APRIL - JUNECONSTRUCTIONTECHREVIEW.COM8EFFECTIVE CRM IN CONSTRUCTION B2BIN MYOPINIONAt the end of the day, we all have to deal with customers. Every business has to sell their product or service to a customer. The types of customers and the situations are endless. When it comes to the construction trade, we also have an endless array of customers and partners. Are we selling to the end user, trade contractor, general contrac-tor, construction management firm, or an architect? The answer is all of the above and then some.One method used to classify type of selling is to lump the sales in to a business to consumer (B2C) or business to business (B2B) category. There are countless articles and programs that tout being geared to B2C or B2B and extolling the differences and why one is appropriate versus the other in your environment. This is appropriate for describing the type of business you are in, that being selling to other businesses versus consumers, but there is so much more to the actual sale. There is no line between the art of selling to a consumer and selling to a business. In either case, you will typically be dealing with people and selling always comes down to understanding what problem the customer needs solved, what motivates the customer to purchase, and what the customer (person) values. A good sales person will identify these quickly and determine the odds that the service or product they have will result in a sale. The salesperson then either goes to work on making the sale or moves along to a better sales opportunity. A landed customer becomes part of the customer mix for any business. All customers have different problems, motivations, and values. Successful companies don't just look for, land, and retain any customer; they are always looking for the most profitable customers and attempting to improve their customer mix. Throughout the process of identifying, developing, selling, and servicing a customer, a relationship is formed. This relationship might only last for one sale or it might last for many sales. This occurs whether it is a B2B or B2C environment. When using the word "relationship" with respect to customers, we often have very different ideas about what it means. For many the word relationship extends beyond business to a more personal connection. While that's true, when we are discussing business it is important to remember that the foundation of the relationship is the business relationship and if we don't get that right, the personal side of the relationship often won't support the ongoing business relationship. There are also relationships that extend beyond our customers to other parties involved in dealing with our customers such as those mentioned earlier. While we might be selling to a contractor, the purchase decision is made by the architect or a construction management firm. Relationship management extends to everyone involved.As the art of managing the customer and the relationship has evolved a term has been coined A good CRM system will help a business to identify, attract, and retain the best set of customersJeffrey L. AdamsBy Jeffrey L. Adams, President & CEO, Redland Brick Inc.
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