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BtoB Is Ford Tough
Interesting article in The Wall Street Journal today about Ford's BtoB relationships. Apparently the auto giant can't get its partners in the auto parts space to play nice when Ford desperately needs them to play nice in pricing. It's another lesson that companies should never underestimate their BtoB relationships. BtoB relationships need the same kind of short-term care and long-term vision that BtoC relationships demand.
John
If the short-term care I get from my mobile telco, fixed-line telco, bank, credit card company and various utilities are anything to go by, I don't want to see their long-term vision!
The success of automotive companies like Toyota shows that treating B2B customers like you should B2C customers is not enough.
The Toyota Way involves working with their suppliers to improve all aspects of their business (which is supplying Toyota) and increasingly, working with their suppliers to do the same further upstream too. The same applies downstream with dealers and increasingly, with customers too.
It is to Toyota that B2C companies should be looking for inspiration, not the other way round. And the irony of all this; The foundation that underpins the Toyota Production System was originally developed by Ford in the 1920s, being refined into the Toyota Production System only decades later.
Graham Hill
Independent CRM Consultant
Interim CRM Manager