Читать книгу A Customer-oriented Manager for B2B Services - Valerie Mathieu - Страница 58

Managers must then manage this risk as perceived by the client. They can choose to rely on it openly if they believe that they can use it as a competitive advantage, by demonstrating that they are the players best able to manage this risk¹³. Alternatively, it can engage in a more discreet and indirect approach by seeking to reduce the client’s perceived risk.

In the case of a client with whom they have already been involved, they will have to skillfully bring out past elements of the relationship that contribute to reassure the client. In the case of new clients, it will be necessary to make the service tangible in order to give the client signs of the value and quality of the service¹⁴. The premises, the material, the documents given, the telephone reception, the website, the collaborators themselves and the brand or the network are for the customer so many signs on which they will rely to infer professionalism, seriousness and quality.

In a B2B context, the diversity of people involved in the customer’s purchase decision must also be taken into account. Not all of them will have the same perception of risk; the intensity and nature of the perceived risk often vary between the people in the buying center. Managers must, therefore, understand these variations and provide personalized responses in order to reinforce the negotiation strategy.