The Challenge:
The Senior Vice President for Corporate Solutions for a Fortune 50 Health Care Company was charged with finding ways to provide their sales force with a selling advantage in the Acute Care (hospitals) market. The company had six separate sales groups - built around divisions - all calling on the same customers. Only one of these groups was charged with weaving together the products and services the company had to offer. The impact this structure
has to the business:

• <15% market share

• Fragmented coverage

• 1200 Acute Care Facilities had no formal coverage plan

• There was no common communication process for x Business Unit Sales

• An atmosphere of internal competition and bickering

• Exceeded Sales Rep: Customer ratio of the competition 2X

Customers were screaming about the company's "revolving door" of Sales Reps, especially since few displayed in-depth understanding of their business. Something had to be done to improve customer satisfaction, leverage the breadth of products and change the coverage model. A new Account Management Approach was needed.

The Solution:
The SVP asked us to design a process that would bring together key Marketing, Sales and Sales Support leaders from each division and geography to craft a solution that would ensure customer satisfaction, revenue and productivity goals. We set up a series of meetings, launched by the Chairman and personally led by the SVP Corporate Solutions to design and develop a fully integrated Account management approach for the Corporation.

Results:
The new Account Management approach was deployed in the form of a 'test pilot' at select hospitals representing different markets. Within a few months, here is what was delivered:

• A new sales process

• Newly defined roles, responsibilities and compensation

• Training and CRM tools

• A new value proposition and reworked market segmentation

Customer Satisfaction improved and economies of scale were found. Deeper customer relationships were cemented. The plan to scale the project to the breadth of the company was approved when the pilot concluded - less than 10 months after we initiated the project.