About Deliberate Strategies Consulting

Meet Ann Amati

Thank you for stopping by.

When I was on the buyer’s side of the table, I was cautious about hiring consultants. I still am. You should know, if I can’t help you, I won’t take your project. If I start your project and your customers aren’t forthcoming, I’ll stop the project and return your deposit.

As a management consultant and the principal of Deliberate Strategies Consulting, I serve the interests of company owners and executives with P&L responsibility.

My VISION has always been to provide sophisticated customer research that’s distinctly different from market research.
My MISSION with your company will be to create positive turning points in your relationships with your customers.

I work on a wide range of projects involving direct conversations with your customers. They range from simple customer feedback studies to more ambitious revenue-related projects. Even simple customer feedback studies are designed to help you “print money.”

In other words, I blend interview research with your business growth objectives to deliver thoughtful customer insights.

Prior to founding Deliberate Strategies Consulting in 1994, Ann Amati was a COO, strategic planner, consultant and project manager in health care, software, start-ups and banking. Ann holds an MHA from the University of Missouri. Ann speaks on B2B customer relationship management topics.

Every project is unique. There are no canned questions and no boilerplate recommendations.

Question: What would you look for if you could walk around inside your customers’ heads? For example, as the company (or P&L) owner, do you know—

Your company’s value proposition—and little irritants—as articulated by your key customers?
How to grow revenue with accounts who buy from you and your competitors?
Each key account’s selection and re-selection process, and what could threaten past loyalty?
The real reasons your company lost specific sales opportunities, and how you could have won each?
What it takes to revive at-risk, dormant and former customers?
Whether your company is building relationships that will survive leadership changes in key accounts?

Gain these insights and anything else relevant to your top-line concerns. You’ll be getting guidance from your current and former customers and your “failed sales.”

You’ll have the facts you need to increase repeat sales, improve customer relationships, and strengthen sales and marketing messages.
You’ll hear feedback and opinions that are so specific that you can take immediate action—or immediate pride!
You’ll know what each customer wants you to start, stop and continue doing to keep the relationship healthy and attract more customers just like them.

If you’ve skimmed my testimonials and LinkedIn recommendations [download pdf] you’ll see I’ve earned a solid reputation for quality and integrity. Click to call me or email me and let’s talk about how customer insights can help you grow revenue, and by extension, company value. I would love to hear from you and explore whether this is a fit.

—Ann Amati, Principal

Services

Services include customer-centric research, coaching and consulting to companies that value individual customer relationships.

Getting inside your customers’ heads helps you make faster, more confident decisions, whether you’re targeting a specific problem or refreshing your strategic plan.

Call Ann at (206) 933-6067 in Seattle, Washington. You’ll know within five minutes whether this is a fit.

Voice of the Customer Research

Your customers know why they stay, the improvements they want to see, and how you compare to others. Prospects who chose someone else also know how you compare.

Surveys can’t help you understand how your customers make decisions.

I can. I will converse with your customers candidly, confidentially or anonymously; their choice.

Your issues.
Their free-flowing thoughts.
Any mix of topics.

Learn what individual customers (and lost sales) suggest you start, stop and continue doing to secure more of their business and deepen the relationship.

Account Management Coaching

A salesperson’s job is to sell.
An account manager’s job to:

Retain and grow accounts.
Represent customers on internal teams.
Help the company reach its full revenue potential.

Transform your Account Management function into a profit center.

Consultant coaching an Account Manager client.

At-Risk Relationship Mediation

There are warning signs when an account turns sour. Often one side has just stopped listening to the other. Client defection isn’t inevitable. I can find the source of the friction—wherever it lies—and help you turn around disillusioned relationships.

Win back disillusioned, departed and dormant accounts.

Let's talk about how research, coaching or mediation
can help your company reach its full revenue potential

Articles

Here are real-world examples of how soliciting and acting on customer feedback helped companies strengthen account loyalty, grow relationships bigger or pick up new business faster.

All names are fictitious, but the situations are real. Each paints a picture of how important it is to learn what your B2B customers think—but aren’t saying.

At-Risk Customer Relationship Found During Continuous Improvement Exercise

Do your account managers know when to escalate customer complaints? Read More

Stop Leaving Money on the Table!

Vendors miss an opportunity to shift from vendor to partner when they fail to “incent” account managers to fully develop customer relationships. Read More

Vendor Didn’t Have the “Bench Strength” to Satisfy Sophisticated Customer

Even a seasoned supplier makes mistakes: an industry giant over-reached, won the chance to expand into a new market, then fell flat on its face. Read More

Supplier Was Racing to the Bottom on Pricing, Switched to Challenging the Industry Leader

A company in commodity sales is often blind to its differentiators. This one learned they were measuring themselves against the wrong competitors. Read More

How Do Prospects Approach an Unsolicited Sales Meeting?

A long-time customer offers guidance to help one of his favorite vendors compete more effectively. (A “must read” for anyone in B2B sales!) Read More

The Importance of Peer-to-Peer Relationships, Even in David vs Goliath Relationships

Customers are ready to switch from no-bid renewals to a competitive-bid process. Read More