With the B2B market as competitive as it has now become, companies need to develop new ways to hold on to current customers, smart ways to bring back old ones and ingenious ways to entice new ones. In easier times, it seems merely a matter of doing a great job delivering goods and services. Business flow then takes care of itself. But in a tough environment, customers expect more.



Solid market leaders, however, those that hang at the top year after year after year, despite the economy, stretch their ideas and challenge their assumptions with original research projects so as to stay one stop (heck, ten steps) ahead of not only their competitors but their customers as well. What do their buyers want? What are they willing to pay for, even with disposable income shrinking out of sight? What can be offered that customers won't even realize they want until it's right there in front of their eyes?

Here's how Shelley Hall, President of Catalytic Management Group, a sales effectiveness consulting firm, puts it: “What can you do to maintain excitement in your company? How can you stay not only relevant to your customers but essential to them? How can you know if you are still delivering real value?

“The answer is actually quite easy: just ask them! Flat sales and high customer churn may mean you've lost touch with your customers. So you've go to ask them these questions and let them tell you exactly how to sell to them. Your customers know perfectly well, they'll lead you to how you can reinvent your company to meet their needs.”

Once you've compiled “fresh thinking” from a survey or other original research project, the skies of possibilities for you and your clients open wide. Just some of the many benefits from conducting customer research include:

• Your results can be posted on your website and marketing materials

• You can position yourself and your firm as the thoughtleading experts in this area

• You could write a book or at least a series of articles or blogs reporting your findings

• You can offer webinars or speaking topics to highlight your market leader status

• You can distribute (or sell) executive summaries of your final report

• Best of all, you can modify your products and services or create new ones, i.e., you can better serve your customers as well as win new ones!

Such a valuable list of bonus repercussions from your fresh thinking efforts obviously suggests many dividends not available from any other source. Solid market (and thought) leaders recognize this to such an extent that they embark on such project snot just now and again, but regularly, perhaps once a year. It's what keeps them ahead of the curve.

One human capital management and organizational performance improvement thought leader Carol Bergeron, President of Bergeron Associates, found religion by partnering in 2006 with another consulting firm to conduct a study of C-level executive using both a web based survey and one-on-one interviews. More than 100 senior executives from 20 US states and three countries responded to Bergeron's survey which questioned their opinions on “enterprise performance.”

“It was an effective way of building professional relationships with a broader group of CEOs,” Bergeron recalls now. “Later when we published and disseminated our research results, our brand grew as well. It established my firm as a credible, visible source of valuable insight in the business community.”

Bergeron warns, however, that committing to “fresh thinking” means committing to a “very time consuming” endeavor that will challenge “every skill and competence” imaginable. But despite its stresses, the resulting notoriety among surveyed businesses, and the larger business community, is well worth it, she says.

Doing some fresh thinking, and the research necessary to produce it, can thus separate your firm from the competitive pack. This marketing, customer and product development strategy (all in one!) can push your bottom line to the top, opening new avenues for your business even as those around you are closing their doors or struggling to keep from doing so. By simply asking questions as Hall insists, you'll discover new ways to sell your customers, or more rightly, to allow them to buy. That in turn keeps them coming back and sending their friends, insuring your continued success.

(Originally published at GoArticles and reprinted with permission from the author, Ken Lizotte).