Project Experience

Wins and Losses - Business-to-business services…"Blind" interviews elicit more objective feedback.

Client Situation
Buyers don't always provide full disclosure to vendors, particularly after protracted negotiations. An on-line information vendor hired us to conduct "blind" interviews with 30 accounts that had recently been through a competitive bidding process.

Fuld Approach
We selected and interviewed clients who had signed vendor contracts within the last three to six months. This ensured an adequate time buffer so that clients would have put the issues in perspective and set aside personality issues to focus on differences in content and quality of deliverables. It also provided time for sufficient experience with the winning vendor (which in some cases was our client) to provide encourage detailed discussions of how that vendor's actual product, technical support, and customer service fared versus expectations and promises.

Benefits and Implications
The vendor gained valuable insights into what specific content, search, and interface features were most important to clients. In addition, our discussions with several of the account "wins" alerted the vendor to significant issues that needed to be addressed to prevent a loss at contract renewal time.
For more information on analyzing wins and losses of key accounts, please contactlscanlon@fuld.com.