Better Business Relationships Program (BBR) 2027
April – October 2027 in St.Gallen, Switzerland
A hands-on 5-day training program with 6 months of coaching to advance your key account relationships around one question: "What if we – supplier and customer – were one company?"
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Why BBR
Unlock Growth in Your Strategic Customer Relationships
Today's business customers expect the commitment of – and access to – their suppliers' total business operation. They want one team, joint value initiatives and strategic contributions far beyond products and price.
That's why organizations need sales professionals who act as "Customer General Managers". Better Business Relationships (BBR) is a cross-industry program for B2B companies that want to build exactly these next-generation sales practices – applied to real customers, coached by experts, and benchmarked against peers.
Program Objectives
What BBR Sets Out to Achieve
OBJECTIVE 1
Cross-Industry Benchmarking
Identify and analyze the performance patterns of your strategic customer relationships – from both the internal (supplier) and external (customer) perspective
OBJECTIVE 2
Tailored Growth Strategies
Develop customer-validated growth strategies for your most important relationships, grounded in benchmarking data and comprehensive real-life practice cases.
OBJECTIVE 3
Breakthrough Success Cases & Next Practices
Contribute to and learn from the world's largest database of benchmarking information on high-value customer-supplier relationships and the best practices that create impact.
The Method
Triple Fit Instead of Product-Market Fit
BBR's methodology is based on the Triple Fit Canvas, published in the Harvard Business Review Press book Triple Fit Strategy by Christoph Senn and Mehak Gandhi.
Only 15% of sellers orchestrate growth to differentiate themselves from competitors. Most focus on what existing product features can do for customers. The Triple Fit Canvas is a shared lens for analysis, strategy and action: it expands a limited, product-centric view (1x value) into a customer-centric perspective (10x value) – aligning planning, execution and resources with your customer and creating new opportunities for mutual growth.
Read the Harvard Business Review article "Stop Selling. Start Collaborating." →
A proven framework for 10x value
The Triple Fit Canvas – published by Harvard Business Review Press – moves your teams from a product-centric view to joint value creation across strategies, solutions and resources.
Rigour, relevance and tangible results
No case studies from other companies’ files: every participant works on a real customer relationship and ends with a customer-validated growth plan presented to senior management.
Designed around the sales role
Three days in St.Gallen, two in October, coaching in between. Small learning teams, virtual sessions and one-to-one coaching fit around a demanding account role.
✽ What You Get
Three Outcomes That Change the Conversation
Top-Customer Relationship Assessment
Validate your performance from the customer's point of view – beyond satisfaction scores, sales and service KPIs – and identify where the real value gap lies.
Coaching of Real-Life Value Creation Projects
Apply the Triple Fit method to a strategic customer of your choice. Six months of coaching in small learning teams turn ideas into a customer-validated growth plan.
Cross-Industry Benchmarking & Learning
Compare your corporate- and customer-level performance with BBR members from 20+ industries and learn from the world's largest database of value creation projects.
✽ How BBR Works
The BBR Roadmap: Four Phases to Breakthrough Growth
A continuous process that delivers game-changing insights and tangible outcomes – from onboarding to a customer-validated breakthrough case presented to your executive sponsors.
Member Onboarding
Virtual kick-off sessions and participant orientation
Get ready for a structured exchange with sales peers
Relationship Assessment
3-day Value Creation Bootcamp, April 13-15, 2027
Assess the health of your top-customer portfolio
Virtual review & coaching sessions over 6 months
Create favorable conditions for scalable growth
Breakthrough Cases
2-day Benchmarking Conference, Oct 13-14, 2027
Align customer strategies with corporate strategy
Value Creation Projects
The Cornerstone: Real Customers, Real Results
The Value Creation Project (VCP) is a business case for change with one strategic customer. It is your vehicle for turning the program into revenue.
Each participant runs a real-life Value Creation Project (VCP) – a business case for change with a strategic customer. It starts with a fact-based analysis, continues with a feasibility check and ROI calculation, and ends with a customer-validated recommendation and a jointly agreed go-forward plan, presented to senior management.
Value Creation Project (VCP) cases collected since 2008
1000+
Revenue generated by high-performing VCPs
$100M+
Minimum return 12 months after program = full payback
$1M
4 out of 5 VCPs are fully implemented
<1 year
Track record
A Proven Program with a Global B2B Network
BBR builds on over two decades of work with leading B2B companies on one question: "how do you grow together with your most important customers?"
Since 2008, account managers from companies such as Maersk, BASF, Coca-Cola, KPMG and Tetra Pak have completed more than 1,000 Value Creation Projects – a unique body of evidence on what makes customer–supplier relationships create value. BBR is run by Valuecreator AG, the company behind Triple Fit Strategy (Harvard Business Review Press), at St.Gallen, Switzerland. Each cohort joins a global network of B2B leaders who learn from each other, share best practices and benchmark their customer relationships across more than 20 industries.
Stop selling products.
Start orchestrating growth.
Participant voices
What Former Participants Say
“The Value Creation Project was a great opportunity to connect with peers and initiate a real-life growth project with my customer. In total, we added $100 million in sales per annum.”
“My Value Creation Project helped our company to regain market share at the customer and drive explosive growth, leading to 2x sales within less than three years.”
Nick van den Berghe
Senior Digital Key Accounts Manager, ECCO
“Intensive days filled with valuable insights and practical takeaways. A strong foundation for future success! Excellent organization, great team, very good mix and valuable insights!”
Daniel Schwägerl
Global Enterprise Manager, Konica Minolta
"Triple Fit helped me turn around the relationship with my customer based on a strategic vision, particularly through the implementation of the game-changer ideas that led to $12 million in additional sales."
Fabiane Martins
Global Key Account Manager, BASF
"The consortium membership has helped us to develop high-value relationships with global customers and project partners and run them like a business."
Michael Dobler
Senior Vice President, Global Account Management, Schindler
"Presenting my Triple Fit findings to my customer has led to more open conversations regarding budgetary planning and alignment of resources."
Stephen Colgan
Client Partner, Vodafone Global Enterprise
"The Triple Fit Canvas helped us develop a 360-degree view of our business relationships, align strategies across products and geographies, and co-create value with our top customers."
Dr. Michael Heuer
Former CEO, Roche Diagnostics Division
"The Triple Fit Canvas is a very intuitive tool. It is not an additional task, but the basis to continuously co-create value with our most important customers."
Dr. Matthias Kiessling
Head Global Business Services, Konica Minolta
“We need to make time to create value. The program is very well thought out and flows smoothly from one part to the next, providing excellent opportunities for discussion.”
Jens Böhm
Former Director, Business Excellence, Südzucker AG
BBR Advantages
Key Benefits of the BBR Program
Tailor-made growth strategies
Identify high-performance customer relationships through advanced Triple Fit analytics and design a roadmap to grow globally.
Future-oriented status analysis
Master a replicable growth booster method and gain insights into peer performance through benchmarking results.
Lessons from world-class companies
Get inside knowledge on real-life cases from the world's largest database on value creation projects.
Exclusivity
Membership is restricted to a select group of non-competing companies on a first-come, first-served basis.
Replicable action-learning projects
Develop customer-validated growth plans for a strategic relationship of your choice and discuss replication with your coach and peers.
Time for networking with peers
Build a cross-industry peer network and prepare a strategy check that helps your executive sponsors future-proof your corporate strategy.
Shared costs with full payback
Share program costs with other members and save approximately 80 percent versus a similar in-house effort.
Who should join
Built for Companies That Aspire to Next-Generation Sales Practices
- The ideal member firm is a leading company in its industry with a global customer base, strategic client relationships and solid management support.
- Participation is restricted to a limited number of non-competing companies to enable a full representation of industries and experiences.
- The ideal participant has sales and key account management experience and covers a limited set of customers.
- Sales leaders are invited to join kick-offs, reviews and the Benchmarking Conference.
- Each firm nominates a liaison person to coordinate BBR activities with the program team.
- Admittance is by invitation, first-come first-served; previous BBR companies sending teams receive priority.
No direct competitors allowed – for a safe exchange of ideas.
The Venue: St. Gallen Switzerland
The BBR program is hosted by Valuecreator AG, the company behind Triple Fit Strategy, at the premises of the University of St.Gallen – one of Europe's leading business schools, set against the backdrop of the Alpstein mountains.
Direct trains connect Zurich Airport and St.Gallen in about one hour, several times an hour. From St.Gallen station, the campus is a short bus or taxi ride away. Participants from France, Germany, Austria and Italy can also reach St.Gallen easily by car or train.
Next Step
Book a 30-mins call to explore BBR 2027
Have one or more key accounts with untapped potential? Let’s explore whether BBR is the right fit for your team. Places are limited and go to non-competing companies, first-come, first-served – so it pays to talk early.
Use the form below to request a call, book places for your team or get the full program brochure. Prefer to write directly? Email Prof. Dr. Christoph Senn at senn@valuecreator.com.