Webinar

Selling to key accounts: a specific selling approach 

What is key account sales? 

Selling to key accounts is different from traditional transactional selling in several respects: 

• Many stakeholders
• High stakes with major impacts for both seller and buyer
• Performance driver

How do you sell to key accounts? 

A key account sale is not the same as a classic transactional sale. The relational aspect will be essential. It will be essential to find someone within the buying company to act as an ambassador or sponsor.

Why sell to key accounts?

Selling to key accounts has great benefits for a company. 

• It provides references that give the company credibility
• For the same sales figures, selling to major accounts is much less time-consuming than selling to multiple smaller customers.
• It helps to finance the company's fixed costs, and to invest thanks to sustained high sales volumes.

The 4 rules of the balance report for selling to key accounts

Rule 1: Choose your fights

Before taking the plunge, it's essential to know who the real sponsors and opponents are. 

We also need to make sure that the project is not a "non-project", and that it combines these 4 elements: 

• Challenges and a trigger
• Decision-makers and a sponsor
• Money
• Timing

Rule 2: Gather objective data

It's also essential to collect objective data so as not to miss any major events.

In practice, you need to record as many verbatims as possible, to get the most precise understanding of the customer's needs, and not work on an interpretation of the customer's needs.

Rule 3: Optimize your resources

It's important to optimize the allocation of a salesperson's time according to the value of the prospects.

So we need to use all the resources, on several channels that are currently available: CRM, marketing channels (LinkedIn)...

Rule 4: Lead the co-construction process

Selling to key accounts also means selling a joint construction in an agile way. 

This takes place in 3 stages: 

• understanding the situation and the issues at stake
• the seller's recommendation 
• detailed implementation of next steps (timing, actions, people)

Pour aller plus loin sur le sujet de la Méthode l’échiquier©, nous vous conseillons ce webinar, animé par Fabien Comtet, CEO de KESTIO : https://www.kestio.com/webinar-vente-complexe