Presented by Peter Browne, Head of Strategy, Gordian Business, Sydney, Australia Competition is becoming more intense, products and services increasingly commoditised and buyers more knowledgeable. At the same time your largest customers want better quality and services at lower prices. As industries consolidate, your largest customers represent a growing proportion of your revenue and profit. So you cannot risk losing your largest accounts. To reduce this critical risk you need a disciplined approach to identify and manage the customers you can't afford to lose. Participants of this webinar will receive a complimentary SEGMENTING ACCOUNTS TOOL which will show you how to manage your most important accounts in four different ways. Peter Browne will show you how to engage with your key customers to enable your company to build barriers to entry against competitors, and retain and grow your most valuable customers.

1. Managing the
customers
you can’t
afford to lose
This webinar will give you insights
and a tool to help you manage the
customers that generate most of
your revenue or most of your profit.

2. Peter Browne is Head of Strategy at Gordian
Business, an international consulting firm focused
on increasing productivity and profitability for global
corporate clients.
• 20 years in leadership roles in Australia and New Zealand
• Experienced in the development and implementation of
transformational strategy
• Sales leadership managing some of the region’s largest and
most complex companies
• Has achieved significant revenue and profit growth by applying
Strategic Account Management practices

3. Poll for Webinar
Please indicate % share of total revenue
from your Top 10 accounts:
0% - 20%
20% - 40%
40% - 60%
> 60%
Don’t know

4. “Why should we
manage a select
number of key
accounts in a
strategic way?”

5. The New Normality
Products & Services
The Playing Field is almost level
Competition
Customers
Intensifying
Your team - Your
Big getting bigger
the Real Source of Firm
Global
Value-Add
Online
Pricing Pressures
Increasingly knowledgeable buyers

6. Strategic Account revenue trends
100%
40%
60%
Large customers % of
70% 80%
90%
total revenues
1970’s 1980’s 1990’s 2000’s Today

7. Revenue distribution profile
100%
% of revenue
0%
20 40 140
Number of customers

8. 2009 US B$ 95.75
2011 US B$ 99.9
No single account represented 10% or more
in revenue in 2008, 2009, 2010 or 2011

9. Agenda for Webinar
• Defining a portfolio of accounts
your company wants to serve
• Developing and implementing
relationship management
strategies

10. Who are
your most
important
accounts?

11. Choose some selection criteria
• Revenue
• Profitability
• Account potential
• Product mix
• Geography
• Prestige value
• Relationships
• Cultural fit between
companies
• Fit with your strategy

12. Strategic Account Matrix 
High
Relational Partnership
R Exceed Relationship value Exceed account Expectations
E
L
A
T
I
O
N Transactional Technical
S Meet account Expectations Exceed Technical value
H
I
P
Low
High
VALUE

13. Account segmentation tool

14. Real Account Intimacy
Cost
Revenue

15. Agenda for Webinar
• Defining a portfolio of accounts
your company wants to serve
• Developing and implementing
relationship management
strategies

16. Managing Accounts in a
Rapidly Changing World
Transactions and Partnerships
Transaction Selling Partnership
1. Selling dominates learning. 1. Learning about the account is
intense and dominates selling.
2. Talking dominates listening.
2. Listening dominates talking.
3. Persuading the account is
product driven and benefits 3. Teaching the account is need
focused. driven and problem focused.
4. The goal is to build buyers 4. The goal is to build
and sales through persuasion, relationships through value,
price, presence and terms. credibility, responsiveness and
trust.

17. Poll for Webinar
Do you have a structured
approach to identify your most
important clients?
Yes
No
Sort of – we do it ad hoc

18. Why are our customer’s in
business?
• To make a profit…
• Why?..
• To get a return on investment…
Unless you are assisting them at
the strategic level to achieve this
outcome you are a commodity

19. Strategic Relationships
“
Too many people think only of their
own profit. But business opportunity
seldom knocks on the door of self-
centered people.
”
No customer ever goes to a store
merely to please the storekeeper.
Kazuo Inamori

20. Strategic Accounts – Questions
are the Answers!
 Do we have a deep relationship with the account?
 Do we know what drives their buying decisions?
 How are we investing to differentiate our value
proposition with them?
 Do we deliver the customer experience we intend to
deliver – consistently? (do we even know?)
 How is the “voice” of the customer heard within our
organisation?
 Do we have a streamlined process to refresh our value
propositions every 3 months with our top clients?

21. Traditional Account
Management Model
Account’s Internal Resources
Account Primary Contact
Your Account Manager
Your Internal Resources
Communications are managed primarily Point-to-Point

22. 21st Century Account
Management Model
Account’s Primary Contact
Account Internal Resources
Your Internal Resources
Your Account Manager
Account’s Primary Contact and Your Account Manager
Facilitate (vs. control) Cross-functional Dialogue

23. 80%
of companies believe they
deliver a superior
customer experience……
but only
8%
of their accounts agree
Bain & Company

24. Value of Relationships
“
Business relationships are becoming
a new form of wealth and
differentiation. Two companies can
have similar products and cost
structures, but the one with strong
”
supplier relationships can lock out
competitors.
Michael Porter

25. Don't measure
yourself by what
you have
accomplished,
but by what you
should have
accomplished
with your ability.
John Wooden

26. Value Disciplines
1. Redefine value with critical clients.
2. Create business processes that
deliver more value.
3. Ensure relationships are strategic
not operational.
4. Raise expectations beyond
competitors’ reach.

27. Common Mistakes
• Using revenue as the only
selection criteria
• Selecting too many accounts to
manage strategically
• Focussing on the short term
• Focussing on your priorities rather
than solving the customers
problems
• Analysis paralysis – trying to
perfect your SAM program before
implementing anything

28. www.gordianbusiness.com.au