Three types of insights deserve attention:
Connected customer insights: While B2B companies value custom- er insights, most either admire them in the rear-view mirror or limit their application to planning exercises disconnected from day-to-day sales execution. It’s time for organizations to crush the silos that slow efforts to capture and share customer insights across touch points such as call cen- ters, kiosks, social media networks, and sales and post-sales service channels.
High-performance seller insights: CSOs need to know what differenti- ates top sellers in their companies and those of their channel partners. To help maximize the impact of tal- ent management programs and help position the right talent with the right opportunities, CSOs should under- stand as much about their high- performing sellers as they attempt to know about their customers. Know- ing what skills they have mastered, characteristics they possess, and
SELLING TIP
Invest Your Selling Time in High-Profit Accounts
Value-added selling means an organization selects key value-added targets, defines value in customer-oriented terms, and delivers this value consistently. How do companies select their value-added target accounts? They live the Jumbo CD philosophy. What’s that? Assume someone bequeaths you $100,000 with the provision that you do one of these things with it: 1) invest it in a passbook savings ac- count that draws 4-5 percent interest; 2) invest it in a CD that pays 7-8 percent interest; or 3) invest it in a Jumbo CD that pays the current prime interest rate. In each case, you must leave it in the investment for one year before removing it. What would you do?
Most people quickly select the Jumbo CD option because they get a better return on their investment. This is the Jumbo CD philosophy: investing your money (time) where you get the greatest return. It’s unlikely any of us would intentionally throw money out of the
behaviors they consistently demon- strate is paramount. Predictive insights: To help sellers deliver the experiences customers want and the offers they find most meaningful, companies should build predictive sales insights and an execution model to deliver them. Central to this vision is a sales intel- ligence hub that analyzes customer insights for causation and propensi- ty and helps deliver forward-looking recommendations to sales reps. The blueprint calls for next- generation analytic tools and data methods, predictive analysis, and detailed sales execution guidance for sales reps.
FINAL THOUGHTS Sales organizations need to focus more sharply on outcomes, which means the identification and use of higher-quality data, a more connect- ed understanding of the customers, and a contemporary sales operat- ing model that translates predictive insights into winning sales actions.
‘‘
A functioning, robust democracy requires a healthy, educated, participatory followership – and an educated, morally-grounded leadership. CHINUA ACHEBE
When sales executives cut through the noise with targeted insights and action, they can shape their sellers’ behaviors to deliver the experiences their customers demand.
Jason Angelos is managing director, advanced customer strategy, for Accenture Strategy, where he focuses on the sales chan- nel services market. He can be reached at
Jason.Angelos@
accenture.com.
window, but we do it daily with our sales time. We waste it on low-profit, high-aggravation business. Conversely, organizations that sell value-added invest their resources on Jumbo CD targets: the top one-third of the customers. Value-added organizations understand that time is one of these valuable resources to be maximized. Investing one’s sales time in these high- profit-potential targets means letting the competition fight over low-profit accounts. Some value-added orga- nizations have discovered how to cripple the competi- tion by simply getting out of their way and letting them win the price shopper’s order. Sooner or later the low margins take their toll. Value-added organizations accept the reality that every customer deserves the value-oriented philosophy – but not everyone deserves an intensive value-added sales effort. It’s reserved for those willing to pay for it. How do companies know which value-added extras to
offer? It’s simple! They view life through that unique prism the customer uses. Value-added organizations define value in the customers’ terms. These companies under- stand that value is a perception. It’s subjective – value is anything the customer wants it to be. Consequently, one must think in the customers’ terms to sell value.
– THOMAS P. REILLY SELLING POWER DECEMBER 2016 | 19 © 2016 SELLING POWER. CALL 1-800-752-7355 FOR REPRINT PERMISSION.
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