{"id":3111,"date":"2017-08-22T08:27:06","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T13:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/?p=3111"},"modified":"2017-07-30T23:49:18","modified_gmt":"2017-07-31T04:49:18","slug":"do-your-key-customer-accounts-consider-your-organisation-to-be-an-ideal-supplier-maybe-its-time-to-find-out-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/do-your-key-customer-accounts-consider-your-organisation-to-be-an-ideal-supplier-maybe-its-time-to-find-out-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Your Key Customer Accounts Consider Your Organisation to be an \u2018Ideal\u2019 Supplier? Maybe it\u2019s Time to Find Out! (Part II)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Editor\u2019s Note: \u00a0You can read Dr. Ted Marra\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/do-your-key-customer-accounts-consider-your-organisation-to-be-an-ideal-supplier-maybe-its-time-to-find-out-part-i\/\">Part 1 of\u00a0Do Your Key Customer Accounts Consider Your Organisation to be an \u2018Ideal\u2019 Supplier? Maybe it\u2019s Time to Find Out!\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">* * * *<\/p>\n<p>If you read <a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/do-your-key-customer-accounts-consider-your-organisation-to-be-an-ideal-supplier-maybe-its-time-to-find-out-part-i\/\">Part I<\/a> of this short series, you saw five (5) critical success factors which I have found over the years are needed for your organisation to be perceived by your key customer accounts as an \u2018ideal\u2019 supplier.\u00a0 These characteristics, as those in Part II,\u00a0 have come from in-depth interviews with key accounts of some of the world\u2019s largest global organisations such as Johnson &amp; Johnson, Xerox, IBM, Shell, Royal Bank of Scotland and nearly 100 more \u2013 literally thousands of interviews.\u00a0 In each case, at least three individuals were interviewed \u2013 sometimes more, but at least a minimum of three (3) \u2013 a key decision maker, a key decision influencer and users\/user group as appropriate.\u00a0 On occasion the CEO or Managing Director or other key leadership team personnel are included.<\/p>\n<p>However, after all that intelligence gathering, there was incredible convergence on how key accounts defined an \u2018ideal\u2019 supplier.\u00a0 Here now are the remaining five (5) critical success factors may be worth your time exploring and investing in for the future success of your organisation.<\/p>\n<h2>Your organisation has people who are state-of-the-art in their knowledge and application of products, services, support and technologies which your organisation offers<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>So here we have another \u2018people\u2019 issue and we said in <a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/do-your-key-customer-accounts-consider-your-organisation-to-be-an-ideal-supplier-maybe-its-time-to-find-out-part-i\/\">Part I<\/a>, \u2018people do make the difference\u2019. However, what it means is that your organisation has an obligation to keep the learning curve of your people going upward on a continuous basis through training and development \u2013 to invest in them so they can contribute to their full potential.<\/li>\n<li>Let\u2019s face it, technology can change at a rapid pace and it is easy to fall behind.\u00a0 Sales personnel are only going to sell what they know and understand \u2013 that which is in their comfort zone.\u00a0 If you give them something new in their \u2018arsenal\u2019 and they do not feel confident, the customer may not get what will ultimately best meet their requirements because the account manager or technical service representative \u00a0just doesn\u2019t \u2018get it\u2019.\u00a0 This can lead to dissatisfaction and possibly a complaint.<\/li>\n<li>Of course we also know that when revenues or market share starts to decline or sales of the latest product or technology miss the target, the last thing anyone looks at is whether people have all been properly trained.\n<ul>\n<li>Besides, we know that one of the first things that gets cut when business slows is training.\u00a0 A bad decision any time \u2013 not just when times are bad.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>As harsh at it may seem, introduction of new technology and effective selling of that technology, when it meets true customer requirements, should be a measure of a key account manager\u2019s capability \u2013 their performance.\u00a0 And one has to realise that there will always be some key account managers that no matter what amount of training and coaching is done for them, they may still remain \u2018clueless\u2019. You will then have to make decisions about the future of these individuals.\n<ul>\n<li>When I developed the \u2018Certified Auto Service\u2019 for Goodyear \u2013 a program which remained the benchmark for service in the tire industry for 10 years nationally, it included the mandated use, for the first time, of computerized diagnostic equipment such as Hunter wheel alignment machines.\u00a0 It turned out that about 20-35% , depending upon the geographic location, of repair technicians just could not learn how to use this equipment effectively.\u00a0 These individuals had been in some cases affectionately called \u2018shade tree mechanics\u2019 \u2013 old school individuals that no matter how much we tried to help them they just couldn\u2019t make the transition to the modern computerized equipment.\u00a0 In the end these individuals were sent to an outplacement organisation in the hope that could find jobs elsewhere.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>As a \u2018side note\u2019, be aware that sometimes you get more than you bargained for. Too often organisations place \u2018spiffs\u2019 or \u2018incentives\u2019 on selling certain equipment \u2013 sometimes because they want to bring out a new version and clean the warehouse out of the old one.\u00a0 Incentives can and do cause people to engage in \u2018unnatural behaviour\u2019.\u00a0 If you incentivize then to sell certain equipment or products they will do it even if it means trying to put a square peg in a round hole.\u00a0 In the end the customer discovers they have sold a \u2018bill of goods\u2019 and they complain resulting in a credit having to be given in many case and a loss of confidence in your organisation by the customer.<\/li>\n<li>At the INEL (Idaho National Energy Labs) \u2013 a consortium of Lockheed-Martin, Westinghouse and others along with the Department of Energy, the need for \u2018technical competence\u2019 and keeping their people on the leading edge of technology in their area of storage\/disposal of toxic waste was a critical success factor.\u00a0 Yet, when push came to shove, time and again sending people to key technical conference s to speak or participate or training and development both travel and training budgets continued to be slashed.\u00a0 We know the half-life of technical knowledge is shrinking rapidly.\u00a0 If one seeks a premature death to such a highly technical and specialized organisation, the best way to achieve it is by failure to invest in your people.<\/li>\n<li>In Pakistan, I had the opportunity to work with Parco \u2013 the state owned oil and gas company.\u00a0 One of the senior Directors I interviewed in the course of my work there was responsible for pipeline technology.\u00a0 He had been responsible for building the oil pipeline between Pakistan and the UAE under the Arabian Sea.\u00a0 Beyond that he had years of other valuable experience.\u00a0 Unfortunately he was soon to retire.\u00a0 No one was being groomed to replace him.\u00a0 All that valuable knowledge was just going to \u2018walk out the door\u2019.\u00a0 And what about customers or partners who needed this knowledge? How was Parco going to provide it? The short answer was that they couldn\u2019t and so some customers and potential partners were going to have to go elsewhere to satisfy their requirements. The unfortunate fact is that I have seen this phenomenon repeated over and over again in organisations around the globe.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Always having enough resources to service our account in the best way<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>One of the problems I have seen in this area is simply that large customers such as Shell, Xerox, Johnson &amp; Johnson, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Apple, Amazon and the list goes on \u2018expect\u2019 that you have sufficient people in each of the customer experiences \u2013 sales, service (repair service, customer service, technical service), training, order fulfilment and more to ensure the people they need are available and easily accessible whenever they are needed.\u00a0 Failure to meet those expectations will erode trust and confidence.\u00a0 The customer will begin to question if they made the right decision to build a dependency on your organisation for meeting its needs. This can lead to customers splitting their requirements between multiple suppliers \u2013 giving you less of the proverbial pie.<\/li>\n<li>One issue that can feed the appearance of lack of resources is when account managers are given too many accounts and there is a failure to prioritise those accounts so that scheduling of time occurs where the benefits are most mutually beneficial. I have seen so many organisations who give their account managers so many accounts and such a diverse mix of accounts by industry, size or strategic importance, that not even superman on his best day could make the time to not only visit but spend quality time looking for ways to help the customer be more successful using your company\u2019s products and services!<\/li>\n<li>This challenge is especially true for SME\u2019s.\u00a0 As an example, an SME here in Croatia \u2013 a former client and a best in class systems integrator and cloud technology company, started working with McDonalds.\u00a0 In a short while McDonalds recognised how good they were and started giving them more work until one day they gave this company responsibility for McDonald\u2019s entire information architecture worldwide with requests often coming several times a week for projects.\u00a0 It was eating up the company and taking people away from work with other strategic clients.\u00a0 In discussing the situation it was clear to me that McDonalds would very quickly absorb all of the organisation\u2019s resources.\u00a0 New talented people meeting specific and rigorous assessment criteria started being hired \u2013 but became increasing difficult to find \u2013 another problem.\u00a0 However, as suggested, a separate internal pseudo division was established just for McDonalds.\u00a0 The way we set it up was that those people in the organisation that had proven themselves the \u2018best of the best\u2019 with other strategic client assignments were gradually migrated to the McDonald\u2019s Team.\u00a0 Once they had learned and contributed on the advanced and challenging assignments of McDonalds, they were rotated back as team leaders, supervisors or first line managers on the other strategic account work \u2013 bringing with them valuable knowledge and experience they could use to transfer to the others they worked with and develop their capabilities.\u00a0 In the process, the organisation doubled in size from about 100 to over 200 employees.\n<ul>\n<li>Having the right management systems in place was also essential to be able to grow this fast and not self-destruct \u2013 this work was carried out in parallel with the growth in demand by McDonalds for technical support.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Always being \u2018proactive\u2019 and \u2018honest\u2019 in dealing with problems, communication in general and providing solutions and new ideas<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>If there is one thing that I have found time and again that absolutely irritates customer accounts, it is always the fact that suppliers wait until it is too late, after the fact \u2013 until the horse is out of the barn before alerting the customer account of a problem.\u00a0 Consequently the customer account often has an unpleasant surprise and ends up having the burden placed on them to chase up the account manager or technical service organisation to find out what\u2019s going on.\n<ul>\n<li>The expectation is that the supplier will have \u2018preventive\u2019 or even \u2018predictive systems\u2019 such as Xerox, Thomson Consumer Electronics or Cybernet (mobile telecom company in Karachi, Pakistan), Anglo-American had in place when I consulted or worked for them. The concepts are simple:\n<ul>\n<li>Catch the problem or issue while it was \u2018in-house\u2019 if at all possible and alert the customer as soon as possible to the situation \u2013 that way they, the customer, can put contingency plans in place such as notifying their customers of an impending situation such as a delay in receiving product. Customers say over and over, \u2018Why do I always have to find the problem? Why doesn\u2019t anyone ever call and warn me that there may be an issue, or that a system (e.g., telecommunications) may be developing a \u2018fault\u2019 which will lead to failure and loss of business on our part and an unpleasant surprise for our customers!\u2019<\/li>\n<li>In the case of \u2018predictive\u2019 systems, organisations look for patterns.\u00a0 For example, at Xerox, new customers who made a certain number of calls to customer or technical services and\/or a certain number of complaints were flagged in the system and contacted directly by telephone or in-person to allay their anxiety and reassure them \u2013 strengthen their confidence in Xerox<\/li>\n<li>There are also \u2018new product or service launch early warning systems\u2019 utilised.\u00a0 For some time this was done by certain auto manufacturers by linking their repair and warranty systems with those of the key and highest volume car dealerships.\u00a0 By obtaining rapid and high volume, high quality feedback from these key \u2018sensing\u2019 points or dealerships, they could quickly make running changes as needed. This approach can work in any industry such as consumer electronics, white goods or mobile phone handsets.<\/li>\n<li>The sad fact, after years of consulting with organisations such as Knauf or Anglo-American (Tarmac in the U.K.), Siemens Telecommunications and others, is that all too often, even when the organisation did not have the products in stock that the customer wanted and ordered, he or she was told that they were in stock \u2013 bold faced lies to avoid losing the business to a competitor.\u00a0 Yet, little thought was being given to the consequences of \u2018over-promising and under-delivering\u2019 namely the damage to trust and confidence which is exceedingly difficult to repair and the negative word-of-mouth spread by the customer and potential reduction in purchases in the future.\u00a0 Honesty is always the best policy \u2013 even if it hurts. Better to have short-term pain for longer term gain.\u00a0 But too often many sales personnel feel the pressure to perform \u2013 to get the incentives, bonuses and recognition. These types of financial \u2018spiffs\u2019 can cause sales personnel (and others) as said above to perform \u2018unnatural acts\u2019 and damage customer relationships in the process.\n<ul>\n<li>I have heard customers say to me, \u2018sales should be selling me what I need, not what they want to sell me\u2019 to achieve their targets or meet their forecasts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>And how many times I have heard customers tell me, \u2018I wish just once my sales rep would give me a new idea or suggestion to help my business instead of just looking for an order or not understanding our business well enough or having the competencies necessary to bring us good ideas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Understands our business and what makes it unique better than the competition<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The greatest compliment an account manager can be given is to be told \u2018You are one of us\u2019 \u2013 in other words, you could come to work here tomorrow and fit right in \u2013 hit the ground running because you know and understand our organisation so well.<\/li>\n<li>So much of it is about \u2018listening and learning\u2019 \u2013 spending 80% of your time in an active listening mode to understand the decision process, what your key contacts are on the \u2018hook\u2019 for \u2013 how you can help them be a superstar, bring suggestions that really reflect you understand their business and market (customers and competition), know the key decision makers, key decision influencers, users\/user groups, supply chain, products, services, support and their organisational structure for starters.\n<ul>\n<li>To reach your full potential for success in any account you must be perceived \u2013 must be seen as being a <strong>more valuable resource, solutions provider, trusted advisor and business partner than your competitors<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>To do this properly, <strong>sales management must transform into relationship management<\/strong> \u2013 they must gain competencies in \u2018<strong>relationship mastery<\/strong>\u2019. The fact is that by building a secure relationship with your key customer accounts, the business will come \u2013 it will grow.\n<ul>\n<li>In my opinion, sales should have a 20% focus on \u2018<strong>getting the business<\/strong>\u2019 and an 80% focus on \u2018<strong>keeping the business and ensuring it grows profitably\u2019<\/strong>.\u00a0 Unfortunately, for too many, \u2018getting the business\u2019 becomes 80% of the focus and the 20% related to \u2018keeping the business\u2019 is seen as the time required to chase problems and complaints.\u00a0 This is just plain wrong!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>As an aside, what I have seen time and again is that \u2018sales related problems\u2019 are far more lethal to the relationship your organisation has with its customers than any other including delivery,\u00a0 training, invoicing, technical support or others.\n<ul>\n<li>In fact the top three most lethal sales related issues are the following from my experience in hundreds of organisations around the world:\n<ul>\n<li>#1: Not promptly returning telephone calls or emails from customers which communicates to the customer that they are not important \u2013 a bad message in any industry or country around the globe<\/li>\n<li>#2: Making commitments and not keeping them \u2013 damaging trust and confidence which is exceeding difficult and time consuming to rebuild<\/li>\n<li>#3: Not meeting my requirements \u2013 namely, selling me something I really didn\u2019t need \u2013 it wasn\u2019t the right product let alone the <strong>right solution<\/strong>!\n<ul>\n<li>This happens when sales reps have not received proper training so they are unfamiliar with or uncomfortable with the newest technologies or models \u2013 so they peddle what they know, but this may not be the best solution for the customer\u2019s requirement<\/li>\n<li>It happens also when incentives are placed on certain products or services so that sales reps can have tendency to \u2018go for the money\u2019 and not being \u2018an advocate for the customer\u2019. They try instead to put a square peg in a round hole where the customer is concerned.\u00a0 In the end, the cost to your company could be quite significant as customer requirements are compromised<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Your organisation works as a team internally and with us, your customer<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In case you didn\u2019t notice, customers aren\u2019t dumb. They pick up on the fact, pretty quickly, that you are communicating effectively internally within your company or not.\u00a0 All it takes is a few visits from different individuals in your organisation and\/or telephone calls to your organisation to realise that the \u2018left hand does not know what the right hand is doing\u2019. Quite frankly this phenomenon immediately throws up a flag in the customer\u2019s mind and a sense of worry that things of importance or urgency could \u2018slip through a crack especially when coordination and collaboration within the supplier organisation \u2013 your organisation, is critical to their business success.\n<ul>\n<li>I distinctly recall three organisations, DuPont, Nortel and ABN Amro Bank which I consulted to for some time.\u00a0 These organisations had, as their single most challenging issue, nothing short of what could be termed \u2018open warfare\u2019 internally between functional and divisional organisations which included, of course, political power plays and some dirty tricks from time to time.\u00a0 Unfortunately, in each case, it was the customer who was compromised in all the battling on issues as simple as \u2018who pays\u2019, finger pointing\/blame activities, refusal to communicate and the list went on.<\/li>\n<li>Again, it does not take customers long to figure out what is going on \u2013 or \u2018not going on\u2019 within a supplier organisation.\u00a0 A word here or there from employees of the supplier organisation \u2013 your organisation &#8211; when at the customer\u2019s site or over the telephone start putting the puzzle pieces together explaining why the supplier \u2013 your organisation &#8211; \u00a0is not being responsive to them \u2013 the customer. As the alarm bell begins to sound in the customer\u2019s organisation because their customers are not getting what they need either, other providers \u2013 the competitors are being examined more closely as being a safer bet. In the end your organisation loses.<\/li>\n<li>Customers really appreciate it when they are made to feel like they are \u2018part of the team\u2019 \u2013 when there is open, free and honest sharing of information between all parties \u2013 when there is \u2018transparency\u2019 \u2013 departments, functions, divisions \u2013 everyone becomes part of \u2018all one team\u2019 working together \u2013 communicating, coordinating and collaborating as well as having the motivation to do so. This is when good things happen and relationships are strengthened.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>There are excellent working relationships with our organisation (the customer) at all levels<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>This is a very critical factor for success.\u00a0 It is what I call \u2018organisational alignment\u2019- making sure that at every level, your organisation and the customer\u2019s organisation are aligned\n<ul>\n<li>This means that someone in your organisation is accountable for a peer relationship in the customer organisation \u2013 for maintaining and strengthening that relationship.<\/li>\n<li>It means that once per month (unless there is a special situation developing), all individuals in your organisation that have that accountability get together for a short stand-up meeting and share the latest news of any developments, progress, success or challenges. Actions are then planned, ownership is assigned and carried out as needed.<\/li>\n<li>It also means that once per quarter or twice per year a Relationship review occurs. I have found that it is best to have this done by a neutral party \u2013 whether internal to your organisation or a 3<sup>rd<\/sup> party from outside your organisation.\u00a0 Over the past 20-25 years I have evolved this process to where it is now extremely valuable and is based upon four (4) key components:\n<ol>\n<li>Asking the customer to look ahead \u2013 be futures oriented and share what they see coming in the next 18 months to 3 years \u2013 changes, emerging trends and key factors for future success<\/li>\n<li>Asking how you compare to other suppliers they use \u2013 who is the best and why, what you need to do to become the best and all the while gaining valuable competitive intelligence<\/li>\n<li>Asking for their candid view of the quality of the relationship with your organisation and its people<\/li>\n<li>Asking them to rate your organisation on the key characteristics that you have learned are their \u2018hot buttons\u2019 \u2013 the things most important to them \u2013 scoring you on a 1-5 scale on each where 1=poor and 5= excellent and also indicating whether they have seen any improvement or decline in any of these areas since the last review.<\/li>\n<li>This review represents powerful qualitative research and trumps quantitative research every time for strengthening relationships<\/li>\n<li>The Team accountable for this customer must then review the feedback and develop an action plan and communicate and gain agreement with the customer<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Here is an example from a previous client of some years ago \u2013 Huhtamaki, one of the world\u2019s largest maker of paper and plastic disposables with headquarters in Helsinki.\u00a0 I worked with their UK operation for many years.\u00a0 The chart below indicates how the alignment was structured:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3112\" src=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/customersupplierslide.png\" alt=\"customersupplierslide\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/customersupplierslide.png 480w, https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/customersupplierslide-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>BCS was one of Huhtamaki\u2019s key strategic accounts.\u00a0 MD refers to \u2018Managing Director\u2019.\u00a0 I won\u2019t go into any more detail on this except to emphasize that many people in Huhtamaki had a role to play in managing this account and ensuring an exceptional relationship was maintained. Every key decision maker, decision influencer or other key department of the customer had someone from Huhtamaki who had responsibility for maintaining the relationship. This is not the only way it can be done.\u00a0 For example, a slightly different approach was utilised for Johnson &amp; Johnson and some of their key national distributors.\u00a0 But the concept remains unchanged and powerful. In this latter example of J&amp;J, the issue was how do you build such an exceptional relationship \u2013 add so much value, that the distributor wants to work harder for your organisation and moving its products than it does for competitors who also use that distributor.<\/p>\n<p>Once again, I would suggest that the leadership team of your organisation and any others relevant to the discussion rate your organisation in each of these areas.\u00a0 See where there are differences of opinion and where there is convergence.\u00a0 Discuss the differences and work toward defining \u2018reality.\u00a0 Then test this with at least 3 of your key customer accounts \u2013 possibly including one which is not so happy with your performance and see where you make the grade.<\/p>\n<p>Use a 1-5 scale to keep it simple \u2013 a quality scale where 1-poor and 5-excellent when doing this with the leadership team and the key accounts.\u00a0 Ask yourselves what is required to become a \u20185\u2019 in each of these 10 criteria and then create and action plan, establish ownership and execute \u2013 monitoring progress from both an organisational perspective as well as a customer perspective, e.g., has the customer account noticed any changes?<\/p>\n<p>I hope that Part II also added some value and provided a few ideas to think about as you consider the quality of the relationships you have with your key strategic customer accounts!\u00a0 Best wishes for success!<\/p>\n<div class=\"aside\">See Dr. Marra\u2019s most recent book\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Competing-Win-Organizational-Performance-Chronicles\/dp\/1634620062\">Competing to Win<\/a>\u00a0for more information on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Competing-Win-Organizational-Performance-Chronicles\/dp\/1634620062\">Amazon here<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editor\u2019s Note: \u00a0You can read Dr. Ted Marra\u2019s Part 1 of\u00a0Do Your Key Customer Accounts Consider Your Organisation to be an \u2018Ideal\u2019 Supplier? Maybe it\u2019s Time to Find Out!\u00a0here. * * * * If you read Part I of this short series, you saw five (5) critical success factors which I have found over the&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/do-your-key-customer-accounts-consider-your-organisation-to-be-an-ideal-supplier-maybe-its-time-to-find-out-part-ii\/\" rel=\"bookmark\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Do Your Key Customer Accounts Consider Your Organisation to be an \u2018Ideal\u2019 Supplier? Maybe it\u2019s Time to Find Out! (Part II)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":3112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-operations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3113,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3111\/revisions\/3113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}