Want to increase market share? Want to increase revenue per account? Want to build referrals? Of course: what organization wouldn�t? Building a strategic and tactical plan to retain and grow your existing clients will do all three. Building one plan, to fit all your clients, will do none.  

Are your client retention activities carefully segmented by both profitability and buyer type? In his ground breaking research, Creating Real Value for Customers Neil Rackham, Huthwaite�s founder, argued that there are three core buyer types:

1. Intrinsic value buyers: the value is intrinsic to the product alone, they already understand what they are buying and how to use it, the sales force adds nothing. One of the most well known intrinsic value buyers is Wal-Mart. These are called "Transactional" customers.

2. Extrinsic value buyers: the value is not so much in the product, but chiefly in how it is used. These customers put a premium on help and advice. These are called "Consultative" customers.

3. Strategic value buyers: they demand an extraordinary level of value offering, the product or advise is insufficient, they are looking to leverage all of their partner�s core competencies and will transform their own organization and strategies to make the most of their strategic value relationship. These are called "Enterprise" customers.

The successful sales organization will sell to each buyer type differently, creating real value in the sales process itself. The successful whole organization, will manage the on-going client relationship to each buyer type differently, thereby creating continual value for its clients.