“Whenever we can replace human judgment by a formula, we should at least consider it."
​
--Daniel Kahneman, 2002 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and author of Thinking, Fast and Slow, named one of the best books of 2011 by The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and The New York Times.

Reading Kahneman’s book reminded me of how important it is to remain open-minded and objective in business, especially in the conclusions we draw and the decisions we make.  The path to extraordinary growth with our most significant accounts is no exception.  Every good large account planning effort should involve an account plan presentation to a review board of executive stakeholders.  Ideally there would be two reviews annually-- a one-hour initial account plan overview and an abbreviated follow-up review three to six months later.   As the number of accounts planned and presented increases, it is essential to find an efficient method for reviewing the accounts and providing feedback to the teams.

Like a newborn wellness Apgar test, we developed a simple, 6-dimension scorecard to assist in the evaluation and feedback process. The scorecard can be tailored and weighted according to your strategic account environment.  If you prefer, use a “very weak” to “very strong” scale rather than points to assess your account teams’ plan presentations.

Measures of Account Team Competencies:

1. The Customer’s Environment (20 Points)  _________________

• Did the team provide a thorough description of the industry including the customer’s customers?
• Did the team know the account’s business drivers and current and future markets?
• Did the team know where the account competes and wins most effectively--their mission, goals and strategy?
• Have an understanding of how the account is structured and how they go to market?

2. The Account’s Key Financials (Total 10 Points) _________________

• Is our detailed knowledge of the customer’s current financial position and critical business issues clearly articulated?
• Do we know where our opportunities to provide the most business value lie?  Where we shouldn't invest our time and resources and why?

3. The Current Relationship (Total 25 Points) _________________

• Is there a relationship map in-place summarizing key account players and their influence levels in areas where we compete?
• What is the decision-making culture; do we understand how the account executives and/or committees make buying decisions?
• Do we have an accurate assessment of the customer’s view of the relationship?  
• Do we typically have early access to the owners of critical business issues to help understand the issue and shape the solution?
• Is there a thorough and objective analysis of our competitive position within this account?

4. Planned Strategy and Execution  (20 Points) _________________

• Do we have a realistic account growth strategy with measurable objectives?  Are there new activities and tactics planned to create extraordinary revenue growth rates over historic performance?
• Does the plan position and  differentiate us  from our competition?  Have we identified areas where we can dislocate competitors?  Does the team know where we win and understand why?
• Do our current and future products and services align with the customer’s critical business issues?  Have we identified any potential partners needed to provide a more complete solution?
• Is the team working together consistently to review all sales opportunities within the account?  Does the plan show a reasonable trajectory of sales opportunities  to achieve the accelerated growth?

5. Additional Resources  (10 Points) _________________

• Does the team have the appropriate resources to cover this account and accomplish the accelerated growth goals?  
• Has the team asked for the additional resources required?  

6. Team Self-Assess: What has the Team Learned Through the Strategic Account Planning Process?  (15 Points)  _________________

• What’s working well as you plan and manage this account relationship?
• What hasn’t worked well and how can our organization improve?  
• Is the team sharing account relationship concepts and best-practices?

Evaluator Notes (additional comments on the plan presentation):

ACCOUNT PLAN TOTAL (100 possible points):  _____________


Summary:

This standard account scorecard can help make the team feedback process more productive for the account team and more efficient for the executive reviewers. It will provide a reference point from which to build your own account plan criteria and associated scoring.   Use the final scores to prioritize which accounts require additional management oversight.

​I was recently scanning some research from CSO Insights that discussed sales management priorities.  One particular research finding caught my eye: 57.8% of sales managers planned on investing non-selling time to create account plans for their second-tier of accounts. The managers felt that additional planning (and training) was necessary in order to effectively influence the myriad of cross-functional stakeholders now commonly involved in the buying process.  

Planning this next tier of accounts can be a good investment, assuming you have the budget, the executive commitment, and the support resources necessary to execute against the plans created. But before you invest the additional time in the second-tier, you need to honestly assess whether or not you are maximizing the revenue opportunities in your top-tier accounts. One way we have successfully generated additional top-tier revenues is by creating a Strategic Account Executive Sponsorship Program.

What is a Strategic Account Executive Sponsorship Program?

A Strategic Account Executive Sponsorship Program assigns company executives to top-tier accounts (those with the greatest current or future revenue potential). The sponsoring executive then becomes a member of the account sales and marketing team targeted with growing the account and defending against competition.  The theory is that with executive sponsorship, the account's revenues will grow incrementally at a faster rate than without sponsorship.  Our experience with these programs shows good results when they are designed correctly--with the appropriate level of the assigned executive’s time and effort.

Key Attributes to a Successful Strategic Account Executive Sponsorship Program

To follow are the attributes needed for a successful program:

1. Executives are assigned to strategic accounts based on their domain knowledge, comfort level, and past industry experience. For example, you may decide to assign your VP of Manufacturing to an account who prides itself on their leading-edge supply chain efficiency; your CFO to an account with the most state-of-the-art financial systems; your Chief of HR to an account that runs an HR system from the same vendor as you do. This may seem like common sense, but you’d be surprised how often companies fail to map their executive strengths to the account. Also consider inviting any willing (and qualified) board members to join the program to help cover additional accounts.

2. The executive is formally integrated with the sales account team and support resources assigned to the account.  The sponsorship program should be integrated and complementary (rather than separate) to the sales team’s efforts.  This includes executive involvement in the account planning process and the providing of status updates to the sales leader(s)--which will be needed for periodic entry into any CRM system used.

3. Executives receive a thorough account briefing prior to account contact.  Provide executives with points-of-view, position papers and market forecasts. A thorough understanding of the account and their industry will help drive discussions. Your executives should also be armed with relevant historical account revenue, relationship data and a picture of the competitive landscape. Any past relationship problems should also be made known to any executive visits. This is not the time to minimize any past relationship problems--no executive likes being blind-sided.

The goal of the program is to build additional executive-to-executive relationships. Traditional sales skills are not paramount here. The executive’s focus should be on the customer’s industry, market dynamics and big-picture business issues. Once credibility and mutual respect are established at the executive level, incremental sales opportunities can be pursued by the account team.

4. Sales and marketing work together to prepare executives for the calls. Create appointment-setting phone scripts and, if necessary, one-on-one executive coaching sessions. Many of these early appointment-setting phone calls will be cold calls, which are not easy to make for even the most experienced sales people. A short refresher course, phone script, and a rehearsal will go a long way to helping executives be successful.  Don’t be afraid to use an executive “administrator to administrator” approach for appointment scheduling. I’ve often found that a well-prepared executive administrator, armed with a brief topical agenda, can be highly effective scheduling appointments with their counterparts.


5. The time and funds necessary have been budgeted to successfully make the required number of executive “touches” at the account. These program costs are not insignificant, when done correctly. Time and travel quickly add up. How many new executives should be targeted? How often should the executives meet (in-person and via phone)? What incremental sales can be expected? Make sure you’ve allocated the additional expenses required to expand the relationship.  More importantly, make sure there is the potential for incremental account growth to justify the added costs.


6. Scheduled periodic executive reviews. Schedule one account for a brief status overview (10-15 minutes) at each executive team meeting. All sponsoring executives participating in the program should be in attendance. The updates should give the executive team a snapshot of the account, the relationship and the latest activities.  It also provides a forum for the management team to share ideas, make recommendations, and show executive commitment.


Summary

Under the right circumstances, assigning teams and planning additional large accounts can be a wise investment. However, the next tier must warrant the additional planning and overhead costs. Before you move to the second-tier, make sure you are optimizing your efforts in the top-tier by instituting a Strategic Account Executive Sponsorship Program.  An effective executive sponsorship program, deployed at your most strategic accounts, can have a greater return on your investment. The sooner you start building lasting, executive relationships, the sooner you'll build a barrier to entry for your competitors.