http://servicecocreation.com/

Hamel and Prahalahad and others have pointed out the need for companies to uncover unarticulated customer needs. These needs may be called latent, tacit, sticky, contextual, or simply unarticulated needs. They may not be articulated because the client doesn’t know how to communicate them or has trouble knowing what an “outsider” needs to know.

Hence the importance of site visits, as advocated by McQuarrie or by Griffin in Voice of the Customer and the use of anthropological research methods at P&G under AG Lafley, replacing idea-killing focus groups. Real understanding is needed to uncover key needs.

In your organization there is a group of professions who frequently do site visits and know your products and services and how customer use them. They are boundary spanners “immersed” in the behavior of your customers. Do you make use of your in-house anthropologists when you consider product and service innovation?

Once again: listen to the sales force!

For more on listening to the force: http://sellingb2bservice.com/2009/09/06/listen-to-your-salespeople/

For more on idea-killing focus groups: http://servicecocreation.com/2009/07/23/brainstorming-groups-still-kill-ideas/

One of the delights of every NCAA tournament is the little or little-known school that makes its way into the “sweet sixteen” or even the final eight. Even if I weren’t a professor at Radford and didn’t know some of the fine young men on the team, I would keep an eye on them. RU has a cool story — a 6’11′ 260-pound center who has only played B-ball for 5 years and spoken English for 2 and a 55 year old rookie coach. Check out the story on USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/bigsouth/2009-03-12-radford-cover_N.htm

Or the local press coverage:

http://www.roanoke.com/sports/mcfarling/wb/197116

The bad news? The #$%@ seeded them 16th, so they play game one against North Carolina, who ESPN says is the most talented team in the country and who the NYT said is the favorite to win it all. As noted in the USA Today story a 15th or 16th seeded team has never gotten to play Cinderella… 

I think we need a place to discuss professional selling of B2B and financial service.

Service is understudied in marketing. 83% of the US economy is now service, but marketing texts seem to continue to focus on how P&G sells scented Tide.

B2B is a focus because it is important and also under-studied. The institute for the study of business markets (ISBM) at Penn State, estimates in an article on their website that B2B markets are roughly equal in size to all B2C markets in the US.

B2B and financial service are natural to pair in studying selling since both require long term PERSONAL selling and should be test markets for the principles of relationship selling.

In addition — in the interest of full disclosure — I should also note that I am currently teaching sales and sales marketing, and have personal experience in B2B and financial sales.

Thus, the creation of a new blog devoted to understanding Selling B2B and financial services!