Unlocking Key Accounts

NEVIL TYNEMOUTH is a director of New Results, which specialises in sales training, coaching and strategy. Follow him @nevnrt, email nevil@newresultstraining.co.uk, call 0800 030 4323, or visit www.newresultstraining.co.uk Many businesses don’t stop to consider who their major clients or key accounts might be. If you haven’t got a clear idea of what accounts you’re aspiring to win, then you don’t stand much chance of securing them.

IDENTIFY TARGETS So how do you identify, target and follow up on the key customers you want to win and retain? Well, it’s simple: sit down with your team and map out the characteristics of the clients you really want. A key client might be different to you than to others. With this in mind, here are three areas to consider when looking for key accounts: ✔ Could it be a major brand – a household name that you want to win as a customer? Just think of the PR benefit that goes with winning and delivering to that major client. ✔ Is it a customer/client that might place a single, very large order with you that would be a game-changing transaction for your company? ✔ Will it be a major customer who will give you lots of repeat business? It might be an initial deal followed by regular further orders over a long period of time, giving you steady income.

Some key customers can offer an added and unusual benefit – by spurring the creation of new products and services. We have experienced this ourselves at New Results, where a major customer asked us for a three-day course for its management team, but also a new one-day introductory course for its supervisors. This gave us the push to design that new course.

Once you understand what a major client is, in terms of what you want as a business, then you need to start thinking, “Who do we want to deal with specifically?” Once you have an idea in your head (let’s say you decide you want to work with a major brand) it’s simply a case of mapping out those major brands that you might like to target.

TELL YOUR ORGANISATION To make this process as easy and effective as possible, look at every major brand in the market place that you want to be associated with and to win. With your team, create a list of 20 potential key accounts to start with, then from that list of 20, select the 10 that are most important to you. Focus on these. Share them with everyone in your organisation, from your directors to your salespeople and business development team. Have them written down and visible, so that every time you’re doing anything as a team or as an individual you ask, “Is this activity focused on moving us towards any of these 10 key names.” If not, you might need to adjust, develop or improve your activity in that space.

WHY HAVE 20, NOT JUST 10? The reason for having 20 is this: you list 10, you go after them, and perhaps you win one within the first six months. As a result, your target list is already down to nine. So you need another list in the background from which to top up, so you’re constantly chasing a total of 10 new key clients.

Equally, you might pursue a target, enter into negotiations with them, but fail to win them as a customer. Perhaps they decide to go with someone else. If so, you can pull from that top up pot and keep your number of targets at 10.

It sounds simple doesn’t it? And, it is. But it’s a powerful first step that will help you clarify your goals, get the team engaged and move you closer to winning a key client or customer.

DIG OUT YOUR TELESCOPE This is the technique you need to fully research potential clients. Brainstorming the key issues and opportunities that exist in their marketplace (not related to your specific products or services) gives you a rich source of questions. Perhaps regulation has changed in their marketplace recently, or there is a significant technical change – what might this mean to them?

Look at their website. OK, that’s obvious, but specifically look at their “about us” page, their vision, mission, and any value statements. Research their team. And check out blog posts for their latest thoughts, ideas and tone of voice.

If your target has pushed forward their use of social media, look there for information. Things like their Twitter feed and Facebook page will give you an up-to-date flavour of the content they’re sharing, the issues they’re discussing, their own news and what’s going on in their world.

FOCUS ON LINKEDIN LinkedIn is a great source of information, especially about the specific individuals you might be going to see. You’d be surprised how many key details you can get – not just their work role and what they do. If you dig down you can very often find hobbies, interests, previous companies they’ve worked at, the university where they studied and the degrees they’ve achieved. For example, I recently noticed that a sales director at a major technical company who I wanted to connect with had studied at the same university as me. I hadn’t ever met or communicated with this person, so I used this shared link as a conversation starter. Just one LinkedIn message and phone call later I had an appointment booked.

So, take some time to do online research. You can also use Google news alerts to give you a wider range of information about the company and its marketplace.

Now it’s time to move offline and ask around your contacts and colleagues for further information. You’d be surprised how many times people know an organisation in some way. They may have worked with or for it, or have knowledge about someone there who they’ve engaged with as a past supplier, customer or social contact.

BUILD CREDIBILITY Now you’ve gathered plenty of information, what you know about this major organisation that you want to win as a customer becomes a very powerful tool. Equipped with this information, you can turn it into some critical questions for them. When in front of them, you’ll be able to demonstrate a huge amount of credibility and show a genuine interest in your customers, both of which are critical for sales success.

How do you build on this credibility when you are with your customers or potential customers? Easy, you are a member of the Institute of Sales Management (ISM), the leading sales body in the world, dedicated to the sales profession and to those working within it. That’s why we at New Results work in partnership with the ISM, raising professional standards in selling and ensuring that sales and salespeople are ethical, credible, and reliable, and maintain the highest professional standards in everything they do.