Successful Major Account Management
For a long time the only objectives I used for major accounts were very specific business objectives. “We will increase turnover by X%”. “We will introduce 2 new programmes and increase our profitability by Y%". I began to understand that these business objectives were not enough. Multi-level objectives has proved very powerful in winning and keeping business. There are four levels of objectives and together they create objectives that excite and motivate the team and which are also very practical.
First we set visionary objectives. We picture what the result could be if everything went well. We discipline ourselves not to be limited by history or today’s issues. The outcome is a very strong vision of what the account could be like in 2 or 5 or 10 years.
Secondly we set relationship objectives. Everyone in the account team needs to know what we want the relationship to feel like. Imagine you could hear your customer talking about you in two years time. What would you want to hear them saying? It might be statements like “We trust them completely”, “They always give us new ideas”, and "Things do not go wrong often. But when they do they always make things right quickly.” We have found that these relationship objectives help us do everything in the way we should and in the way the customer wants. In the past it was more difficult to be consistent and customer-centred.
So far, we have talked about quite “soft” objectives - how we want things to feel. The first two objectives are about emotion and imagination but we need some “hard” objectives as well. The third level is the level of business objectives. These objectives are specific - very clear. “By the end of this year we will have increased sales of product A by 25% on the last year’s volumes and maintained our profit margins.” They are also measurable (if we cannot measure them, how will we know how we are progressing?). They must be agreed within the account team and maybe even agreed with the customer! They must be realistic - other people will be depending on our forecasts. Finally they must have a time-scale. Those business objectives provide the strong disciplines that we need to know in order to understand whether or not we are succeeding.
The final level of objectives is the level of stage goals. We may say that we will achieve a result of X by the end of year 2 within the key account. If this is to happen we need to be planning where we should be at important dates.
If the objective is to be selling five products to the customer by the end of next year and we’re selling two today we probably need to plan to have three in place by this October, four in place by next March and five by next September. The stage goals make sure we are on target and allow us to solve problems before they become impossible to solve.
We have found that using these multi-level objectives helps to motivate each major account team member but can also help us significantly increase the amount and quality of business being done with key accounts.
Strategies:
If objectives show us where we are trying to go, strategies show us how we can plan to get there. Strategy is part of the long term plan. It is not too detailed. It focuses on ways of working, not the detail of what will happen in this or that sales call.
When setting these strategies we have found it useful to ask three questions:
What strategies do we need for this major account?
What should each strategy say?
How do we communicate them so that each member of the team is committed to them and carries them out?
The Short Term Plan:
It is important to think long term in major account management but there is a danger that we spend all our time analysing and planning and never do anything! The short term plan keeps us active and effective.
The long term plan is concerned with why (objectives) and how (strategy). The short term plan focuses on who does what, when.
The timescale for the short term plan will vary from business to business but many organisations find that a rolling three month plan reviewed monthly is very effective. This means that late in April you plan events for May, June and July. Late in May you plan for June, July and August etc. The first month is usually in detail, the second two months are more in outline.
First we set visionary objectives. We picture what the result could be if everything went well. We discipline ourselves not to be limited by history or today’s issues. The outcome is a very strong vision of what the account could be like in 2 or 5 or 10 years.
Secondly we set relationship objectives. Everyone in the account team needs to know what we want the relationship to feel like. Imagine you could hear your customer talking about you in two years time. What would you want to hear them saying? It might be statements like “We trust them completely”, “They always give us new ideas”, and "Things do not go wrong often. But when they do they always make things right quickly.” We have found that these relationship objectives help us do everything in the way we should and in the way the customer wants. In the past it was more difficult to be consistent and customer-centred.
So far, we have talked about quite “soft” objectives - how we want things to feel. The first two objectives are about emotion and imagination but we need some “hard” objectives as well. The third level is the level of business objectives. These objectives are specific - very clear. “By the end of this year we will have increased sales of product A by 25% on the last year’s volumes and maintained our profit margins.” They are also measurable (if we cannot measure them, how will we know how we are progressing?). They must be agreed within the account team and maybe even agreed with the customer! They must be realistic - other people will be depending on our forecasts. Finally they must have a time-scale. Those business objectives provide the strong disciplines that we need to know in order to understand whether or not we are succeeding.
The final level of objectives is the level of stage goals. We may say that we will achieve a result of X by the end of year 2 within the key account. If this is to happen we need to be planning where we should be at important dates.
If the objective is to be selling five products to the customer by the end of next year and we’re selling two today we probably need to plan to have three in place by this October, four in place by next March and five by next September. The stage goals make sure we are on target and allow us to solve problems before they become impossible to solve.
We have found that using these multi-level objectives helps to motivate each major account team member but can also help us significantly increase the amount and quality of business being done with key accounts.
Strategies:
If objectives show us where we are trying to go, strategies show us how we can plan to get there. Strategy is part of the long term plan. It is not too detailed. It focuses on ways of working, not the detail of what will happen in this or that sales call.
When setting these strategies we have found it useful to ask three questions:
What strategies do we need for this major account?
What should each strategy say?
How do we communicate them so that each member of the team is committed to them and carries them out?
The Short Term Plan:
It is important to think long term in major account management but there is a danger that we spend all our time analysing and planning and never do anything! The short term plan keeps us active and effective.
The long term plan is concerned with why (objectives) and how (strategy). The short term plan focuses on who does what, when.
The timescale for the short term plan will vary from business to business but many organisations find that a rolling three month plan reviewed monthly is very effective. This means that late in April you plan events for May, June and July. Late in May you plan for June, July and August etc. The first month is usually in detail, the second two months are more in outline.
For a long time the only objectives I used for major accounts were very specific business objectives. “We will increase turnover by X%”. “We will introduce 2 new programmes and increase our profitability by Y%". I began to understand that these business objectives were not enough. Multi-level objectives has proved very powerful in winning and keeping business. There are four levels of objectives and together they create objectives that excite and motivate the team and which are also very practical.
First we set visionary objectives. We picture what the result could be if everything went well. We discipline ourselves not to be limited by history or today’s issues. The outcome is a very strong vision of what the account could be like in 2 or 5 or 10 years.
Secondly we set relationship objectives. Everyone in the account team needs to know what we want the relationship to feel like. Imagine you could hear your customer talking about you in two years time. What would you want to hear them saying? It might be statements like “We trust them completely”, “They always give us new ideas”, and "Things do not go wrong often. But when they do they always make things right quickly.” We have found that these relationship objectives help us do everything in the way we should and in the way the customer wants. In the past it was more difficult to be consistent and customer-centred.
So far, we have talked about quite “soft” objectives - how we want things to feel. The first two objectives are about emotion and imagination but we need some “hard” objectives as well. The third level is the level of business objectives. These objectives are specific - very clear. “By the end of this year we will have increased sales of product A by 25% on the last year’s volumes and maintained our profit margins.” They are also measurable (if we cannot measure them, how will we know how we are progressing?). They must be agreed within the account team and maybe even agreed with the customer! They must be realistic - other people will be depending on our forecasts. Finally they must have a time-scale. Those business objectives provide the strong disciplines that we need to know in order to understand whether or not we are succeeding.
The final level of objectives is the level of stage goals. We may say that we will achieve a result of X by the end of year 2 within the key account. If this is to happen we need to be planning where we should be at important dates.
If the objective is to be selling five products to the customer by the end of next year and we’re selling two today we probably need to plan to have three in place by this October, four in place by next March and five by next September. The stage goals make sure we are on target and allow us to solve problems before they become impossible to solve.
We have found that using these multi-level objectives helps to motivate each major account team member but can also help us significantly increase the amount and quality of business being done with key accounts.
Strategies:
If objectives show us where we are trying to go, strategies show us how we can plan to get there. Strategy is part of the long term plan. It is not too detailed. It focuses on ways of working, not the detail of what will happen in this or that sales call.
When setting these strategies we have found it useful to ask three questions:
What strategies do we need for this major account?
What should each strategy say?
How do we communicate them so that each member of the team is committed to them and carries them out?
The Short Term Plan:
It is important to think long term in major account management but there is a danger that we spend all our time analysing and planning and never do anything! The short term plan keeps us active and effective.
The long term plan is concerned with why (objectives) and how (strategy). The short term plan focuses on who does what, when.
The timescale for the short term plan will vary from business to business but many organisations find that a rolling three month plan reviewed monthly is very effective. This means that late in April you plan events for May, June and July. Late in May you plan for June, July and August etc. The first month is usually in detail, the second two months are more in outline.
First we set visionary objectives. We picture what the result could be if everything went well. We discipline ourselves not to be limited by history or today’s issues. The outcome is a very strong vision of what the account could be like in 2 or 5 or 10 years.
Secondly we set relationship objectives. Everyone in the account team needs to know what we want the relationship to feel like. Imagine you could hear your customer talking about you in two years time. What would you want to hear them saying? It might be statements like “We trust them completely”, “They always give us new ideas”, and "Things do not go wrong often. But when they do they always make things right quickly.” We have found that these relationship objectives help us do everything in the way we should and in the way the customer wants. In the past it was more difficult to be consistent and customer-centred.
So far, we have talked about quite “soft” objectives - how we want things to feel. The first two objectives are about emotion and imagination but we need some “hard” objectives as well. The third level is the level of business objectives. These objectives are specific - very clear. “By the end of this year we will have increased sales of product A by 25% on the last year’s volumes and maintained our profit margins.” They are also measurable (if we cannot measure them, how will we know how we are progressing?). They must be agreed within the account team and maybe even agreed with the customer! They must be realistic - other people will be depending on our forecasts. Finally they must have a time-scale. Those business objectives provide the strong disciplines that we need to know in order to understand whether or not we are succeeding.
The final level of objectives is the level of stage goals. We may say that we will achieve a result of X by the end of year 2 within the key account. If this is to happen we need to be planning where we should be at important dates.
If the objective is to be selling five products to the customer by the end of next year and we’re selling two today we probably need to plan to have three in place by this October, four in place by next March and five by next September. The stage goals make sure we are on target and allow us to solve problems before they become impossible to solve.
We have found that using these multi-level objectives helps to motivate each major account team member but can also help us significantly increase the amount and quality of business being done with key accounts.
Strategies:
If objectives show us where we are trying to go, strategies show us how we can plan to get there. Strategy is part of the long term plan. It is not too detailed. It focuses on ways of working, not the detail of what will happen in this or that sales call.
When setting these strategies we have found it useful to ask three questions:
What strategies do we need for this major account?
What should each strategy say?
How do we communicate them so that each member of the team is committed to them and carries them out?
The Short Term Plan:
It is important to think long term in major account management but there is a danger that we spend all our time analysing and planning and never do anything! The short term plan keeps us active and effective.
The long term plan is concerned with why (objectives) and how (strategy). The short term plan focuses on who does what, when.
The timescale for the short term plan will vary from business to business but many organisations find that a rolling three month plan reviewed monthly is very effective. This means that late in April you plan events for May, June and July. Late in May you plan for June, July and August etc. The first month is usually in detail, the second two months are more in outline.
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