October 2003

How does a consulting organization strategically change from a traditional marketing approach to client targeted marketing?

C2B is in 4 sections this month;

One to one Marketing
Common Errors
Execution
Final Analysis

Traditional marketers have always focused on getting as many customers as possible. Consulting organizations need to focus on developing marketing programs

that meet individual client needs to keep the client and to allow the client base to grow. One way to develop such programs is to identify valuable clients and build relationships with them that are individually managed. Building relationships, one client at a time, proposes a radically different way of doing business. To deal with the reality, I propose a client-oriented strategy called one to one marketing.

Instead of selling one product or service at a time to as many clients as possible in a particular sales period, the one to one marketer uses client databases and interactive communications to sell one client at a time as many products and services as possible, over the lifetime of that client’s patronage. It is a strategy that requires a business to manage clients individually, rather than just manage products, sales channels, and programs. This kind of relationship marketing has little to do with creating fondness on the part of your client for your product or brand. It is an issue of convenience. By remembering preferences and tastes, and by always picking up a client’s dialogue where you left off with this particular client in a previous conversation, you can build a barrier to inconvenience: a reason for that client to never prefer your competitor again. This satisfaction is yours provided that you continue to deliver product and services quality at a value-added price.

The most common error most businesses commit when preparing to create one to one relationships with their clients is underestimating the degree to which every facet of the organization needs to be involved in the process. All areas are integrated into the actual client relationship. The second most common error, however, is overestimating the amount of change required to begin an orderly transition from service or product based, market competition to client driven competition.

The correct way to make the transition is to execute the necessary steps, not product by product or division by division, but client by client. Beginning with just a few clients at a time, choose first those few values clients who are most worth the added attention and trouble. Once those clients have been identified, choose some of the brightest, most visionary, and most resourceful people in your organization, and make them into client managers. They may come from the marketing department, sales or client services.

Gateway is an excellent example of one to one client targeted marketing. The company is a world leader in this arena. In reference to their product, they don’t build personal computers; they build personalized computers for corporations, small businesses, educational institutions, government and home. Their motto we build computers for people just like you, emphasizes their personal relationship with clients.

Changing your strategy from traditional to client targeted marketing will succeed if you know who your clients are and remembering what they tell you. Manage your organization’s behavior to treat different clients differently, deliver what each individual wants, and create more ways to receive feedback from clients as cost efficiently as possible.

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“C2B” Consulting-to-Business is a free, monthly, electronic newsletter written and published by Dwayne D. Jakes, D.B.A., Founder & Managing Director of Dwayne D. Jakes & Associates Management Systems, L.L.C. Past Columns are archived at

http://www.ddjakes.com

Copyright October 2003, Dwayne D. Jakes & Associates Management Systems, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction is prohibited. We encourage sharing “C2B” Consulting-to-Business in whole or in part if copyright and attribution are always included. Distribution and Reproduction without attribution prohibited.

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