Strategic Account Team Must-Haves
Excited about launching a new client team initiative, an 800-lawyer firm had everything in place. Firm leadership and key stakeholders provided full support. Five partners with significant client relationships were appointed to serve as team leaders for the firm’s Top 5 clients. Each was tasked to build the teams and devise a team strategy. After five months the excitement fizzled and attendance at monthly team meetings was sparse. Team members delayed their tasks and missed deadlines. What happened?
We have seen these failed efforts beyond just this firm. Practitioners get busy with billable matters and push what they deem as unpaid work to the back burner. Yet, significantly less effort is needed to retain and grow an existing customer than to source new customers. Growing a strategic account requires having more enterprise relationships and subject matter experts squaring off with one another. Here are the strategic account team musts that we see as best practices that drive strategic account revenue:
Team Members Teams should have no more than 7 members. No sales team works at their optimum performance level if they are too big. Include at least one senior partner, two mid-level partners, and one junior partner who have strong client relationships, two to three associates at various levels, and a strong sales person on each team. Draw upon each person’s unique combination of strengths and deploy them to drive improved collaboration and its financial, strategic and talent-related benefits.
Sales Training Sales training is a must. Your clients, Big Four, and other significant organizations go through sales training once a year. Learning these key skills, and being reminded of them regularly, is critical to sales success by winning new business and growing revenue.
Team Leader Training How many partners in professional services firms are trained in management and leadership? Generally not many. To effectively lead a strategic account team, take the time to train the firm’s team leaders on how to manage strategic account teams. Otherwise, the team may never be as good as it could be with strong team leadership.
Client Involvement Clients must be involved in the strategic account planning process, they are the experts about their business! Without client involvement, there is a possibility of making assumptions and missing opportunities. Clients will tell you what’s going on, what their strategic growth goals are, and what’s important to them. This is an absolute must.
The Client’s Strategic Plan If a lead partner is afraid to ask for this, then their relationship is just not where it needs to be. A “partner” to the client will definitely be seen as an adjunct member of the client’s own team. They want outside advisors to know their strategic goals. Just ask! A strategic account team is not as effective without alignment to the client’s strategic goals.
Regular Meetings Teams must meet on a regular basis. Properly designed, a strategic account program should be the umbrella over offices, practices, industry groups, and all other firm planning. Strategic accounts often comprise 80% of firm revenue. Team member participation should be mandatory and the team should meet even if a participant is unable to attend to keep the process moving forward.
Meeting Agenda and Minutes Don’t wing it, you would not do that for a client meeting. Key client meetings are important for accountability and need to focus on the future and sales strategy for retaining the client and winning new business. Keep action items strategic in nature and have a clear purpose and identified outcome for each action step, along with dates and accountability.
Business Development Support The best support that a firm can have for its strategic account management program is a strategic sales person with experience. As a team member, there is no better strength than to have a sales person who knows how to help the partners and the team close business and grow client relationships. If partners don’t have faith in their business development pro, then find someone who they do have confidence in. Teaming up with sales professionals will often mean winning new business and competing much more effectively.
Following these best practices for developing and maintaining successful internal strategic account teams will help the firm focus, grow, and prosper.
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Silvia Coulter is a sales and marketing expert and helps law firms with driving revenue, leadership and team development, sales training and coaching. Nancy Brooks is a sales coach with BizDevGals. Email info@bizdevgals.com.