Relationship Account Strategy
When a B2B company has concentrated demand, one effective strategy to better cultivate that demand is to form their sales forces into groups of elite strategic accounts. These fortified sales teams are better equipped to create, forecast and grow their own demand, potentially without limit.
Ferrazzi Greenlight specializes in improving the relational effectiveness of Strategic Account Sales teams. Our primary solution, the Relationship Account Strategy (RAS), serves as both an immediate intervention and a longer-term model that, when followed, elevates the strategic account team’s awareness of key decision-making relationships needed to become a strategic partner with their account. Once they have that information, they can formulate a strategy to advance those connections.
Methodology
The RAS solution is modular, with only one “mandatory” element: the relationship account strategy intervention, during which we counsel relational mindsets, process and skills, and model an account strategy meeting with the team. Participants leave the intervention understanding the importance of relationships; how to advance them more effectively; who they need to prioritize; and how precisely they will do that.
Beyond this core element, firms can choose from several enhancing components:
Relationship Research: We conduct research into those individuals most important to the team’s success
Contact Strategies: We draft a personalized plan, applying our innovation and experience to the strategic account sales scenario and providing a precise “how-to” action plan to advance key relationships.
Relationship Map: Based on our interviews and interaction with the team, along with our own research, we draft a relationship map for the team that identifies the most important individuals, their relative importance to the business, the current and desired relationship state, and who will be assigned to face off to them, ensuring balanced and coordinated coverage.
Support Training: We acknowledge that this strategy puts considerable additional responsibility on the shoulders of the sales force. Success will depend on getting each member of the sales team the direct support he or she needs to achieve these goals. Our training for the support teams will be enable them to help the sales team proactively plan and push relational activity every day.
Relationship Metrics: Given the significant investment of time and monetary resources necessary to deliver this core solution, measuring results is critical. We have taken a historically soft space and brought science to it, so that we can effectively measure ROI for our clients around three key questions: a) Did we deliver what we said we would?; b) Is the system we have helped build having a positive effect on our target relationships?; and c) Is there a positive correlation between the enhanced relationship state and our desired business outcomes?
Accountability for Results
Our clients often ask us, “How can we ensure the investment we’ve made together will last?” We have identified five main factors of accountability that ensure long-term ROI gains:
1. Direct impact on the account leaders. Through their participation in the RAS training and coaching, account leaders experience real mindset, process and skill set changes. Each is also left with a template plan to lead his or her own relationship account strategy meeting on a frequent and sustained basis.
2. Planning and research support. Relationship maps, research and contact strategies help to make the approach and the “how to” extraordinarily clear.
3. Additional trained personnel support. By preparing support and administrative teams to proactively “push” the relationship strategy, account leaders will find it easier to be accountable.
4. Accountability through leadership involvement and visible metrics. Corporate and sales leadership endorsement and visibility to the program is absolutely critical to its success. (We find ways for your leadership to visibly endorse the program and show by example its criticality. In addition, we collect ROI metrics and report them to both program participants and leadership so that everyone has a clear sense of what’s to be gained in the venture).
5. Compensation support. Many of our clients choose to integrate relationship metrics into key account leaders’ compensation plans to further motivate and sustain the positive change.
ROI of the Program
Ferrazzi Greenlight maintains several case examples of the benefits created for our clients who have participated in a Relationship Account Strategy program. These can be obtained by inquiring here. In general terms, however, the metrics where our clients have reported gains include:
Increased relational activity with key client personnel
Improved relationship state
Top line account growth (revenue)
Bottom line account growth (profit)
Reduced opportunity cycle time
Organic opportunity creation, supplemental to RFP deal flow
Conversion of RFP competitive bids to being recommended as the default provider
Increased sales force job satisfaction
Increased sales force talent retention