Vikten av relationer för ett högt kundvärde : Inom professionella tjänster

Sammanfattning: Introduction: Service companies and its offerings on the market are becoming increasingly standardized, which makes it difficult for service providers to distinguish themselves from the amount. In many cases this leads to a price squeeze. Many service companies do not understand the importance of building a relationship with their customer, and how to maintain long-term partnerships to increase customer value. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate what aspects service-producing companies should take into account in order to achieve a high customer value and thus become more attractive in the market. Methods: In order to respond to the purpose of the study, a case study was conducted, where the approach consisted of both qualitative and quantitative data collection to test the existing theoretical reference frames and to generalize the study. The quantitative data collection consisted of a survey sent to the company's customer base, which consisted of different industries and sizes of companies, where the answers were then weighted in a model. The survey was also sent to the case company to find possible differences between their own opinion and the customers. The qualitative consisted of three deep interviews with leading actors in different industries to gain a deeper understanding. Results: The quantitative survey showed that quality is the most valued aspect with a supplier, followed by the price. The remaining questions showed that the customers and the case company shared a relatively even view of previous collaborations. The qualitative survey showed that all three respondents appreciated the same aspects of a service company; competence, customer focus and availability. They also agreed that the reputation of the relationship and service providers is valued very high. The relationship has been shown to be linked to several aspects such as flexibility, risk minimization and the quality of the work process. Customers have a greater tendency to choose service companies that are committed to trying to integrate long-term cooperation, which makes the customers feel priority and choose to place greater responsibility on the service company. Conclusion: Companies should not focus on trying to find added value to their customers, the focus should be on creating and developing a deep and committed relationship with their customers. The advantages of this are illustrated by further development of the model presented in the theoretical reference framework, in which important aspects to be considered are described.