Expanding existing accounts

George Haywood

I am in a position where I have inherited 3 spending accounts. All 3 accounts should spend at least 5x more with us based on their business and how we can support their initiatives etc.

A large part of my plans for next year is expanding these accounts, and i have put together some compelling reasons why they should at least engage with us outside of the current use cases.

Now, the logical step would be to run these plans by my champion, sense check and ask to be introduced to the relevant teams within the organisation - BUT, i don't have any champions in these accounts yet - They are all inherited contacts, and are all 'hugging' my solution a bit meaning asking them for referrals is proving slow to yield results.

Has any body been in a similar position? If so, how did you negate the situation and open the conversation up into other teams within the org?

Thanks for any help/advice in advance!

John Boney

HI @George Haywood, great question as navigating accounts you have inherited can be challenging based on how the previous rep left them.

My experience when inheriting accounts/contacts from a previous seller is to do the following: First, if the rep is still around or left on good terms, try and have an thorough transition or knowledge transfer. It doesn't sound like this is the case for your situation. In the event I can't smoothly transition, I'm going to gain as much insight as I can from information within the CRM, others that were involved with the client (pre/post sales teams) that may have been engaged. If those are both not options, I am going to treat this a new client and begin to navigate through the organisation meeting with the appropriate people to share the compelling reasons you have put together that align to the business problems while trying to ID Champions within the account(s).

My last suggestion is to ensure you work with the sales leadership team to ensure that there is a process in place to transition clients when someone leaves the organisation. In today's business environment, there are a lot of people moving from one company to another, having a smooth transition is critical so you don't upset the client or put them in the middle of the changes.

I hope this helps in your approach to your new, inherited clients. I will look forward to hearing the success that you have with them.

Rachel Clapp Miller

This is a great question @George Haywood and great insights @John Boney !

George Haywood

Thanks @John Boney - Appreciate it

Ill let you know how i get on

Rachel Clapp Miller

@George Haywood - We just published a podcast on this topic and I wanted to make sure you saw it! https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/Explore?post=action-steps-for-inheriting-new-accounts

Gavin Weitendorf

This makes sense. Trying to build a relationship and gain knowledge as quickly as possible is always a good thing to do when you are first starting a new job.