Exclusively for RENetworks Members…

There are two ways to think about strategy – the more common view is that companies should match current internal resources with external market opportunities. CK Prahalad’s , University of Michigan strategy professor, view was that companies should set their ambitions first and then expand the resource base to reach that ambition.

So what’s your strategic relationship intent?  What’s your huge ambition for the relationships you seek to develop? What resource base will you need to expand to reach that ambition?…

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LinkedIn just launched a new feature where you can follow key developments in a company’s profile.

Are you following your current or prospective clients?

Who’s following your company and how can you engage them in a relationship?

I’m humbled by what I learn on various social networking platforms every day!

Best,

David

An Executive Briefing by Ian Savage, Exclusively for RENetworks (http://renetworks.intronetworks.com/) Members

Organizations are increasingly deploying “Account Managers” at the customer/vendor boundary. Research studies have shown that, even with a huge increase in the number of account managers, a majority of companies are still reporting ineffectiveness in building relationships with their strategic customers.

The rise in focus in the account management discipline is being fueled, in part, by the growth of shared service functions within organizations. Information Technology departments are an excellent example. These functions are deploying account managers to increase levels of customer intimacy, to gain mindshare with their internal business clients and to stave off external competition. But are these professionals being adequately equipped to manage their business client “accounts”?

Traditional sales organizations are also discovering that the path to sustainable growth in their existing accounts cannot be realized easily, in spite of the almost maniacal transactional focus many have exhibited since the turn of the millennium. But are these professionals really behaving differently to any other sales professional the organization may have?

Regardless of which boundary is the focus, a good account manager must manage both internal and external stakeholders with the same level of professionalism. The time to look beyond the latest deal or project has arrived and Account Management initiatives are growing as a consequence.

Ian Savage is a Sales Effectiveness Consultant and Principal of The Nour Group, an Atlanta-based strategic advisory firm focused on developing the “art” and “science” of building long-term, value-based relationships.

For the complete Executive Briefing, sign up on RENetworks (http://renetworks.intronetworks.com/) – our private, intelligent, enterprise social networking platform and join the Profitable Growth Group.  Our next Webinar in the series is on Friday, June 11, 2010 on Strategic Account Planning (http://www.relationshipeconomics.net/profitablegrowth.html)

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I read with particular interest the following excerpt:

About 15 percent of teens ages 12-17 say they’ve received sexually suggestive photos or videos of someone they know, according to a study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.  Four percent admit they’ve sent photos of themselves to others.

Amanda Lenhart, senior research specialist and author of the report, said “sexting,” as it’s called, has become a form of “relationship currency.”

“These images are shared as a part of or instead of sexual activity,” she said, “or as a way of starting or maintaining a relationship with a significant other.”

Here is where the respected Pew Research and Ms. Lenhart are dead wrong! “Relationship Currency” – as a registered trademarked by our firm, is defined as a win-win investment in a valuable and prioritized relationship, one that has an immediate and quantifiable impact to enhance both party’s condition.  Ms. Lenhart’s comment is a gross misuse of the term, particularly given the troubling topic of teen sexting.  We believe Relationship Currency Deposits to be of great value in our society, highly instrumental to one’s personal and professional success in 2010 and beyond heightened by the current environment of low trust.  It is unfortunate that Ms. Lenhart has decided to use an otherwise positive and wholesome phrase, instrumental to the success of many hard-working professionals, and unjustly associate it with inappropriate and juvenile acts.

Another reminder that even the most astute of analysts can get careless and lazy with their word choice!

What does “relationship currency” mean to you?

By David Nour, Founder – Relationship Economics
@davidnour

In advance of my upcoming Social Networking Technology Best Practices Book & DVD on Twitter for Business (with co-authors Michelle Cullison and Nhat Pham) my team and I have researched well over 1200 Twitter tools.  Many are candidly silly and useless – you could say the same for 50% of Twitter users!  Many were unique ideas, which became interesting products – but unfortunately, as we’ve seen too often, interesting products will not make a profitable and thus sustainable company.  In fact, many are developed by individuals and only a few weeks after their launch, are found to be broken or no longer available.

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