Collaboration is a skill, a muscle to be developed and strengthened.
When my client Brian asked me how he could improve his collaborative ability, I asked him how his business makes money. He responded with a nicely scripted line that I remembered as being on his company’s website.
I suggested that he go deeper. “What are your company’s core competencies? What is your company’s unique value and how does it compel your core customers to buy from you? What separates a good opportunity from a bad one?
To be a productive partner for your customer, you must first develop a comprehensive understanding of your company’s competencies and distinctiveness. You may not need this knowledge to sell your product or service like a commodity on the basis of lower price or better quality versus the competition.
But if you seek to differentiate yourself and your company from competitors, and if you want to be perceived as a trusted supplier-partner who is committed to helping your customer make money rather than taking money, then you must learn why your company is special, what it does best and where it lacks strength.
I suggested that Brian improve his knowledge about his company by participating in product development or process improvement projects. Working through these projects heightens awareness about how a business actually operates and teaches how to convert the language of things (more units produced, fewer hours required, or less scrap) into the language of money (more dollars shipped, fewer wasted dollars). Producing value for customers is about helping them make money in way that is also profitable for you. Get your hands dirty learning how your business makes money.
Then, when you are asking a customer about goals and needs, you can leverage your knowledge about your company to gain a clearer understanding about what is most valuable for your customer. The strongest collaborators propose solutions that generate strategic value for customers…solutions that produce a quantifiable financial advantage (more sales, lower costs) for the customer that also strengthens his/her competitive advantage.
Developing the skill of collaboration takes practice. Like working a muscle, the more you work to improve your skill, the stronger it becomes.
Do your personnel understand how your business makes money?
What can you do to help them gain this knowledge?
