{"id":646565,"date":"2017-05-06T15:21:54","date_gmt":"2017-05-06T22:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/GreatB2bMarketing\/~3\/i1QwtX8xhCc\/"},"modified":"2017-05-06T15:22:33","modified_gmt":"2017-05-06T22:22:33","slug":"moving-up-the-relationship-hierarchy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/moving-up-the-relationship-hierarchy\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving Up the Relationship Hierarchy"},"content":{"rendered":"
You often hear marketing and sales pros talk about how to turn vendor interactions into meaningful relationships. I find it rewarding to work with our clients to implement strategies that move these relationships from being considered a vendor<\/em> at one end, to a partner<\/em> at the other. In some instances, the relationship will spend some time in the consultant<\/em> and trusted advisor<\/em> modes as the intermediate steps. And while this hierarchy model is generally thought to refer to services organizations, it can also apply to product companies \u2013 especially if there is a service component involved.<\/p>\n The following chart shows various relationship attributes and how they apply when you are at different levels of the Value Hierarchy. As you can see, the further up the food chain you go, the greater the rewards. In fact, a trusted advisor or partner can often command 5-10 times the compensation of a vendor.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n