Strategic Account Management & Planning

"Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan." - Tom Landry, NFL football coach.

Strategic Account Management and Planning is a concept large corporations use to zero in on decision makers at high-profile companies with whom the organization is interested in doing business. This process of planning and managing key accounts enables companies to build strong, productive ties to their most valuable targets/clients.

Strategic Account Managers: This approach requires a sales team to transform into strategic account managers. Salespeople typically need additional training to acquire the skills they need to successfully manage accounts. Strategic account managers must be visible, have senior level leadership abilities, and be able to direct the company's response to selling or service delivery opportunities. These situations require Strategic Account Managers to sell both internally to these cross-functional teams and externally to senior-level clients.

Senior-level buyers have a different perspective to the buying process than lower level contacts. Your Strategic Account Managers must build credibility and understand executive issues and values to be able to sell to senior-level contacts.

Strategic Account Planning: Questions to consider when determining if an account should be considered a strategic account:

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  What are the keys to getting in the game?


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  What is the potential for doing busienss with this buyer?


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  Are we equipped to handle this level of selling?


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  What will it take to get us there?

Strategic accounts are targeted as follows:

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  Size of company


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  Demand for your type of product across multiple lines of business


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  Large global footprint


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  Financially healthy


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  Executive sponsorship

Each Strategic Account Manager must evaluate each account's long-term revenue potential, as well as strategic importance. This way, you can invest the right level of resources to serve them profitably.

Each account plan requires a significant amount of homework including:

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  Research background and overall strategy


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  Identify key business issues


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  Research overall company direction


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  Build and know the org chart


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  Determine opportunities to make executive-level contacts and touch points at every decision-making level with each department within the buyer's organization for which your products or services are a fit


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  Understand how your value proposition provides a perfect fit for their business


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  Determine high level tasks and activities


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  Track progress – how many opportunities in the pipeline


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  Measure progress against plan goals - how many real sales and in what timeframe

Account Plans contain the overall objectives such as revenue targets, account goals, and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT) analysis. Strategic Account Managers must define how they plan to achieve their revenue targets and allocate them appropriately by division/department for each account. Account plans should:

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  Define goals and qualitative objectives for each account


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  Align account goals and compensation with corporate objectives


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  Identify critical success factors for reaching goals


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  Outline the value proposition required to meet the customers’ needs

Strategic Account Management and Planning is not just for the big guys. Even the smallest company will benefit from strategies for finding and servicing key accounts. Take the time to plan for the big game, and you will see your efforts pay off on the bottom line.

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Stamp Out Cold Calling & Make Sales Fun

“Six degrees of separation is the theory that anyone on the planet can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than five intermediaries.” The theory was first proposed in 1929 by the Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy in a short story called "Chains."

Use this theory to turn any cold call into a hot one. Create a relationship map and odds are that you know someone who knows someone who works at the company you are targeting. Look at your contact list of co-workers, friends, neighbors, your kids friends parents, it’s amazing how once you start a conversation with someone, there always seems to be a connection to another person you both know.

When we eliminate cold calling from the selling process, the process becomes very enjoyable. The difference between a “cold” call and a “hot” call, is that with a “hot” call, you’ve done your homework, you are well prepared, you have a connection and a great attitude about having a conversation that will thrill the person you are calling. They are thrilled because you are offering them a product, service or solution that provides a tremendous amount of help and value. They feel you see the world through their eyes and that you really understand them. Once you make that connection, selling is fun.

Successful selling is a series of conversations you initiate in which you help shape how a situation occurs to the buyer. You carefully select the language that will help steer the conversation in a way that keeps the focus on the other persons needs, desires and intentions. The more you can relate to the person through your research and getting a good referral, the better you can help build a solution that improves their lives.

Once you follow up and follow through on your promises, create a healthy urgency for your product offering and provide a solution that thrills them, they will buy from you. Once they’ve received the solutions you’ve co-developed, they will continue to buy from you and refer their friends as well. The connection, and the ongoing referrals will keep you from ever having to cold call again and make the selling process fun!

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Sales & Marketing, The Heartbeat of Business

“You have to perform at a consistently higher level than others. That’s the mark of a true professional.” Joe Paterno, Head Football Coach, Penn State University.

Never stop selling. Selling is the heartbeat of your business. If you stop selling your company will flat line.

There are four basic elements, or consistent action steps, of marketing and sales:

1. Create A Marketing Network: Create opportunities to meet new people. You have to have a system in place to create enough opportunities for making sales. Anyone can make lots of sales if they have lots of opportunities for sales. Your system might include monthly chamber of commerce meetings or leads clubs. You should also be asking for referrals all the time.

2. Create A Sales Plan: The sales plan is really a schedule for sales activities. Schedule time for phone calling each week. Schedule time for networking groups, for getting referrals. Put these activities in your calendar and stick to it! Create measurements of performance for your sales efforts - how many calls, how many new leads, how many new clients, and how many actual sales you need on a weekly basis. Have a system for reporting these results to a sales manager or business coach.

3. Selling: You must spend time engaged in the act of selling. You have scheduled the time to sell and you must follow through. You have to be having conversations with current and potential clients every week if you want to sell anything. Most importantly, you want to be having conversations with people who have the potential of buying your product.

4. Your Unique Sales Approach : What is your commitment to your customer? What makes you different from your competition? How are you going to deliver your service? All these things need to be part of your marketing and sales plan. You must distinguish yourself to the customer in order to develop a relationship that will lead to sales.

If you want to learn more about how to craft a sales and marketing plan, listen to Consulting2Win Radio where we discuss this and other important business techniques every Wednesday from 11:00 am to 12:00 noon PST.

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