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Sales Coverage
Most companies know the basic principle of
selling: customers buy from you; so make your customer the
focus. Give them what they want or need and they will hopefully
keep buying from you. However, in today’s world of increased
competition and globalization, it takes a bit more to truly
design a customer-centric sales model. Effective sales coverage
incorporates both a mature understanding of the customer and
customer needs, and an economically based design to effectively
address those needs.
Coverage Model Design
Effective sales coverage begins with identification
of the targeted accounts. Which accounts do we need to cover?
What kind of accounts are we targeting? How do we identify
them? How many of these accounts are there?
But this is just the beginning. Accounts
do not buy from us. Rather, the individuals within accounts
buy. Therefore, sales coverage includes not only identification
of accounts but also understanding who are the individual
buyers, influencers, and decision-makers are within the account.
Our sales coverage model must encompass a plan to reach the
“right” individuals within the account.
So, now we know the accounts and the individuals.
We split them up and assign them among our field sales representatives
and channel partners, and we have “coverage”,
right? Wrong. We don’t just want coverage; we want a
smart, economic coverage model. These customers / prospects
are assets for our company – to be invested in and developed
into loyal customers. To do this, we need to build two important
components into our sales coverage model:
- A graded model: not all of the accounts
provide the same potential future revenue. Our coverage
model should group accounts into “grades”, based
on expected return – and make an investment through
the assignment of a level of coverage (contact) which is
commensurate with the grade / expected return.
- An integrated, leveraged model: to obtain
the maximum level of coverage and contact for each investment,
we will want to incorporate multiple media into our coverage.
Effective integration of mail, email, phone, etc. with our
field sales coverage allows us to substantially extend our
coverage, in a highly economical manner. Download a PDF article on this subject
Integrated Account
Management
Relationship-building (pro-active, value-based
contact) and development of customer knowledge are critical
components of effective account and customer management. And
yet, pressures continue to build to lower costs in each of
these areas. The universal sales and marketing conundrum:
how do I build customer relationships which deliver business
results (revenue), within real-world economic constraints?
The answer: leverage. Integrated Account
Management extends the reach to our customers, by leveraging
each of our field sales contacts with additional phone, email,
mail and other lower-cost contacts. By seamlessly integrating
across the various media, and employing the media for each
message which maps to the customers’ preferences (yes,
there ARE messages which customers prefer to receive via email
vs. phone and via phone vs. in-person) – we are able
to increase customers’ perception of value, increase
loyalty and share of wallet, and simultaneously reduce the
cost to serve.
Example1: Download a PDF article on this subject
Example1: Download a PDF article on this subject
Customer Contact Matrix
Customers are a valuable asset. And like
other assets, they require investment. Also like other assets,
we can achieve best business results by investing in ways
which are commensurate with the expected return of those assets.
In the case of integrated account management,
our investments are comprised of the contacts we have with
our customers – deployment of field sales for visits;
calls by our inside sales representatives and customer service;
materials we mail; e-mails we send; etc.
We have two primary points of focus: integrating
and leveraging the various contact investments to get the
maximum impact, and ensuring the total investment is consistent
with expected return.
Integrating the contact investments:
As we execute the customer contact, the activities
across media and groups (especially sales and marketing)
must be coordinated – so that the messages they contain
re-enforce each other and create a coordinated, consistent
message with customers. The field must have visibility into
the last piece of mail sent and the conversations with the
phone representatives; the phone representatives must be
aware of the recently completed or upcoming scheduled visit
with the field representative – not only so we can
re-enforce key points with customers, but also so that we
can provide a professional, well-coordinated organization
to the customer
Investment to return: While we
seek to maintain contact with all customers, we must balance
the level of contact to the expected return. Strategic customers,
customers with potential for growth, and customers with
high historical purchasing patterns warrant higher levels
of contact – they may have both greater needs from
us, and higher probabilities of return. A higher frequency
of our field visits and phone calls should be allocated
here. Download
a PDF article on this subject
Marketing Communications
Once you have developed a clear understanding
of who your customers are and what they need, this understanding
must be DEMONSTRATED via your customer communications, in
order to leverage the understanding into more effective relationship-building.
Think of it this way: knowledge not used is knowledge wasted.
Effective leverage of customer knowledge
into your communications precludes any kind of “one
size fits all approach”. Rather, the customer segments
and needs that you have worked so hard to identify require
tailored communications. Differences in your customer segments
exist because of their buying preferences – for instance,
price-shoppers vs. brand loyalists or reference-checkers vs.
feature fanatics. They have different motivations altogether.
Marketing materials that contain content and messages that
address those buying behaviors or motivations will be significantly
more meaningful and valuable.
Regardless of how many segments or needs
you may have in your customer base, the principle remains
that customers whose needs are being addressed – including
communications needs -- have a higher potential of becoming
long term, loyal customers. Download a PDF article on this subject
Value Based Contact
A key component of building relationships
with customers that drive business results is the ability
to engage customers with communications content that provides
value to the customer. The value in the content delivery transforms
the interaction from a “tell – sell” engagement
into a delivery of service, that advances the business relationship.
How do we do this? By answering three key
questions:
- What informational content does the customer
need?
- What is the media preference for that
content? (i.e., does it require explanation and review that
are best handled in-person or is timeliness more important,
making email a more appropriate delivery medium?)
- How often do customers want the information
and associated updates? (i.e., balancing the need to have
information frequently enough to be relevant and accessible,
without overwhelming customers with the volume and frequency.)
Effective sales and marketing integration
incorporates these customer preferences – and then delivers
the messages in an integrated communications framework. The
messages are coordinated and re-enforce one another. The in-person
meetings are cost-leveraged, through follow-ups executed through
phone, mail, and e-mail. The lower cost e-mail and mail are
impact-leveraged, through follow-ups executed through phone
and in-person meetings.
The net result: delivery
of value to the customer; engagement with customers on topics
of relevance; and ultimately a relationship based on this
exchange which leads to business results. Download a PDF article on this subject |
