Strategic Business-to-Business Relationship Management

Course code: MAR3LF002

Teacher: Hanna Harilainen

Strategic Business-to-Business Relationship Management - Session 1

  • Strategic management involves the formulation and implementation of the major goals and initiatives taken by a company's top management on behalf of owners, based on consideration of resources and an assessment of the internal and external environments in which the organization competes.
  • Solution selling is a sales methodology. Rather than just promoting an existing product, the salesperson focuses on the customer's pain(s) and addresses the issue with his or her offerings (product and services). The resolution of the pain is what constitutes a "solution". ( Wikipedia )
  • Relationship marketing was first defined as a form of marketing developed from direct response marketing campaigns which emphasizes customer retention and satisfaction, rather than a dominant focus on sales transactions. ( Wikipedia )

Strategic Business-to-Business Relationship Management - Session 2 - Work roles in sales

Some titles in sales:

  • Account Manager is a person who works for a company and is responsible for the management of sales, and relationships with particular customers. The account manager does not manage the daily running of the account itself. They manage the relationship with the client of the account(s) they are assigned to. ( Wikipedia )
  • Key account manageer is assigned to a company headquarters to oversee the account team assigned to a particular account. Key account management includes sales but also includes planning and managing the full relationship between a business and its most important customers. An account manager who works in this role will engage in a variety of tasks including project management, coordination, strategic planning, relationship management, negotiation, leadership and innovative development of opportunities, and keeping record of transaction of sale and purchase goods. The tasks may include working with product design and application, logistics, sales support, and marketing. ( Wikipedia on key account manager )
  • Export managers serve as intermediaries between foreign buyers and domestic sellers. Unlike export traders, who buy the products before selling directly to foreign buyers, export managers find buyers internationally for domestic product manufacturers. ( Education portal )
  • Sales manager is the typical title of someone whose role is sales management. The role typically involves talent development and leadership. ( Wikipedia on Sales management )
Sales management is a business discipline which is focused on the practical application of sales techniques and the management of a firm's sales operations. ( Wikipedia )

Key qualities for working in sales:

  1. Empathy and interest in people
  2. Ability to communicate (listening)
  3. Determination (closing a sale)
  4. Self-discipline and resilience

Strategic Business-to-Business Relationship Management - Session 3 - Sales process and sales management

In Management of a Sales Force (12th Ed. p. 66) by Rich, Spiro and Stanton a "sales process" is presented as consisting of eight steps. These are:
    • Prospecting / initial contact
    • Preapproach - planning the sale
    • identifying and cross questioning
    • Need assessment
    • Presentation
    • Meeting objections
    • Gaining commitment
    • Follow-up ( Wikipedia )
  • Customer acquisition management is the set of methodologies and systems to manage customer prospects and inquiries generated by a variety of marketing techniques. It can be considered the connectivity between advertising and customer relationship management. This critical connectivity facilitates the acquisition of targeted customers in an effective fashion. ( Wikipedia )
  • Customer retention is the activity that a selling organization undertakes in order to reduce customer defections. Successful customer retention starts with the first contact an organization has with a customer and continues throughout the entire lifetime of a relationship. ( Wikipedia )

Strategic Business-to-Business Relationship Management - Session 4 - Selling ICT services and products

  • IT service management refers to the implementation and management of quality information technology services. IT service management is performed by IT service providers through people, process and information technology. ( Wikipedia )
Examples of IT portfolios would be planned initiatives, projects, and ongoing IT services (such as application support). The promise of IT portfolio management is the quantification of previously informal IT efforts, enabling measurement and objective evaluation of investment scenarios. ( Wikipedia )
  • ITIL (formerly known as the Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is a set of practices for IT service management (ITSM) that focuses on aligning IT services with the needs of business. ( Wikipedia )
  • An elevator pitch, elevator speech, or elevator statement is a short summary used to quickly and simply define a person, profession, product, service, organization or event and its value proposition. ( Wikipedia )

Strategic Business-to-Business Relationship Management - Session 5 - Visiting the Finnbuild fair

  • Visit Finnbuild fair and make contact with some to arrange a meeting with them

Strategic Business-to-Business Relationship Management - Session 6 - Guest speaker

Strategic Business-to-Business Relationship Management - Session 7 - CRM in B2B services and segmentation in B2B

Strategic Business-to-Business Relationship Management - Session 8 - Multichannel intergration

Multichannel marketing is the ability to interact with potential customers on various platforms. In this sense, a channel might be a retail store, a web site, a mail order catalogue, or direct personal communications by letter, email or text message. ( Wikipedia )

Further reading


Business-to-Business Selling and Sales Management‎

Course code: MAR3LF003

Teacher: Seija Bergström

B2B Selling and Sales Management - Session 1

It is an important business function as net sales through the sale of products and services and resulting profit drive most commercial business. These are also typically the goals and performance indicators of sales management. ( Wikipedia )

B2B Selling and Sales Management - Session 2

  • FAB-analysis
Feature is any physical characteristic of a product
Advantage is the performance characteristic of a product that describes how it can be used or how it will help the buyer
Benefitis a favourable result the buyer receives from the product