STATE OF FLUX
2014 GLOBAL SRM RESEARCH REPORT
RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT & CULTURE 183
Figure 6.14. Proportion of key suppliers that regard responding companies as their customer of choice – all respondents 2012 / 2013 / 2014
10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
○ 2014 ○ 2013 ○ 2012
0% 5%
76% TO 100%
51% TO 75%
26% TO 50%
0 TO 25%
© 2014 State of Flux
Figure 6.15. Proportion of key suppliers that regard responding companies as their customer of choice – all respondents 2012 / 2013 / 2014
10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
○ LEADER ○ FAST FOLLOWER ○ FOLLOWER
0% 5%
76% TO 100%
51% TO 75%
26% TO 50%
0 TO 25%
© 2014 State of Flux
CUSTOMER OF CHOICE
of the type of benefits that go with being a customer of choice and the types of problems that can occur if you’re not. We asked companies what proportion of their key suppliers they believed currently regard them as a customer of choice ( figure 6.14 ). The result maintains the growth that was reported last year with now just over half the companies considering themselves to be the customer of choice for more than 50% of their key suppliers. This really is a ‘glass half full / glass half empty’ analysis as its just as easy to report that for nearly half the companies they are not the customer of choice for more than 50% of their key suppliers. The glass appears more half full for leaders, fast followers and followers with over two in three of this group reporting customer of choice status with more than half of their key suppliers ( figure 6.15 ).
At the start of this section we suggested what we believe are the key attributes of successful supplier relationships, and relationships that exhibit these attributes are more likely to result in the buy side being regarded as a customer of choice. This report is entitled ‘The Journey to Customer of Choice’ and the article on page 63 explores the subject in more detail. For the purposes of this analysis we will look at the survey feedback. As we have said, customer of choice is hard to measure. Do you know when you have it? Suppliers don’t hand out certificates, and if asked directly are almost sure to say you are a customer of choice. Suppliers will indicate if you are a customer of choice by the way they behave. You will know if you’re a customer of choice only by observing those behaviours and being aware
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