I read some very interesting research the other day and learned that the likelihood for sales people and
As I have mentioned in the past, my experience tells me that account planning and strategic account management continues to be a challenge for many IT staffing firms. If we are being honest, most simply give it the old college try at best. We’ve all been on those “account planning” or “cross selling” calls with multiple internal stakeholders where the call goes on and on yet nothing ever comes out of it. There is no follow up and no accountability. But what if we could come up with a way or methodology for effective account planning and measuring our progress? I’d like to think we would do more of it.
I think we would all agree that in every large, strategic account there is hidden white space or untapped opportunities for us to sell additional services too. One of the challenges I think we often fall prey to however is we are managing these accounts reactively. Asking yourself these questions can reveal the tell-tale signs that you are not proactively managing your accounts.
One of the keys to the account planning process is that your focus should be on the customer’s business, not on pitching available candidates or simply making self-proclamations about how great your service offering is. More specifically, you need to think about and understand how your value proposition and service offerings align with your customer’s goals and objectives. More on this in a minute. But you do have a value proposition don’t you?
Here are a few more questions for sales professionals and account managers to ask themselves
Another question for you to ponder.
Your answers to these questions should be giving a lot to think to about and ideas on how you can improve your effectiveness with your existing accounts. Now back to my point earlier about aligning your service offerings with your client’s goals and objectives.
Part of key account development and planning is the account manager’s ability to engage in dialog with the client about their goals and the challenges that are holding them back. Keep in mind that every business (Sales, Marketing, Manufacturing, etc.) has their own set of goals but most likely they have gaps that are preventing them from moving from the current state to their desired future state. If you want to migrate out of the “commodity bucket” and move into the “partnership” category then you need to start engaging your customers in this level of dialog. The first step of course starts with research followed by meticulously planning what you will say.