Acrelic Group – Experienced Advisors to Executives

I’ve heard it said that a single New York Times  Sunday newspaper contains more text than the typical American read in their entire lifetime roughly one hundred years ago.  Indeed, we are literally inundated with more information and data on a daily basis than we can possibly digest.  So, how do we sort through all of this for relevancy?

Take Financial Reporting within your business, for instance.   Is the information timely or woefully out of date by the time you receive it?  Does the reporting highlight the true drivers of business performance or are the key elements lost in a myriad of other miscellaneous data?  Are there valid and clear metrics (i.e.., budgets, operating plans, prior year actuals) for comparisons, and are they used within the organization to motivate improved performance?   Are meaningful and specific financial “responsibility” reports available down to the lowest operating manager?  And does each operating manager understand the financial levers and drivers within their control?

Exception reporting is just one way to reduce the information overload.  There are, of course, many others.  For example, reporting on activities is not useful, but reporting on outcomes can be.  This next week, take on this challenge:  With each financial report you see, assess its value to you; ask yourself how often you’ve taken actions based on this report in the past and what actions you should take now based on the information presented.  Based on your answers, you might eliminate the report, modify the format, change the frequency, or mentally increase its importance to you as management tool. 

Rod Everhart Acrelic Group, Rapid Operating Improvements and Freeing Up Cash Acrelic Group, Financial, Financial Reporting, Information, Information Overload

Revenue growth is the driver for all business. The Acrelic Group team will explore many facets and approaches to enhancing revenue. Over the next several weeks, I want to share thoughts on Account Management.

Over many years I have watched companies, large and small, invest millions upon millions of dollars to acquire new B-2-B customers (clients) … we call it selling. Some do it better than others, but everyone does it. And there are plenty of consultants with methodologies out there to help improve the sales process and sales success. There are equally enough Sales Force Automation products to keep track of every contact, prospect, activity, and pipeline. This is good! It’s how we grow; and we all have learned that if we are not growing we are declining.

My pet peeve however, is that after all the sweat, heartache, energy and money spent on acquiring the next “important” customer, many organizations will just turn over the hard earned relationships and trust to their operations or delivery side. Yes the delivery folks are professional and yes they will treat the customer with respect. But, their job is to deliver; whether it’s a complex computer system, or call center or a trucking route, the operations people are held accountable to deliver the products and services on time and within budget with the highest quality that the company can provide. Often they are not trained nor incented to care for the client (customer), at a macro level. They have more important things to do, and enough issues to resolve in just delivering what was sold.

Oft en the result is that the next time the customer is ready to make a purchase, they will restart the buy process and view their existing supplier the same or worse than they view the new prospective suppliers. The supplier who invested all that energy, sweat and tears to become the supplier of choice is relegated to the pack and asked to respond to an RFP following all the rules and jumping through all the same hoops.

There is a way to prevent this. I wish I had a sexy name for it, but we just call it Account Management. Account Management is a science (with methodologies and rules) and can be taught. It’s also a bit of art that depends on experience, culture and motivation. It is, none-the-less, an important business practice. Why? Because through effective account management, the business will keep those hard earned customers … those ASSETS … longer, and earn more revenue and profit from the relationship.

ASSETS … you are asking? Most accountants will tell you your assets are on your balance sheet, and will develop many ways to track them. Many HR pros will tell you your assets are in your key people and will have many ways to develop and keep them. Your legal staff will tell you that your key assets are in your Intellectual Property, and will develop all kinds of agreements and legal tools to keep them safe. All true. But your customers are equally your asset and one of your biggest.

Over the next several months, I will explore Account Management as a key business tool in this blog. I invite you to share your thoughts and experiences on the subject. Account Management is only one part of an overall approach to pursuing rapid revenue improvement for any firm, yet I believe it can be a key source of revenue for most companies.

Ted Ehling Rapid Revenue and Profit Improvements Account Management, Acrelic Group, B2B, Revenue Growth, Sales, Sales Methodologies