There's a dangerous assumption lurking in many organisations: once you've won the business, your job is done. It’s moved over to account management where the aim is to maintain the relationship, but the focus can shift to hunting for new prospects.
This mindset is costing companies millions in untapped revenue.
The harsh reality is that lack of activity is one of the biggest reasons people lose accounts. Yet research showed that acquiring a new customer costs five to twenty-five times more than retaining an existing one. For B2B organisations, where customer lifetime value can span decades, this represents a significant missed opportunity.
The most successful sales organisations have moved beyond passive account maintenance to active account development. They understand that every client relationship is either growing or dying – there's no such thing as standing still.
The development vs. maintenance mindset shift
Account maintenance is reactive. It responds to client requests, solves immediate problems, and maintains the status quo. Account development, by contrast, is proactive. It anticipates client needs, identifies new opportunities, and systematically expands the relationship.
This shift requires sales professionals to become strategic business consultants rather than order-takers. It means moving from "How can I help you?" to "Here's how I can help you achieve your strategic objectives." This consultative approach – focused on uncovering and developing customer needs rather than simply presenting features, as explored in SPIN Selling – forms the foundation of successful account growth.
The account development framework
Step 1: Master the art of account planning
Don't leave account growth to chance. Document what you know about each account and plan how you can expand your business systematically. Add to your records after every significant client contact, reviewing both what you've learned and what you plan to do regularly.
Most salespeople dislike planning, yet it can be the key to unlocking your account's potential. Your account plan should include:
- Organisational structure and decision-making processes
- Business challenges and strategic priorities
- Relationship mapping across all levels
- Competitive landscape and threats
- Expansion opportunities and timelines
Understanding the decision-making unit within your accounts is critical, and is a core principle within our Sales Opportunity Management programme. Research shows that major buying decisions now involve an average of 6.8 people, each with different needs and decision criteria. Mapping these stakeholders – identifying who has dissatisfaction with the status quo, who holds power, and who is receptive to change – ensures you engage the right people at the right time about the right issues.
Step 2: Maintain broad stakeholder relationships
One of the greatest risks in account management is relationship narrowing. All too often, once implementation begins, client contact reduces to just the person managing the project from the customer's side.
Times and people change, and a narrow range of contacts makes you vulnerable if those people change jobs or move to other organisations. Plan a strategy for involving multiple people from your organisation with appropriate contacts in the customer account.
The more angles you have covered, the greater your chances of discovering changes and new developments early in the Buying Cycle™. It also helps ensure you maintain strong client contacts even when personnel changes occur. These multiple touchpoints allow you to spot emerging needs (potentially before the customer recognises them), positioning you ahead of competitors.
Step 3: Leverage success for early referrals
Many salespeople wait until implementation is complete before asking customers for help in contacting other people within the organisation who might have similar needs. One of the best times to ask is immediately after a decision has been made, when the customer is feeling confident about their choice and before any potential implementation challenges arise.
Try to gain agreement for wider publicity of your project success – perhaps through internal company magazines, reference site opportunities, or inclusion in your marketing materials. Most organisations are happy to talk about their successes, so don't be afraid to ask.
Systematically identify opportunities
Upstream and downstream analysis
Implementing something new in one department often creates ripple effects throughout the organisation. This can create opportunities for further business.
For example, speeding up a process by introducing new equipment may increase demand on another process supplying materials or components. Alternatively, increased output could put more pressure on inspection, quality assurance, or subsequent processes. Each of these scenarios could provide opportunities for additional sales. By exploring the implications using SPIN® Selling techniques, you can uncover problems your clients may not yet recognise, helping them understand the full impact before issues escalate.
Cross-divisional expansion
If you've delivered an excellent implementation and developed strong relationships, you should be well-positioned to ask your contacts about other areas of potential business. When people know and trust you, they're usually willing to share names and contact details. Some may even be willing to make introductions to potential customers within their organisation.
In fact, according to research done by The New York Times, 65 percent of companies' new business comes from referrals – be that inter-organisational or through people moving to new organisations, taking trusted suppliers and partners with them.
Supplier network opportunities
Don't overlook opportunities within your client's supplier and partner network. Satisfied customers often have influence with their own suppliers and can provide valuable introductions to organisations with similar challenges.
Change is your competitive advantage
Going back to the fundamentals of the Buying Cycle™, change is the agent that activates new business opportunities. Always be alert for change and consider what each transformation might mean for your customer – and for you.
Consider both internal and external changes. A shift in senior management may signal a change in strategy, potentially opening new possibilities. Changes in the external environment – through legislation, new competition, or market dynamics – may create knock-on effects that could generate business opportunities.
Maintaining multiple client contacts allows you to explore what's changing with a wide range of people. You should be positioned to spot likely needs arising from those changes early, possibly even before the customer recognises them. This gives you the opportunity to work on these issues long before competitors get involved, putting yourself in pole position for future sales.
If you have high-level contacts who know and trust you, it might be possible to discuss future business strategy and its implications. This positions you to explore how you might help implement that strategy long before business needs filter down through the organisation and the requirement for new products, systems, or services becomes recognised.
Measuring account development success
Track your account development efforts with meaningful metrics:
- Revenue growth per account year-over-year
- Number of departments or divisions you serve
- Breadth of stakeholder relationships
- Referrals and introductions generated
- Time to identify and respond to new opportunities
Remember, successful account development is a long-term strategy. The relationships and trust you build today become the foundation for tomorrow's opportunities.
Dive deeper into profitable client relationship strategies
Our comprehensive whitepaper "Developing Profitable Long-term Relationships" provides detailed frameworks, implementation guidelines, and proven tactics for transforming your account management approach.
