Selling a new target account is not an easy task. Many things have to fall in place—here’s a list of some of the obstacles:
- Selecting a quality prospect.
- Developing the trust of the prospect.
- Getting an appointment.
- Conducting a needs analysis that leads to an opportunity (and cash).
- Developing a solution robust enough to get results, yet not so large it scares away the prospect.
- Overcoming objections.
- Closing the deal!
Getting a renewal from a new customer starts with getting results on the initial campaign, and using a campaign launch brief will set you up to increase your renewals before your clients’ campaigns even kick off.
Introducing the Campaign Launch Brief
This tool is designed to help sellers cover all the bases prior to the start of a campaign. Here’s a list of the important areas:
- Desired Business Result
- Measures of Success
- Analysis of Problem to Solve
- Tailored Solution and Customer Journey
- Critical Path for Campaign Launch
- Critical Path for Ongoing Campaign Success
As the Account Executive, you should create and review this entire document with the internal team members responsible for execution. While the tendency will be to go right to the end of the process (the critical path), taking the time to explain how things like the desired business result, measures of success, and the consumer journey are important, will help guide them in the best way to execute the critical path items.
Your campaign launch brief will be a close copy of the proposal used to close the deal. The key differences are an added analysis of the problem to solve and a more detailed critical path for the internal team.
Detailed Information about a Campaign Launch Brief (CLB)
Here’s some additional information that will help you build a CLB:
- Client: ______________________________
- Desired Business Result: State clearly and succinctly the desired business result you and the prospect/customer have agreed to focus on. Measures of Success: List the ways you and the prospect/customer have agreed you will measure success (we recommend 2-4 as a best practice).
- Analysis of Problem to Solve:
- Why are they focused on this problem?
- What makes it so tough to achieve it?
- What Message needs to be sent?
- Tailored Solution and Customer Journey: Present the solution in the context of how it will influence the consumer journey. Be specific about these areas for your team.
- ATTRACT
- ENGAGE
- CONVERT
- ADVOCATE
- DETAILED SCHEDULE
- Critical Path for Campaign Launch (and who owns each piece): In this section, you want to focus on the launch, and make sure deadlines and who is responsible for each piece are clearly spelled out.
- Critical Path for Ongoing Campaign Success (and who owns each piece): Once the campaign is launched, there are still several things that need to be done, most may be done by the Account Manager, but every case is different, and often others on your team will support the ongoing campaign.
When to Use a Campaign Launch Brief
This concept is not meant to be used for every customer of every deal closed. It works best to add focus on target accounts on their way to key account level as well as key accounts with spending upside.