Strategic Account Management

Creating Client Value Commercial Acumen Sales Manager Programme Negotiating Client Value

Consultative Selling Skills Strategic Account Management

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Unlocking the potential of your accounts

You know that it’s far easier and cheaper to sell to an existing account than to win a new one. But how many of your account managers are tapping the full potential of your major customers, not just staying in their comfort zone? How many are actively building defences against new decision makers and competitors, rather than reacting to the needs of their existing contacts? At best, most account plans focus on gathering irrelevant

information at the expense of insight and creative thinking. At worst, they are time-wasting smokescreens, created by account teams who prefer to fly by the seat of their pants.

Imparta’s Strategic Account Management (SAM) programme builds on Imparta’s deep experience in the fields of strategy and sales, and our acquisition of the account management specialist company, Xmonic. It integrates seamlessly with our award winning opportunity management programme, Creating Client Value (CCV), and shares the same customer-centric philosophy. SAM introduces Account Managers to a robust approach to developing and executing an account strategy, and gives them the opportunity to apply the core tools and ideas to their own accounts in

SAM can build the skills needed to use your existing planning process more effectively, or embed a whole new, tailored and dynamic process for Strategic Account Management. It provides the tools and skills required to assess your current position within an account, including the value being created and the depth and breadth of existing relationships. It helps your account managers to identify future

opportunities and threats, focusing only on those changes that are

likely to have the greatest impact on the value

you can create for the account. It equips

managers to develop a vision for where, how and when to compete within the account, and then to devise a robust and flexible action plan to deliver that vision. The best salespeople are trusted advisers to their customers, uncovering needs and winning new deals. The best strategic account managers go further, growing significant, often surprising revenue through their ability to match your company’s resources and people to the needs and people within the customer. In the process they create long lasting value for both organisations. Imparta’s SAM programme can help you identify and develop this vital capability. Awareness A chie vem ent _As se ss_m en t of Risk Alleviation De cis_ion of Needs of Res ults of A lte_rn ativ es The Buying Cycle

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The issues... and how Strategic Account Management

addresses them

• Inefficient account planning. Many account plans contain a wealth of background information about the customer and its market, but fail to synthesise that data into actionable insights. SAM teaches your teams to gather specific data to create and test specific strategic ideas.

• Low share of wallet. A poor grasp of the customer’s business needs, issues and objectives leads inevitably to missed opportunities. SAM’s proactive approach to analysing the customer’s business allows Account Managers to be proactive in identifying opportunities to drive new revenue.

• Accounts not achieving their potential. Without a strong planning process, account teams remain within their comfort zones, failing to approach new departments, divisions or geographic territories. SAM teaches techniques for penetrating broader and deeper into your accounts.

• Lost revenue. Companies without a strategic account management capability tend to have a small sphere of influence within each account,

so they are vulnerable when key supporters move. SAM equips

managers to broaden and deepen their relationships, while putting in place early warning mechanisms to track dissatisfaction against the customer’s value criteria.

• Inaccurate revenue and profit forecasting. SAM improves forecasting by analysing and categorising revenue opportunities.

• Eroded margins. SAM builds commercial acumen skills to ensure that revenue growth is not achieved at the expense of contribution growth. The overall account management approach also helps by shifting transactional relationships to value-based trading partnerships.

• Poor internal communication and co-ordination of account strategies. SAM improves internal project

management and communication skills, ensuring that all internal stakeholders know how to add value when involved in the account and helping to ensure the plan is kept alive.

Who needs it?

SAM will help anyone who is customer facing and involved in the management and leadership of accounts. The programme can be configured for a range of roles, including:

• Key/National/Global Account Managers • Channel Managers

• Sales Support and Service Staff • Business Development Managers/

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Making it stick

All sales training requires reinforcement to have impact, but strategic account

management in particular requires coordination across the account team, as well as the wider organisation. As a result it is critical that the right processes, tools and incentives are put in place, as well as the right skills. A typical SAM intervention includes:

These steps ensure significantly more impact than training alone. They are a sub-set of the Imparta Sales Performance System, which allows you to tailor the change programme to your specific needs. The following diagram shows this System in more detail:

The Imparta Sales Performance System

• Consulting around your account management tools, processes and incentives; • Pre-assessment against agreed competencies;

• Online pre-work combining theory and practical real life application; • A highly experiential SAM workshop;

• Manager - or Imparta - led coaching to help apply SAM, including Account Clinics; • Collaborative account planning tools that can be linked to your CRM system; • Reconnect workshop to embed behaviours, review application and gather

impact data;

• Ongoing measurement of ROI and impact via an agreed methodology

ALIGN the PROCESS

A LIG N th e P RO CE SS AL IG N th e P RO CE_SS

ALIGN the PROCESS

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Performance

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What does a typical SAM workshop cover?

The SAM Workshop combines interactive case studies, practical application to real accounts and multiple role-plays and exercises to embed learning. Your assigned Principal Developer will oversee the needs analysis and tailoring, which will include integration with your existing account planning process if appropriate.

The SAM workshop usually takes the form of an initial two day workshop followed by a Reconnect Day. During the initial workshop, attendees work on a blend of case studies and current real account situations that they have brought to the workshop.

Three day version: Day One

The impact of poor or no planning

Demonstrate the need for planning via high energy team exercise that rewards good planning and exposes any lack of planning.

5 Step Model Review Model: Analysis and Research; The Client’s vision three to five Years; Building your Strategy; Action Planning; Financial Planning.

Analysis & Research: Market

Overview

Introduce and develop understanding of concepts used to analyse the current market including PEST and 5 Force. Learning is consolidated using case study including analysis and report out.

Analysis & Research: Client

Analysis

Explore the depth of the current client relationship. Review Account Alignment and Business Development. Practise using Imparta Account Planner with case study.

Analysis & Research: Client

Relationships

Review client’s organisational structures, focusing on Relationships and Power Mapping. How to effectively navigate the client organization. Practise using Imparta Account Planner with case study.

Analysis &

Research: SWOT Provide strategies and techniques required to produce an accurate SWOT analysis. Practice using Imparta Account Planner with case study.

The Clients’

Vision Assess clients business over the next three to five years. Identify their vision, challenges, and opportunities. Practice using case study materials including extracts from annual reports and press releases.

Homework Identify a well known “great strategist”, and prepare a presentation on their qualities. Review case study details.

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Day Two

To identify what qualities great “strategists” possess and recognize the importance of a big picture view. Review 5 Point Account Plan Strategy.

Strategic

Thinking: Practical

Application

Activity building on case study materials. Production of strategy using existing account plans (or a tailored Imparta tool), covering where, how and when to compete.

Action Planning Identify what makes a great Action Plan and how to move strategy to action. How to set objectives, manage internal and external communication, manage without authority and manage virtual teams. How to build an Implementation Plan including measurement, milestones and reviews. Practise within case study.

Financial

Planning Explore the importance of financial planning, including accurate forecasting, account profitability and mix. Recognise the impact of revenue “slippage”, price erosion and pipeline management.

Account Action

Planning Review the account attendees brought to the workshop. Produce action plan to enable the creation of a Strategic Account Plan which will be presented on the Reconnect Day.

Close and Next

Steps Summarise Key Learning. Start to apply all tools and learning to the Strategic Account Plan.

Reconnect Day

The Reconnect Day reviews core concepts, and the successes and problems encountered while applying SAM concepts in the field. Attendees present case studies to senior managers.

Activity Objectives

Review: SAM

Process and Tools Review learning from two day workshop. Discussion and coaching around how learning concepts worked in the real world.

Manager

Presentations Present and review the Account Strategy and Plans attendees completed as interim work. Feedback in plenary from Manager and peers. Plan must be signed off or commitment to revise and resubmit.

Which Accounts

to Plan? To review best practice in account involvement during implementation. The 80:20 rule and prioiritise which accounts require SAM.

Reinforcement, and Learning Transfer

To plan actions for making SAM business as usual. Address any remaining concerns. To highlight resources available on i-Coach. To

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Why Strategic Account Management?

• The SAM programme combines researched content with a deep understanding of how adults learn, and how to overcome barriers to change; • The SAM methodology has been

continuously refined over the years, reflecting changes in the market place and our ongoing research into what really works in value-based, strategic account planning.

• The learning approach behind SAM is highly experiential and uses a range of sophisticated tools such as assessments, animations, case-studies and real life application to ensure that the learning sticks..

Why Imparta?

• Imparta has been ranked among the top three global sales training companies for the depth and effectiveness of our solutions by US based consultancy ES Research Group.

• Our clients include some of the world’s leading organisations, including GE, O2, Lloyds TSB, HP, Alcatel-Lucent and the WPP Group.

• Our expertise in experiential learning design ensures very strong learning impact (we were a pioneer in the world of simulations and remain a Microsoft Gold Certified Development Partner).

• We have a dedicated Client Impact team that can help you roll out a single workshop, or a sophisticated Sales, Marketing or Service Academy covering reinforcement, application, coaching, measurement and accreditation • Because we cover sales, marketing

and service, we are able to provide the “glue” that aligns those teams (e.g. sales-enabled product training) as well as in-depth expertise in each field.

Next steps

Please feel free to contact one of our Client Directors on +44 (0)20 7610 8800, via [email protected] or via http://www.imparta.com/about/contact_us

“I am going to apply the magic you

taught us in my daily work.”

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