Once again, the lost account tale from a sales executive came reverberating through my phone: “We lost another one of our best accounts. Honestly, I had no idea we were in trouble”.
What am I supposed to say? Is it my job to console or support the many, quite frankly, lame excuses, only to potentially have my phone ring again with the same story - only the names have changed?
No, it's time to wake up!
Let’s start by doing what many of the Top 25 are doing this morning: check the game films and breakdown where the playbook and execution failed our expectations.
Tools
What tools and processes are you relying on to retain your accounts? While I appreciate the increased adoption of any flavor CRM tool, this methodology is helping you drive new sales activity, but rarely, provides the necessary attributes to manage, retain and grow client relationships. Managing existing clients, even the best clients, is usually left to chance or anything other than a defined process.
Prospects are treated better then customers, simply based on the dollars invested to seek vs. to retain and grow.
Discipline
Are your clients at risk? Sadly, most sales executives struggle with a definitive, fact-based answer. Kind of funny. Think about it. Potentially, seventy-five percent of annual revenue is dependent a retaining current customers. Yet, our disciplines are more heavily weighted on driving new appointment activities. The fact is, both disciplines are essential to sustainability.
Inspection
Whose eyes are on the seventy-five percent? Really, who’s watching the store? I have heard all kinds of break/fix remedies, usually built on a foundation of band aids and rubber bands.
The Butler Street solution, ClientFit® for retaining and growing key accounts.
ClientFit®, is cloud-based software, that provides a comprehensive solution designed to protect and grow the most important accounts with executive visibility, account planning, and client risk management.
At-a-glance executive-level client risk dashboard and reporting
Functionality/Disciplines unique to account management
• Current relationship status
- 3x3 Governance matrix
- Competitive, Cooperative, Collaborative
- Executive changes affecting the relationship
- Loyalty
• Communication patterns
• Timely QBR engagements
• Performance to SLA tracking
• Competitive landscape
Up-to-date initiatives and action plans with daily notifications to keep tasks on track
Visibility and transparency into client risk to drive retention
ClientFit® is the Tool that forces the Discipline and automates Inspection of a key company asset; Customers. More than anything ClientFit® creates the foundation for a client first culture AND you will be amazed at how little investment is required to retain and grow most of your business.
Call us for a demo. We’ll share our experience. Why we built it. How we use it. Why we needed it and, confidently, why you need it, too.