Executive summary:
• Competent strategic sales executives are the “20%” in your team that contribute 80% of revenue.
• From your client list, establish the top 20% based on the potential opportunity (not historical opportunity because it is “history”). Develop an account plan for each. • The Key Competencies of a Successful Strategic Account Manager include commercial awareness, communication skills, ethics, results-oriented and problem-solving.
Over the years, I have had the great opportunity of working with ground-breaking companies who valued strategic selling and encouraging their best key account representatives to achieve the highest level of relationship with clients.
In the 1980s the American academic and researcher, Neil Rackham, established the Huthwaite Institute, published “SPIN Selling” and “Major Account Sales Strategy” and developed a close relationship with IBM and Xerox. These collaborations established the foundation for modern strategic account management methods and processes.
At the same time, both IBM and Xerox invested heavily in the development of their people. Around this time, I was participating in a training program at Xerox’s University, situated on a spectacular campus on the banks of the Potomac River in Leesburg, VA. Such was the commitment to training by the large leaders of US corporations.