Post on 16-Jul-2020
Supplying the Right Buying Signals (from a Seller’s Perspective)
Richard Drake 3rd March 2015
Hull University
Opening Questions
By a show of hands:
How many people in the room are professional Buyers or Procurement?
How many people in the room are professional Salespeople?
Qualifying Questions
Have to consider company revenue as part, directly or indirectly, of their job?
Have to consider company profit as part, directly or indirectly, of their job?
Have to interact with external companies in their job?
Are driven by KPIs and Performance Metrics in their job?
Buyers have plenty in common with Sellers
Again by a show of hands - How many people in the room:
Agenda
Short Speaker Bio & OSL Consulting (18:00)
Account Management (18:10) References A Basis for Selling Account Types and Behaviours Behaviours that Buyers can Expect Short Group Exercise
Account Planning (18:40) Example Account Plan Key Buying Features of Account Plans Typical Spread of Account Plans
Examples of Buying Excellence (18:50)
Supplying the Right Buying Signals (19:00)
Questions and Further Discussion (19:10)
Current Role: Head of Business Development, OSL ConsultingTotal Career Experience: 17 years
OSL: Head of BD – Vision to enact the sales activity for the growth plans of the companyABB: Sales Team – Sales effectiveness and team revenue growth
Contributed to Pharma sector growth 51% YoYSales Excellence Champion / ISPE ABB Significant Contribution Award
Emerson: Product Manager, AMS Performance ProductsEmerson: Business Support ManagerEmerson: Performance Monitoring (Lead/Senior) EngineerInvensys: SimSci Technical Engineer
ABB Certificate: Manager Development Programme – (pre-MBA)Chartered Chemical Engineer: Newcastle, BEng CEng MIChemE
Background Technical Expertise:Thermodynamic & mathematical modelling, data analysis and interpretation
Paper & Tissue ManufacturingKleenex Double Velvet & Quilted – Chemical Engineer (Newcastle)Zewa Wisch & Weg and Softis – R&D Engineer (Germany)
Richard Drake Biography
• Professional Groups: Outgoing Chair of IChemE Pharma SIG
House Project
Cycling & Motorsport
Rugby League
Some Personal Interests
Buying and Selling is still all about person to person relationships…
So understanding who you work with is an important part of those relationship
Head of Business Development: OSL Consulting
Engineering and Design Consultancy to the Gas, Oil & Energy markets
Established 2005 and privately owned
Highly skilled and qualified engineers, wealth of knowledge
Conceptual engineering to full implementation
Provide innovative technical solutions
Specialist resourcing capability
Head Office & Operations – Hull
Key Operating Hubs - Aberdeen, Great Yarmouth
References for Account Management
Key account management books are certainly worth reading
Some examples of books on the subject are those from Peter Cheverton (pictured below)
Account Management – a Basis for Selling
Bowtie
Fast Forward
Diablo
Diamond
What do the following shapes all have in common?
A: Behaviour Types in Account Management
1-to-1
1-to-Many
Duet
Many-to-Many
Supplier Relative Strength or Attractiveness
Clie
nt
Gro
wth
Po
ten
tial
High
Low High
DevelopmentAccounts
Key Accounts
OpportunisticAccounts
EstablishedAccounts
Account Type Diagram - 4 Sections
Summary:Account Type
Acc Plan Required?
O Opportunistic No
D Development YES (1pg)
K Key YES (5pg)
E Established YES (2pg)
Supplier Relative Strength or Attractiveness
Clie
nt
Gro
wth
Po
ten
tial
High
Low High
DevelopmentAccounts
Key Accounts
OpportunisticAccounts
EstablishedAccounts
2 pg a/c plan
5 pg a/c plan1 pg a/c plan
No a/c plan
Account Type Typically Changes Over Time
Account Type Definition (Opp & Dev)
Opportunistic Account• Can supply and make money• Some proactive sales effort required• Lower expected revenues• Standard margins/Low effort• Relative sales effort <2.5%• Prospected for marketing purposes
• 1-to-1 Account Management Style
Development Account (1pg plan)• Large effort vs return• Pushing to grow further• Potential high revenue growth: 20% pa• Value products and services being sold• Significant sales effort required >15%• Can be regional area selling
– May have more than one site• Should have simple account plan
– Break in and build position• Single service to single offer
• 1-to-1 & 1-to-Many & Duet Account Management Style
Account Type Definition (Key & Est)
Key Account (5pg plan)• Typically buy multiple products or
services• Highly value products and services• Very high growth potential• High level customer engagement• Agreed TCs and price book• Multi-site• V significant Sales effort 30%• Stretch the initial position• Targeting multi-service to multi site
• Duet & Many-to-Many Account Management Style
Established Account (2pg plan)• Further growth limited• Demonstrate care & account
nurturing• Aggressively maintain
position/income• Keep competitors out at all costs• Multi point contact active• Relative Sales effort <5%• Agreed TCs and price book
• 1-to-Many Account Management Style
Behaviours that Buyers can Expect
Supplier Relative Strength or Attractiveness
Clie
nt
Gro
wth
Po
ten
tial
High
Low High
DevelopmentAccounts
Key Accounts
OpportunisticAccounts
EstablishedAccounts
2 pg a/c plan
5 pg a/c plan1 pg a/c plan
No a/c plan
Standard Prices Low number of
contact points Risk of not working in
the past Could have a new
technology? Lots of unknowns
Multiple people in the org know sales person
Considering framework agreements
Offers better ways of doing things & bigger picture
Multiple opportunity
Strategic pricing & framework
Considering market forces and pain/gain share models
Know long term views
Proactively look for value add
Many people known
Long term pricing Will work to
maintain position Might end up
“Opportunistic” if little revenue
Exercise – Define Example Account Type
You’re all going to be salespeople for a moment…
We’ll take 4 well known company names: East Coast Trains / HSBC / Rolls Royce / Apple
Arrange those companies onto the Account Types based upon:-
Exercise 1 – Small IT supply company
Exercise 2 – Large manufacturing company
Once we’ve completed them - we’ll hear a few reasons from the audience
Account Planning
An account plan gives us an insight into the selling/buying interface
Whilst these are a tool for salespeople – the content drives behaviours and what buyers will be offered
Its worth reading some of those behaviours to understand how salespeople are trying to help your business
Personal example: Quick form account plan - Quad chart. Used for account plan review with a team
OVERALL STATUS: Account needs support
Example Account Name #1
Account Manager – Richard Drake
Current Status 1 – Just taken over the account – need to verify existing account plan
Current Status 2 – Good relationships with some contacts Latest Org chart required. Don’t know new ops manager
Current Status 3 – We are on preferred supplier list – how can we offer other products?
Track Record: Engineering Support - Prod #1 and Prod #2
2015 Top 3 Prospects
ProspectName
Product Value £ (% )
QtrDue
Engineering Support 1 Prod #1Continuation
£AA.aa(70%)
Qtr 2
Engineering Support 2 Prod #3 Trial £BB.bb (50%)
Qtr 3
Engineering Support 3 Prod #4 Trial £CC.cc (20%)
Qtr 3
2015 Year End ForecastYTD (£k)Mar 2015
Target (£k)2015
Forecast (£k)2015
£ ~ XX.xx £~ YY.yy £~ ZZ.zz
Account Team and Future ActionsLead Process Eng, Lead Mech Eng, Snr EC&I Eng
Run next account meeting
Follow up customer request to visit (specific topic)
Consider how we can offer extra support
Offer time line to trial of Prod #4
White space analysis
Support Required / Biggest Problem Incumbent has good track record
2015-16 framework agreement needs renewing
0 0
1 5
2 10
3 15
4 20
5 25
Historical Revenue & Profit
£k %
Q4 2013 Q1 2015Q3 2014 Q4 2014Q1 2014 Q2 2014
Key Buying Features of an Account Plan
Any specifics we should be looking out for?
Organogram Any account above opportunistic Who are the people that will benefit - service / technology (etc)
High level Company background What are the values of the business Cost structures / where is value added
Increasing volume Allows more efficient pricing
Multi-site activity Drive an overall price structure Cross site learning – very cheap way to generate ROI Best practice can be adopted easily
Long term benefit analysis Ensure executive teams hear about company improvement & best practice
Typical Spread of Accounts / Plans (%)
Typical spread of where effort is put on generating account plans
Supplier Relative Strength Or Attractiveness
Cu
sto
mer
Gro
wth
Po
ten
tial
High
Low
High
Development Accounts KEY Accounts
Opportunistic Accounts Established Accounts
10
50 20
20
Low
Typical Spread of Accounts / Plans (%)
Account Plan Required
Supplier Relative Strength Or Attractiveness
Cu
sto
mer
Gro
wth
Po
ten
tial
High
Low
High
Development Accounts KEY Accounts
Opportunistic Accounts Established Accounts
10
30
2020
155
Low
Summary: Before % After %
Total Accounts 100 100
Accounts WITH Plans
90 55
Accounts Without Plans
10 45
Account management best practice involves continually assessing accounts and the appropriate behaviours needed for them:
Accounts ‘needing’ plans Bottom half can be reduced
for required account plans Generates more effective use
of the plans in place Creates time for account
meetings and account teams
Examples of Buying Excellence
Good Practice
Example of selling to buyer who explains the longer term process
Search for efficiencies with bigger picture discussion
Asks for value add and how to achieve this
Allows innovation to take place
Prepared to share favourable / less favourable market conditions
Not Good Practice
Example of selling to buyer who only wants discount regardless of volume
Resulting in account type downgrade
Reducing positive behaviours
Not considering the selling process
Blocking discussions with rest of organisation
Supplying the Right Buying Signals
Summary of Good Practice
Look to build relationships – externally and internally
Knowing the selling account type
What behaviours can you expect
Talk about the bigger picture
Support seller’s understanding of your business
Allowing sellers to offer innovative solutions
Share market conditions – both directions
Providing Better Solutions Both Technically & Economically To
Our ClientsThank you for listening…
Any Questions?
OSL Consulting
Engineering and Design Consultancy to the Gas, Oil & Energy markets
Established 2005 and privately owned
Highly skilled and qualified engineers, wealth of knowledge
Conceptual engineering to full implementation
Provide innovative technical solutions
Specialist resourcing capability
Head Office & Operations – Hull
Key Operating Hubs - Aberdeen, Great Yarmouth
OSL Market Sectors
Gas Production and Storage
Oil
LNG
Petrochemical
Low carbon and renewables
Target sectors for the business remain firmly in the energy arena, with gas and oil at the heart of the OSL client base.
OSL Products and Services
Process engineering Rotating equipment design &
operation Conceptual design work Feasibility studies Front End Studies Project development Design and management Provide a team of engineers &
designers
Optimisation and Modelling Detailed Engineering Project Management Technical Assurance Design Review Due Diligence HAZOP, EIA, SIL, COMAH etc RAM, Ops and Maintenance Project Lifecycle Support
OSL bring together skills in process, mechanical and E,C&I engineering. This is balanced with the key operating knowledge of process plant, equipment, its design and operation.
OSL Specialist Resourcing
Specialist permanent gas and oil engineering recruiter
Large network of qualified, proven engineers
Most Engineers are already known to OSL and all are interviewed in advance
Accessible head office technical support
Effective contractor management process
OSL Candidate Management Process First Day Checks > Client/Candidate
First Week and First Month (Key Call)
OSL Commitment to maintain contact
(3-monthly)
Always available to hear from clients at
any time
Transparent and competitive resourcing rates