Challenge:
A leader in the technology industry needed to ensure that its investment in training and developing Key Account Managers resulted in significant increases in account penetration and share. Key Account Managers and teams were already skilled in the fundamentals of managing key accounts, having been trained in at least one of the 'classic' methodologies. However, competitors were equally competent in these fundamental approaches and techniques. How then could this industry leader create a competitive advantage for the sales organization and drive share at its major accounts?
Global Partners Approach
Global Partners unique approach consisted of 3 stages:
- Understand the current capabilities and skills of the sales organization and their experience with key account management systems;
- Develop and facilitate an Action Learning Program, customized to the current situation, needs and capabilities of the sales organization;
- Coach and facilitate individual account teams in order to enable the effective application of the new skills taught in the Action Learning Program and ensure achievement of account penetration goals.
Assessing and Adapting to the Current Capabilities of the Sales Force
Most experienced account managers today have had some experience using a key account management methodology, similar to the five-stage process depicted below.
The first step in the Global Partners approach therefore, is to understand the experience level and current capabilities of the typical account manager in each of the five stages. In addition, our approach involves establishing a deep understanding of how each stage works in the client's specific industry. Through interviews with sales managers and account managers we determine for example, if most sales opportunities are managed through a well-structured competitive bidding process or more informally. We assess the level of competition in the business; determine baseline measurements for win rates and account share and other key factors in the client's business environment.
Through interviews and individual skills assessments we also assess the current skill levels of account managers in such key areas as, building executive relationships, account planning, value selling, listening and questioning skills and customer focus.
This data is then used to create the Action Learning program that is focused precisely on the challenges that account managers face in capturing sales opportunities. At the same time, the resulting program builds on the existing skills of account managers while simultaneously harmonizing selling capabilities across a diverse account manager population.
Action Learning Workshop
The Action Learning workshop, depicted below is typically conducted with account managers together with their intact account teams. Teams work through the major elements of the account management process for their individual accounts.
During the program participants learn methodologies for building comprehensive account strategies. A key outcome of the Action Learning workshop is an account plan, which includes long term strategies and actions as well as the identification of near-term sales opportunities. These short and long-term opportunities provide the input for the third element of the Global Partners approach; coaching account teams to capture specific opportunities and increase account share.
Driving Customer Share
The third stage of the Global Partners key account management system focuses on reinforcing the capacity of account managers to apply account management skills at their accounts. The objectives of this stage are to enable participants to:
- Develop detailed strategies and action plans for increasing account performance in terms of market share and account penetration.
- Effectively implement account strategies in the context of their organization. Account managers need to become effective account leaders and be able to mobilize the capabilities of their teams as well as their entire organizations to achieve sales goals.
The Driving Customer Share stage is structured as a series of workshops, each involving a multi-functional team working on a specific account. The team is comprised of account manager(s), marketers, local sales representatives, executive sponsors from sales regions and product business units, customer service and other people who play key roles in the sales process. Each account team is coached and facilitated through the activities described below by a Global Partners consultant over a 3 to 6 month period.
- Preparation - account manager, assisted by sponsors defines account objectives and mobilizes the team to gather the latest information on the customer. Most of the work during this stage is done through conference calls and Web-meetings, with only the kick-off being a formal face-to-face meeting. The information is collected and prepared using the tools and skills that participants acquired during the Action Learning program, such as the Account Planning Guide.
- Team Business Strategy Meeting - a 2-3 day face-to-face session, during which the team develops a detailed account strategy and implementation plan with a number of specific milestones. This session also provides the opportunity to build a stronger, more committed team.
- Implementation and Follow-up - the account manager and the team manage the implementation of strategies, measure and report the results of their work to the sponsors. Face to face meetings and conference calls are both used during this stage, with the final presentation of the team results presented to top management during a regularly scheduled management meeting.
Results
Quantifiable results from the Global Partners program include substantial increases in share of customer and win rate. In addition, clients experience increased profitability of major accounts as well as improvements in overall customer satisfaction. Clients also realize a significant improvement in the quality of information about customers and in the interaction between various parts of their own global organization and in leadership skills of account managers.
In the case of our hi-tech client, account teams who completed the program expect to achieve stretch goals for their accounts which are typically 10-15 % ahead of the results that would be achieved without the program and also expect to realize these results up to 3 months faster than usual.
For further information regarding Global Partners Inc. experience and approaches in the area of Global Business Development contact Don Heathfield at dheathfield@globalpartnersinc.com or at our Cambridge (MA) headquarters at 617 401 2510.
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