Planning is an unnatural process – it’s much more fun to get on with it. The real benefit of not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise and is not preceded by months of worry. – Sir John Harvey-Jones It is that time of the year when our thoughts turn to account planning –…
Trust is the fulcrum upon which every customer relationship pivots. Trust is a valuable currency that must be earned, but never spent. Trust is built one step at a time, and unless protected, can be blown away in a moment. Account Planning is all about developing long-term relationships, and that is hard to do without…
One of the critical metrics that all sales organizations should measure is sales velocity. By sales velocity we mean the revenue that can be achieved in a given period, whether that is a day, month, quarter or year. No matter how complex your business, there are really only four levers that you can pull to…
There is frequently a contradiction between the importance that sales leaders profess they place on account planning and their actual behavior. While recognizing the tremendous value that can accrue from this important sales discipline, they habitually revert to type and look for the deal they can close quickly. The greatest evidence of this is the…
In business, there are really only two things that you control; who you call on, and what you say when you get there. If you put the effort into deciding what customers you call on, you are much more likely to be effective when you get there. This applies as much to individual sellers as…
Much has been said about the need to bring insights to your customers. In today’s world of more informed buyers, it is clear that you need to do more than just communicate the capabilities of your product. However, not much has been written about how to do this well or consistently. Sellers are struggling to…
