Strategic Alliances Fieldbook newsletter #20 - Key Account Programme

Co-selling is bringing the best of each organisations capability in front of a client, and its key to a thriving alliance.? But what does good look like? This month I’ve chosen an except from the book describing an approach to prioritising clients to meet together that we call the Key Account Programme

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As an important part of a joint GTM plan, the key account programme is worth jumping into in some detail. The process of agreeing which companies to approach and getting the distinct cultures of the PS and tech account teams to gel and work effectively is a ‘hot spot’ for all alliances. On a great day, the two teams pick an account, confirm the alliance is relevant, produce a compelling joint proposal and move seamlessly into delivery. On a bad day, there will be a year of misunderstandings and distrust before someone throws the towel in on attempting to work together on that account. A market approach to high volumes of medium-size companies will have a very different complexion to one targeting a small number of large enterprises. The former will need to be heavily data and marketing led to generate leads. The latter will be very reliant on a robust process for insight sharing and interaction between the account teams.

As an example of targeting enterprise accounts, below is a simple version of an approach the authors have found works when applied in a structured way. Given the very high value of fast and effective account planning, developing your own version is something we recommend. The first step to originate opportunities is to select the target accounts. As suggested earlier in Chapter 3, we’ve found a clear selection criterion to kick off with is helpful in ensuring accounts being nominated make sense for both parties, and most importantly, the potential end customer. A few steps to select the accounts that we’ve called profiling are illustrated in Figure 8.4.

?Assuming it’s a central alliances team doing the nominating, the next step is some internal validation from the account teams to see if they will support targeting their account. If they do, we’ve found a high-level summary of information about the account (we’ve called it an account discovery form) helps with an introduction call. A handful of bullet points exchanged before the account teams talk does wonders for building a bit of trust in reciprocal information sharing and getting the conversation started. It also gives a bit of substance to an agenda to know what the talking points should be. The account introduction call must involve the most senior leaders for the account or someone specifically delegated for that purpose. Research calls with other account team members is useful, but their opinion is not always a reliable predictor of whether the account leadership will endorse the alliance approaching their client. Final step, assuming the two account teams wish to proceed, is the alliance team confirming that the target is still a priority account, and importantly that the chemistry of the account teams feel compatible (Figure 8.5).? When an account is confirmed as a priority key account, the next step will be a joint account workshop with multiple members of the account team, as shown in Figure 8.6.

?The objective of the joint account meeting is to compare notes and explore in detail how the customer stakeholders are likely to react to the value proposition and agree how to approach them. With a plan agreed to introduce the alliances offering, the account teams need to make contact and test if the idea feels relevant to stakeholders in the suspect account. Of course, it could immediately fall out of the process if the feedback is ‘no thanks’! Assuming there is some interest and the account is confirmed as a prospect, the most predictable way for both parties to move forwards is a joint meeting with the client. If that goes well, get the opportunity in the CRM pipeline and set off in pursuit!

We’ve seen all the permutations possible for the tech and PS companies to make substantial contact with the suspect client, and a well-prepared, three-way meeting with a tangible idea is by far the most effective. Of course, there will have been a few contacts before any three-way meeting led by whoever knows the customer stakeholders the best to test their interest. Beware of one of the alliance partners continuing meetings without the other for extended periods though. If the alliance is a genuine combination of value, the prospect will likely have to experience first-hand that combination to feel it. Too many times the authors have witnessed an account team member having a tentative qualification conversation with a prospect, and through lack of confidence withdrawing too early to declare that the offering is not relevant. A three-way meeting gives the prospect first-hand exposure to the whole alliance. Importantly, it’s also received as a signal of trustworthiness by both alliance partners that they are sharing contact with the client and there are no hidden conversations. For the alliance, it’s also a sign of commitment, in the sense that the PS and tech firms have indicated a preference in working together that is visible to the prospect. Whilst this is a bit of a ‘line in the sand’, it’s by no means permanent. The prospect may request swapping one of the parties in the alliance, and that’s a legitimate reason to qualify out and re-engage with a different consortium.

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