#plan to win tweet book01

8/3/2019 #PLAN to WIN tweet Book01

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E-mail: [email protected]

20660 Stevens Creek Blvd., Suite 210,Cupertino, CA 95014

#PLAN to WINtweetBook01

By Ron Snyder and Eric Doner

Strategic Territory and Account Planning

Book Excerpt

Foreword by Bob Karr


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BOOK EXCERPT Table of Contents

Foreword by Bob Karr

Section I: Why You Need a Plan

Section IV: Winning a Strategic Account

Section V: Managing Your Territory and Time

About the Authors



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3#PLAN to WIN tweet

ContentsThis is the Table o Contents (TOC) rom the book or your

reerence. The eBook TOC (below) difers in page count rom

the tradebook TOC.

Foreword by Bob Karr 11

Section I

Why You Need a Plan 15

Section II

The Key Ingredients 29

Section III

Penetrating Your Territory 45

Section IV

Winning a Strategic Account 61

Section V

Managing Your Territory and Time 77


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Section VI

The Role o Sales Management 91

Section VII

Executing Your Plan 107

Appendix A: Territory and Account

Planning Resources 121

Appendix B: Target Account Selection Criteria 125

Appendix C: Funnel Requirement Formula 127

Appendix D: Territory Planning Template 129

Appendix E: Strategic Account

Planning Template 131

Appendix F: Sales Time Log 133

Appendix G: Annual Sales Call

Allocation Calculator 135

About the Authors 137


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#PLAN to WIN tweet 5

Foreword byBob Karr

There have been a lot o books written

about how to be successul in selling.

This book is diferent because its

written in simple terms that everyone

can understand. It is packed with

useul ideas and quick tips to help

anyone engaged in proessional sales.

Most important, the authors have

clearly spelled out how to develop and

implement successul territory and

strategic account plans.

This book cuts to the chase. You could

spend a lot o time reading textbooks,


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or you could pick this up and get what

you need very quickly. Further, it is

ull o helpul inormation to remind

experienced sellers o what they once

learned, but have not used lately. It is

also great or people building their

careers and sales approach.

Ron and Eric provide insight rom the

trenches in sales and management

roles. And, theyve worked with dozens

o companies to help dramatically

improve sales practices and results.

You cant take shortcuts in the sales

process. Ron and Eric have spelled out

all the steps. I you ollow them and

do what they recommend, you will see

your sales skyrocket!



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Bob Karr

CEO LinkSVBob is the CEO/Founder o LinkSV

(http://www.linksv.com), a websitethat connects the dots between the

people, capital and companies o theSilicon Valley, and is positioned at the

intersection o business intelligence andsocial networking. He has been an active

angel investor, an advisor to emergingInternet companies, and a co-ounder o

the Angels Breakast Club. Bob retiredrom a thirty-year career in the corporate

liability insurance business where he spentfiteen years as a Partner o Dinner LevisonCompany and another fiteen years as SVPo the Sedgwick Group, where he managed

Business Development & Client Servicesocused exclusively on emerging and pre-

IPO companies in the Silicon Valley. Manyo Bobs emerging clients have turned into

successul IPOs.


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9#PLAN to WIN tweet

Ater reading this section you will be able to:

Describe the benefits o planning

Discuss the requirements o planning

Recognize the consequences o not planning

Without a good plan, you are likely to:

Overlook opportunities to penetrate your territory or strategic accounts

Lose sales you could have won and take longer to win new business

Unnecessarily lower your selling price and reduce your profit margins

Ron Snyder, one o the authors, helped a medical capital equipment company(ADAC Laboratories; now a division o Philips Healthcare) institute acomprehensive approach to sales planning and selling methodology. Withinone and a hal years, they had the ollowing results:

Bookings increased orty-three percent

Margins went up by ten percent

Market share improved by fity-three percent

Productivity per salesperson up by fity percent Win/Loss ratio grew by 131 percent

Having a plan enables you to manage a great deal o complexity. Thisincludes understanding the market, ocusing on the customer problemsyou can solve, selecting your best solution, and managing the internal andpartner resources necessary to meet your objectives. It enables you to makethe best use o your time and resources by connecting strategy to key tasks.Using your plan, you can ensure that critical tasks are implemented in thetime-rame required to win the business. Through it, you give appropriateattention to the critical paththe steps that have the most impact onproducing the result on time. Without a plan, it is easy to omit a key elementand dramatically compromise your results.

Have you ever had your priorities dictated to you or been told on whichaccounts to ocus your sales eforts? In the absence o a careully conceived

Why You Need a Plan

Section I


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plan, many account managers all victim to the whims o uninormedexecutives who perceive opportunities in your territory diferently than youdo. However, when armed with a good plan, your clear analysis and strategieswill prevail.

Success Story: Account Management

Snyder managed a twenty million dollar opportunity or HP, selling toanother Fortune 100 company. The sale took eighteen months and involveda wide range o internal resources and customer representatives.

He reflects:

My detailed strategic account plan enabled me to:

1. Identiy our competitive advantages.

2. Articulate our value proposition and clearly describe how it met their needs.

3. Make sure our sales, division people, and executive sponsor were on the samepage.

4. Manage meetings between a wide range o people rom the customers andour organization.

5. Respond efectively to competitive threats.

6. Keep the sale on track.

I could never have managed the efort, kept everyone engaged and won thebusiness without a clear plan that I updated on a regular basis. The bottomline is that you need a good plan backed with persistent efort to win acomplex, competitive business opportunity.

Self-Assessment

Consider companies you regard as successul, well-managed, high-perorming organizations. Can you imagine how they would have perormedwithout a solid business plan?

Reflect on times when you did not have a plan and/or did not work yourplan. What did you miss? What were the consequences?

Are you a skilled planner? I not, how could you improve your planningabilities?

Think o the best planner you know. Ask them how they do territory andaccount planning.



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8Planning is the breakast o

champions without it, you willwaste your time pursuing

inefective strategies.

9The presence o a clear plan makes

it much easier to make decisions and

move quickly to win.


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10

11

Manage the critical path; it makesthe most diference in reaching

the goal on time.

Were all drowning in data, dealing

with too much inormation and need

actionable insight.


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12

Its not the will to win thatmatters...everyone has that.

Its the will to prepare to win

that matters.

-Paul Bear Bryant


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Mastering the steps in this section will enable you to:

Identiy the challenges and initiatives critical to your target accounts/business units

Penetrate new business units

Marshal an efective account teamGood account management can improve the quality o the opportunitiesin your pipeline, the efectiveness o your eforts to win business and yourability to orecast accurately. In a 2010 TAS Group survey o over 2000companies, orty-eight percent o companies said they were planningsignificant investment in account management improvement.1

Recognizing the accounts key challenges and initiatives is the starting pointo account planning (see the Account Plan Template in Appendix E). Go tothe accounts website. Review each business unit and product line. Identiypotential problems with each and how your product/service can solvethem. Research their industry and top three to five competitors to deepenyour insight into how you can help your prospect with their competitivechallenges. With this analysis o the account/business unit in place, generate

your SWOT list to ormulate your account strategy and value proposition.

There are three undamental ways to penetrate a key account.

1. In a new prospect, identiy a compelling need that is aligned with theaccounts/business units key initiatives.

2. Within a business unit (BU) you are currently doing business with, look oropportunities to expand use o your product/service they are using and/or sellother products/services.

3. With a new BU in a current account, leverage your current sponsors andrelationships to identiy and be credible in new opportunities.

1. The TAS Group, Great Account Management (white paper) (2010), 2,

http://www.thetasgroup.com/whitepaper/greataccountmgmt.html.

Winning a Strategic Account

Section IV


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Your plan must demonstrate how your solution best addresses the issuesand initiatives o the BU you are targeting. Further, you must show how yourespond to the specific needs o each o the key buying influences in thedecision process.

Track the total value o all opportunities to make sure you have su cientopportunities in your unnel. As noted in Chapter 3, you need to track yourconversion ratios (i.e. the percentage o leads or qualified opportunities thatconvert to sales and the number o unqualified leads that become qualifiedleads) and average size sale within this account, or accounts like it. With that,

calculate the number o leads you need to have to achieve your goal. (SeeAppendix C or the Funnel Requirement Formula.)

High-perorming sales organizations ensure that account teams workefectively across their company to win and serve strategic accounts. Justas in sports, you need selective player assignments to make the best useo the time and resources available. For example, having the right technicalresources is a must in a technology-driven, solution sale. Further, leveragingthe right partners can make a huge diference. This includes people who canalert you to new opportunities, those who can get you in the door, and thosewho can help you win.

Creating executive relationships between senior management in thecustomers organization and yours is critical, especially in larger accounts.Miller Heimans Secrets o High Perorming Sales Organizations (2006),2

indicated that seventy-seven percent o winning sales organizations (WSOs)said their senior-level executives actively promote and participate in thesales process, which is twenty percent more oten than non-WSOs. A clearstrategy is undamental to enrolling and utilizing these valuable executiveresources to keep your plan on track.

Success Story: Pre-Call Planning

Eric Doner, one o the authors, was well into his sales career beore he graspedthe value and enjoyed the benefits o proper pre-call planning. He says:

I really got on board when I learned that calls turn out about the wayyou plan or them to. I ormed the habit o capturing and reviewing theollowing inormation (in addition to names, titles, and buying roles) oreach selling opportunity.

2. Miller Heiman, Secrets o High Perorming Sales Organizations, MillerHeiman Sales Perormance Journal (2006): 6.



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1. Background information: Make notes on account history, events leading upto the call, and possible customer needs.

2. Call objective(s): Set a realistic, desired outcome or each call and a back-up objective to continue the sales cycle.

3. Call script: Write what to say to open the call, build rapport, and bridge intoa discussion/interview. Why risk winging it?

4. Key questions: Create a list o issues you need to learn more about. Balanceopen and closed questions to ensure an interviewand not an interrogation.

5. Anticipated obstacles and solutions: Consider the likely objections andhow you can respond. Dont be blind-sided.

6. Evidence and proofs: Select sales aids and customer testimonials that canhelp make a case with a prospect/customer.

7. Additional products/services: List opportunities to up-sell or cross-sellwhen appropriate.

It takes discipline to ollow this process on every call but the payof rompreparation can be huge! Calls oten go as plannedand sometimesbetter! Ive had calls that went so well that it was like the prospect had acopy o my plan. They readily answered all my questions, acknowledgedthat my solution met their needs, had no objections, and eagerly agreedto buy. Its a lesson Ive never orgotten and a practice rom which I neverdeviate.

Self-Assessment Review a current account plan. What can you do to make the plan even

better?

How can you better leverage your current contacts inside and outside theaccount?

What additional partners can help you?

Who else in your company can help you improve the plan and itsimplementation?

What is your account teams greatest weakness? Who could help you in thisarea?

Do you have broad coverage in the account? For example, what i a keyplayer in the account changes jobs or leaves the company?

Lack o account knowledge is the biggest inhibitor to success. What are youdoing to ensure that you know what opportunities are emerging?


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The ability to gain victoryby changing and adapting

according to your opponent

(situation) is called Genius.

-Sun Tzu, The Art o War

61


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62

Decision makers want to do business

with business peoplenot salespeople.

Every successul account plan requires

that you understand and can satisy

your customers needs.

63


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By implementing the practices outlined in this section you will be able to:

Increase sales potential through improved geographic/market segmentcoverage

Follow proven practices to establish sales territories

Develop an annual sales call allocation plan Reduce sales costs through better travel and time management

Improve ROI and sales orce satisaction through improved return on salesefort

The actors that afect setting up workable sales territories are: total numbero accounts, account value, geography, time, and resources. I you find thatyour sales team cannot efectively cover all accounts in a territory, considerusing alternative sales channels to reduce selling costs and reach a broadermarket. These include telemarketing, inside sales, and distributors.

Ater you have assessed the sales potential o your territory, set your revenuegoals, rank your accounts and plan your selling tactics. Calculate how muchtime is required to sustain and grow your A accounts. Then, estimate how

much time you need to spend to service your B accounts and grow them intoA customers. Use whatever time remains to either develop your C accountsor cultivate new A and B prospects. Weve provided a Sales Call AllocationCalculator in Appendix G to help with this task.

I you determine that you dont have the time or resources to make yournumbers, discuss the situation with your manager or engage additionalresources to help you.

Travel can be a huge drain on your time. On the other hand, you can beproductive when flying or riding on a train by reviewing account inormation,preparing or your calls, or researching industries and new prospects.When driving, you can optimize windshield time and simultaneouslysharpen your skills by listening to news on business trends that afect yourcustomers or educational programs that can enhance your success. In aphone conversation, Mark Ramm, President o Tape Rental Library, toldDoner, Audio learning is the only kind o learning you can do while youredoing something else.

Managing Your Territory and Time

Section V


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When you work in sales, you can divide your time into five basic categories:

1. Face/connect: in-person or on the phone connecting with prospects andcustomers.

2. Research/planning:studying industry/company trends and pre-call strategy.

3. Phone/email: attempts to connect with accounts, set appointments and ollowup.

4. Travel: driving or riding in a cab, bus, train, or plane.

5. Downtime: time lost to interruptions, distractions, unplanned events, and badhabits.

According to Albert Gray, in a speech titled The Common Denominatoro Success presented to The National Association o Lie Underwriters in1940, The our success habits in selling are: prospecting habits, callinghabits, selling habits, and working habits. I you take care o the first three,your work habits will take care o themselves.

Today, technology is the great enabler that can be applied to every stage othe sales process, rom territory and account planning to closing the sale andservicing customers. For example, there are territory and account planningtools that enhance Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applicationsand reside within Salesorce.com. Teleconerencing, video conerencing,podcasts, webinars, and web meetings enable live interaction and the abilityto share inormation and images with customers. And finally, smartphones

and tablets provide mobile means to do almost everything you need to do!

Self-Assessment

Think o how much time you have spent driving, waiting or meetings, etc.How could you have used that time more productively?

Reflect on times when you have worked on B and C accounts when youcould have been working on A accounts. How can you re-prioritize youractions? Keep a time log. Youll be surprised how you spend your time. (Seethe Sales Time Log in Appendix F.)

Think o how much time you have spent on tasks that were not thatimportant or urgent. How could you use your time more efectively in theuture?

How could you work smarter? What new routine can you put in place that

would significantly improve your e ciency? When driving in your territory, how could you plan a more e cient route to

save time, save uel, or visit more accounts?

What could you do to more readily gain access to key people in your targetaccounts?



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81

82You cant manage time; you can only

manage how you use it. Follow your

plan and ocus on priority accounts.

Control how you use your time. I youdont, you are sabotaging your chance

or success.


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I your ocus is on new

business, plan your time to

contact more prospects.

83


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84

85

I your ocus is on accountdevelopment/retention, optimize your

time connecting with customers.

There are only two kinds o activities;

goal achieving and tension relieving.

Which are you doing?


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86Unless you consciously orm

good habits, you unconsciouslyorm bad habits.

-Albert E.N. Gray

Make your travel time count.

Plan your prospecting around your

major accounts.

87


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27#PLAN to WINtweet

Ron Snyder is President o Plan2Win Sotware, providing territory,

account and pre-call planning applications that run in SalesForce.com,

and Breakthrough, Inc, a sales consultancy that enables companies

to accelerate sales by improving sales efectiveness. For over twenty

years, Ron has helped companies improve results in competitive,

high-value, complex selling environments. Beore that, at Hewlett-

Packard, Ron was a top-ranked sales person, manager in the field

sales organization and a marketing manager, bringing products to

market. He has also worked as a product designer and engineering

project manager. Ron holds a Bachelors Degree and Masters Degree

in Engineering Design rom Tuts University and an MBA rom

Northeastern University.

About the Authors


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Eric Doner is the ounder o Achievement Training Associates, a

consulting firm that helps organizations align and leverage people

and processes to improve perormance. His career spans over twenty-five years o success in sales, marketing and training & development.

Eric has held positions with Dun & Bradstreet, BASF, Compuware

and the American Management Association. He served as President

o the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association and Sales &

Marketing Executives o Cleveland, OH. Eric has published articles

and led seminars on Sales Management, Sales Coaching and

Customer-Focused Selling. He earned his BSBA at Bowling Green

State University and completed postgraduate work in adult learning,

human perormance development and instructional technology.



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