It's a familiar lament: executives at business-to-business (B2B) companies say that their largest customers have never been more demanding.¹ But whereas some companies are simply caving in to price pressure, others are trying to create and capture more value through sales approaches such as enterprise selling,² key-account management, or solutions selling.³ Regardless of the label, each involves forging highly collaborative relationships, with selected customers, that can yield exciting results.

• In the mid-1990s, Alcoa's Wheel and Forged Products division began devoting more energy and attention to developing custom products for several auto manufacturers. The result was more distinctive (and often proprietary) forged aluminum wheels for vehicles such as the Special Edition Jeep Grand Cherokee, Ford Super Duty truck, and GMC Hummer. Eventually, Alcoa extended its collaboration with original-equipment manufacturers (OEMs) beyond the development of new products, to include rollout, marketing, and postsales service. During the past ten years, Alcoa has expanded its share of this market to 35 percent, from 5.
• About six years ago, Sonoco, a packaging supplier, intensified efforts to help the snack food maker Lance determine the ideal packaging for its product lines. One improvement involved the use of flexographic printed packaging film in Lance's...