Customer Value Management in Business Markets

Dr. James Anderson
William L. Ford Distinguished Professor of Marketing and Wholesale Distribution,
Professor of Behavioral Science in Management at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Irwin Gross Distinguished ISBM Research Fellow

June 10-11, 2008
Evanston, Illinois, USA (Chicago area)

September 9-10, 2008
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Keys to driving profitable growth: discerning, creating, demonstrating, and documenting superior value. Learn the latest proven tools and approaches from ISBM fellow Dr. James Anderson.

If you’re a supplier serving business markets, you’re probably used to purchasing managers who focus on getting price concessions. But what if you could back your proposal with hard data, not vague promises?

Solid evidence of the superior value you can deliver will set your company apart from “commodity” suppliers and persuasively show purchasing managers that your company really can help them achieve their cost reduction goals.

Objectives

After this seminar, you will be able to:

• Apply the latest concepts and tools for implementing a value-based approach to business markets
• Better conceptualize value and focus on what matters most
• Craft value propositions that resonate with target customers
• Demonstrate and document value persuasively to get a fair return on the value delivered
• Transform your sales force into value merchants

Who Should Attend

The target participants for this seminar are marketing managers, sales managers, and general managers, as well as any other managers who are responsible for devising and implementing market strategies for their businesses.

Seminar Content

Customer Value Management

This seminar enables participants to put into practice an innovative business philosophy developed specifically for suppliers that serve business markets. Dubbed customer value management, this analytics-driven approach focuses on gathering and analyzing data in order to demonstrate and document, in monetary terms, the superior value that your market offerings deliver to customers.

A progressive, practical approach

In our opening session, you’ll jump right into learning a progressive, practical approach to customer value management which will enable you and your business to:

• Deliver superior value to targeted market segments and customer firms
• Get an equitable return on the value delivered

You’ll learn the concepts, processes, and tools to build customer value models: data-driven estimates of what a present or prospective offering is worth in monetary terms to targeted customers relative to the next best alternative. Professor Anderson will provide tangible approaches to enable your selling team to better demonstrate the value of offerings before the sale, and document the value that customers actually receive from the offering.

You’ll get concrete practice using the tools

Working with a proprietary B-to-B case, you’ll receive coaching and practice in constructing detailed value word equations to persuasively capture points of difference between two offerings. Learn how to gather the needed data and produce results that are persuasive to customers, and use value placeholders for offering elements where data is difficult to obtain. You’ll learn how to use customer value models to select the most profitable target market segments.

Learn to craft more persuasive customer value propositions

Set yourself apart from competition with more precise positioning and “resonating focus” value propositions. You’ll learn the in–field use of value case histories and value calculators in building and substantiating value propositions. A best-practice case illustrates how to put it all together for superior business performance.

Insights on Implementation: Applying a value-based approach

It is natural for suppliers to think first of price premiums as a way to profit from the superior value their offerings provide. Professor Anderson will demonstrate in his sessions on value-based pricing that this is just one of several ways for suppliers to get a fair return. Using a proprietary case, he will give participants experience applying a value-based pricing framework at the strategic, tactical, and transactional levels.

Format

This two-day seminar will meet from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on day one and 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on day two. It will use a mixture of presentations and discussion, case studies, and exercises. All materials will be provided.

Instructor

Dr. James C. Anderson is the William L. Ford Distinguished Professor of Marketing and Wholesale Distribution, and Professor of Behavioral Science in Management at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University; and the Irwin Gross Distinguished ISBM Research Fellow. He also is a visiting research professor at the School of Business, Public Administration, and Technology, University of Twente, The Netherlands. He is the program director of the Business Marketing Strategy executive program at the Kellogg School and has consulted and provided seminars for a number of companies in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, such as American Express, ARCADIS, bioMérieux, Orkla, ExxonMobil, FEMSA Empaque, GE, International Paper, Johnson & Johnson, 3M, Microsoft, and PPG Industries. He is Principal of James C. Anderson LLC, an international management consulting firm focusing on implementing customer value management at client firms.

Professor Anderson has written more than 40 journal articles, including five published in Harvard Business Review. His management practice book, Value Merchants: Demonstrating and Documenting Superior Value in Business Markets, was published in November, 2007 by Harvard Business School Press.

For more information on Professor Anderson and his work, please visit: www.jamescandersonllc.com

Locations

June 10-11, 2008
Hilton Garden Inn
1818 Maple Avenue
Evanston, Illinois 60201
Phone: 847-475-6400
Fax: 847-492-6532

A block of rooms will be held for the ISBM until Friday, May 9, 2008. When making reservations, mention ISBM-Penn State for the meeting rate ($159 single/double).

September 9-10, 2008
Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel
Kattengat 1
Amsterdam, 1012 SZ Netherlands
Phone: 31 20621 2223
Fax: 31 20 627 5245

Fee

ISBM Member Fee: $1,800 USD
Non-Member Fee: $2,500 USD

Cancellation Policy

• Up to 30 days prior to seminar—no fee
• Between 15 and 30 days—$100 fee
• 14 days or less—full conference fee due
• All substitutions within 14 days prior to the seminar will be subject to a $50.00 administrative fee.

To register: Online Registration

For more information

Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM)
Smeal College of Business
The Pennsylvania State University
484 Business Building
University Park, PA 16802-3603
USA

Phone: 814-863-2782
Fax: 814-863-0413
E-mail: isbm@psu.edu