Congratulations! You successfully sold one or more of your 
company's products or services to a business unit, department, 
or division of a large organization. Now your manager has tasked 
you with "account management". If you are not already familiar 
with account management, you are probably asking yourself the 
following questions:

 1. What is "Account Management"?

 2. What skills and talents are required to excel in Account 
    Management?

 3. What activities must be performed to maximize Account 
    Management return on investment?

Providing answers to these questions is the focus of this 
article.


1. What is Account Management?

Account management is a synonym for ACCOUNT PENETRATION. Just 
because you have sold one product or service to one business 
entity within an organization doesn't mean your job is done. 
Think of all the additional opportunities that may exist in 
the account! For example:

Does your company offer additional products or services that 
might be a "fit" for this customer?

How many other business units, departments, divisions, and 
subsidiaries are potential prospects for your company's 
products and services?


2. Required Skills and Talents

A critical talent for successful account management is the 
ability to build RELATIONSHIPS, as relationship selling is a 
very effective way to increase account penetration. Another 
critical skill/talent is ORGANIZATION. If you are going to 
manage large accounts effectively, you need to be willing and 
able to keep meticulous records.

What kinds of records do you need to keep? Picture a 
three-dimensional spreadsheet in your mind. In the left-hand 
column is a list of every product and service that you could 
possibly sell to a customer. Across the top of the spreadsheet 
are all of the business units, departments, divisions, and 
other business entities that make up your account's entire 
organization. Behind each business entity is every contact 
you know within that business entity.

Armed with this mental picture, ask yourself the following 
questions:

 * Which business entities are you doing business with?

 * Which business entities are you NOT doing business with?

 * Where are the various business entities located?

 * Which products and services does each business entity 
   already purchase from you?

 * Which products and services are they NOT purchasing from you?

 * Who do you know in each business entity?

 * Which of these contacts have you already asked for referrals 
   and testimonials?

 * What referrals and testimonials have they given you?


3. Required Activities

Hopefully your organization has some type of CRM (Client 
Relationship Management) software application to help you keep 
track of your answers to these questions. If you don't have 
access to a corporate CRM system, here are some other options:

 * You can purchase a software package like ACT! or GoldMine

 * You can subscribe to an online service like salesforce.com

 * You can track information using a spreadsheet, database, or 
   e-mail program

   Next, plan your tactics for increasing account penetration 
   by considering the following questions:

 * What process will you use to regularly expose EACH of your 
   contacts in the account to your company's ENTIRE PORTFOLIO 
   of products and services?

 * Who can provide TESTIMONIALS that will help you win business 
   in other business units, departments, or divisions in the 
   account?

Who can REFER you to new contacts in other business units, 
departments, or divisions in the account?

Why is it necessary to repetitively expose your contacts to 
your company's entire portfolio of products and services? 
Because they forget! I can tell you from personal experience 
that there is nothing more frustrating than finding out a 
customer has placed a large order with another salesperson...
and the only reason they didn’t give YOU the order was because 
they didn't know or remember that you could fill it!


Is There More to Account Management?

There can be, but activities focused on increasing account 
penetration make up the critical core. Account management does 
become more complex if a team of people is managing a regional, 
national, or global account, but most of the complexity pertains 
to coordinating the activities of the team members.

Don't make account management more complex than it needs to 
be! The basic goal is to maximize account penetration. Look 
for opportunities to sell every product and service in your 
portfolio to every business entity in the account. Make maximum 
use of referrals and testimonials to help you initiate new 
relationships. Regularly remind all of your contacts of the full 
breadth of your portfolio of products and services. Be organized 
and keep meticulous records. If you do these things, you should 
be amply rewarded for your efforts! 

Alan Rigg is the author of How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Selling:
Why Most Salespeople Don't Perform and What to Do About It. His 
company, 80/20 Performance Inc., supplies specialized sales 
assessment tests and consulting to help organizations build 
top-performing sales teams. For more sales and sales management 
tips, visit: http://www.8020performance.com