It’s Time to Tackle Your Underperforming Accounts

Every sales pro at every company has underperforming accounts. These are the accounts that:

• Like you
• Could buy more from you
• Have some barriers in place, but they are NOT insurmountable

Take a minute and jot down all the accounts that come to mind where you can see upside opportunities for revenue, such as:

• Selling to new buyers within the department in which you are already getting business
• Selling to other departments that buy
• Approaching the account from a different angle, such as working to position yourself as a single source or the preferred vendor

Before we get too far, let’s start by looking at what I consider insurmountable barriers, so we start this discussion on the same page. If the customer buys products from a family member or a top executive’s family member, that is a mighty high wall to climb.

Another uncrackable barrier exists when you sell a product or service, but your company is misaligned with the customer’s business goals. For example, you have one centralized location, and the customer demands multiple locations and regional service coverage.

A contract with a competitor is an obvious barrier. Overcoming that requires long-term thinking and grit. But you have both, and tackling this challenge often results in big wins.

For this article, let’s focus on short-term growth. The obstacles to growing underperforming accounts are the same sales challenges you overcome daily.

Start with a Plan

The first step to growth in underperforming accounts is identifying accounts you believe could buy more with a focused sales effort and understanding why they are underperforming. Common reasons for falling short of revenue potential include:

• You aren’t selling to the right person
• The buyer doesn’t fully understand what you sell or why it can help
• Discovery is required to fully understand the buyer’s current situation, what they buy, why they buy it from the current vendor, and any pain points they currently have

Savvy sales pros can overcome any of these (at least sometimes), but where does it make sense to invest your time?

Set a specific goal for the additional product or service you want to sell. For example, let’s say your customer buys marketing collateral from you. You have a wide-format department and produce event displays. A long-time customer participates in tradeshows but has never purchased a booth backer or banner stand from you. In this situation, your specific goal is to sell them a tradeshow display.

Execute Your Plan

Time is money for sales pros, so start by picking the low-hanging fruit.

• If you have a great relationship with a top executive who could be willing to share the “lay of the land,” or even coach you to a win, talk to them first
• If your client would be willing to give you an introduction to a potential buyer in another department, ask for help
• If the buyer won’t or can’t introduce you, ask if they are willing to serve as a reference

Once you have picked the low-hanging fruit, focus on the accounts with high potential but no easy path to success. In either case, decide how to tackle the account and get started.

Set Goals and Follow-Up

Everyone in sales gets lucky occasionally. For example, a buyer you don’t know well — or don’t know at all — experiences one-too-many quality, delivery, or service issues with your competitor. They complain to their co-worker, who happens to buy from you. Your customer sings your praises. The unhappy buyer emails you. You meet. They buy. It’s a win for you.

This also happens. You uncover a new buyer at an existing customer, reach out telling them you are already a vendor, and they ignore you. You can still win if you consistently touch the buyer, demonstrate value, track progress, and don’t expect an easy victory.

Inadequate follow-up is one of the biggest reasons why salespeople in all selling situations don’t win, whether they are selling to new prospects or long-time customers.

The best-of-the-best sales pros make follow-up their daily priority because they know these actions demonstrate to a potential buyer their importance.