The strategy that becomes prime for a company, however, has implications for its organizational structure. For a business to pursue this strategy, what is demanded is a very responsive customer service department and a very active marketing and sales department geared to relationship selling. In fact, these departments drive the company. They are the firm's primary interface with the customer base. Customer information is continually solicited, sorted, ordered, and immediately distributed throughout the company so that it can be acted upon immediately.
Information systems are state of the art.
The recipients of this information have to be able to act quickly to stay on top. A growing and successful construction company prided itself on building expensive homes geared to client needs and adaptable to client wants. The net result was that the owner, in effect, convinced buyers what they should want, thereby dramatically increasing the number of client-initiated changes as the clients along the way became clearer about what they wanted. Information about customer-initiated changes was frequently communicated incorrectly or late to the field, even more increasing construction costs due to the need to undo work that had been already completed. Sales people were pre-empted at closing regarding sales price, making for rapid turnover of sales people and suspicious buyers, and many client complaints throughout the construction period.