Lucro em vez de volume (parte II)

Parte I.

"It is useful to think of customers in terms of two dimensions: net price realized and cost to serve. To show graphically the dynamics of the interplay between seller and buyer, we have devised a simple matrix. 

The vertical axis is net price, low to high, and the horizontal axis is cost to serve, low to high. This categorization is useful for any marketer. The carriage trade costs a great deal to serve but is willing to pay top dollar. At the opposite extreme are bargain basement customers - sensitive to price and relatively insensitive to service and quality. They can be served more cheaply than the carriage trade.

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Serving passive customers costs less too, but they are willing to accept high prices. These accounts generate highly profitable orders.

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Aggressive customers, on the other hand, demand (and often receive) the highest product quality, the best service, and low prices. ... Aggressive buyers are usually powerful; their practice of buying in large quantities gives them leverage with suppliers in seeking price deals and more service.

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Marketing managers often assume a strong correlation between net price and cost to serve; they reason that price-sensitive customers will accept lower quality and service, and demanding customers will pay more for better quality and service. Thinking in terms of service and quality demands unfortunately deflects attention from the critical issue of cost to serve. In addition, weak cost accounting practices that average costs over products, orders, and customers often support the high-cost, high price myth. But as we have seen, costs and prices are not closely correlated."

Não me canso de surpreender com a quantidade de empresas que lidam com demasiados "clientes agressivos" no seu portefolio. Delapidando, assim, recursos escassos para servir clientes que pagam bem e, não remunerando adequadamente os que usa com eles.