Resisting Competitor AttackA halo need only slip a few inches to become a noose!It’s a good bet that your most profitable business relationships will be subject to competitor attack at some stage.... your key customers are probably your competitors' key prospects! Imagine a common scenario: so called ‘strong' relationships often based on little more than longevity, love of the same football team, the odd lunch and the minimum of complaint are seen as impervious to the competition. What happens when the following dynamics are in play and there is no plan to address them.. Mergers and acquisitionsM&A activity often leads to a change in management structure. Natural attritionWith key contacts moving on – replacements often arrive with unknown incumbents in tow. Market shiftsSometimes quite swift and often leading to a change in business practice and perhaps a lack of need for your product / service Cost cutting initiativesOften driven by those with a finance or procurement discipline (who themselves, are rarely sold to) The truth is that there are many ways to objectively measure and improve the strength of business relationships ensuring that a set of comprehensive actions are taken to lock out the competition. Salespunch™ has a suite of tools to address this issue. To pick an example, in ‘desert island’ style, if ‘sales tools’ were a category in our clutch of essential items, the Salespunch™ Relationship Assessment would be the tool of choice. Application of the tool, together with the right coaching to ensure the greatest effect quickly leads to identification of key gaps and the need to: - Make new contacts and cultivate relationships - up and down the decision-making process line
- Sell new products and services - the more the client relies on you, the bigger the implications of change
- Obtain a greater share of the spend on your product / service
- Improve the number, and quality of peer-level contacts within your organisation – (what happens when your account manager moves on?)
- Monitor and assess the competitors' threat
- Identify payment terms - valued business partners often get paid more promptly than those who aren't valued.
So, if building customer loyalty is an issue for you, call Salespunch™ for some intuitive coaching and proven tools that will make the above objectives, achievable within your business. Yesterday's methods, in today's markets ---leads to.........tomorrow's mess. Contact Salespunch™ - Now! |
A Salespunch™ tool for measuring the strength of existing relationships and vulnerability to competitors. Criteria that might be used to measure the strength of a business relationship: - No. of customer contacts (what happens if your one contact leaves?)
- No. of your contacts regularly engaging with the customer (What if your account manager 'defects' to your competitor?)
- Are we high enough and broad enough in relation to the decision-making process? (Do we know where the threats and opportunities are?)
- No. of referrals
- Their rating of us versus the competition
- Range of products / services bought
Contact your Salespunch™ coach for a demonstration of how Relationship Assessment can quickly be applied to your business.
We often hear clients who feel that they "should move into account management … even though they don't really know what it is…." So what exactly is it? What's involved? Firstly, consider that the Account Manager fulfils these primary roles: His employer, not surprisingly, sees the role as one of protecting and growing the business. His customer sees the role as largely one of caring for the customer's business and the chief 'go to' point in the relationship between both parties.
The Account Manager thus fulfils both of these roles and bridges the gap. This is a hard line for most of us to walk. How many times have we seen the Account Manager who spends much of his time bitching internally and forgetting where his salary comes from? As I said .........… it's a hard line to walk..... In this high leverage, '80/20' sales area, where concentration of effort is paramount, we are usually playing for the highest of stakes. It is clear to me therefore that a rare blend of attributes is called for at the higher end of 'bigger ticket' account management: Intelligence Business awareness Patience, tenacity and courage Strong, multi-level, interpersonal confidence Well organised Deft networking skills Inquisitive by nature and a keen eye for an opportunity
Click here for more To arrange an exploratory conversation with your coach, please contact Salespunch™ - Now! 01883 621088 |