It is time to take account reviews out of the dark ages!
Account Management Wednesday, November 24th, 2010
Today I witnessed another example of how the revolution in organisational buying (what we call the buying revolution) is challenging salespeople to their very core.
Another Account Review
I had the opportunity to sit through an internal account review with a highly experienced and professional sales person earlier today. The review process was structured – clearly the person involved had done his preparation in advance of our discussion. First, he detailed the strengths and weaknesses of the seller’s position in the account, as per the table below:
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Our Strengths
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Our weaknesses
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We have the CEO’s ear
Our efforts have been showing results – the CEO has recognized this by email
They have adopted our methodology in-house
The work involved is work we like doing
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We are under pressure on day rates
The focus of our work is not as strategic as we would like Some of the key areas agreed are not being auctioned by their managers
Key managers need to make a mindset shift No contact with other directors / senior managers |
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Opportunities
o Process re-engineering in respect of back office, value 20k, 50% probability, qtr 4 this year
o Training programme for managers and staff, value 5k, 40% probability, quarter 4 this year
o Product A pilot 5k, 20% probabilities
o Set the ground for a new implementation in Qtr 3 of next year, value 80k, probability 30%
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Risks
o They may start to take us for granted
o Budget – can they afford to keep using us?
o Some comments have been made that call into question whether the project is addressing immediate priorities
o Are expectations clear?
o There is a change of management personnel pending
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The Narcissistic Account Review
But, if an account review does not look for a win-win in terms of looking to help the buyer more and in return sell more, then it is starting from the wrong place and the very health of the client relationship may be under threat. The salesperson’s one-sided view can be explained by the challenge of spending time with the buyer. In particular a number of meetings have been cancelled at the last minute. In any respect the last formal feedback session was all of 10 months ago! Clearly, that makes the need to sit with the buyer and to discuss his needs and the seller’s performance a real priority.
Our advice is that salespeople should treat existing accounts the same way as they do new accounts. That is with the same attention, drive to understand requirements, focus on developing relationships and so on. This avoids complacency or taking the account for granted. It also prevents making dangerous assumptions – such as that the client’s priorities are the same as they were at the time of the last sale.
Making the Change
As sales people we have been selling things one way for a long time. It is difficult to change our ways. But change is exactly what is required to cope with the new market realities. This account review not only suggested that there were opportunities to improve not just the management of this account, but the very processes and mindset applied to the management of all accounts. At a time when customer poaching is at its height, then this has to be a top priority.
Posted by Ray Collis
on Nov 24 2010. Filed under Account Management.
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