The following is a high-level, paraphrased summary of a very common client conversation I’ve had over the years when working in mature vertical industries (such as wholesale distribution).  

Me: In your sales force today, what’s the mix between new business acquisition – meaning acquiring “new logos” or accounts – and the management and growth of current accounts?

Client: Well, we should probably be doing more new business development, but we’re largely focused on growing our current accounts. We know we have a lot of potential to grow the accounts we have.

Me: It’s good that you recognize the need for expanding account acquisition but it’s certainly great to hear about the potential growth in your account base. What percentage of your accounts would you consider key growth accounts with significant potential?

Client: Uh, well, we don’t have that quantified exactly. I’d guess it’d be something like 20%.

Me: Excellent. And how have you quantified the potential growth in each of those key accounts?

Client: Well, uh, we just know that they’re not buying everything that our similar top accounts do, and we have an opportunity to sell more to most of them.

Me: OK. I see. And what documented plans do these account managers have in place right now that you could show me, with a specific tactical plan for identifying and realizing that potential?

Client: [Insert a long pause with puzzled look and head tilt … ]

I wish I could tell you that this scenario wasn’t real or common.  

This lack of key account management exists even though there’s very little new business development activity and growth relies on maximizing current accounts.  

You see the problem here, right?  

Read the bullet point on “Momentum Fuel” from this post. 

To a degree, I understand how this happens, or at least how it came to be. In wholesale distribution, a very mature vertical industry, our sales forces have historically been very self-directed versus management-led. We’ve sold primarily on the strength of long-time relationships and a great service orientation, mostly face-to-face with in-person visits and “check-ins.”  

What this isn’t, unfortunately, is an effective go-forward, data-driven, purposeful go-to-market strategy for maximizing growth in our well-established account bases.  

For the rest of this post, I’ll walk through a process that I’ve honed over many years, and recently included in our Modern Sales Foundations sales methodology and training course. I’ve seen this method make a significant difference when well implemented.  

Determining Account Potential 

It all starts with determining account potential. A data-driven approach is best, and multiple business intelligence software platforms are available today to support this work.  

Gather your data and review and benchmark account performance against your best-performing similar accounts. Then identify growth potential, good-performing accounts without growth potential that you want to maintain, and accounts where performance has slipped that you’d like to reactivate or return to previous levels.  

Setting Logical Account Objectives 

The starting point in this stage is to conduct a Situation Assessment using the above-sourced data.  

Situation Assessment 

To conduct the Situation Assessment for each of your key accounts: 

• Document the current state, including the challenges faced, opportunities available, and the impacts of not resolving the challenges or not capitalizing on the opportunities. 
• Document the desired future state, including the desired outcomes and the priority of those outcomes.  

Then you can: 

• Conduct a needs/gap analysis to determine what it would take to close the gap and reach the desired future state.  
• Complete an impact analysis to assess the impact of the gap and of closing it. What is the dollarized gain (revenue and/or profit) if achieved outcomes? What risks can be lessened or averted? What cost savings can be documented?  

Using PCF-L Analysis to Set Account Objectives 

In PCF-L analysis, you score each account’s history (P) and current performance (C) based on the metrics that are most meaningful to your company (such as revenue, profitability, recency, frequency, product mix, etc.). Then, based on your current understanding of the account and situation, you estimate the best-possible, best-case future potential (F) and your estimate of the likelihood of achieving that potential (L). I often use a Likert scale of 1-5 (1 being low; 5 being high), but I have seen 1-10 used as well.  

This analysis allows you to set a logical account objective. While you can further segment these objectives at a high level, there are only five.  

• Acquire: Target and win a new customer. This is typically used in targeting prospects but can be applied to current accounts when planning to expand into (or “acquire”) a completely new division of a current customer where you are not doing business today. Many might consider this “growth,” but I have seen it used both ways. If you define your terms clearly internally, either is fine.  
• Maintain: Keep or prevent the loss of an account with good performance but no current growth potential.  
• Grow: Expand by increasing product usage, upselling, cross-selling, improving profitability or further penetrating the account. Those actions are sometimes used to establish subsets of growth, such as Grow: Cross-Sell or Grow: Expand. Again, clear communication and alignment are what matters most. Adjust your labels based on the context and nuance of your company.  
• Recover: Restore, reactivate or win back an account that performed better in the past.  
• Retire: Part ways with the account, often due to low profitability, high cost to serve or an evolved situation, where doing business together no longer makes sense for both parties.  

For example, using PCF-L with a 1-5 scale for each: 

• 004-3 would be an Acquire account 
• 333-5 would be a Maintain account 
• 235-4 would be a Grow account 
• 424-4 would be a Recover account 
• 321-5 would be a Retire account 

Conducting a Force Field Analysis 

The next step is conducting a Force Field Analysis. This isn’t typically taught in account management, but it should be. It’s an outstanding method for making your analysis and objectives actionable, producing plans more likely to achieve the desired outcomes.  

Force Field Analysis 

Adapted from Kurt Lewin’s work in the 1940s, this approach remains an excellent, logical method for developing plans for change (such as moving from a current state to a desired future state). The Force Field Analysis complements the Situation Assessment very well. 

Here’s how it works. 

• Document the current state (COI from COIN-OP in your Situation Assessment) 
• Document the desired future state with prioritized outcomes, now expressed as SMART goals (N-OP from COIN-OP, but especially the outcomes). 
• Consider the forces at play (called Sources of Forces in the form) that are present in your current situation, holding you in place. Some people get brain-freeze here, and the accuracy and viability of the forces are what make this work well. If that happens, take a break, try it in a group setting, or engage your manager, coach or mentor. Accuracy here is what fuels effective account plans.  

Note: Documenting the various Sources of Forces categories (Customer, Relationship, Solution, Other) is optional and not part of Lewin’s original method. The categories can, however, help you consider all forces and ensure an analysis that’s as complete as possible. Sometimes it’s easier than holding it all in your head and pouring it out on the form. The effectiveness of the Force Field Analysis is directly proportional to the accuracy of the forces and relevance of the actions identified in the next steps, so stay the course and get this part right.  

• Document and weight (scale of 1-5) the Driving Forces – anything in your favor, nudging you toward your desired future state.  
• Document and weigh (same scale) the Restraining Forces – anything holding you back or hampering your progress toward your desired future state. Any gaps in information – things you should know but don’t yet – should be considered a Restraining Force. 

Architecting Key Account Plans  

With this done, two simple questions will help you develop a logical plan that will increase the likelihood of achieving your account objectives.  

Ask yourself:  

1. How can I reduce or eliminate the Restraining Forces holding me back?
2. How can I strengthen or add Driving Forces that are propelling me forward?  

Document your answers in an action plan format. Who will do what, with whom, and how, by when? Focus first on the Restraining Forces with the greatest weighting and work your way down, segueing next to the Driving Forces. Soon, you’ll have an actionable plan, based on analysis and logic, that you can execute to achieve your predetermined account objective. Plus, it accounts for information gaps and prompts you to close them. It truly is a very effective approach.  

With key accounts, you obviously want to invest some time to get this right and produce more detailed plans. While it’s unrealistic to produce plans like this for every account in a territory or company, you can “spread the wealth” with less extensive account plans for your B, C and D accounts. Some of these may be very simple, “back of a napkin” type plans, but they will be logical and helpful and keep you focused and on track.  

Managing the Process 

Will Rogers is credited with saying that even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. Nowhere is this truer than with key account plans.  

In addition to executing your plan with focus and discipline, updating it is critical to success. Unfortunately, in many companies, once plans are created, they get placed in a file or on a shelf and gather dust. You can’t allow this to happen.  

As you plug information gaps, reduce or eliminate restraining forces, strengthen or add driving forces, and execute your plan, the forces in your analysis will shift. As they do, so should your plan.  

For maximum effectiveness, you must update and adjust plans periodically. This separates world-class account managers from those who “go through the motions” or rely on “Momentum Fuel.” Use good judgment and prioritize based on the criticality of the account and outcomes.  

Well, that’s it for this post. If this helps you in any way on your journey toward improved sales effectiveness, feel free to let me know. I’d enjoy hearing about your successes.