Back in the mid-80s, Pioneer - the nation's leading supplier of hybrid seed - saw that every year there were fewer farm operators, and more intense competition. Holding onto their customer base wasn't going to be enough. Pioneer needed to increase revenue from its current customers, and that meant understanding their needs. Pioneer compiled detailed information on everyone in North America who might potentially use their product - about 500,000 in all. A daunting task, given that Pioneer's sales reps had traditionally kept everything they needed to know about their customers inside their heads. See the steps this committed company took to bind its customers to it more closely than ever ... and end up reaping a 45% market share.