Here we stand at the midpoint of the selling year – the transition from H1 to H2 and Q2 to Q3, whichever time hump you prefer. If your efforts since January have been fruitful, you’re positioned to continue your good fortune and make 2024 a really great year. If, on the other hand, things have not gone as well as you or your organization would like, there’s still plenty of time to reverse the negative trend and turn the rest of the year into your comeback. In either case, you must remember the four most important words in selling – it’s not about you! For making 2024 a great year, regardless of where your numbers are at this point, involves intense client focus, especially with your major accounts.
Major accounts, of course, represent vast fields of dark, rich, fertile soil and it’s your selling and serving teams that have the seeds of growth in hand. It’s not an easy task as significant care, feeding and tending are required to grow and simply retain complex large accounts. And an absolute survival skill is your ability to maintain strong and highly communicative client relationships based on trust and value.
To sustain these relationships, the importance of regular communications events with your clients cannot be overstated. Ah, yes……I’m referring to the Quarterly Business Reviews, right? Wrong. Remember those four words – it’s not about you? Well, the time-worn concept of Quarterly Business Reviews flies in the face of those four critical words. As such, the time has come to structure these types of events in a markedly different format than has become common with many organizations selling to and serving major accounts. Quarterly Business Reviews are far too often planned as, or morph into small-scale vendor trade shows disguised as business reviews. It’s painfully evident though, that if an event’s objective is for the vendor to sell more, client executives will sniff out the scheme quickly. They’re bright people whose intuition and ability to read situations got them to where they are. If you’re lucky enough to get them to attend one self-serving vendor session, that will be their last. And the taste that will be left in their mouths will be very bitter. And it will be a taste they long remember.
Enter the concept of Quarterly Value Reviews with the difference being not simply a play on words. The structure is built around the two themes of value delivered and value projected with the essential message being that it’s not about you but all about the client. More importantly, it’s about how the client defines the value you’ve already delivered and the value they need from you in the time to come.
These sessions take place at the highest levels possible, and for good reason. If you’re doing a good job of delivering value on the client’s terms and you’re communicating that often so that the client organization is aware at the executive level, they will want to see you regularly. And when they do, they’ll be clear about what they want and exactly when and how they want it. If there are issues that create obstacles affecting your ability to deliver, you’ll hear about them directly from the people with the power to make them go away. Is there a danger in exposing some of your organization’s weaknesses in these events? Of course, but you’ll strategize with your team and client contacts prior to the sessions on how to deal with issues that may come up. In essence, you’ll be prepared, a much better scenario than having client executives hear about your failures when they happen without the benefit of regular contact with your organization. And these sessions will also position you and your executives to establish relationships, at some level, with the client executives. It’s always easier to work through issues with people you know. These value-focused sessions facilitate that knowing.
The fundamental theme of the continuous process of selling and delivery provides the basis for Quarterly Value Reviews. There’s no dreaded handoff from sales to delivery as both teams are rightfully engaged in both functions, partnered to deliver value to the client in the constant stream of interactions that typify major account relationships. The sessions, involving both sales and delivery, clarify the value delivered and welcome the clients’ expectations about the value to come, clearly articulated for all to hear.
And the client feedback these forums provide increases your chances of successfully delivering on your delivery engagements. Open communication is the best prevention for surprises. Working issues together in a candid session is what partnership is all about. And the honest dialogue established in these events lays the groundwork for real-time communication between sessions. People who know each other are much more likely to make contact to get something sorted out – a wonderful thing!
But perhaps the real selling magic is that with this laser-like focus on client value, the theme that brings clients back to the table regularly, discussions about value to be delivered in the future invariably lead to new business opportunities for you. It’s serendipity – do the right thing and good will come of it.
So, make a fundamental change in your point of view. It’s not about you and your offerings but about the client and their value. Embed this concept in your major account DNA and not only will you serve and grow your major accounts more effectively but you’ll keep them around a lot longer!
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