Below are listed in order of importance (order that allows and seeks to generate a good discussion of the subject), the different characteristics to define a client as strategic for any company:
1) Customers with a good volume of purchases in pesos and excellent payment habits.
2) All distributors and company representatives, who must have excellent payment habits (they are linked to the company's strategy in terms of simplifying the operation).
3) Customers with a good volume of purchases in kilos and excellent payment habits (they allow plant efficiencies).
4) High profitability customers and excellent payment habits (allow to improve the company's margin).
5) Clients with a high growth potential in the purchases of the company's products (they allow the future growth of the company).
6) Customers with high loyalty to the company is seen in the continuity of their purchases, the flow of information in both routes, and the permanent knowledge of the customer's situation, among others (they allow the stability and sustainability of the current situation of the company).
7) Small clients that allow us to carry out tests, evaluate products, generate and transfer knowledge, etc. (They allow the generation of knowledge).
8) Clients that allow us to rotate inventories of Non-conforming and Immobile products, since they buy second and low-rotation products (they allow the reduction of idle inventories).
9) Clients that generate prestige for our company by communicating that they are our clients, since they have a high recognition or image at the National and / or International level in the case of 3M, Sika, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, etc. (They allow positioning before clients).
10) Multinational Clients that, although they may be small locally, are of high interest in other cities or countries (growth strategy).
Occasionally clients with excellent payment habits and specifically, with cash payments (on which special discounts are granted), can be considered, as the case may be, as strategic clients since they allow the immediate liquidity of the company.
Based on these characteristics, the different clients can be selected as strategic, and therefore, in their role as "strategic" they should be framed within a global strategy that allows a series of advantages and preferential management by all company staff; and in this way, take advantage of each client in their category (sales, simplification of the operation, plant efficiency, etc.).
In general, the selection of a large number of clients as strategic is not recommended, since precisely the category of "strategic" in itself brings with it a very high differentiation reflected not only in customer service, but in all activities and processes of the company (and that must be perceived by the client); which is not easy to generate, pay for and much less maintain.
Below are some of the actions, advantages and management that are considered to be given to a client, once it has been defined as strategic:
- All company personnel must be informed of which are the strategic clients of the same, and what are the actions, advantages and management of these. Give them priority in the dispatch of their orders (before orders from non-strategic clients). any quantity of product regardless of the minimum quantity or minimum invoice established for the company Give priority to the improvement and development of its products in order to benefit the customer, and make it perceive it as such. will give priority in the manufacture of the products required by them at the plant level. The handling and collection of invoices should be done in the most personal and personalized way possible, being the responsibility of the client's manager, account manager or client coordinator,the definition of the address and management of the same for the collection of the portfolio. These clients must be strictly and permanently monitored in relation to visits, attention, special services provided (use of laboratories, unjustified returns, etc.), phone calls, budgets and others Help the client in the elaboration of real and viable plans and strategies that help them meet their objectives Work together with the client in the planning, elaboration and management of promotions and agreements that benefit the client Every 6 months (or less if it is the case and the formality allows it), you will be given a report with the consumption made during the last 3 years + the semester in reference,in order to help and support the client in planning their budgets and needs for the following semester. à Anticipate customer needs. Some special considerations will be handled with these customers at the level of gifts, birthday cards, lunches or dinners, emails with valuable and relevant information for them, etc.
In general (and this applies to all clients), the profile of these clients should be kept updated in terms of contacts and people of high influence in decision-making and their data, annual sales of the client, number of workers or employees, changes that have occurred, projections, visits by the competition, certifications, achievements and client projects, among others.
