The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Top-performing sales organizations have many things in common. One is their understanding of and the importance they place on an account list management strategy. Here’s the concept and some tips used by world-class managers—feel free to use it in your organization.

Recently, I read a book by this title written by retired admiral William H. McRaven. He was a Navy Seal and eventually rose to the command of the worldwide Seal operation. The book is loaded with principles McRaven learned as a Navy Seal, each of which is an invaluable nugget that leads to success in about any venture.

The first principle is, if you want to change the world begin by accomplishing something first thing every morning — make your bed. Now, it sounds simple, and perhaps even trivial, but he points out beginning each day with a measurable accomplishment sets the tone for a productive 24 hours ahead.

As you might imagine, a well-made bed for a Seal is one so perfect the drill sergeant can bounce a quarter six inches high off the perfectly-taught cover. Failure to deliver such a quality job can result in a hundred push ups or perhaps a two-mile run as the sun rises.

So, I began wondering what making your bed looks like for a sales professional? Beyond literally making your bed (which I happen to do everyday first thing, so I appreciate the adrenaline charge of that early accomplishment), what are the "first-thing" activities a sales pro should accomplish in order to insure a productive day ahead and improve sales performance? Here are some that come to mind for me.

My favorite book in high school was George Orwell's Animal Farm. If you haven't read it, it is an allegorical novel that tells the story of how Communism took over Russia and ultimately ruined their economy. I loved this book because a) it's brilliant, and b) it's a great defender of capitalism, which I LOVE!

We are now a few months into the new year. Often, at the end of the prior year, I spend time talking about the year ahead. I ask the sellers that I coach what they want to accomplish. Where do they want to be at the end of this year? We discuss their professional sales goals, and then we begin to make a plan together to help them achieve those goals.

I encourage them to make sure they understand the importance of high priority prospects or what we call target accounts. Ensuring sales teams understand how to identify, develop, and close (or walk away) is a critical part of sellers achieving their objectives throughout the year.

I can't get enough of Marie Kondo. Unless you are completely removed from social media or Netflix, you know her to be the spiritual guide to decluttering your living space on her Netlfix original series, "Tidying Up With Marie Kondo."  I am a believer and often ask myself, "Does this spark joy?" and after my recent one-on-one coaching calls with salespeople from all over the country, many seem to feel as if their Account Lists are cluttered and could use some of Marie's guidance!  

Luckily, The Center For Sales Strategy's Account List Management Strategy can help you declutter and tidy up your account list!  There are 4 categories of accounts that are likely to "spark joy" for any salesperson: key accounts, secondary accounts, target accounts, and leads.

January is history, and some sellers are already singing the blues because their year is off to a cold start. That’s the bad news… here’s the good news; it is not too late to make some changes to accelerate revenue and improve sales performance.

Here’s a list of five things to get 2019 back on track and heat up sales revenue!

Need some help connecting with target accounts when prospecting? Do you know the decision maker you need to connect with at a company, but don't have their email address? Have no fear. Trey is here... to share a hot tip that he uses regularly to connect with target accounts. 

Which of the following will generate the highest return?

• More customers
• Keeping customers longer
• More revenue per customer

Any one of these can grow revenue. But one has been shown to consistently bring in a higher return on your investment. Most businesses say they are focused on these in the order of the list: adding more customers, than keeping them longer, and finally getting more revenue per customer.

The problem is that the research shows that a focus on more customers is the wrong path to maximize your return. And that it leads you to build the wrong solutions.

Well, you wouldn’t be alone — I hear this from sales managers all the time. Here are the reasons I see that salespeople too often select the wrong companies to pursue:

• They are opportunistic and therefore look for low-hanging fruit where getting access to decision makers is relatively easy. Sometimes that works out, but too often it translates into prospects that do not have the resources to be a key customer in your organization.
  
  
• They let their own preferences dictate who they pursue. There might be particular categories they are comfortable with, or types of individuals they like to deal with that prejudice their thinking about who they should pursue as a prospect.

Picture this. You are seven weeks into the quarter and pacing behind last year, and significantly behind your budget. Your manager and your manager’s manager are nosing around to find out what is going on and peppering you with questions about your plan to fix this. Your sales team is growing increasingly frustrated as orders get canceled and prospects fall through. This scenario is hypothetical, of course, but perhaps you have been there. So, how does a sales manager deal with this?