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Account Management vs Sales: A Tale of Two Sides of the Coin
Author: Sarah Chen, MBA, CSM (Certified Sales Manager), with 15 years of experience in B2B sales and account management across diverse industries.
Publisher: SalesForce Insights, a leading publication on sales strategies and customer relationship management.
Editor: David Lee, Senior Editor at SalesForce Insights, with 20 years of experience in business journalism and editing.
Keywords: account management vs sales, sales vs account management, account management responsibilities, sales responsibilities, B2B sales, customer relationship management, client retention, revenue generation, sales cycle, account lifecycle
Introduction:
The age-old debate: account management vs sales. While seemingly disparate, these two functions are fundamentally intertwined, both crucial for a company's success. This narrative explores the key differences, highlighting the nuances and synergies between these crucial roles through personal anecdotes and real-world examples. Understanding the distinction between account management vs sales is paramount for any business striving for sustainable growth and customer loyalty.
H1: Understanding the Fundamental Differences: Account Management vs Sales
The core distinction lies in the focus: sales targets acquisition, while account management emphasizes retention and growth. Sales professionals are hunters, actively seeking new business and closing deals. Account managers are farmers, nurturing existing relationships to maximize their value and lifetime customer value (LTV).
H2: The Salesperson's Journey: The Hunt for New Business
My own journey began in sales. I remember the thrill of landing my first major deal – a multi-million dollar contract with a Fortune 500 company. The pressure was immense, the competition fierce. The focus was entirely on closing the deal. This is the essence of sales: identifying prospects, qualifying leads, presenting solutions, overcoming objections, and ultimately securing the signature. The account management vs sales dynamic here is clear: sales focuses on the initial win. This requires a different skillset – strong communication, persuasion, and negotiation skills are paramount. Metrics are focused on conversion rates, deal closure, and revenue generation.
Case Study 1: The Aggressive Sales Push
A colleague, driven solely by sales targets, aggressively pushed a product onto a client that wasn't the ideal fit. While the sale was closed, the subsequent lack of product suitability led to dissatisfaction and ultimately, the loss of the client. This highlights a key aspect of account management vs sales: while sales focuses on immediate gains, account management prioritizes long-term client satisfaction.
H2: The Account Manager's Role: Nurturing Existing Relationships
Later in my career, I transitioned into account management. The shift was profound. Instead of hunting for new clients, I was tasked with nurturing existing relationships. My focus shifted from closing deals to understanding client needs, providing ongoing support, and identifying upsell and cross-sell opportunities. This requires a different skillset – strong relationship-building abilities, proactive problem-solving, and a deep understanding of the client's business. Metrics shift towards client satisfaction, retention rates, and account growth.
Case Study 2: The Proactive Account Manager
One of my accounts, a mid-sized manufacturing firm, was facing challenges with their supply chain. By proactively identifying this issue and offering tailored solutions, I not only prevented the loss of the account but also secured a significant expansion of our services, exceeding initial targets. This demonstrates the power of account management in fostering long-term partnerships and generating recurring revenue. The account management vs sales contrast is evident: a sales-focused approach might have simply focused on maintaining the existing contract, whereas the proactive account management approach resulted in significant growth.
H2: The Synergy Between Account Management and Sales: A Powerful Partnership
While seemingly opposing forces, account management vs sales are interdependent. Sales secures the initial business, laying the groundwork for account management to nurture and expand the relationship. A strong sales team provides a steady stream of new clients for account management to cultivate. Conversely, successful account management provides valuable insights and referrals, feeding the sales pipeline with qualified leads. This collaborative approach ensures sustainable growth and customer loyalty.
H2: Bridging the Gap: Overcoming Silos and Fostering Collaboration
One of the biggest challenges in many organizations is the siloed nature of sales and account management. Lack of communication and data sharing can lead to inefficiencies and lost opportunities. To bridge this gap, companies need to implement robust CRM systems, foster open communication channels, and create shared goals and incentives. This requires a shift in mindset, emphasizing collaboration over competition.
H2: The Future of Account Management vs Sales: The Rise of Customer Success
The lines are blurring further with the emergence of customer success teams. These teams combine elements of both sales and account management, focusing on the overall customer journey and achieving mutual success. They go beyond simply retaining clients to actively driving their success, ensuring their investment in the product or service delivers the desired outcomes. This proactive approach enhances customer loyalty and drives long-term value creation. The evolution points to a shift away from a stark account management vs sales dichotomy towards integrated strategies emphasizing customer-centricity.
Conclusion:
The account management vs sales debate highlights two distinct but complementary functions crucial for business success. While sales focuses on acquiring new customers, account management focuses on nurturing existing relationships, driving retention and growth. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each role, and by fostering collaboration between them, companies can create a powerful engine for sustainable growth, maximizing customer lifetime value and building long-term success.
FAQs:
1. What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) for sales vs. account management? Sales KPIs often focus on revenue generation, deal closure rates, and lead conversion. Account management KPIs focus on client retention, account growth, customer satisfaction, and expansion opportunities.
2. What are the essential skills for a successful salesperson vs. an account manager? Salespeople need strong communication, persuasion, and closing skills. Account managers need strong relationship-building skills, problem-solving abilities, and a deep understanding of client needs.
3. How can companies improve communication and collaboration between sales and account management? Implement robust CRM systems, foster open communication channels, create shared goals, and provide joint training programs.
4. What is the role of technology in bridging the gap between sales and account management? CRM systems, marketing automation tools, and data analytics platforms are crucial for enabling effective collaboration.
5. What are the signs of a successful account management strategy? High client retention rates, increased customer lifetime value, strong customer satisfaction scores, and consistent account growth.
6. How can companies avoid the common pitfalls of siloed sales and account management teams? Foster a culture of collaboration, establish clear communication channels, and set shared goals and incentives.
7. How does the role of customer success fit into the account management vs. sales dynamic? Customer success teams bridge the gap, focusing on the entire customer journey and achieving mutual success.
8. What are some examples of successful strategies for integrating sales and account management? Joint training programs, shared KPIs, and cross-functional team meetings are effective strategies.
9. How does the account management vs. sales dynamic differ in B2B vs. B2C environments? While the core concepts remain relevant, B2B often involves longer sales cycles and more complex relationships, requiring a more sophisticated approach to account management.
Related Articles:
1. The Ultimate Guide to Account-Based Marketing (ABM): Explores how ABM strategies leverage the synergies between sales and account management to target key accounts.
2. Building a High-Performing Account Management Team: Provides practical tips and strategies for building and managing a successful account management team.
3. Mastering the Art of Client Retention: A Comprehensive Guide: Focuses on strategies for improving client retention rates through effective account management.
4. Sales Forecasting Techniques for Accurate Revenue Predictions: Explores sales forecasting methods to improve revenue projections and support strategic planning.
5. The Power of CRM in Sales and Account Management: Discusses how CRM systems enable better collaboration and improve overall performance.
6. Effective Lead Qualification Strategies for Sales Success: Explores techniques for identifying high-quality leads to improve sales conversion rates.
7. Negotiation Tactics for Closing Major Deals: Focuses on negotiation strategies for salespeople to effectively close major contracts.
8. Understanding Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV): A Key Metric for Account Management: Explores the importance of CLTV and how to maximize it through effective account management.
9. Measuring the ROI of Account Management Programs: Explores methods for evaluating the effectiveness of account management programs and demonstrating their value to the organization.
| account management vs sales: Insight Selling Mike Schultz, John E. Doerr, 2014-05-05 What do winners of major sales do differently than the sellers who almost won, but ultimately came in second place? Mike Schultz and John Doerr, bestselling authors and world-renowned sales experts, set out to find the answer. They studied more than 700 business-to-business purchases made by buyers who represented a total of $3.1 billion in annual purchasing power. When they compared the winners to the second-place finishers, they found surprising results. Not only do sales winners sell differently, they sell radically differently, than the second-place finishers. In recent years, buyers have increasingly seen products and services as replaceable. You might think this would mean that the sale goes to the lowest bidder. Not true! A new breed of seller—the insight seller—is winning the sale with strong prices and margins even in the face of increasing competition and commoditization. In Insight Selling, Schultz and Doerr share the surprising results of their research on what sales winners do differently, and outline exactly what you need to do to transform yourself and your team into insight sellers. They introduce a simple three-level model based on what buyers say tip the scales in favor of the winners: Level 1 Connect. Winners connect the dots between customer needs and company solutions, while also connecting with buyers as people. Level 2 Convince. Winners convince buyers that they can achieve maximum return, that the risks are acceptable, and that the seller is the best choice among all options. Level 3 Collaborate. Winners collaborate with buyers by bringing new ideas to the table, delivering new ideas and insights, and working with buyers as a team. They also found that much of the popular and current advice given to sellers can damage sales results. Insight Selling is both a strategic and tactical guide that will separate the good advice from the bad, and teach you how to put the three levels of selling to work to inspire buyers, influence their agendas, and maximize value. If you want to find yourself and your team in the winner's circle more often, this book is a must-read. |
| account management vs sales: INKED Jeb Blount, 2020-01-15 Learn powerful closing and sales negotiation tactics that unlock yes and seal the deal. Each year, sales professionals leave billions of dollars on the table because they are out gunned, out maneuvered, and out played by savvy buyers, who have been schooled in the art and science of negotiation. Because today’s buyers have more power than ever before—more information, more at stake, and more control over the buying process—they almost always enter sales negotiations in a much stronger position than the salespeople on the other side of the table. The results are sadly predictable: salespeople and their companies end up on the losing end of the deal. In this brutal paradigm, if you fail to master the skills, strategies, and tactics to go toe-to-toe with modern buyers and win at the sales negotiation table, your income and long-term earning potential will suffer—along with your company’s growth, profits, and market valuation. In his new book INKED: The Ultimate Guide to Powerful Closing and Sales Negotiation Tactics that Unlock YES and Seal the Deal, Jeb Blount levels the playing field by giving you the strategies, tactics, techniques, skills, and human-influence frameworks required to become a powerful and effective sales negotiator. In his signature, straightforward style, Jeb pulls no punches. He slaps you right in the face with the cold, hard truth and lays bare the reasons why you keep getting beaten by buyers who have been trained in how to play you. Then, he teaches you exactly what you need to know, do, and say to gain more control and more power over the outcomes of your deals, and WIN. You’ll learn: Seven Immutable Rules of Sales Negotiation Why “Win-Win” Usually Means “You-Lose” The One Rule of Sales Negotiation You Must Never Break How to Leverage the Powerful MLP Strategy to Bend Win Probability in Your Favor The ACED Buyer Persona Model and How to Flex to Buyer Communication Styles Seven Principles of Effective Sales Negotiation Communication How to Leverage the DEAL Sales Negotiation Framework to Control the Negotiation Conversation and Get Ink How to Gain the Advantage with Comprehensive Sales Negotiation Planning Strategies and Tools Powerful Negotiation Psychology and Influence Frameworks that Keep You in Control of the Conversation How to Rise Above the Seven Disruptive Emotions that are Holding You Back at the Sales Negotiation Table How to Protect Yourself from the Psychological Games that Buyers Play With these powerful tactics in your sales arsenal, you will approach sales negotiations with the confidence and power to take control of the conversation and get the prices, terms, and conditions that you deserve. INKED is the most comprehensive Sales Negotiation resource ever developed for the sales profession. Unlike so many other negotiating books that ignore the reality sellers face in the rapid-fire, real world of the sales profession, INKED is a sales-specific negotiation primer. You’ll learn directly from one of the most sought-after and celebrated sales trainers of our generation. Following in the footsteps of his blockbuster bestsellers Fanatical Prospecting, Sales EQ, and Objections, Jeb Blount's INKED puts the same strategies employed by his clients—a who’s who of the world’s most prestigious organizations—right into your hands. |
| account management vs sales: Critical Selling Nick Kane, Justin Zappulla, 2015-10-19 Master these top-performing sales skills to dominate the marketplace Critical Selling is a dynamic and powerful guide for transforming your sales approach and outperforming your competition. This book is based on Janek Performance Group's, an award winning sales performance company, most popular sales training program, Critical Selling®. Let authors Justin Zappulla and Nick Kane, Managing Partners at Janek, lead you through their flagship sales training methodology to provide you with the strategies, skills and best practices you need to accelerate the sales process and close more deals. From the initial contact to closing the deal, this book details the winning strategies and skills that have supercharged the sales force of program alumni like OptumHealth, Santander Bank, Daimler Trucks, California Casualty, and many more. Concrete, actionable steps show you how to plan a productive sales call, identify customer needs, differentiate yourself from the competition, and wrap up the sale. You'll also learn proven techniques for building rapport, overcoming objections, dealing with price pressures, and handling the million little things that can derail an otherwise positive sales interaction. Sales are the lifeblood of your company. Are they meeting your expectations? What if you could exceed projected sales figures and blow your competition out of the water? This book provides the research-based framework to ignite your sales team and excite your customer base, for sustainable success in today's market. Let Critical Selling® show you how to: Connect with customers on a deeper level to build trust Present a persuasive and value-based solution tailored to your customer’s needs Handle pricing pressure, doubt, and objections with confidence Utilize proven methodologies that help you close the sale Sales is about so much more than exchanging goods or services for cash. It's about relationships, it's about outperforming the competition, it's about demonstrating real value, and it's about understanding and solving people's problems. Critical Selling shows you how to bring it all together, using proven techniques based on real sales performance research. |
| account management vs sales: Cracking the Sales Management Code: The Secrets to Measuring and Managing Sales Performance Jason Jordan, Michelle Vazzana, 2011-10-14 Boost sales results by zeroing in on the metrics that matter most “Sales may be an art, but sales management is a science. Cracking the Sales Management Code reveals that science and gives practical steps to identify the metrics you must measure to manage toward success.” —Arthur Dorfman, National Vice President, SAP “Cracking the Sales Management Code is a must-read for anyone who wants to bring his or her sales management team into the 21st century.” —Mike Nathe, Senior Vice President, Essilor Laboratories of America “The authors correctly assert that the proliferation of management reporting has created a false sense of control for sales executives. Real control is derived from clear direction to the field—and this book tells how do to that in an easy-to-understand, actionable manner.” —Michael R. Jenkins, Signature Client Vice President, AT&T Global Enterprise Solutions “There are things that can be managed in a sales force, and there are things that cannot. Too often sales management doesn’t see the difference. This book is invaluable because it reveals the manageable activities that actually drive sales results.” —John Davis, Vice President, St. Jude Medical “Cracking the Sales Management Code is one of the most important resources available on effective sales management. . . . It should be required reading for every sales leader.” —Bob Kelly, Chairman, The Sales Management Association “A must-read for managers who want to have a greater impact on sales force performance.” —James Lattin, Robert A. Magowan Professor of Marketing, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University “This book offers a solution to close the gap between sales processes and business results. It shows a new way to think critically about the strategies and tactics necessary to move a sales team from good to great!” —Anita Abjornson, Sales Management Effectiveness, Abbott Laboratories About the Book: There are literally thousands of books on selling, coaching, and leadership, but what about the particulars of managing a sales force? Where are the frameworks, metrics, and best practices to help you succeed? Based on extensive research into how world-class companies measure and manage their sales forces, Cracking the Sales Management Code is the first operating manual for sales management. In it you will discover: The five critical processes that drive sales performance How to choose the right processes for your own team The three levels of sales metrics you must collect Which metrics you can “manage” and which ones you can’t How to prioritize conflicting sales objectives How to align seller activities with business results How to use CRM to improve the impact of coaching As Neil Rackham writes in the foreword: “There’s an acute shortage of good books on the specifics of sales management. Cracking the Sales Management Code is about the practical specifics of sales management in the new era, and it fills a void.” Cracking the Sales Management Code fills that void by providing foundational knowledge about how the sales force works. It reveals the gears and levers that actually control sales results. It adds clarity to things that you intuitively know and provides insight into things that you don’t. It will change the way you manage your sellers from day to day, as well as the results you get from year to year. |
| account management vs sales: Key Account Management in Business-to-Business Markets Stefan Wengler, 2007-11-06 Stefan Wengler provides a well founded answer to the question of the economic value and shows the need for the implementation of key account management. He presents a comprehensive, but easy-to-handle decision-making model that supports the decision on the most efficient key account management organization for individual companies. In addition, he gives a comprehensive overview on the key account management conception and its controlling tools. |
| account management vs sales: Implementing Key Account Management Javier Marcos, Mark Davies, Rodrigo Guesalaga, Sue Holt, 2018-08-03 Implementing Key Account Management is a highly practical handbook that guides readers through the realities of rolling out a functional key account management programme. The book offers an integrated framework for key account management (KAM) that businesses can use to design or further develop strategic customer management programmes, enabling them to overcome the obstacles that organizations often face when rolling out their strategies. Bringing together the experiences of leading experts within this field, Implementing Key Account Management draws on two decades of research and best practice from Cranfield University School of Management, one of the foremost centres for researcher and thought leadership in KAM. Between them, the authors have designed and delivered programmes globally for clients such as Rolls-Royce, Unilever, Vodafone, The Economist and many more. Rigorously researched, well-grounded and practical, this book is - quite simply - the definitive, go-to resource for implementing key account management programmes. |
| account management vs sales: SPIN® -Selling Neil Rackham, 2020-04-28 True or false? In selling high-value products or services: 'closing' increases your chance of success; it is essential to describe the benefits of your product or service to the customer; objection handling is an important skill; open questions are more effective than closed questions. All false, says this provocative book. Neil Rackham and his team studied more than 35,000 sales calls made by 10,000 sales people in 23 countries over 12 years. Their findings revealed that many of the methods developed for selling low-value goods just don‘t work for major sales. Rackham went on to introduce his SPIN-Selling method. SPIN describes the whole selling process: Situation questions Problem questions Implication questions Need-payoff questions SPIN-Selling provides you with a set of simple and practical techniques which have been tried in many of today‘s leading companies with dramatic improvements to their sales performance. |
| account management vs sales: Key Account Plans Lynette Ryals, Malcolm McDonald, 2010-05-14 To manage key accounts profitably you need strategic planning that works. This book is the definitive guide to achieving this based on the unmatched practical and research experience of Ryals and McDonald. Key Account Management is proven to deliver substantial benefits to the bottom line. Best practice companies know that real results from managing powerful customers are not achieved through short-term cost cutting. Instead, as the best companies understand, it depends on fostering carefully developed and profitably managed relationships with an equally carefully selected group of key accounts. This is a genuinely strategic activity that goes well beyond sales management and the simplistic use of budgets to generate targets. It is about the behaviours and practices that make predictable, profitable and sustainable Key Account Management possible. To achieve this the book is constructed to deliver- * Clear descriptions of the various techniques and the reason for their importance * A hugely powerful step by step approach to using the key techniques to build strategic skills * Templates for building real plans * Cases, examples and vignettes to show best real world practice Based on wide application in the business world, and the world class research at Cranfield Management School this book will be an essential introduction to the principles and reality of Strategic Key Account Planning. For senior managers, key account managers at all levels as well as those on executive and MBA courses it will be an essential guide and text. |
| account management vs sales: Key Account Management Diana Woodburn, Malcolm McDonald, 2012-11-13 This book is crammed with distilled, practical wisdom for key account managers and their directors. Organizations claiming to practise key account management should equip everyone involved with a copy, so they really understand what they are supposed to be doing. Anything less is just old-fashioned selling. Developing successful business-to-business relationships with more customers in highly competitive markets requires processes and skills that go beyond traditional selling activity. The very best state-of-the-art strategies are set out clearly in this book by intentionally known authors who have worked at the highest levels with more key and strategic account managers worldwide than probably any other leading advisors. Based on the hugely influential KEY CUSTOMERS it looks at: Why has account management become so critical to commercial success? What are the key challenges and how do successful companies respond? What part does key account management play in strategic planning? How do companies build profitable relationships with their customers? How does key account management actually work? What does a successful key account manager look like and what skills does he/she need? How should key account managers be evaluated and rewarded? How do companies achieve key account management? By addressing these key questions Woodburn and McDonald provide tools and processes for success honed by tough consultancy projects with the boards of some of the world's leading companies. The book stresses the elements that really matter - from developing a customer categorization system that really works and analyzing the needs of key accounts; to understanding the new skills required by key account managers and ensuring that key account plans are implemented. The 'real world' approach is backed by tested principles and the latest research from the renowned Cranfield School of Management. Key Account Management comes from authors who have taught leading companies how to approach their most powerful and demanding customers and still make money. It is essential reading for all senior management with strategic responsibility, for key or strategic account directors, and for marketing and sales executives. The clear and authoritative approach also makes it an outstanding text for the serious MBA and executive student as well as business-to-business company directors and key account managers. |
| account management vs sales: Virtual Selling: How to Build Relationships, Differentiate, and Win Sales Remotely Mike Schultz, Dave Shaby, Andy Springer, 2020-07-17 |
| account management vs sales: The Challenger Sale Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson, 2013 Shares the secret to sales success: don't just build relationships with customers. This title argues that classic relationship-building is the wrong approach. |
| account management vs sales: Key Account Management and Planning Noel Capon, 2002-06-15 The vastly increased level of competitive intensity faced by corporations and the increased costs of selling have radically changed the nature of the traditional selling process. Key or strategic accounts have now become a company's most important asset, in some cases supplying in excess of 80 percent of a firm's revenues. Here, in one powerful volume, key account management expert Noel Capon provides the most comprehensive treatment of key account management and planning yet published. For the first time, Capon introduces his breakthrough four-part congruence model of key account management -- a new, thoroughly researched approach to optimally managing your key account portfolio. First, the author shows how to select and conceptualize the key account portfolio; second, how to organize and manage key accounts; third, how to recruit, select, train, retain, and reward key account managers; and fourth, how to formulate and execute strategy and issues of coordination and control. This congruence model serves as a backdrop as Capon takes the reader step-by-step through the vital functions of key account management including identifying key account criteria, considering the threats and opportunities for the key account, and understanding the roles and responsibilities of critical players. Capon backs up his points with extensive research, real-life stories of successes and failures at a variety of companies, and clarifying figures. Special chapters are devoted to partnering with key accounts and in-depth information on global key account management, an increasingly important weapon for staying ahead of the competition. Timely, important, and essential, Key Account Management and Planning is the only reference handbook those with key account responsibilities will ever need. |
| account management vs sales: Customer Success Nick Mehta, Dan Steinman, Lincoln Murphy, 2016-02-29 Your business success is now forever linked to the success of your customers Customer Success is the groundbreaking guide to the exciting new model of customer management. Business relationships are fundamentally changing. In the world B.C. (Before Cloud), companies could focus totally on sales and marketing because customers were often 'stuck' after purchasing. Therefore, all of the 'post-sale' experience was a cost center in most companies. In the world A.B. (After Benioff), with granular per-year, per-month or per-use pricing models, cloud deployments and many competitive options, customers now have the power. As such, B2B vendors must deliver success for their clients to achieve success for their own businesses. Customer success teams are being created in companies to quarterback the customer lifecycle and drive adoption, renewals, up-sell and advocacy. The Customer Success philosophy is invading the boardroom and impacting the way CEOs think about their business. Today, Customer Success is the hottest B2B movement since the advent of the subscription business model, and this book is the one-of-a-kind guide that shows you how to make it work in your company. From the initial planning stages through execution, you'll have expert guidance to help you: Understand the context that led to the start of the Customer Success movement Build a Customer Success strategy proven by the most competitive companies in the world Implement an action plan for structuring the Customer Success organization, tiering your customers, and developing the right cross-functional playbooks Customers want products that help them achieve their own business outcomes. By enabling your customers to realize value in your products, you're protecting recurring revenue and creating a customer for life. Customer Success shows you how to kick start your customer-centric revolution, and make it stick for the long term. |
| account management vs sales: Key Account Management Peter Cheverton, 2004 With a free CD ROM containing key account selection software and planning tools. Any organization's key accounts are its lifeblood. This highly practical book puts forward a unique yet simple planning methodology for identifying, obtaining, retaining and developing key customers. Completely updated and revised with lots of new material to reflect the latest best practice, this edition will reinforce its standing as the premier book on the subject. This is one of very few books to take the long-term, team-selling strategic view of Key Account Management (KAM). Apart from finding great resonance with business practitioners all over the world, Key Account Management has established itself on many academic reading lists. Translated into five languages, it was also short-listed for Business Book of the Year in Sweden (2002). This new edition features: lots of new case studies; several new chapters; significant updates on Selecting Key Customers, Key Account plans and the use of IT; a new and updated CD ROM containing the Insight key account selection software and planning tools. |
| account management vs sales: The Seven Keys to Managing Strategic Accounts Sallie Sherman, Joseph Sperry, Samuel Reese, 2003-04-29 Market-proven strategies to generate competitive advantage by identifying and always taking care of your best customers The Seven Keys to Managing Strategic Accounts provides decision makers with a proactive program for profitably managing their largest, most critical customers--their strategic accounts. Drawing on the expertise of S4 Consulting, Inc., a leading-edge provider of strategic account consulting, and Miller Heiman, a global sales training leader serving many Fortune 500companies, this how-to book shows how many of today's market leaders have learned to focus on their most profitable customers, avoiding or overcoming common errors before they become relationship-crippling disasters. Placing its total focus on the design and implementation of cost-effective strategic account management programs, this hands on book provides: A world-class competency model for strategic account managers Techniques for developing a program to manage and grow co-destiny relationships Examples and cases from Honeywell, 3M,and other leading corporations |
| account management vs sales: Sales and Key Account Management Jim Blythe, 2004 This new core text focuses on all branches of selling and sales management, from personal selling through to key account management. It focuses on business-to-business selling as well as the sale of consumer products. It also includes a wealth of real examples used throughout the text and four major case studies at the end of each part. Case material is drawn from a range of diverse industries, both MNEs and SMEs--software corporations, major construction projects, cosmetics, small engineering companies and the B2C selling of home improvements and brown goods. This new core text focuses on all branches of selling and sales management, from personal selling through to key account management. It focuses on business-to-business selling as well as the sale of consumer products. It also includes a wealth of real examples used throughout the text and four major case studies at the end of each part. Case material is drawn from a range of diverse industries, both MNEs and SMEs--software corporations, major construction projects, cosmetics, small engineering companies and the B2C selling of home improvements and brown goods. |
| account management vs sales: Major Account Sales Strategy (PB) Neil Rackham, 1989-01-22 An Arsenal of Shrewd Tactics and Winning Strategies to Make You a Major Account Sales Success Knowing how to get to the decision maker, deal with the competition, understand buyer psychology, and service the client--these are the keys to success when you need to nail down major accounts. Now, for the first time, here's a book of practical, proven-effective strategies and tactics for the entire major account sales cycle. Based on Neil Rackham's exhaustive research, the strategies you'll find here will enable you to . . . Tailor your selling strategy to match each step in the client's decision-making process. Ensure that you won't lose your customers because you'll know the psychology of the buyer and how to respond to their doubts. Gain entry to accounts through many different windows of opportunity. Deal with competitive situations, take on bigger competitors, and win using strategies that the author's meticulous research shows are employed by the most successful salespeople. Handle negotiations, concessions on price, and term agreements skillfully and effectively. Offer the ongoing technical and maintenance support that keeps your major accounts yours. From a world-renowned sales innovator, this first-of-a-kind A-to-Z presentation of major account strategy puts sales success in your hands. Make it yours today. Read Major Account Sales Strategy. |
| account management vs sales: Playing Bigger Than You Are William T. Brooks, William P. G. Brooks, 2009-10-02 The small or mid-sized business' guide to outselling the big boys Often, small or mid-sized businesses don't think they have the resources or the talent to compete with the larger competitors in their industry. But just because they don't have the advertising budgets or purchasing power of their bigger counterparts doesn't mean they can't play ball. For sales organizations, service matters much more than size. If your sales business is competing with much bigger fish, the odds are stacked against you. Pressured and powerless, frustrated and overwhelmed, you might be tempted to give up. But smaller businesses often find advantages over their bigger competitors. • Includes proven tactics to help small businesses tackle bigger competitors • Author William T. Brooks is also the author of The New Science of Selling and Persuasion and How to Sell at Higher Margins Than Your Competitors • Shows you how to steal market share from bigger vendors with bigger resources Just because your business can't flood the market with salespeople or contend on economy of scale and purchasing power, that doesn't mean you can't compete. The secret is Playing Bigger Than You Are. |
| account management vs sales: Sales Management Earl D. Honeycutt, John B. Ford, Antonis C. Simintiras, 2003 Designed to prepare upper-level undergraduate and graduate business students for work in the exciting field of global sales management, this text focuses upon the managerial and cross-cultural aspects necessary for leading the global sales force. |
| account management vs sales: Fundamentals of Sales Management for the Newly Appointed Sales Manager Matthew Schwartz, 2006-02-24 This invaluable resource helps you understand what it takes to be a great sales manager, allowing you to avoid many of the common first-time sales management mistakes, and be successful right out of the gate. Making the leap into sales management means meeting a whole new set of challenges. As a manager, you’re going to have to quickly develop the skills that allow you to build and supervise a sales team, communicate effectively, set goals, be a mentor, and much, much more. Now that you’ve been handed these unfamiliar responsibilities, you’re going to have to think on your feet -- or face the possibility of not living up to expectations. Dispensing with dry theory, Fundamentals of Sales Management for the Newly Appointed Sales Manager helps you understand your new role in the organization, and how to thrive simultaneously as both a member of the management team and as a team leader. You’ll learn how to: Make a smooth transition into management Build a superior, high-functioning sales team Set objectives and plan performance Delegate responsibilities Recruit new employees Improve productivity and effectiveness This book supplies you with indispensable, need-to-know information on communicating with your team, your bosses, your peers, and your customers; developing a sales plan and understanding the relationship between corporate, department, and individual plans; applying crucial time management skills to your new role; managing a sales territory; interviewing and hiring the right people; building a motivational environment; compensating your people; and understanding the difference between training, coaching, and counseling?and knowing how to excel at each. |
| account management vs sales: Integrated Sales Process Management Michael W. Lodato Ph. D., Michael W. Lodato, 2006 Selling is getting more and more complex, yet few companies are implementing formal sales processes that would bring the degree of management control that is needed. Too many managers have no reliable way to measure the performance of sales people other than by orders produced and bulging 30-60-90 day forecasts with little or no backup. There is pressure to adopt sales automation, but there isn't much evidence of its improving sales effectiveness. The decision is not a simple one, successful implementation is even harder. If you want to improve your competitiveness you may need to change the behavior of your salespeople by focusing on the processes that run the business. You can’t change the behavior without changing the processes and inspecting that they are being followed. The book guides the reader to building an integrated system of sales and marketing management processes. But this itself will not bring the desired level of effectiveness. You must also manage the interaction among the management processes and in so doing seamlessly integrate the product marketing strategy, the sales and marketing tactics, and the sales and marketing management processes. This is neither a text book nor a book on sales management theory. It is a step-by-step, here’s-how-to-do-it, guide to achieving integrated sales process management. It evolved to its current state, not as an academic activity but from years of empirical evidence of what works and what doesn’t. In a global business environment where everyone is working hard to achieve a unique edge, understanding and improving your management processes faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage. This book introduces Integrated Sales Process Management to people who are, or aspire to be, marketing and sales executives and provides them with a direction to achieving the concepts in their own organizations. The central theme in the book is that if you want to solve sales effectiveness problems permanently, or prevent them from occurring, you must become more management process driven. |
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| account management vs sales: Organizational Physics - The Science of Growing a Business Lex Sisney, 2013-03-01 There are hidden laws at work in every aspect of your business. Understand them, and you can create extraordinary growth. Ignore them, and you run the risk of becoming another statistic. It's become almost cliche: 8 out of every 10 new ventures fail. Of the ones that succeed, how many truly thrive-for the long run? And of those that thrive, how many continually overcome their growth hurdles ... and ultimately scale, with meaning, purpose, and profitability? The answer, sadly, is not many. Author Lex Sisney is on a mission to change that picture. After more than a decade spent leading and coaching high-growth technology companies, Lex discovered that the companies that thrive do so in accordance with 6 Laws - universal principles that govern the success or failure of every individual, team, and organization. |
| account management vs sales: The Psychology of Selling Brian Tracy, 2006-06-20 Double and triple your sales--in any market. The purpose of this book is to give you a series of ideas, methods, strategies, and techniques that you can use immediately to make more sales, faster and easier than ever before. It's a promise of prosperity that sales guru Brian Tracy has seen fulfilled again and again. More sales people have become millionaires as a result of listening to and applying his ideas than from any other sales training process ever developed. |
| account management vs sales: Managing (right) for the First Time David C. Baker, 2010 Managing (Right) for the First Time is intended as a field guide for first time managers, or for managers who want to begin doing a better job. The author worked closely with 600+ companies and interviewed more than 10,000 employees, then summarized the findings in an interesting and eminently readable form. Read this book and you're likely to understand management and leadership like you never have before, but also learn very practical steps toward becoming a better manager and leader. |
| account management vs sales: Exchange Behavior in Selling and Sales Management Peng Sheng, Aziz Guergachi, 2008-01-28 Exchange Behavior in Selling and Sales Management presents a pragmatic and easy-to-implement framework for the successful operation of selling and sales management. Focused specifically on the value-exchange behavior of buyers and sellers, the book is composed of eight fundamental building blocks, which provide: * A revolutionary framework to describe the dynamics of consumer and organizational buying processes * A scientific, analytical approach to the personal elements in selling * A much needed insight into the personal interactions between buyers and sellers, both the implicit and explicit * A new and unique structure which integrates psychographic data mining and modeling techniques in a sales context, for the first time Exchange Behavior in Selling and Sales Management reflects selling and sales management practices within the field, based upon the extensive experience of the authors and other contributors. It is essential reading for advanced students, practitioners and researchers in sales and marketing. |
| account management vs sales: Selling and Sales Management David Jobber, Geoffrey Lancaster, 2006 A classic text providing thorough and sophisticated treatment of selling and sales management, with an emphasis on the international market. |
| account management vs sales: Managing Global Customers George S. Yip, Audrey J. M. Bink, 2007-09-06 Multinational companies need to manage their relationships with multinational customers with a globally integrated approach. This book provides a systematic framework for developing and implementing such global customer management programs. It draws on in-depth research at over 20 major U.S. and European multinational companies, such as ABB, Bechtel, BP, Bosch, British Airways, Carrefour, Daimler-Chrysler, Hewlett-Packard, HSBC, IBM, Schlumberger, Shell, Siemens, Tesco, Unilever, Vodafone, Wal-Mart, and Xerox. Readers will learn how to · think about managing global customers in the context of their overall global strategy · develop effective global customer management programs · overcome barriers to implementation and success · build better relationships with important customers · get the entire company to engage with managing global customers This book takes a strategic, total business, and not just sales approach to managing global customers. It also takes a customer as well as a supplier perspective. The book provides guidance on both strategy and implementation. Yip and Bink's Managing Global Customers takes a systematic and logic driven approach, yet provides many creative insights and practical advice. Managing Global Customers highlights the rewards of taking a step beyond global account management to create a Global Customer Management approach, integrating globally all aspects of the relationship between supplier and customer. The book gives a framework that guides international companies in using their relationships with global customers to their full potential. George Yip, author of the widely-praised Total Global Strategy, and Audrey Bink tackle in-depth one of the most important aspects of global strategy: How to manage global customers. |
| account management vs sales: ADKAR Jeff Hiatt, 2006 In his first complete text on the ADKAR model, Jeff Hiatt explains the origin of the model and explores what drives each building block of ADKAR. Learn how to build awareness, create desire, develop knowledge, foster ability and reinforce changes in your organization. The ADKAR Model is changing how we think about managing the people side of change, and provides a powerful foundation to help you succeed at change. |
| account management vs sales: Marketing Management Michael R. Czinkota, Masaaki Kotabe, Demetris Vrontis, S. M. Riad Shams, 2021-08-24 This textbook provides students with comprehensive insights on the classical and contemporary marketing theories and their practical implications. A fourth, revised edition of Marketing Management, the text features new classical and contemporary cases, new interdisciplinary and cross-functional implications of business management theories, contemporary marketing management principles and. futuristic application of marketing management theories and concepts. The core and complex issues are presented in a simplified manner providing students with a stimulating learning experience that enables critical thinking, understanding and future application. Each chapter features a chapter summary, key terms, review and discussion questions and a practice quiz. Throughout the text there are also specific teaching features to provide students and instructors with an enhanced pedagogical experience. These features include: The Manager’s Corner: These sections provide real-world examples that instructors may highlight to exemplify theory or as mini-cases for discussion. Marketing in Action: These sections ask students to apply concepts and theories to actual business situations. Web Exercises: These mini sections provide students with real world issues and suggest websites for more information. In addition, the authors provide ancillary lecture notes and Solution/Instructors manual online to aid instructors in their teaching activities. |
| account management vs sales: Beyond the Sales Process Steve Andersen, Dave Stein, 2016-04-04 If you want to gain the winning edge for your sales performance, it’s time to embrace the entire customer life cycle. Your job may be all about sales, but not your customers. Did you know that the average executive spends less than 5 percent of their time engaged in the buying of products and services? Therefore, sales professionals who focus solely on the moment of the sale have made a fatal miscalculation in understanding their customers. Beyond the Sales Process provides you with a proven methodology for driving success before, during, and after every sale. Featuring instructional case studies from companies such as Hilton Worldwide, Merck, and Siemens, this resource reveals 12 essential strategies for salespeople wanting to take their performance to a whole new level, including: Research your customer Build a vision with them for their own success Understand your customer’s drivers, objectives, and challenges Create and realize value together Leverage your results to forge lasting--and mutually beneficial—relationships If you want to successfully sell to your customers, you need to know your customers…beyond the sales process! |
| account management vs sales: Selling & Sales Management Lisa Spiller, 2021-09-01 Packed with engaging examples and case studies from companies including Amazon, IBM, and Pepsi, as well as unique insights from sales professionals across the globe, this comprehensive textbook balances research, theory, and practice to guide students through the art and science of selling in a fast-changing and digital age. The text highlights the emerging role of storytelling, sales analytics and automation in a highly competitive and technological world, and includes exercises and role plays for students to practice as they learn about each stage of the selling process. As well as its focus on selling, the text also provides students with essential sales management skills such as onboarding, coaching, mentoring, and leading salespeople, as well as managing sales pipelines, territories, budgets, systems, and teams when not in the field. Online resources are included to help instructors teaching with the textbook, including PowerPoint slides and a testbank. Chapter overviews and teaching notes for the roleplays included in the text and suggested course projects and worksheets are also provided for instructors. Suitable for courses on selling and sales management at all college and university levels. |
| account management vs sales: Selling to Zebras Jeff Koser, Chad Koser, 2008-10 Even the most competitive companies only close about 15 percent of the deals in their sales pipelines. That means that salespeople spend time with prospects who, 85 percent of the time, aren't going to buy. Wouldn't those salespeople rather spend more time pursuing prospects they knew they could close? Or spend time with their prospects where it matters most at an executive level? Readers who are ready for exceptional results for themselves and their companies need Selling to Zebras. The Zebra way can help salespeople identify the perfect prospects for their companies--their Zebras--and develop a sales process that will help them close deals 90 percent of the time. The Zebra method of selling will: Increase close rates; Shorten sales cycles; Increase average deal size; Reduce discounting and increase margins; Make better use of scarce resources; Make customers happy, creating a stable of great references. Jeff and Chad Koser don't just offer theories and concepts. They give readers specific tools, models, and spreadsheets they can customise to make the Zebra way the best way for their companies to do business. |
| account management vs sales: Creating the Strategy Rennie Gould, 2012-08-03 Creating the Strategy is a practical guide that brings together the most important elements of business strategy, B2B marketing theory and sales management. Aimed at those wanting to structure their organizations around the winning and keeping of customers in B2B markets, the book introduces a number of unique and powerful methodologies proven in workshops conducted with clients such as Mercedes-Benz and AXA Insurance. It is structured around the Sales & Business Performance Value Chain, a unique and integrated process that builds awareness and understanding of all factors impacting on sales and business performance, providing an important diagnostic tool. Whether you are working for a large organisation or a small company, Creating the Strategy will help you recognise and implement the key elements responsible for creating outstanding sales and business performance in B2B markets. |
| account management vs sales: Sandler Enterprise Selling (PB) David H. Mattson, Brian W. Sullivan, 2016-04-15 The comprehensive 6-stage selling program from Sandler Training-- Top 20 Sales Training Company by Selling Power Magazine Competitively pursuing large, complex accounts is perhaps the greatest challenge for selling teams. To keep treasured clients and gain new ones, you need a system to win business with profitable enterprise clients, serve them effectively and grow the relationships over time. You start with Sandler Enterprise Selling. The only enterprise selling system based on the proprietary Sandler Selling System methodology created by David H. Sandler This practical, step-by-step book is designed specifically for selling teams committed to high achievement in the enterprise environment. The program’s powerful six stages will guide you to: 1. Set a baseline for success for each territory and account 2. Identify opportunities with the highest probability of success 3. Engage with buyers to qualify enterprise opportunities 4. Craft solutions that directly address your client’s needs 5. Propose your solution and achieve advancement 6. Serve and satisfy your client, earning the right to grow the business Each of the stages represents a key piece of the puzzle in the proactive, team-oriented Sandler Enterprise Selling (SES) process. With the proven training techniques in this book, you’ll be able to use SES to win, grow and serve enterprise clients. You’ll learn how to master 13 selling tools integral to your SES success—like the KARE Account Planning Tool, Growth Account Booster Tool, LinkedIn Levers Tool, and Client-Centric Satisfaction Tool. You’ll discover practical solutions to the vastly complex challenges in enterprise organizations - extended sales cycles, wide buyer networks, or significant investments in pursuits. Overcoming these unique challenges presents great opportunities for selling teams. Sandler Enterprise Selling provides the framework needed to succeed in the enterprise arena, winning, growing and keeping major accounts. Note: These are the same training principles that are taught to tens of thousands of sales executives and managers every year at more than 200 Sandler Training companies around the world. If you want to stay competitive in the enterprise selling arena, you need to train, study, and read Sandler Enterprise Selling. |
| account management vs sales: Fanatical Prospecting Jeb Blount, 2015-10-05 Ditch the failed sales tactics, fill your pipeline, and crush your number With over 500,000 copies sold Fanatical Prospecting gives salespeople, sales leaders, entrepreneurs, and executives a practical, eye-opening guide that clearly explains the why and how behind the most important activity in sales and business development—prospecting. The brutal fact is the number one reason for failure in sales is an empty pipe and the root cause of an empty pipeline is the failure to consistently prospect. By ignoring the muscle of prospecting, many otherwise competent salespeople and sales organizations consistently underperform. Step by step, Jeb Blount outlines his innovative approach to prospecting that works for real people, in the real world, with real prospects. Learn how to keep the pipeline full of qualified opportunities and avoid debilitating sales slumps by leveraging a balanced prospecting methodology across multiple prospecting channels. This book reveals the secrets, techniques, and tips of top earners. You’ll learn: Why the 30-Day Rule is critical for keeping the pipeline full Why understanding the Law of Replacement is the key to avoiding sales slumps How to leverage the Law of Familiarity to reduce prospecting friction and avoid rejection The 5 C’s of Social Selling and how to use them to get prospects to call you How to use the simple 5 Step Telephone Framework to get more appointments fast How to double call backs with a powerful voice mail technique How to leverage the powerful 4 Step Email Prospecting Framework to create emails that compel prospects to respond How to get text working for you with the 7 Step Text Message Prospecting Framework And there is so much more! Fanatical Prospecting is filled with the high-powered strategies, techniques, and tools you need to fill your pipeline with high quality opportunities. In the most comprehensive book ever written about sales prospecting, Jeb Blount reveals the real secret to improving sales productivity and growing your income fast. You’ll gain the power to blow through resistance and objections, gain more appointments, start more sales conversations, and close more sales. Break free from the fear and frustration that is holding you and your team back from effective and consistent prospecting. It's time to get off the feast or famine sales roller-coaster for good! |
| account management vs sales: Computerworld , 1985-06-24 For more than 40 years, Computerworld has been the leading source of technology news and information for IT influencers worldwide. Computerworld's award-winning Web site (Computerworld.com), twice-monthly publication, focused conference series and custom research form the hub of the world's largest global IT media network. |
| account management vs sales: Computerworld , 1995-02-13 For more than 40 years, Computerworld has been the leading source of technology news and information for IT influencers worldwide. Computerworld's award-winning Web site (Computerworld.com), twice-monthly publication, focused conference series and custom research form the hub of the world's largest global IT media network. |
| account management vs sales: The Future of the Sales Profession Graham Hawkins, 2017-03-24 B2B sales is harder than ever before. Product lifecycles are getting shorter, sales cycles are getting longer, there are more competitors entering the market, and buyers are doing most of their research online before they even call you. When you finally get the meeting, buyers only want your best price.Despite all of this, your manager keeps asking for more - more calls, more meetings, more pipeline, faster, faster, faster!You're stuck between a rock and a hard place - a more challenging sales environment than ever before on one side, and ever-increasing quotas and expectations on the other.How will you respond? Wait and see how it all unfolds? Or fight for your career and your livelihood? In The Future of the Sales Profession, sales leader Graham Hawkins shares the cold, hard truths about the new realities facing the sales profession, and how you can protect and enhance your career.The Future of the Sales Profession is a fascinating, sobering and enlightening book. If, as Graham suggests, over 20% of sales people will lose their jobs by 2020, then this book is the best survival guide you could ever hope for. - Cian McLoughlin, CEO of Trinity PerspectivesThis book is a compelling and comprehensive insight into the changing nature of business in the 21st century. Sales people will all have to adapt, and Graham has articulate exactly how. - John Merakovsky, CEO SEEK Learning.Graham Hawkins has nailed the future of selling in this must-read for every sales person seeking to prosper in the age of automation and customer empowerment. - Tony J. Hughes MD of RSVPsellingGraham Hawkins is an author, speaker and the Founder of SalesTribe, the world's first career transition management company designed forB2B sales people. Businesses need access to modern sales best practices, and sales people need new opportunities. SalesTribe makes those connections. |
| account management vs sales: Business Driven PMO Setup Mark Price Perry, 2009-05-15 Featuring contributions from more than 20 distinguished executives and subject matter experts, this unique reference challenges various traditional approaches and strategies for the PMO and explains how to set up a business-driven PMO using an extensively proven roadmap adaptable to any type or size organization. |
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A business account also makes it easier to set up Google Business Profile, which helps improve your business visibility and manage your online information. When you create a Google …
Use Gmail to access your Google Account
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Official Google Account Help Center where you can find tips and tutorials on using Google Account and other answers to frequently asked questions.
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