National Sales Center

Strategy For Selling Key Accounts

Joe (not his real name) was frustrated. Joe just got promoted and was assigned to selling key accounts. His manager gave him a list of 35 key accounts and told him to penetrate them. Joe was getting nowhere fast.

Joe could not get past layers of gatekeepers. He could not get any appointments. He could not uncover solid information about the key accounts on his list. Things were not looking well for Joe.

I meet with Joe for an hour and gave him some advice. After a month passed, I revisited Joe to see if his situation was improving. Joe was so busy; he hardly had time to meet with me. To say things “improved” is an understatement. Joe is now on his way to having his best year ever in sales. Funny what a little sales training can accomplish!

So, what advice did I give Joe about selling key accounts? I told Joe he needed “inside information” on each of his key accounts. He needed someone that would introduce him to decision makers and someone that could tell him about each decision maker’s hot buttons. How can you fail with a set up like that?

Obviously, the key is to develop a relationship with the “insider”. I had Joe contact a sales rep at each of his key accounts. Joe told those sales reps that he wanted to work with them and share leads. Joe met them at their office and came supplied with a few leads to get things started.

The other reps could see Joe was the real deal and they were anxious to work with him. They also gave Joe a ton of information about their companies and introduced Joe to a number of decision makers.

Salespeople that don’t compete against each other are always anxious to develop new networking contacts. Joe used this opportunity to penetrate his key accounts. He no longer had to be concerned with gatekeepers and all the other roadblocks he was trying to overcome. Joe had “insiders”.

Just a simple sales strategy for selling key accounts,

To your success!

Nick

Tags: sales strategies