A systemic approach to maximizing revenue throughout the customer relationship, a practice known as revenue lifecycle management (RLM), has shown to improve market share and revenue growth for business-to-business companies. A survey of global C-level executives by Forbes Insights and customer and revenue lifecycle solutions provider ServiceSource has found positive correlations between RLM and overall revenue growth, revenue growth among existing customers and higher customer renewal rates.

“The traditional roles of partners, vendors and customers are being disrupted,” says Bruce Rogers, chief insights officer and head of the CMO Practice at Forbes Media. “Yet this presents opportunities, and a focus on RLM can help maximize those.”

Forbes Insights research has shown that companies who have adopted RLM at the highest level are 46-percent more likely to be market leaders in customer revenue growth and 36-percent more likely in profitability. The study also found that 81 percent of respondents say that customers are now more likely to expect vendors to engage with them and 73 percent said that customers compare current vendors with their competitors in regards to how they are engaged after the initial sale. RLM practices also spurred increases in customer yield and retention, revenues, competitive differentiation and improved customer advocacy.

“This report makes one thing clear: B2B companies have a window of opportunity to pull ahead of their competitors by investing in the area that benefits both their customers and their bottom line—revenue lifecycle management,” says Christopher M. Carrington, CEO of ServiceSource. “The research shows that a comprehensive RLM strategy can differentiate a company to its customers and represents a huge revenue growth opportunity. Companies, especially market leaders, are seeing this potential, and the ones that take a holistic approach to their revenue lifecycle will be ahead of the game.”

The report, “Mastering Revenue Lifecycle Management: Customer Engagement Leads to Competitive Advantage,” can be downloaded here.