Expanding current customer relationships with BI

Third party suppliers, and especially manufacturers, have market power because they have information about a product or a service that the customer does not and cannot normally access – but why do we not give them access? Is it because tools aren’t available to do this, or is it because we are stuck in an erstwhile mindset that says I can’t share my information with anyone. It’s definitely not the former, so please consider for a moment changing your mindset and rather than giving your customer no access to information, what would happen if you gave them too much information, or at least much more information. Tell him how much he bought, in what region, by product category and description, by season and price, and which products he has reordered most often, in each category with a price break down based on prior years orders. Show him how much he saved by buying early or using your early settlement discounts. Show him distribution efficiencies in busy seasons that were created because you worked as a partnership to get your stock out on time and have his stock on shelf at the right time. Show him that you know that his wife has just had a birthday and his 10 year old son won the MVP award in the recent hockey play offs. OK, so the last part needs good old fashioned personal relationship building, but the rest can be done using Business Intelligence to assist you. Do just some of these things and your relationship, and revenues, will grow.