How can you use the Business Relationship Management framework to manage customer and supplier relationships?

1 What is BRM?

BRM is a framework that defines the roles, processes, and competencies involved in managing the relationships between a business and its customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders. BRM aims to foster a culture of trust, mutual respect, and shared value creation, where both parties work together to achieve common objectives and outcomes. BRM can be applied at different levels of the organization, from strategic to operational, and across different functions and domains, such as IT, HR, finance, marketing, and sales.

2 What are the benefits of BRM?

BRM can be beneficial in improving customer and supplier relationships, such as enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty, increasing supplier performance and innovation, reducing costs and risks, generating new opportunities and value, and building strategic partnerships. Understanding customer needs, expectations, and feedback can help you deliver solutions that meet or exceed them. Establishing clear roles, responsibilities, and expectations can help you provide feedback and recognition to suppliers. Minimizing conflicts, misunderstandings, and errors can help you resolve issues quickly and effectively. Identifying and exploiting synergies, gaps, and trends can help you co-create solutions that benefit both parties. Developing long-term relationships based on trust, transparency, and alignment of goals and values can help you build strategic partnerships.

3 How to apply BRM to your customer and supplier relationships?

To use BRM effectively, you should assess the current state of your customer and supplier relationships, and identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Then, define your desired state of your customer and supplier relationships, and set SMART goals and objectives. After that, you should implement your action plan and monitor your progress and performance. Finally, evaluate the results and outcomes of your action plan and measure the value created for both parties. Utilizing tools such as stakeholder maps, relationship maturity models, SWOT analysis, value proposition canvas, relationship strategy map, action plan, relationship governance model, relationship scorecard, communication plan, relationship review meetings, feedback surveys, and value realization reports can help you gain insights and prioritize actions to outline your vision and roadmap for collaboration and communication.

4 What are the challenges of BRM?

BRM is not a one-size-fits-all solution and may face some challenges and barriers in practice, such as resistance to change, lack of skills or resources, misalignment of interests or expectations, and cultural or organizational differences. Some customers or suppliers may be reluctant to adopt a new way of working or to share information and resources. Additionally, they may not have the necessary skills or resources to participate in BRM activities, or their interests or expectations may be different and conflicting. Furthermore, they may have different cultures or organizational structures that could affect communication and trust.

5 How to overcome the challenges of BRM?

To overcome the challenges and barriers of BRM, you must adopt certain best practices and principles. Building trust and rapport with customers and suppliers is essential, as is communicating effectively and frequently. Involvement and engagement should be encouraged, while goals and values should be aligned with customers and suppliers to co-create solutions that benefit both parties. Don't forget to recognize and reward customers and suppliers for their contributions, as well as celebrate successes.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?