--- name: customer-relationship-ladder description: "Activate when: a key account renewal is at risk and the team can't explain why the customer values them; someone asks 'how do we become a strategic partner?'; a CSM needs to know where a relationship actually stands; the team claims to be strategic but has no proactive insight delivery this quarter; a deal was lost on relationship despite having the best product. Do NOT activate when: the customer base is transactional high-volume with ACV under $500 (Rung 3–5 is structurally impossible); the customer explicitly prefers arms-length vendor relationships." --- # Customer Relationship Ladder ## Overview Most B2B teams treat relationship deepening as an attitude problem — be friendlier, schedule more QBRs. The Ladder reframes it as structural: each rung requires a fundamentally different operating model, and you cannot skip rungs. | Rung | Name | Signal | |------|------|--------| | 1 | Partial Fulfillment | Vendor meets stated need only; customer keeps alternatives warm | | 2 | Basic Fulfillment | Vendor reliably delivers; customer stops shopping around | | 3 | Deep Understanding | Vendor understands unstated needs; proactive insight delivery | | 4 | Trusted Strategic Partner | Customer shares roadmap; joint planning occurs | | 5 | Driver / Pioneer | Vendor shapes customer's strategy; co-creation; high switching cost | **Cross-skill composition:** After `jobs-to-be-done` (surfaces jobs per rung). Before `demand-leadership` (Ladder = supply-side account; Demand Leadership = demand-side category). Alongside `principal-agent` to audit incentive alignment before Rung 4–5 joint planning. ## When to Use **Trigger:** Key account renewal at risk; team claims "strategic partner" but can't name one unstated need addressed this quarter; new CSM needs rapid diagnostic; deal lost on relationship despite best product; board asks "how do we become indispensable to top accounts?" **When NOT to use:** Transactional/high-volume (<$500 ACV); customer prefers arms-length; fewer than 10 customers (use `lean-startup` first). --- ## Coaching Novices (Adaptive Front Door) **Engine mode:** concrete account → run The Process. **Coach mode:** unfamiliar → guide step by step. In Coach mode, respond one step at a time. Each [WAIT] is a hard stop — output only that step's question, then stop. 1. "Tell me the last 3 things you did for this customer that were *not* in the contract." Blank = Rung 1–2. 2. "Name one thing you did that they didn't ask for, but you knew they needed." Concrete answer = Rung 2→3 boundary. 3. "Does the customer share internal strategic plans before they're finalized?" Yes = approaching Rung 4. > **[WAIT — do not advance until user responds]** 4. "What would prevent you from being more proactive?" Answers: (a) don't know their business, (b) afraid to overstep, (c) they don't engage — each maps to a different rung-up move. > **[WAIT — do not advance until user responds]** 5. Name one rung-up action with an owner and date — the single thing in 30 days evidencing one rung climbed. > **[WAIT — do not advance until user responds]** ## The Process **3D-T Framework: Diagnose → Design → Deploy, anchored by Trust** **Step 1 — Diagnose:** Collect across 4 dimensions: information flow, vendor substitutability, problem source, meeting cadence. **Stop-rule:** Can't answer "what specific unstated need did we address this quarter?" → capped at Rung 2. **Step 2 — Design:** 1→2: Reliability (operational). 2→3: Embedded knowledge — assign someone to learn their business from inside. 3→4: Shared stakes — joint initiative, both parties commit resources. 4→5: Co-creation via proprietary data, methodology, or talent. **Step 3 — Deploy:** Define specific action / observable success evidence / timeline (1–4 quarters) / trust dependency. **Step 4 — Trust Audit (quarterly):** Competence (do they believe you can deliver?), Integrity (do they think you act in their interest?), Benevolence (do they share bad news with you?). Audit each separately. ### Output: Diagnostic Card ``` Account: ___________ Date: ___________ Owner: ___________ CURRENT RUNG: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] Evidence: 1.___ 2.___ 3.___ TARGET RUNG: ___ Rung-up requirement: ___________ Action: ___________ Owner: ___________ Due: ___________ Success evidence (observable behavior): ___________ Trust: Competence[ ] Integrity[ ] Benevolence[ ] Primary constraint: ___________ Stop-rule: "What unstated need did we address this quarter?" → blank = cap at Rung 2 ``` *→ Method in Action: [IBM's Transformation from Hardware Vendor to Strategic Partner (1993–2001)](examples/ibm-transformation-1993-2001.md)* ## Domain Packs **SaaS:** 2→3 CSE attends customer's internal product planning. 3→4 co-develop custom integration (switching cost). 4→5 customer joins product advisory board. **Professional Services:** 2→3 unsolicited benchmarking report. 3→4 retained advisory fixed fee. 4→5 client introduces you to board and portfolio companies. **Manufacturing:** 2→3 demand-side forecasting using your data. 3→4 joint capacity planning, multi-year. 4→5 customer designs product lines with your constraints as primary input. ## Applying It Well - Diagnose with evidence — teams self-assess one rung too high; require written evidence before planning. - One rung at a time — 2→3 is prerequisite for 3→4; sequence is the method. - Trust is not soft — each dimension has observable evidence and can fail independently. - Rung-up moves require operational change, not more meetings. - Customer information-sharing over 12 months is the best leading indicator. - Rung 5 needs a proprietary asset; rung regression from one integrity breach is common. *→ Primary sources: [references/sources.md](references/sources.md)* ## Common Rationalizations **[D] = designed upfront | [O] = observed in real use. [O] entries are more valuable.** | Fake move | Reality | |-----------|---------| | [D] "They always take our calls — great relationship." | Accessibility is Rung 2 at best. Strategic partners call *you* proactively. | | [D] "We've been their vendor for 10 years — clearly strategic." | Tenure without information asymmetry is Rung 2 with inertia. Duration ≠ depth. | | [D] "QBR rated us 9/10." | Satisfaction scores measure Rung 1–2 delivery. High CSAT at Rung 1 is still Rung 1. | | [D] "We sent them a proactive industry trends report." | Generic content = Rung 2. Rung 3 needs insight specific to *their* situation from inside knowledge. | | [D] "We gave a discount and they stayed." | Price-based retention = Rung 1. You haven't differentiated on insight or co-investment. | | [D] "We're working on a joint case study." | Marketing activity. Rung 4 = joint planning with shared P&L exposure. | | [D] "They said they couldn't imagine switching." | Verbal loyalty ≠ Rung 5. True lock-in = customer designing systems around your constraints. | | *→ Add [O] entries here after each real use — paste the actual failure pattern* | *What went wrong and why* | ## Red Flags + Verification - Team cannot name one unstated need addressed in the past two quarters → Rung 2 ceiling - Customer-initiated contact = support tickets and invoicing only → no strategic dialogue - Plan to "become strategic" = more executive dinners → social activity, zero operational change - Customer shares strategy only after it is public → receiving PR, not partnership - Relationship owner is procurement/IT ops, not strategy or C-suite → structural ceiling at Rung 3 **Verification checklist:** - [ ] Current rung has ≥3 observable evidence items, not team opinion - [ ] Stop-rule: "What unstated need did we address this quarter?" — blank = capped at Rung 2 - [ ] Rung-up move is operational, not relational (more meetings) - [ ] Trust audited across competence, integrity, and benevolence separately - [ ] Move has named owner, specific action, and observable success evidence; timeline 1–4 quarters - [ ] If Rung 4–5, a proprietary asset the customer cannot source elsewhere has been named *Part of **deciqAI Knowledge Skills** — 225 open-source thinking skills that make rigor executable for AI agents. The same skills power every deciqAI agent, which runs them autonomously to operate your company. **See it run → https://www.deciqai.com/s/customer-relationship-ladder** · Built by deciqAI · github.com/deciqAI · Contributions welcome.*