Why is 63 important to B2B sellers?
Question: Why is 63 important to B2B sellers? Answer: It’s the number of selling days you have in quarter 2 in the USA if your organization is on a January-December calendar year and observed holidays may vary by industry. Here is the breakdown: ✅ April 1-30 ➡ 22 selling days ✅ May 1-31 ➡ 22 selling days […]
Do You Take a “Posse” to Sales Calls?
As we discuss call planning and execution with sales professionals we often come across organizations that send several company personnel on a sales call. This selling approach is much like dispatching a “posse”–a metaphor from the frontier era–when a band of citizens, led by a sheriff, chased down and cornered a bandit. Sales calls can […]
Crafting a Powerful “Green Field” Sales Strategy
While many account managers are quick to voice their desire to become a “trusted advisor” or “valued partner” to their key customers, they are mistaken in believing that periodic, well defined and publicly completed sales opportunities will serve as effective pathways. Savvy account managers don’t strive for incremental growth year-over-year, they are obsessed with developing […]
What Is a “Green Field” Sales Strategy?
In many regards, account managers—especially those charged with managing large, revenue generating account teams—have to adopt two very different mindsets. On one hand, they must develop a powerful defensive strategy to insure the competition doesn’t gain a foothold that compromises existing business. On the other hand, they must craft an offensive strategy that will grow […]
Should You Have an Executive Sponsor for Every Strategic Account?
Strategic accounts are the lifeblood of every organization. By definition they are those accounts that you absolutely, positively cannot afford to lose. They are so important to your organizations survival and profitability that they are treated as “corporate assets.” Since these accounts are vital to your organizations continued financial health they should be managed by […]
Do You Have a Sniper in Your Strategic Account?
Within every strategic account there are numerous people that are your sponsor, coach or ally. These are the folks that helped you earn the business and they are your supporters. Lurking somewhere, however, is someone that does not embrace the continual usage of your product, service or solution. Their interest lies in removing your product […]
Warning Signs That Your Key Account is About to Defect!
We all know that in sales, obtaining new business is the Holy Grail. The question is what are you doing to protect and grow the customer that is feeding you today? Whether you call them key or strategic accounts, they are the accounts that are important to you Are you building solid relationships that help […]
Best Practices with Strategic Accounts
For every sales organization there are very large accounts that require extensive company resources. Whether you call them “key, national or strategic accounts” does not matter. Loss of even a single important account would create a significant revenue or profit shortfall that would be difficult and time consuming to replace. For many sales executives, effective […]
10 Reasons Why Strategic Account Plans Fail!
Many sales professionals are asked to develop a Strategic Account Plan (SAP). These plans allow sales professionals to keep management abreast of changes with their customers and competitors, develop strategies to foster profitable growth and define success metrics with a focus of 1-3 years. Because SAPs are plans they need to be reviewed, updated and […]
7 Potential Pitfalls Resulting in a Poorly Executed Hospital SAM Program
Many MedTech organizations now employ a Strategic Account Management (SAM) function whose focus is to work with the company’s most important customers to build a deep understanding of customer needs and provide solutions. Some companies are achieving great results while others are not. What are the differences between those that are succeeding and those that […]
