How well are you managing your Strategic Customers?

Google

By Gary Peacock

In many of today’s markets growth is becoming slower. In slow growth markets competitors need to steal a market share from you. The first place they will look is your Strategic Customers. How well are you managing your Strategic Customers?

A quick test is during your 90 day account reviews: to ask two questions?

1. How many actions in the account plan are going to make a difference to the customers’ results and your results beyond this financial year?
2. How many actions are about more than your products and services?

The first question will show you if you are only being tactical—focusing on delivering sales this year. Or if you are also being strategic— building the relationship by doing some things that will cost you this financial year but produce a better sales result for you and your customer in the next financial year.

Some activities that support this year's sales is fine. However, too often and too soon, the tyranny of today drags Account Managers from investing time in activities that will pay off next year.  Not investing this time will soon condemn your relationship to being transactional.

The second question shows whether your Account Managers are simply salespeople with a fancy title. If the actions in the account plan do not include actions that are about more than products and services then you are only being tactical—focusing on delivering sales this year.

The best Strategic Account Managers bring ideas and insights to help their Strategic Customers improve their results without any immediate return in increased product sales.  Why? Simply because this is the biggest investment in the strategic relationship you can make. If your Strategic Customer sees you doing this and sees there is no obvious return for you, then they know you are serious about building the relationship.

Some simple examples:     

• Getting your HR manager to share with their management team ideas for improving their employee satisfaction
• Letting your Insurance manager share his experience of making a claim for a flooded factory
• Getting your IT manager to share her experience installing SAP so the customer can learn from your experience

None of these will sell you more products and services; all of these will build your relationship which will sell more products and services.

Too often, Strategic Account Programs drift towards becoming product sales programs and away from building the strategic relationships.  Building strategic relationships will build more sales beyond this financial year and will build barriers to keep your competitors out.

So, during your 90 day account reviews ask these two killer questions.

1. How many actions in the account plan are going to make a difference to the customers’ results and your results beyond this financial year?
2. How many actions are about more than your products and services?

If you need help to focus your Account Managers on their strategic relationships then call us on +61 2 9450 1040. We welcome any comments you want to share. To receive our blogs directly to your email then subscribe to the Gordian blog at the top right of this page. Simply add your email address to the box, click the button and you will receive all future Gordian blogs direct.

How to avoid price discounting: the 2 keys to success.

Google

By Peter Browne.

Is your company facing increasing pressure to compete on price? Are your competitors cutting prices to secure volume, and are you being forced to respond? Are revenues and profits in steady decline? Do you feel helpless to stem the flow?

The long-term implications of price discounting are catastrophic; it creates a discounting mindset, it hurts your brand and credibility and reduces your capacity to reinvest and stay competitive.

There is no silver bullet; however there are two proven strategies you can employ to better manage a competitive pricing environment.

1. Manage your accounts strategically

Managing accounts strategically enables you to create a relationship where your full value is understood and regularly demonstrated. Customers understand where increased cost comes from, and the value it delivers. They see value beyond your products and services, because they value the relationship they have with your company. Relationships between executives, operational and technical teams create a strong connection that rises above product and price. Customers understand the value you have created for them in the past, and trust that you will deliver more value in the future.

If you have not created a strategic relationship with your major accounts you are not in a position to negotiate. Your account will not understand the value you offer. If you have not helped them understand your value prior to the negotiation process they will fall back on price.

2. Have a strong negotiation plan

Before entering into a negotiation, you should know you are the account’s preferred choice. You should be able to articulate the additional value your company has created for them so far, and understand what is important to your customer. Both the explicit things they state also the “below the waterline” considerations that you have uncovered.  Your demonstrated value and deep understanding of their business puts you in a strong negotiating position and a long way ahead of your competitors.

If you aren’t managing your accounts strategically and demonstrating your value, you are not in a position to negotiate. And there is no point having a great negotiating plan, when you have no value to leverage. One out of two won’t do; you need both.

We welcome your comments; or for help building your value with your clients, contact us on +61 2 9450 1040 or at mail@gordianbusiness.com.au

The secret of great Global Negotiators

Google

By Stephen Kozicki

In a consulting project in Beijing, the head of a global IT firm asked “What was the secret of being a successful negotiator?” In fact as they had global customers, “What was the secret of being a successful global negotiator?”

I shared many insights from past blogs, communication, planning, risk taking and cultural differences. She and her team listened intently and took many notes. At the end of the discussion there was plenty of agreement and nodding, but she still pressed for the one key item or the secret to success.

So let me share that with you. It is a secret passed down to me and all of us from Aristotle in his classic book called, Rhetoric.  This is a great book for researchers in the field of communication and negotiation, but a hard read. It’s a source of great knowledge for me in the quest of understanding the secret of negotiation success.

The secret is: balance your negotiation argument with logic and emotion.

I believe that Aristotle’s contribution, in his book Rhetoric, is one of the greatest foundation stones for better negotiation, persuasion, communication and argument that has been written. Sadly somewhere in our now insane politically correct world, the concept of argument as a tool for negotiators and communicators has become a negative word, but it is not.

If this was not a blog, I would spend pages talking about the battle that took place between Sophists, Aristotle and his buddies, (Socrates and Plato). Part of his basic premise was, using both logic and emotion stopped people trying to manipulate others. They could manipulate people with logic by omitting important information or by using guilt or fear to get someone to do something that is not in their best interest.

Aristotle saw the two elements were very persuasive because you the negotiator or communicator had to prepare with both knowledge (logic) and (emotion) to connect and persuade another person to reach an agreement. This took longer because the preparing meant that you had to understand who you were going to negotiate with and what you were trying to achieve.

If you want to read more, I would suggest that you purchase a copy of, “The New History of Classical Rhetoric,” by George A Kennedy, available in any good book store or through Amazon. It is a book that doesn’t just translate, it gives insights and active commentary for you. As noted by Wikipedia, it is generally regarded today as the standard scholarly resource on the classic book, Rhetoric.

To improve your negotiation planning, contact us on +61 2 9450 1040 or at mail@gordianbusiness.com.au .

Build Your Creative Confidence with a good process.

Google

By Gary Peacock

Do you need to unlock your creative potential?

Have a look at this 12 minute long video about how you can be more creative with your business problems. David Kelley is founder of legendary design firm IDEO, the company that created many icons of the digital generation like the first mouse.  But what matters even more to him is unlocking the creative potential of people and organisations so they can innovate routinely.

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_kelley_how_to_build_your_creative_confidence.html

We agree with David that you can be far more creative when solving your business problems. Try solving your strategic problems with our one day process: Solve Your Impossible Problem. You won’t believe what you can do in just one day, contact us on +61 2 9450 1040 or at www.gordianbusiness.com.au.

How to turn Strategic Accounts into a growth engine for your business

Google

By Peter Browne

How can you turn Strategic Account Managment into a growth engine for your business? Research has revealed that revenue from Strategic Accounts is growing at a rate nearly twice that of average accounts.

To find out how, we present a video interview with Bernard Quancard, President and CEO of the Strategic Account Managment Association (SAMA).  The organisation that 50 years ago created a new profession: the Strategic Account Manager.

In this new video you will get answers to questions such as:

• Customers can't all be strategic, so which ones should you consider?
• What are the key elements for operating an effective SAM program?
• What metrics should be used for managing a successful SAM program?

For help in developing and growing your SAM program contact us on +61 2 9450 1040 or at www.gordianbusiness.com.au.