Christoph Senn is an Adjunct Professor of Marketing at INSEAD, while Mehak Gandhi heads Research and Training at Value Creator. Together, they explore the shift from traditional product selling to a customer-centric relationship model in their new book, Triple Fit Strategy. They discuss the importance of alignment in planning and execution to foster deeper partnerships. The conversation covers the power of collaboration, lessons from Maersk, and the challenges organizations face when adopting this innovative approach to enhance customer engagement and drive growth.
Shifting from product-focused strategies to the Triple Fit Strategy enhances customer relationships by fostering deeper partnerships and understanding needs.
Implementing structured dialogues through the Triple Fit Strategy enables companies to cultivate strategic relationships and unlock growth opportunities.
Deep dives
The Inspiration Behind Triple Fit Strategy
The co-authors were motivated to write about the complexities of business relationships and the insights gained from years of research and practice. They recognized that traditional practices in sales and B2B relationships often do not reflect the realities seen in business. Their personal experiences, particularly observing successful companies employing different strategies, fueled their desire to share effective practices. By documenting these insights, they aimed to help companies navigate the often challenging terrain of client relationships more effectively.
Understanding the Triple Fit Concepts
The Triple Fit Strategy expands the perspective from a narrow, product-focused approach to a more comprehensive, customer-centric approach. It emphasizes three alignment levels: planning fit, execution fit, and resource fit, which address the broader factors influencing business relationships. This shift encourages companies to move beyond mere transactional conversations about price to discussing the totality of the business partnership. By exploring conversations that touch on various aspects of the relationship, companies can uncover previously overlooked opportunities and challenges.
Implementing the Strategy in Practice
The implementation of the Triple Fit Strategy involves a structured process, beginning with assessing the maturity of the relationship and understanding customer perspectives. Through a series of insightful questions designed to provoke open dialogue, companies begin to cultivate strategic discussions rather than transactional ones. As demonstrated by the case of Maersk, companies that adopted this approach not only experienced sales growth but built lasting relationships with their clients. This collaborative attitude allows both parties to discover mutual benefits, fostering a partnership that can adapt and thrive in varying market conditions.
For the longest time, businesses have embraced a “product selling” playbook. Typically, this means having a supplier with a product to sell and a customer to persuade to purchase that product based on the price and perceived value.
However, in an increasingly challenging business environment where disruption is the norm, such a transactional approach is no longer fit for purpose. In this INSEAD Knowledge podcast, Christoph Senn, Adjunct Professor of Marketing at INSEAD, and Mehak Gandhi, Head of Research at Valuecreator, discuss an alternative approach to working with your customers, one that involves a deeper partnership and a greater understanding of their client's needs. An approach they've outlined in their new book, Triple Fit Strategy: How to Build Lasting Customer Relationships and Boost Growth.
You can access more tools about the framework and get further information about the book here.
Get the Snipd podcast app
Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode
Save any moment
Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways
Share & Export
Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode