2010 May | A Sales Guy

Family Time

Long weekends in the summertime have always been family time for us. The extra day away from the hectic, and increasingly demanding world of work feels great and we take advantage of it. It’s all about family.

The family grew by one this past April and so things are that much more lively around here. Today we’re going to take the girls to hit some golf balls, have a nice lunch and spend some time at the pool. The girls love the pool.

It seems more and more difficult to break away from work these days. We are always tethered via email, mobile phones and more. The lines between work and personal life are increasingly blurred. But, long weekends have been a no touch zone. A time when no one is expected to do anything but be with family.

That’s exactly what we plan to do today.

We hope you get some good family time in today as well.

Happy Memorial Day!!!

May 31, 2010 | Filed under: Random | View Comments |

The Mind Matters

My daughter Kenna learned to ride her bike last year with out training wheels. She was only 3 years and 10 months old. We were in Venice Beach California on vacation. She was good at it. She took to it right away. I put my hands on the back of her seat, she started to peddle and away she went. It was a big deal. I was so proud of her.

To celebrate we went for a family bike ride. That didn’t go so well. Although she had the physically ability to ride her bike, her mind wasn’t quite there yet. She’d panic when it came to turn or stop. She would freak out if people would get too close to her. Needless to say the celebration ride was less than enjoyable and although she rode her bike the rest of the vacation, it wasn’t with out incident.

When we got home, she asked us to put the training wheels back on. We didn’t, BUT she wasn’t much into riding her bike the rest of the summer, trading it for a scooter or her younger sisters stryder.

This spring everything has changed. Her mental capabilities caught up with her physical abilities.

Now we have a blast. We go for bike rides at least twice a day. She rides off the curbs, over dirt mounds, and peddles as fast as she can. She loves it and so do I. It’s fun riding bikes with her.

I see this in sales and in business all the time.

It’s not enough to have the ability or the skill or even the talent. The mind is required too. Unlike kids, who’s physical ability or talent gets ahead of their developing minds, in adults it’s just plain stubbornness or worse a bad attitude.

If your wondering why that super talented sales guy continually eeks out quota or why that brilliant project manager can never seem to get the project right, it may not be their capabilities, it might be in their head.

Skill, talent, capability are all critical but if the mind isn’t coming along for the ride too, it won’t matter.

The mind matters.

May 30, 2010 | Filed under: Personal Development | View Comments |

Profit and Loss . . . OK Just Loss

In the spirit of the holiday weekend, I’m going to take a break from the Account Governance series and have a little fun telling a few stories.

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When I was younger, I was the kid in the neighborhood who always had the “idea” and most of the time it was about how we could make money.

Like most kids, the easiest, fastest, and most fun way for us to make a few bucks was a lemonade stand. Take a couple of Mom’s Kool Aid packages, two cups of sugar and we had an instant money maker. A kid cash machine.

Location was not on our side as we lived down a quiet street. So, after the usual Mom and Dad customers patronized us, new customers were hard to come by. Recognizing that we had a huge population of other kids, I changed our strategy. We were going to target them with candy. The strategy, buy their favorite candy at Jacks, the corner store a few blocks away and sell it at a discount. The idea was, by selling it cheaper than Jacks, they wouldn’t have to ride their bikes all the way to the corner store. They could just buy from us. Killer value proposition, uh?

It worked brilliantly! All the kids came by and bought up our entire inventory. I was so excited, I went back and bought more, sales were going through the roof. We couldn’t keep the “shelves” stocked.

Eventually we saturated the market and sales came to a close. Excited we sat down to dole out the profits and the oddest thing happen — we had less money than we started with. It was the strangest thing. Sales were through the roof . . . hmmm, some money must have fallen out of the money box some how or someone had given out the wrong change.

May 29, 2010 | Filed under: Random | View Comments |

Account Governance –Cadence

This is part 5 of an 8 part series on account governance

Cadence is a powerful tool for managing an account. Unfortunately, when I ask sales people about their cadence strategy or approach a get a lot of weird looks.

Cadence is how you drive an account. Cadence has the greatest impact in influencing the customer. It allows you to manage relationships, track progress, drive accountability, and engage all the stakeholders on a regular basis.

A good cadence consists of a few critical elements:

1) weekly progress meetings
2) quarterly business reviews
3) specific, regularly scheduled stakeholder meetings
4) clearly defined agendas and objectives
5) stakeholder commitment to participate

Cadence structure is not complex. I use this template your welcome to use it as well.

(I’ve filled in the table for info purposes only, you will need to determine the appropriate cadence structure for your accounts)

The complexity and value of cadence comes in the execution. To build a highly effective cadence think in terms of your account vision, your account plan and the account relationships. Notice in the one above, a regular cadence has been established between the customer CEO and the Company CEO, the IT department and the company CTO, both account teams, Marketing and more. The cadence is specifically designed to connect many different functional groups at multiple levels in an organization. Its purposely not intended to be horizontal. Its meant to be both horizontal AND vertical.

Ask, who should be regularly communicated with? Who influences the success or failure within the account? How can they influence the account plan and the ability to be successful? Once this is determined cadence brings it all together.

To make the cadence fly and get the most out of it, be proactive. Gain support from your relationships to engage on a regularly scheduled basis. Build weekly, monthly, quarterly and semi-annually events to monitor progress, set strategic direction, provide insight, address problems, deliver updates, identify challenges and reset direction. Set specific agendas and actionable objectives for all the meetings. The meetings need to have value. They need to be seen as worth the investment for both parties. If this part isn’t set up correctly, they entire process falls apart.

When a cadence is firing on all cylinders the account is being managed holistically. The right relationships are not only in place but engaged, from the executives on both sides, to the those accountable on a day to day basis, everyone is engaged. Issues are ferreted out early and addresses quickly. New products, services, and offers are introduced early and feedback can be provided by the customer strengthening the probability of adoption. Hiccups in the account business are identified earlier minimizing unforeseen drops in revenue or orders. This improves forecasting accuracy. Issues and challenges rarely blow-up as they are identified and addressed before they can get out of hand. And, one of my favorite benefits is the ability to ask for favors. If you’ve been in sales for awhile you understand the importance of being able to go to your customer and ask for help, to take a shipment early, to accelerate an order etc. When a strong cadence is in place, those important favors are much easier to ask for.

Cadence is about being proactive. It’s about managing an account from top to bottom on a regular basis. It’s about avoiding the reactionary approach most account manager find themselves in. Cadence gives the customer and you a platform to manage everything and anything associated with the account in a effective, proactive, way.

A good cadence brings to life the vision, the plan and the relationships.

May 27, 2010 | Filed under: Sales Process,The Chase | View Comments |

Account Governance — Relationships

This is part 4 of an 8 part series on account governance

Relationships are the hardest element of account governance to write about. It’s hard because it’s difficult to measure. It’s not objective. There isn’t a paint by numbers process to create relationships, to know if you have the appropriate ones etc. Relationships are critical to good account governance, but it’s hard to put them in a box. Later in the series I will talk about account cadence. A good candence can help you manage the relationships, but it can’t build them.

This being said, understanding the critical nature of the relationship to an overall account governance is critical.

I remember early in my career a peer gave a presentation about two types of relationships. He talked about the person at your customer that would always answer your calls, who would accept your invitations to lunch and could always be counted on for a good game of golf. This relationship would always invite you into deals and could be counted on for support, BUT when it came to the really big deals or the core business affecting opportunities they would be conspicuously quiet.

This peer of mine then went on to talk about another type of relationship. He talked about the customer who called you and asked for advice. This relationship wasn’t always available for lunch or golf, but always invited you to the strategic business discussions. This relationship made few decisions without getting your insight. This relationship always made sure you were not only part of the big deals, but asked for your help in crafting the RFP and setting the strategic direction.

It was during this presentation, I first heard the term; Trusted Advisor.

There are clearly different relationships when it comes to managing accounts. It’s not good enough just to have a “relationship”. You have to have the right relationship, with the right people across many aspects of the organization.

The “relationship” I’m referencing in this pie chart is the second one. In an account management environment it is critical to develop a trusted advisor relationship or partnership where you’re seen as an information source, as an influencer.

Getting to this point requires a perspective AND an approach that is not product centric. I’ll say that again. It’s not product centric. If the conversations tend towards product you are not headed towards the influencer position.

To become an influencer requires a different perspective. It takes gambits, not transactions. It starts with your customers perspective and works out from there. It takes a tremendous amount of information about your account, the things your products and services enable and more. It’s more conversations than presentations. Most importantly, its having information your customer doesn’t have. It’s being smarter than your customer.

Being smarter than your customer is no small order. I rarely see people with this skill. Its magic when it happens.

The right relationships, with the right people, on the right level are a critical part of account governance. Build them on value. Build them on substance. Become an influencer. There will be plenty of time for golf, after they’ve called you to ask how to . . . ?

Tomorrow: Part 5
I’ll talk about cadence and how to manage the killer relationships you have.

May 27, 2010 | Filed under: Sales Process,The Chase | View Comments |

Account Governance — Account Plans

This is part 3 of an 8 part series on account governance.

If the account vision is the compass of account management, then account plans are the ship. Account plans are where the execution happens. It’s the engine to successful account management.

I’ve talked about the importance of account plans here before. The post is pretty complete, so I won’t go too far into how to build a good plan here. But, I do think they are critical to a good governance plan. This is the plan I’ve developed and use with my teams. Feel free to use it if you’d like.

Account Strategy Template

View more presentations from Jim Keenan.

Account plans must have a few things to be of value. They must have goals and objectives. It’s critical to know how you are going to measure success. They need to have a robust account assessment, including what is happening in the industry, the customers financial environment, the political landscape, the clients market positioning, major initiatives, the culture, their buying habits, the key players etc. A full fledge, relevant assessment is key. A good account plan should include an organizational assessment, outlining the team responsible for managing the account. It should include the resources, their ability to execute, the relationships, strengths, weaknesses etc. A good team assessment can determine how well the team is positioned to execute on the plan. The plan also needs to outline the key opportunities at the account. Where do you have the greatest opportunity for success? A good account plan also needs to include your approach. The approach is where the rubber hits the road. It outlines exactly what you’re going to do and why. In addition, an account plan needs to include the risks to meeting your goals, a contingency plan should something change and a resource section outlining what you need, that you currently dont have, to be successful.

Once all this has been written down into a cohesive, compelling plan for the year, do it again for the first quarter. It’s critical that your plan for the year be broken down into quarterly chunks.

I can’t emphasize enough the importance of a well crafted plan.

Finally, and in my opinion the most important component of the sales plan is plan accountability. At the end of each quarter, it is imperative to review the quarterly goals in these terms; what did you say you were going to do? Did you do it? What went wrong? What went right? What do you need to change? What are your quarterly goals for the next quarter. By managing to outcomes, you keep the plan relevant. The plans become working plans, not dusty books on a shelf. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of getting this part right. A good plan requires management. It’s not enough to just write them down.

Plans ensure execution. They outline the delivery mechanisms to strong account governance. Get a good plan in place. Make sure it aligns to your account vision and you are well on your way.

May 26, 2010 | Filed under: Sales Process,The Chase | View Comments |

Account Governance — Account Vision

This is part two of an 8 part series on account governance.

At the center of account governance is the account vision. Unlike hunting and territory management, the success or failure of an account manager is dependent on their ability to grow their account. In some respects account management is similar to running a small business. Success expands well beyond the transactional nature of the sale. The account has to be developed, not just sold to. Selling to an established account as a sales strategy is short sighted. It results in loosely coupled opportunities, and a reactionary environment where a competitor can quickly take hold. Developing an account requires a deliberate and clinical approach that includes planning, measuring, cadence, strategy, vision and more.

At the heart of account governance is the vision for the account. The account vision acts as the compass for your entire strategy and plan. It’s what you are striving for. It is what you want to develop the account into.

To build a good account vision start by taking a good solid look at the account. Where are they today? Where do you and your company fit into their overall business strategy? What is the competition doing? How does your company compete currently? What is your current percentage of wallet share? How strategic is your product to their overall business? How many touch-points are there between the two companies? How easy is it to do business together? How often does the account call you for information? Are you seen as a partner or as a vendor? Ask as many questions as possible. Assess the account in terms of where you are today. After you’ve compiled all the information ask; where could the account go? What could you develop the account into; that would keep the competition out for years, that would increase sales, that would grow wallet share, that would make it easier to do business together, that would make this account a productive, reliable generator of revenue for your company? Picture it, it’s your vision.

The account vision is what you want to develop the account into.

The vision is less about today and more about tomorrow. It’s a desired end state.

A good vision is easy to explain. A good vision takes into consideration your customers needs as much as your companies. To do 100 million dollars a year out of XYZ account is not a vision. A vision to be XYZ’s first choice for all enterprise communication decisions and to be embedded into XYZ’s 5 year IT strategy, is a stronger vision.

If your sales role is to manage an account, build a vision. Paint a picture of where you want to take the account. Write it down. Take multiple shots at it. Get your customers feedback. If they don’t like it, you’ll never make it. Once you have it, put it in a prominent place. During every account review make sure it is repeated and clear to everyone. Everything you do from here should support getting you to your vision.

May 25, 2010 | Filed under: Sales Process,The Chase | View Comments |

Account Governance — Part 1

I’m going to do a series this week. It will be my first. I’m looking forward to it.

I’ve chosen to do it on account governance, the underlying process to account management. I haven’t blogged much on account management. It’s a prominent part of the selling world, that I think doesn’t get enough airtime. So this week this blog will be dedicated to account management.

Not everyone has a territory with 100′s of potential customers. Not everyone makes cold calls. Some sales people have only 1, 2, or just 3 accounts in which they have to make their living. These sales people, traditionally known as farmers make their living off of the same account year after year. They need to understand the politics. They need to understand the personalities, the buyers and the detractors. They need to work with their customer, with joint goals, commitments and efforts. They need a comprehensive process to make it happen. Managing a single account is very different than prospecting a territory, and hunting for new business.

In my opinion, the only way to effectively manage an account is through a robust governance plan.

Each day this week I will address a specific component of the governance plan. I will also share some of the documents, and processes I use in my organizations to execute on our account governance.

In the simplest terms, account governance is the holistic approach to managing an account in order to maximize the relationship, revenue, and the customers business objectives.

Account governance consists of;

-The account vision, the long-term view outlying where you want to take the account and why
-The relationships and how you manage them
-The account plans, detailed steps and strategies outlining how you will execute on the account
-The cadence, the regularly structured meetings and events used to track efforts
-Account strategy, the angle and approach you are taking to drive success
-Reporting, creating the metrics necessary to track progress
-Selling tools, the underlying tools you use to more efficiently sell

The most critical component of account governance is the ability to integrate all of the components seamlessly.

Tomorrow, I will start with the Account Vision. Everything comes out of that. Like anything else. If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll never get there.

I hope you enjoy. If you have anything to add or have thoughts you’d like to share, jump in on the comments. My hope is this series sparks some good conversation and we all learn a little more about account management.

It should be fun.

May 24, 2010 | Filed under: Sales Process,The Chase | View Comments |

Expectations — Yours, Mine and Ours

When it comes to selling we should be doing everything we can to make a good product. We need to think about the customer experience, the value our customers get, and the utility our products and services bring. A lot is written about building and selling good stuff.

What we seem to forget is, it’s not only how good the product is or what it does, but what our customers EXPECT from it. When you confuse us, you don’t meet our expectations and that’s a problem.

At dinner last night I ordered a chile relleno. It was good. But, It wasn’t what I expected. It wasn’t deep fried, there was no deep fried crispy shell. The chili relleno was wrapped in egg. It was more like a chile relleno omelet. I liked it. I ate it. But I was confused. It didn’t meet my expectations. BigE was even more frustrated. It’s not a chile relleno she said. Maybe not to her or me, but it was to them and that’s the problem.

It didn’t matter how it taste, it didn’t meet our expectations and therefore negatively affected our experience.

We all have a vision of what we expect to get when we buy something. If it isn’t met, we’re not happy. Regardless of how good it is.

When you sell, set the right expectation. If you don’t all your good efforts will be wasted.

It was a good chile relleno, but all we can remember is it wasn’t what we expected.

May 23, 2010 | Filed under: Business Performance,The Chase | View Comments |

A Change of Pace

I spent the entire day landscaping my front yard. I wish I had taken before and after pictures. It was a lot of work. I pulled 8 or 9 shrubs, raked up 400 square feet of mulch, put down new metal edging, moved 4 sprinkler heads, and put in place 18 new shrubs which will be a new hedge. They still have to be planted. I did this with my brother in-law who is a great landscaper.

I’m exhausted.

I spend most of my days sitting in front of a computer. I’ve become extremely sedentary. Most of the hours of my day are spent like this one; in front of a computer. A change of pace felt great.

I used to do a lot of manual labor. During the summers when I was a kid, I did construction, learned to roof, did landscaping, and washed dishes. I did it all. I learned what hard work was early. I don’t do much hands on work anymore and I miss it, kind of.

It was hard for me to get into this “change of pace”. I instantly realized I’m not nearly as strong as I once was. It took me a little while to let myself get dirty and submerge myself in the effort. Once I did, it was great. I was working outside. I was covered in dirt. I could see the progress we were making. I was learning new things. I was getting exercise. It was a complete change of pace and I loved it.

A change of pace is good. It refreshes the mind. It works other muscles, intellectual and physical. It breaks the cycle. It’s all too easy to become single threaded.

Although I’m tired, I feel great. I didn’t think about many of the things my mind spends most days pondering, translating, evaluating and processing. My brain went on a mini vacation.

On Monday, My brain and I will be back in front of the computer for 8 plus hours and my ass will be stuck to a chair. But, this Monday I suspect they will be a little more rested than normal.

Break up your day, your week or your month. Do something you haven’t done in a while. Wake up at 4:00 a.m. and go for a walk on the beach until the sun comes up. Build a dog house. Become a Big Brother/Big Sister. Play on a softball team. Do something you don’t normally do. Do something your not specifically good at. Get out of your comfort zone. It’ll give your mind a rest. It’ll make you feel good. When you get back to your regularly schedule program the story may be a bit more entertaining than you remember.

Despite all the work done today, I still have 18 shrubs to plant. That means 18 two feet by 3 feet holes to dig. Isn’t change of pace great?

May 22, 2010 | Filed under: Personal Development,Random | View Comments |