Just starting on the still much too hot chicory casserole, I'm sitting on the couch at home after a day of work in my studio, nice and relaxed. Outside it's already getting a bit dark while inside the TV conjures up Netflix. First catching up with Monique and then watching an episode of the miniseries 7 seconds.

Suddenly the doorbell rings: "Yeah thanks, wow that's quite a package," I call out. The Amazon delivery guy pushes an enormous box into my arms, making me struggle with the front door. From behind the box I can just about call out "Bye," but I suspect that greeting fades into no man's land.

I try to read the label with a sideways glance, but with my nearsighted eye that doesn't work. So I put the box on the floor for a moment; that makes it easier to close the door properly and scan the label decently. I can't remember ordering such a large package: yep, it's indeed for Monique.

"Oops, shoes again?" I think. Monique doesn't really pay attention to the large package and leaves it standing in the corner; we chat, eat and watch TV. The box seems forgotten...

Later in the evening I see that the box has been unpacked and 4 pairs of shoes are lying somewhat scattered on the table. Then I carefully ask: "so, is there anything good?"

Monique hates shoe stores, probably because few shoes are both nice and fit well. Around 11 PM I receive a WhatsApp, asking if I can drop off the box at DHL tomorrow. All the shoes are going back...

While I look at that pile of shoes, I realize something fundamental about how business is changing.

Until 10 years ago, Monique walked to the shoe store with a grumpy look, but meanwhile she never goes there anymore. She'd rather return many unsuitable shoes than take one more step in that store. The local shoe store doesn't stand a chance - not because their shoes are worse, but because Amazon has taken a completely different position.

From supplier to partner: the shift Amazon has already made

Look at Amazon's brand positioning:

"To be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and get it quickly and reliably."

Amazon doesn't position itself as a supplier of products. They're your buddy, your partner, who does their best to get to know you and gives you what you want for a low price without you having to look further. With AI, algorithms and big-tech they make the customer experience increasingly personal and pleasant.

What does this mean for entrepreneurs? Customers don't care where something comes from, as long as it offers an easy solution to what the customer experiences as a problem.

That shoe store down the street? It remains stuck in the old model: selling features (beautiful shoes!), pushing products (these are on sale!), and hoping that volume = cash register.

Amazon plays a different game. They've taken the partner position with billions in AI investments - more than $75 billion in 2024 and 100 billion in 2025. It works: their market value rose from $300 billion in 2018 to more than $1.5 trillion today. Not by selling more products, but by fundamentally restructuring the customer relationship. Meanwhile, suppliers who remain stuck in the old model are disappearing daily.

Selling features and loose products is a dead-end path

Entrepreneurs who hold on to volume with many small transactions are in a murderous competition, the terrain of the biggest automators and parties like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and so on. They play the volume game much better than you ever can.

And what happens to entrepreneurs who don't realize this? They become supplier-slaves. Interchangeable. Replaceable by whoever delivers cheapest.

In fact, if you don't shift quickly to partner position now, you're out.

What is that partner position exactly?

• Knowing your customer well (not just a general profile)
• Knowing which solutions your customer is looking for (not which features)
• Understanding what your customer wants to achieve in terms of ambition
• Helping the customer achieve that ambition

This is the shift to high-value customers. These are customers who stay with you long-term, who deliver high stable value spread over years. Where you can really make the difference because you understand where they want to go. These high-value customers don't walk away because there's a new AI tool. They stay because you're their partner, not their supplier.

That means you need to know a lot about what major problems your customer wants to overcome, investigate how you can address those and what role you can play in it. Implementing this shift is quite complicated, but with today's technology this is more achievable than ever.

Why NOW is the momentum for this shift

Entrepreneurs who embrace the technological AI acceleration can get into the partner position faster than before. You can now more easily automate and scale the complete customer communication workflow. Companies can set up their digital marketing and communication more independently.

But here's where it goes wrong: that new technology is being used for the old model:

• With ChatGPT you ram together a far too generic newsletter in minutes
• The time savings are spent on even more broadcasting instead of quality
• In communication, only features are still being sold
• The customer is still seen as a consumer, instead of a partner with whom you openly discuss the uncertainties in the market and business

Imagine: in 6 months you're still in the same spiral:

• Monday morning, another email that a client is switching to a cheaper competitor
• That pitch you worked on for weeks? Rejected because you're 'too expensive'
• Your unique expertise? Reduced to a line on a comparison site
• And that nagging voice only gets louder: 'This can't be what it's meant to be?'

Or... you make the shift to partner position now and in 6 months you only work with clients who truly understand your value.

Now is the momentum to position your business more sharply than ever. The AI tools are here. The technology is affordable. The market is ripe for real partners instead of more suppliers.
 

Evidence from practice

Curious how this approach works in practice? In my case studies I show how:

• A €60 million greenhouse project went from sabotage to success through the right positioning (not technology-first, but people-first and seeing as partner)

And cases about:

• An IPO Pitch Deck convinced investors by making complex data visual and persuasive
• A software expansion failed because the entrepreneur underestimated the marketing effort - and what you can learn from it

Download these 3 FREE case studies >>