“Every company’s greatest assets are its customers because without customers there is no company.” – Michael Leboeuf, American Researcher, Consultant, Author

“Finding vendors that will work with you, provide consultative guidance, and recognize the need for brand loyalty while presenting options that meet your goals is paramount to success.” – Multi-Systems, Inc.

Can you imagine your company without customers?  Of course not – creating and serving the needs of customers is what business is all about! 

Can you imagine a business where 25-30 percent of its customers quit doing business with the company year after year? (As alarming as it sounds, this is the typical customer turnover rate in wireless companies.)  Now take your business: what if 10 percent of your most profitable clients left? How would that affect your business and your financial statements?

With so much of the success of a business riding on customer satisfaction, loyalty and perception of value, you’d think all businesses would recognize customers as one of their most important assets.  You’d also think integrating and coordinating customer service and branding efforts … and aligning both with customers’ needs would be commonplace.  But it seems that hardly anybody in today’s environment is protecting, growing and harvesting this valuable asset.

Even rarer is the company that views its vendors as an important asset to be developed.  Vendor Relationship Management (VRM) is a new area of business practice that helps companies gain a competitive advantage by proactively engaging and cultivating vendor’s resources and market knowledge that will result in a win-win for everyone.

You won’t find “customer-vendor relationships” as a line item on your balance sheet.  But customers and vendors are among the most important assets your company possesses.