Innovators don’t just create better products — they rethink entire systems. Yet too many companies treat customer relationships as transactional, missing the chance to co-create transformational value. The real opportunity? Applying innovation thinking to your most critical partnerships to unlock new markets, solutions, and revenue streams.
This webcast featured Deirdre Crowley, Marketing Fellow, Dow Inc. and Innosight Managing Directors Ned Calder and Rob Bell exploring the ways that companies are redefining customer relationships by focusing on collaborative innovation rather than just selling. It goes in-depth into how Dow unlocked new value by shifting its innovation focus from breakthrough products to modular solutions that simplified customers’ manufacturing processes — proving that solving operational complexity can be just as impactful as technical innovation.
The slides used in this webcast are available for download below.
It included two polls of participants:
Here are five highlights from the discussion:
1. Redefining Customer Relationships as Strategic Innovation Platforms
Many organizations believe they have strong customer relationships — but these are often narrowly focused on existing products and transactions. Bell explained that real strategic value emerges when companies expand their engagement, and “move from a transactional to a more consultative relationship by offering value.”
This means moving beyond procurement-focused interactions to become a trusted partner in solving business problems. Calder added that even companies who consider themselves innovation leaders may have blind spots: “A number of organizations have the perception that they have strong relationships… but often, it’s through a very narrow aperture.”
Crowley reframed the opportunity: “Strategic relationship management doesn’t assume that you have a bad relationship… you’re gonna change your definition of what success is and what it could be.”
2. Use Customer “Jobs to Be Done” to Find Innovation Opportunities
Understanding your customer’s deeper goals—their “jobs to be done”—is foundational to driving innovation. Bell emphasized the importance of this concept: “You can’t get in those conversations until you have developed deep insight on your customer’s jobs to be done.”
These jobs provide the framework for identifying where you can create value—beyond what the customer might initially articulate. This method reframes the relationship from transactional to transformative.
Crowley echoed this: “The jobs concept is super valuable… it really centers you on, truly, what an interesting value proposition would be.”
3. Start with Pilots and Scale Through Structure
Crowley emphasized the power of starting small: “We are a big fan of piloting… we tend to have much more success when we pilot something new.” These pilots allow teams to learn, demonstrate value, and build internal credibility. But moving beyond pilots requires process. Bell was clear about the danger of letting these efforts fade: “Unstructured work is driven out by structured work — always.”
Creating momentum and process is essential for scaling strategic relationship management (SRM) across a company.
4. Top-to-Top Conversations Enable Strategic Shifts
Real breakthroughs happen when senior leaders from both sides engage. Crowley described how executive-level alignment enables new investments and priorities: “When you have a top-to-top discussion, and there’s clear value there, then it’s very easy for that decision to be made at the right level.”
Bell added that one of their joint efforts with Dow “did actually catalyze a top-to-top conversation that was different from the ones you’d had previously.” These dialogues are critical when companies want to redirect resources toward new innovation opportunities.
5. Leadership Commitment and Culture Change Are Prerequisites
Despite the promise of SRM, change is hard — especially when culture is the barrier. Calder called this out: “The ubiquitous blocker of culture… seems to be at the root of so many things.”
He stressed the need to go beyond identifying cultural blockers and to actively address them through behavior change and interventions.
Crowley tied it directly to leadership: “If leadership is not bought into it and doesn’t see it as a priority or a high-value opportunity… then you will struggle to do all the rest of it.”
Speaker Bios
Deirdre Crowley, Marketing Fellow, Dow Inc.
Deirdre is a Marketing Fellow for the Coatings & Performance Monomers business. She has a passion for innovation, jobs-to-be-done, and change management, and how to utilize each in crafting business strategies. Deirdre is currently focused on developing strategic organizational capabilities to build new market leadership positions, capitalize on growth opportunities, and develop new business models. Deirdre earned an MBA from Columbia University and holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and a BA in German from the International Engineering Program at the University of Rhode Island.
Ned Calder, Managing Director, Innosight
Ned Calder is a Managing Director at Innosight. In over a decade with Innosight, he has partnered with leadership teams of some of the world’s top companies to navigate disruptive change and transform into the next version of themselves. Ned has extensive experience helping companies find, develop, and commercialize high-potential growth opportunities across a wide range of industries. His work has enabled organizations to define and align on a unified strategy for long-term growth, develop new business models for products and services, and build organizational enablers and capabilities.
Rob Bell, Managing Director, Innosight
Rob Bell is a Managing Director at Innosight. He focuses on helping leadership teams navigate disruptive change and develop future strategies for sustained profitable growth. Rob has been instrumental in developing transformational strategies at some of the world’s largest and most successful industrial companies to help them deliver new, differentiated value to their customers. He has designed and driven growth initiatives with material impact on client results.
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