Managing Major Accounts (2 days)

Course Overview

This is a Pro-active Major Account Management 2 day course. In many markets an increasingly large proportion of a company's business comes from fewer and often large, progressive customers The Major Account. Mr. Pareto is alive, and thriving. In most companies, at least half of the revenues come from a few crucial accounts.

This two-day course reveals the range of skills and techniques needed to pro-actively manage, rather than react, to these customers' needs and to turn high value, major clients into long-term business partners. Developing and implementing effective and pro-active account plans for your Major Accounts is essential, if profit and efficiency opportunities are to be maximised.

Audience

This course will suit any Sales Manager who wishes to introduce new Major Account Management and Planning techniques to his sales team and any Account Manager who needs to upgrade his or her skills

Skills Gained

• Benefits for the organisation
• Creation and maintenance of long term relationships, customer service levels and defending your business from competitor strikes are the priorities of effective account management. This course will help sales personnel to maximise the security of your business with your most important customers.
• Benefits for the individual
• You will be better equipped and have a set of tools and techniques that will enable you to:
• Develop improved long-term customer relationships.
• Identify more 'added value contributions' to be made to customers business.
• Generate greater customer satisfaction.
• Improve your companies' competitive position.
• Identify additional business development and 'new' profit opportunities.
• By the end of the seminar you will be able to:
• Evaluate your Major Accounts and re-assess the internal and external factors which will impact future events.
• Analyse and use a customer-driven approach to future planning.
• Measure and plan qualitative and quantitative aspects of the management of your major accounts.
• Set suitable objectives to optimise value from these accounts.
• Develop a realistic 3-year strategy and plan for achieving these objectives.
• Determine an effective account penetration strategy.
• Determine how to make more effective contributions to the Major Accounts' business.
• Re-visit and re-evaluate your persuasion and negotiation skills.

Course Outline

Day One:

• Course Objectives
• Introduction - The Nature of Major Accounts: Pro's and Con's, Impact on your business.
• Implementing a customer focused, quality service approach: Hierarchies of business / consultative relationships: Implications for management: Customer Perception Review.
• The Major Account Management Process: A repeatable, visible and systematic approach: Adopting the appropriate attitude of mind: Building enduring multiple relationships: 'Positioning' and 'Partnering'.
• How to reveal and make 'added-value contributions' to the Clients' business
• The Clients Perspective: The Client/Value package- what's involved?
• Perception v's Reality. Competitive differentiation. Critical Performance factors. Barriers to effectiveness
• Penetrating the Account: Identifying key players.
• Evaluating effective 'contributions' to influence customer perceptions and long term relationship.. Business Development within the Account. The Nature of Power. Organisation structures and spheres of influence.
• Summary; Action Plans Agreed

Day Two:

• Day One Review and action pints arising
• Determining Major Account Strategies and Plans.
• The essential steps to creating effective major account plans. Where are you now? (and How did you get here?)
• Customer profiling, Situation analysis, The Clients' Business Environment. Your positioning and Client perceptions, Relationships, Strengths and Weaknesses, Opportunities and Vulnerabilities.
• Where do you want to be? Your Mission. Quantitative and Qualitative Objectives., Planning tools - SWOT, Ansoff, Opportunity analysis, Positioning.
• How do you get there? Strategic options (TOWS analysis) and evaluation. Sales and Marketing tactics, managing the Client's perceptions. Focusing your strategic 'investments'. Determining the added-value contributions and sales support activities. One year action planning.
• Writing and Sharing your Plan with Client and Colleagues. A planning blueprint: Essential steps to motivate Customer commitment, and colleagues 'buy-in'. Persuasion and Negotiation Skills re-visited.
• Summary; Action Plans Agreed