Building business relationships through value: as more and more companies focus on becoming solution-centric organizations, many of them are turning to customer relationship management systems to boost their bottom line.

Building successful customer relationships begins with understanding customers' business needs and aligning this understanding with the value that your offering provides. Customers recognize the advantages of, and continue to seek long-term relationships with, trusted partners and suppliers. However, to flourish, these relationships must be supported by value propositions that align needs with benefits. Too often, suppliers work "inside-out" from their product features and functions, versus working "outside-in" from their customers' business problems. That is, they are product-centric versus solution-centric.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Many companies turn ...