Connect to and Win Key Accounts
Barrie Hayes
Overview
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Market place & categorisation.
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Industry players.
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What skills and tools are required.
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How the sector works.
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Opportunity.
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Integra support.
Corporate / Customer hierarchy
Would also be broken into Commercial and Public Sector
£1m+
Strategic Accounts
£250k - £1m
£20k - £100k
Below £20k
Margin GP traditionally
28-40%
National Accounts
Mid Market / Key Accounts
80-500 employees
Small Business – sub 80 employees
Today target values includes OP /Jansan/Catering Breakroom/Print
Many of the
Corporates
would see
£100k - £250k
as Key Accounts
8000+ opportunities in
this area.
What determines categorisation?
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Requirements of the Customer.
Size / Number of Locations.
Number of Employees.
Spend & Potential.
Level of Account Management.
Complexity.
Purchasing behaviour.
Margin achievement /Profitability.
Strategic fit.
Major players in the Key Account sector
£116m
“Staples is reviewing the future of its
European operations, which includes
around 200 stores, and plans to slash
$300m (£226m) of annual costs”.
“UK has lost a lot of its sales people.”
Large in Public sector and Banking
Key Accounts has not really been the
primary focus area.
£260m
“State of disarray after failed merger”
Looking to be sold / broken up in Europe
Cutting costs /people.
Shows what can be achieved by “Independents”
Key USP’s – Largest customer SKY £1m+
They now features on many tenders.
£230m
Key area for them – lack flexibility
Still driven by France.
Operating in the National / Key area
Have struggled with all the changes
of late.
5 key processes
Prospecting
Opportunity
/ Proposal
Planning of
Suspects
/Prospects
Win /
Did
n’t win
Know the
market
Key
Account
Cycle
1. Know the market
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Competition in your area / what do they offer ?
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Understand how the big players work – “Knowledge is power”
• Where are they operating from ?
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What tools do they have with the customer base.
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SWOT of your own organisation.
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How do they operate on deals of this type (e.g. pricing structures).
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Be clear the market / area you are going after.
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Public / Commercial.
Know the
market
2. Planning the suspects /prospects
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Establish the number of opportunities in you area.
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Have a recording tool of information ( Salesforce.com > Simple spreadsheet).
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Be clear about the information you are recording.
- Contacts, No of Employees, timings (if on tender),value of opportunity,
current supplier(s), etc.
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Be clear about your proposition & marketing/ tools available.
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Could be good to operate at the lower end of the scale initially.
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Utilise email / phone and follow up electronic marketing.
Planning of
Suspects
/Prospects
3. Prospecting
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Establish the contact at the right level.
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Understand from the beginning who are the decision makers/influencers.
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You could be investing time over a 6-18 month window.
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Know the questions to ask – (list).
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Utilise all presentation tools at your disposal and be clear about your proposition.
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Use email / phone and follow up electronic marketing to stay in touch.
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Always be well prepared.
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Establish are they time wasting or will seriously change.
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If they are using one of the others – get a hold of the management information.
Prospecting
4. Opportunity /Proposal
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Cross coding to cut time – database. Also pricing tools.
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Understand “The rules of the game.” How will evaluation will take place.
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Pricing tricks of core /non core along with additional price lists
- Know how your competitors work – “seeds of doubt”
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Think about the opportunity to enhance margin once won.
- Using private label, new categories, etc.
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Understand Average order value and more importantly small orders.
e.g. 40% @ £23 or 28% @ £74
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Always answer the proposal in professional way as they request the information.
- Hit the deadlines.
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Have a 80-90% standard proposal document – saves time / looks corporate.
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See the life time of the deal – margin wise and understand the impacts / benefits to your
business.
Opportunity
/ Proposal
4. Opportunity /Proposal (cont.)
Opportunity
/ Proposal
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Don’t commit if you cannot do something.
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Involve others if you know it will help. Use Integra/ Wholesalers/Manufacturers to get better
pricing if important volume items.
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Have the information for your customer and own sales team to manage the account effectively.
– “Management information is Key”
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Above all else ensure you have all information you need to be able to take the right business
decision.
4. Opportunity /Proposal (cont.)
Opportunity
/ Proposal
What pricing benefits can be used and are used?
o Price - Net and price lists.
o Rebates.
o Own brand.
o Saving guarantees.
o Up Front payments for Contract period.
o Improvement rebates – Reduction of small orders/environmental/Electronic.
o Product swaps.
What Service benefits ?
o Service levels.
o Support.
o Delivery – multi drop and own vehicles.
o Environmental.
5. Win / Lose
Win /
Did
n’t win
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If you win – understand why, equally as if you don’t. Learn !
• Its not all about price.
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If there is no contract – try to create one.
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Lock in the customer as you develop what you sell to them and the time spent.
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Create entanglement & loyalty = YOU’RE harder to remove .
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Update your database.
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If you didn't’t win – stay in touch and be professional.
Winning is the easy bit!
Implementation
Customer
Development
Cycle of contract agreement
Retention
Implementation
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Implementation plan (use in your bid).
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Plan enough time.
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Training for customer and staff. Produce documents for users.
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Meet your obligations and promises.
Customer
Development
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Regular review meetings.
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Customer development – New products, price savings, contract improvements,
Management information review.
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Develop margin and profitability opportunities both in product sales and cost of
service.
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Improve your running costs on the account.
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Satisfaction surveys.
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Use as case studies.
Retention
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Retention plan - try to stop the customer going back out to market.
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Contract renewal loyalty bonus.
Example: a £75k contract – 2 years pay 5% = £5k, its less than going to a price
review in the market which could cost 10%.
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Cost of change / time involved.
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If it’s a contract, work on this 6 months before.
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Know the account profitability not just GP%.
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Maximize your relationships.
Retention is a lot less costly than acquisition
Key attributes / strengths of the Independent dealer
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Flexibility.
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Locality / Personable.
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Independent and UK owned.
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Potentially lower cost base.
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Initiative – own brand
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Local delivery and fast response.
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Range – Integra and Wholesale.
Timing is everything !
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Biggest opportunity is currently.
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2 of the majors are in disarray.
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All the elements are there for Independents.
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Profitable sector 30% - 40%.
Key elements to be successful
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Knowledge and understanding.
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Training – Salespeople and Company.
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Solution selling.
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Marketing and support tools for customer and you the dealer.
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Patience and commitment.
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It is achievable and can benefit /seriously change your business.
Integra the partner for Key Accounts
Listening and developing
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Marketing
Tools
Training
Support
Thank you for listening