Jack Carroll's Major Accounts Fitness Test

Will you pass your annual checkup?

1. A written plan?

Is your major accounts plan written, approved by senior management, and incorporated into your business plan?

2. A major accounts group?

Do you have a "cross-functional account" group that focuses on major account opportunities? Does your sales department work with marketing and customer service in defining major account strategy?

3. Segmented customer database?

Do you segment accounts and prospects in your customer database and organize sales activity accordingly? Do you "profile" major account candidates and have separate sales strategies for customers using "sell through" models?

4. Customer participation in plans?

Do you ask key customers to participate in marketing and sales strategy planning?

5. Understanding of value chains?

Do you understand the value chains involved in the product, market, and customer applications of your products and services?

6. Understand customers' business?

Do you spend time at your customer's business and at their customer's business in order to understand their important issues and how you fit?

7. Doing what you say you'll do?

Is fulfilling promises and doing what you say you'll do at the core of the relationship?

8. Quantified values?

Do you have value models to show prospective major accounts quantifiable value?

9. Value centered program?

Is your major account program centered around customer value—that is, revenue and profit generation, cost reduction, and/or increased productivity?

10. Proactive major accounts program?

Do you have an ongoing, proactive program in place that targets new major account relationships?

Subscribe to Jack Carroll's free Major Accounts Bulletin

Jack Carroll's "Dirty Dozen"

Major accounts fitness test

Major account selling services

Jack Carroll's biography

Sales bibliography