Are you leading in the right way?

Google

By Gary Peacock

Change, before it’s too late!  

Jack Welsh

The business world today is changing and changing fast. Are you aware of all the changes that could affect the future of your business, both within your industry and beyond?

Roselinde Torres has a great TED talk: What it takes to be a great leader? She discusses three main questions that control the strength of your leadership.

1. Where are you looking to anticipate change?
2. What is the diversity measure of your network?
3. Are you courageous enough to abandon the past?

http://youtu.be/aUYSDEYdmzw (existing TED link - not on our channel yet)

Successful leaders do not continue to lead in the same way they did in the past. Using previous strategies for the future will make your company stagnate and will prevent growth.

To grow you need three things. First you need a diverse network of contacts to ensure you get many perspectives on the future. Second you need to research your customers, employees and prospects. The first two help you identify the necessary change. Third, to lead, you need the courage to embrace this change

Once you identify the many different issues important to your many different contacts, customers, employees and prospects – how do you cut through all the noise to find the few important issues to guide your strategic change? Time is a commodity few of us have to spare. Researching, investigating and interpreting take time. Getting help from a third party can save time and provide additional insights.

Keep your competitive advantage and have the courage to change. Don’t get left behind. Find out what’s important for your key contacts and act.

For insights into what is important for your business look at http://gordianbusiness.com.au/research-and-surveys/, call us on +61 2 9450 1040 or email gary@gordianbusiness.com.au.

Competition – A threat or an opportunity?

Google

By Stephen Kozicki

A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a person.

Kites rise against, not with the wind.

Lewis Mumford

I have just returned from doing 2 projects in Singapore and Malaysia and had the great pleasure of doing field work in both places, meeting senior managers from my client’s strategic accounts.

One of the key messages from each of those senior executives was that their business reality is changing and changing fast, that they are dealing with unprecedented competition in their markets.

One of the industries that I visited was healthcare. Senior executives in that field are facing ever increasing pressure to reduce costs. They often look at suppliers to cut margins to help them meet their hospital’s financial targets.

They’re clear that most suppliers to hospitals in most categories are now selling products that are merely evolving. No more breakthrough products, compared with a decade ago, when product innovation was revolutionary.

Your role as a senior manager in the way you bring value to your top accounts is more important today than ever before. Most industries, like the medical devices segment, are under constant pressure to reduce prices. Too many jump to price reductions and don’t look at a broader value approach.

Competition is a fact of life.

Your competitors constantly threaten your strategic accounts, so you cannot be complacent. You should analyse your key competitors identified in your account plan, and decide how you will respond (not react) to competitor activities that affect your accounts.

Capture intelligence about any key relationships that exist with representatives from your competitors. There are many industries where people tend to move around the major organisations and so have a wide range of relationships across the industry. It is critical to understand these relationships, especially those with your competitors.

You must know what level of influence they have over the buying behaviors of your account contacts.

Do two things; firstly document the products and services supplied to your strategic account by competitors. Secondly, and the harder but more critical, is understand deeply the value that your competitors bring to your major accounts.

Ask yourselves:

• Why does the competitor have some business with the account – really what is ours and their share of wallet?
• How does it fit with the strategy of the strategic account?
• Does the competitor have any competitive advantage that you need to respond to?
• Can they provide unique value beyond the products and services they provide?
• Can this value enable them to build a stronger relationship with the account and threaten your level of business or plans with the account?

Monitoring changes on a regular basis, keeps you on top of potential threats to your accounts. It can also signal a more widespread strategy from competitors that you can prepare for with your other strategic accounts.

Other organisations with whom your account deals are often overlooked in account planning. They may not be competitors or directly affect your organisation, however they can have a significant influence on how you manage your accounts. If you build good relationships with key influencers they can provide invaluable intelligence. Often they have different relationships within the account that can provide new insights. From their different relationships, they may be aware of unstated or emerging issues or opportunities.

A solid account plan, with regular reviews and all relationships monitored provides the potential to turn threats into opportunities. If your strategic account relationships or account planning processes aren’t secure and embedded, are you really prepared for the competition?

For more insights look at: http://www.gordianbusiness.com.au/strategic-account-management/ or contact us on +61 2 9450 1040 or email stephen@gordianbusiness.com.au. Please share your comments below and subscribe at the top right of the page.

Sceptical about buying on value? Check out the facts …

Google

By Gary Peacock

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Carl Sagan

Did you know the unit price of a product or service may only account for about 10% of the total costs. To reduce the remaining 90% you need to look at the total costs for your business. Todd Snelgrove from SKF Global is a world leader in value and total cost of ownership (TCO). We asked Todd, what makes value a better alternative? What easy steps you could take towards buying on value?

http://youtu.be/j_3usMkO6CQ

From this video you can see that scepticism is a valid reaction. However, if you can be open minded to the facts and the costs for your business and how to reduce these, buying on value is more profitable.

If you’re looking to drive savings to your bottom line and change your relationship with your suppliers look at our workshop http://www.gordianbusiness.com.au/strategic-account-management/ or contact us on +61 (2) 9450 1040 or email gary@gordianbusiness.com.au.

We would love to hear your views so please comment below and subscribe at the top right of the page.

What stops you successfully selling using Value?

Google

By Peter Browne

The price of greatness is responsibility.

Sir Winston Churchill.

How can you engage a customer in a value discussion? Todd Snelgrove from SKF Global is a world leader in value and total cost of ownership (TCO). We  asked him what common mistakes companies make and what are the critical success factors when selling on value. He explains the need to be clear on the value you can create for your customers.

http://youtu.be/3P2vf7R6xSc

From this video you can see how important it is that a company is fully committed, from the CEO down, before they can successfully sell using a value proposition.  For help to improve your profits and reduce your costs over the long term take a look at our workshop http://www.gordianbusiness.com.au/strategic-account-management/ or contact us on +61 (2) 9450 1040 or email peter@gordianbusiness.com.au.

We would love to hear your views so please comment below and subscribe at the top right of the page.

Are your Account Managers scared of your customer’s CEO?

Google

By Peter Browne

One of the biggest weaknesses of Account Managers is their lack of skills and confidence to build and sustain business relationships with senior executives at their major accounts.

We fear things in proportion to our ignorance of them.

Christian Nestell Bovee

Don’t just take it from us. A 2013 survey by Executive Conversation revealed that the highest priorities for training of salespeople were:

1. Training on financial acumen and ROI
2. Training on selling to customer executives

When you start to manage your major accounts more strategically, this issue often emerges. To manage their major accounts more strategically, Account Managers need to develop new relationships. These new relationships include C-Level leaders such as the CEO, CIO, CFO and even Board Members.

However Account Managers are used to dealing at the operational and mid-management level. So for many Account Managers, building relationships with executives is unfamiliar territory. So they lack the confidence and knowledge to initiate and develop C-Level relationships.

Typically, once Account Managers are in roles where they must meet with a senior executive they have three questions:

1. How do I get a meeting?
2. What questions should I ask?
3. How will I know if the meeting was successful?

 To be effective, Account Managers need to overcome their anxiety. They believe there are some special skills that they need that they don’t have. However in our experience, if they are used to dealing with management, they have the required relationship building and question asking skills; they need to change their perspectives: 

From	To
Your company’s products & services	Your strategic accounts business issues
Only creating value for your company	Also creating value for your strategic account
Operations	Strategy

However changing perspectives isn’t easy. Most Account Managers have spent their career focusing on short-term revenue and results. So changing their focus to understanding the senior executive’s key business issues, creating value for the strategic account and discussing strategy for future financial years requires some investment. They need help to transform their thinking. That is why sales training in this area has become the No.1 priority for many companies.

For companies who want to develop and sustain strategic account relationships, establishing and sustaining relationships with your customer’s senior executives is a critical capability.

So if this is an area your Account Managers struggle with we hope this blog gives you some ideas. Of course if you need more ideas or help look at our workshop; http://www.gordianbusiness.com.au/executive-interviews-workshop or contact us to discuss ways to improve the skills and confidence of your team to more effectively manage senior executive relationships. Contact us on +61 (02) 9450 1040 or email peter@gordianbusiness.com.au. We welcome your contribution so please comment below and subscribe to our blog at the top right of the page.