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An automotive manufacturing company needed to improve their relationship with a key customer and shareholder. The company was at risk of losing contracts with this critical customer, possibly resulting in factory closure. Recovering the customer relationship was essential.

Insigniam’s customer relations consultants conducted a series of interviews with the customer as well as with the company’s sales, design, and technical people. The interviews revealed that the issue was not technical.

The consultants worked with the team to help them take responsibility for making the relationship succeed. The team invented the aspiration of being the customer’s “supplier of choice”. This informed their actions and led them to completely transform the relationship with the customer. Project teams became seamless. The historic “us versus them” attitude no longer existed.

As a result, the company won every single contract the customer issued the following year. This came to a sum of nine contracts totaling, $3 billion. The customer also granted the company “the best supplier” award that year. This constituted a complete turnaround from what was predicted.