Nine big customers buy from you four different ways.
What we noticed
Nine of your twenty largest customers buy from four or more teams. No one in the company manages those relationships as one.
Sources: DOC-118 · DOC-371 · 1 quoted interviews · 2 numbers with their arithmetic
Where this came from
We looked at this from both sides: what the documents record, and what people inside the company say.
Two sources, laid over each other
The two don't matchThe documents say
Nine large customers buy from four different teams. Each team's account plan mentions only its own relationship.
3 documents · 4 teams
The people say
Account managers know they collide. They describe customers pointing it out to them first.
77 people · 4 businesses
“The customer knows more about us than we do.”
What the two together tell us
On paper these look like nine healthy relationships. In conversation they're one relationship being handled four times, sometimes badly.
What's written down and what people live are different. That gap is usually where the real problem sits.
What it would be worth
Two kinds of value. What the company gains, and what changes for the people doing the work.
What it's worth to the company
9
Customers buying from 4 teams
With no shared view of the relationship.
What it's worth to the people
Account managers stop being surprised in front of customers.
- One shared picture instead of four partial ones.
- Fewer awkward meetings where the customer knows more.
- Less duplicate preparation for the same account.
Prep hours a week, per account
−6
Time spent covering the same ground four times.
Why we noticed it
The same customers appear under slightly different names in different teams' files. Once you line the names up, the picture changes.
- 9 of the top 20 buy from 4+ teams
- No company-level account structure
- Each team prices and contracts on its own
Same pattern in 3 documents · 4 teams
Why it could matter
If nobody sees the whole relationship, you're setting prices — and carrying risk — with half the picture.
You may matter far more to these customers than either side realises.
What we don't know yet
- Whether these customers already treat you as one supplier.
- How much total revenue each of the nine actually represents.
The question
Do these customers already see us as one company?