Triple Fit Strategy: How to Build Lasting Customer Relationships and Boost Growth
Christopher Senn and Mehak Gandhi
Harvard Business Review Press (November 2024)

Customers want partners: Problem solvers and creative thinkers who help them thrive

I cannot recall a prior time when competition for customers was more volatile, more uncertain, more complex, and more ambiguous than it is today.  Christopher Senn and Mehak Gandhi have written a book in which they share their thoughts about how to compete more effectively by building lasting customer relationships that will boost their own growth as well as their customers’ growth.

As Senn and Gandhi explain, “Triple Fit Strategy seeks to achieve, as the name suggests, three fits between sellers and buyers at the planning, execution, and resources levels. At the heart of Triple Fit Strategy  is a simple question: ‘What if we –supplier and customer — were one company?’ Answering this question will establish a shared language, leading to a blueprint for mutual growth at scale.

“However. there are three key challenges companies need to address in orc hstrating business growth in today’s corporate environment. Senn and Gandhi explain HOW to orchestrate mutual growth and that starts with growing a customer’s business by focusing on the aforementioned three separate but interdependent areas: planning, execution, and resources. They cite several exemplars that include (in alpha order) BASF, Best Buy, Coca-Cola, Maersk, and 3M. There are valuable lessons to learn about the Triple Fit Strategy from these companies, lessons that are relevant to the strategic objectives of most companies, whatever their size and nature may be. “In our research, we have found that only 15 percent of frontline sellers meet these expectations.”

In this context, I am again reminded of a situation years ago when Southwest Airlines’ then chairman and CEO, Herb Kelleher, was asked to explain why his airline was more profitable and had a greater cap value than all of its largest competitors …combined. His reply? “We take great care of our people. They take great care of our customers. And our customers take great care of our shareholders.”

These are among the passages of greatest interest and value to me, also listed to indicate the nature and scope of Senn and Gandhi’s coverage:

o Introduction: Orchestrating Mutual Growth (Pages 12-4)
o Planning fit: (Re-)aligning strategies with customer priorities (9-13)
o Customer centricity in B2B markets (22-25)
o Hsw Triple® Fit Works: Five Steps (28-42)
o Step 1: Assess where the relationship stands (29-34)

o Identify/define “Game Changers”(40-42 and 104-108)
o “Game Changers” (49-64)
o Identify “Game Changer” patterns (58-62)
o The Booster Zone Grid (74-78)
o The Five Strategic Moves (78-88

o Incorporating Triple Fit into Growth Plans (97-99)
o Growth Momentum Killers at the Planning Fit Level (112-125)
o Growth Momentum Killers at the Execution Fit Level (117-121)
o Growth Momentum Killers at the Resources Fit Level (121-125)

o Using Triple Fit Strategy to Be an Orchestrator (152-156)
o Build Growth Champions (159-169
o Establish a One-Company Culture (177-192)
o Transforming to One-Company Behavior (189-192)
o A Final Thought (191)

I  commend Christopher Senn and Mehak Gandhi on developing a brilliant concept for organizational transformation that combines three separate but interdependent components: comprehensive strategy, high-impact execution, and efficient allocation/coordination of resources. The Triple Fit Strategy ensures that operations of almost any organization — whatever its size and nature may be — are lean, seamless, silo-free, results-driven, agile, resilient, and (whenever necessary) adaptable.

Triple Fit Strategy is a must-read for all senior-level executives as well as for those who aspire to become one. Bravo!

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Here are two suggestions while you are reading Triple Fit Strategy: First, highlight key passages Also,  perhaps in a notebook kept near-at-hand (e.g. Apica Premium C.D. Notebook A5), record your comments, questions, and action steps (preferably with deadlines). Pay special attention to the “Takeaways” section at the end of each of the nine chapters.

These two simple tactics — highlighting and documenting — will expedite frequent reviews of key material later.