific initiatives:
Injection: We build supply chain alliances to help our customers win against their competitors.
Because of this …
We gain special, strategic relationships with our best customers.
With their new expertise in time to reliably replenish, they could create working relationships that could tremendously increase the value to the customer in ways that traditional sales and purchasing could never achieve. They would look into the markets that their customers faced, and help those customers increase their own velocity toward their goals.
In related fashion, they would offer vendor-managed inventory services, either free, for the biggest accounts, or for a modest charge. Rather than the customer having to devote resources to keeping track of consumed stocks, computer linkups would accomplish that and automatically trigger the necessary orders. This would be less strategically intimate than the alliances – although it could also augment them – but it would still help build a close and secure relationship.
Injection: We use our new inventory management skills to offer vendor-managed inventory to customers.
As a result …
Mutually advantageous customer relationships build long-term sales.
Unfortunately, the effects of the Winner acquisition had been such as to drive away a number of accounts. The long lead times, the missed shipping dates, and other aggravations had caused some customers to express their displeasures with their feet – and leave. But Garth and a number of the salespeople in the field felt that some of these lost accounts could be brought back, given that the causes that had brought about their departure were now remedied. The problem was, how could they convince them? And so …
Injection: We offer “promise kept or the penalty is on us” types of guarantees.
As a result …
Customers believe in our sincerity and place orders, which leads to repeated, long-term sales.
The idea was that there would be guarantees offered to these lost customers that would inflict a substantial penalty on Hi-T if shipping dates were missed or if a quality issue caused dissatisfaction. Amy was nervous about this one, but when Murphy and Wayne agreed the risk could be minimized, she signed off on it.
Then there were potential new customers. Garth’s sales force would of course continue to make presentations and seek relationships with the larger users of composites – the “biggies,” as Garth called them. But there were plenty of potential customers that the sales force could never get to. Most of these were smaller companies and distributors, and a lot of them were offshore in faraway markets. So the question