Keeping your Account Manager Up-to-Date: Winning with Information
Philip Foster.
Once, Account Management was mainly about “big ticket selling”. This involved a high powered sales person highly trained in negotiation and presentation skills winning a big order. After the contract was signed he/she would move onto the next opportunity.
Today Account Management is more about
“The mutual ownership for cost reductions, service improvements, productivity increases, continuous improvement, global competition, technological innovation, cross-functional teams and other processes which will create shareholder value for both the supplier and major customer”.
Description supplied by the Strategic Account Management Association.
www.strategicaccounts.org
Therefore the Account Manager needs to know about
- Costs, their costs – people, materials so that estimates can be made about savings.
- Service levels – what has been agreed when we have performed well and badly.
- Productivity measures – how we can improve throughput with less people.
- Continuous improvement processes – initiatives within the account, within our company, and joint initiatives.
- Competitors – both what our competitors are trying to achieve, and the competitors of the account.
- Technology – what is being upgraded, what has disappointed, what is “new”.
- Teams – implementation teams trying to grow market share, cut costs, increase productivity, improve processes, implement technology, implement projects. Who are members? The team’s status? What barriers the teams are hitting.
- Organisation structure – Who? What role? When? Who is moving on? Who is replacing whom?
- Shareholder Value – How profitable is this account to us? What is the financial health of the account?
We can see why Julia is feeling frustrated
- She knows what she needs to know
- But accessing it, there is the problem.
Why So Important Today?
For many industries and countries, right now, the economic outlook is poor. For the top 7 economic countries, the G7, economic growth of 2+% for 2002 was the lowest for decades.
Companies are finding it difficult to raise prices and some are finding it difficult to prevent prices falling. Shareholders and stock markets around the world are looking for increased earnings per share. Whilst regulators are tightening up environmental, social, and best practice policies.
The globalisation trends of the 1990’s have created a more integrated economic world.
So companies are working hard to increase revenue by taking share from their rivals. Account Management is a core component of this strategy. The managers in the Account want meetings to be well-informed and to the point.
“When I first started in selling” explained Julia, “the older colleagues would gloss over issues by offering tickets for a sporting event and a pub lunch. Today my Account contacts want to talk about compliance with their quality policies, service levels across Europe, etc. You can feel their anxiety about hitting targets”.
“Also if there were 10 competitors servicing this account, we all seemed content if we had about 10% of the spend each. Today my director and the Account’s senior people want dual sourcing. So we could win 50% or lose it all. A bit like the Frank Sinatra song ‘All or nothing at all’,” she added.
“My account is huge as a result of two acquisitions during the 1990s and some organic growth: But my contacts are wanting to discuss with me how to improve margins and make savings.
The agenda of meetings covers
- Tailored or standardised purchases
- Short-term or long-term contracts
- Local or centralised global resources
- Leasing or purchasing outright”.
“A colleague has an Account which is very dominant in its supply chain. It meets not only the supplier but its suppliers, the distribution companies, and regulators. It sends its specialists up and down the chain to inspect quality. Keeping up to date is almost a full time job!”
Today Account Management is more about
“The mutual ownership for cost reductions, service improvements, productivity increases, continuous improvement, global competition, technological innovation, cross-functional teams and other processes which will create shareholder value for both the supplier and major customer”.
Description supplied by the Strategic Account Management Association.
www.strategicaccounts.org
Therefore the Account Manager needs to know about
- Costs, their costs – people, materials so that estimates can be made about savings.
- Service levels – what has been agreed when we have performed well and badly.
- Productivity measures – how we can improve throughput with less people.
- Continuous improvement processes – initiatives within the account, within our company, and joint initiatives.
- Competitors – both what our competitors are trying to achieve, and the competitors of the account.
- Technology – what is being upgraded, what has disappointed, what is “new”.
- Teams – implementation teams trying to grow market share, cut costs, increase productivity, improve processes, implement technology, implement projects. Who are members? The team’s status? What barriers the teams are hitting.
- Organisation structure – Who? What role? When? Who is moving on? Who is replacing whom?
- Shareholder Value – How profitable is this account to us? What is the financial health of the account?
We can see why Julia is feeling frustrated
- She knows what she needs to know
- But accessing it, there is the problem.
Why So Important Today?
For many industries and countries, right now, the economic outlook is poor. For the top 7 economic countries, the G7, economic growth of 2+% for 2002 was the lowest for decades.
Companies are finding it difficult to raise prices and some are finding it difficult to prevent prices falling. Shareholders and stock markets around the world are looking for increased earnings per share. Whilst regulators are tightening up environmental, social, and best practice policies.
The globalisation trends of the 1990’s have created a more integrated economic world.
So companies are working hard to increase revenue by taking share from their rivals. Account Management is a core component of this strategy. The managers in the Account want meetings to be well-informed and to the point.
“When I first started in selling” explained Julia, “the older colleagues would gloss over issues by offering tickets for a sporting event and a pub lunch. Today my Account contacts want to talk about compliance with their quality policies, service levels across Europe, etc. You can feel their anxiety about hitting targets”.
“Also if there were 10 competitors servicing this account, we all seemed content if we had about 10% of the spend each. Today my director and the Account’s senior people want dual sourcing. So we could win 50% or lose it all. A bit like the Frank Sinatra song ‘All or nothing at all’,” she added.
“My account is huge as a result of two acquisitions during the 1990s and some organic growth: But my contacts are wanting to discuss with me how to improve margins and make savings.
The agenda of meetings covers
- Tailored or standardised purchases
- Short-term or long-term contracts
- Local or centralised global resources
- Leasing or purchasing outright”.
“A colleague has an Account which is very dominant in its supply chain. It meets not only the supplier but its suppliers, the distribution companies, and regulators. It sends its specialists up and down the chain to inspect quality. Keeping up to date is almost a full time job!”
Presenters
Philip Foster
(United Kingdom)
Lecturer in Account Management
Executive Development
Henley Management College
Executive Development
Henley Management College
Philip Foster B.A. (Econ), M.A., M.B.A. specialises in Account Management. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Member of the Strategic Account Management Association and a frequent conference speaker for the UK Institute of Directors. After graduating with a B.A. (Econ) in economics and politics, he took an M.A. in Defence Strategy before working in shipping and distribution, mainly in strategy, account management and operations. During this time he took an M.B.A. at Cranfield and worked in Singapore and later Asia- Pacific. Later he joined PA Management Consultants. Now as well as lecturing at Henley Management College he also runs his own company “Account Strategy Realisation” which works with companies to improve their account management. His clients are located in a variety of industries e.g. telcos, car leasing, cleaning, consulting, shipping, distribution
Keywords
(Virtual Presentation,
English)