The case study in this article began several years ago with a troubling message delivered by a major customer to a key supplier in the instruments industry. An executive from the instrument supply company, whom I’ll call Steven, summarized the customer’s message.

“I was summoned for a meeting with a counterpart [in the customer organization], an individual whom I’ve worked with for quite a few years,” recalled Steven. “The strength of that relationship prompted him to give me a very difficult message. Basically, he said that our firm had gotten a reputation of taking [the customer’s] business for granted, and there was a groundswell in favor of putting the business out for bid.

“We had a frank exchange, and I came away feeling that what he confided to me was pretty close to the truth. He brought up instances that I wasn’t particularly proud of, and they certainly weren’t examples that I would trumpet as how we treat our most important customers,” Steven added.

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