Last post, I wrote about the need to go broad and deep during an enterprise sales cycle. Lots of people get involved in an enterprise purchase, and a seller needs to ferret them all out and work the room, or risk some unknown actor vetoing the deal.
Once the deal is done, and it moves into implementation and ultimately when the platform is launched, the list of characters changes, but the need to discover and manage the new collection of actors is just as important. Post-sale, we meet the front line participants, and we get to know who can sign-off on the implementation, but that doesn’t mean we know all of the influencers that will determine the success or failure of the launch.
The worst message is when our contact tells us that some other group or person has decided to cancel our contract. It typically means we did not have a complete picture of what was driving all of the players, and we did not make our case broadly enough. Equally disturbing is when our primary contact goes silent and we don't know who else to contact in order to determine what is going on. We need to know everyone.
Typically, once a new platform is licensed, the customer’s implementation team includes individuals that were not part of the selection process, and individuals that really wanted to buy a different product. The budget maker (see my prior post) had a vision for what the solution would deliver, but their vision and the reality of what the product can actually do are not always aligned. Maybe they were over-sold, or maybe they just filled in blanks by imagining how the product worked without validating its capabilities. In any event, the implementation team is now tasked with attempting to fulfill the vision.
The vendor needs to have a meaningful handoff from the seller to the implementation team, and it is equally important to manage the account to ensure that there is a similar structured interaction between the buyer/visionary and the customer team that will implement and manage the solution. It is up to the vendor to be the glue to force communication among all parties, and resolve challenges and conflicts. In a recurring revenue business, the value of a sale is typically realized in the years following sale, so the vendor needs to make sure the solution sticks, to avoid dreaded churn.
The best approach to manage this situation is to create an account plan that spans a full year (or longer) from the date of purchase. When the deal is signed, all of the parties are engaged and happy, so this is the ideal moment to document the goals and expectations, and gather commitments for ongoing engagement. The plan will clearly identify what to expect and when.
In every complex enterprise implementation, something is going to go bump in the night. There will be product limitations and tensions will arise. People will get pulled in different directions, commitments will be missed, and tempers will flare. The full team needs to be prepared so that everyone knows what to expect. There is a grocery chain in Connecticut called Stew Leonards, and in front of every store there is a carved granite block that says “Rule #1 — The customer is always right. Rule #2 — If the customer is ever wrong, reread Rule #1” When things go off the rails during implementation, the vendor will always take the blame, regardless of who was actually at fault —Rule #1. However, a proper account plan will help to mitigate blame and provide communication paths to defuse volatile situations.
An account plan has several elements. The first is a set of goals and measurements of success. We need to be clear about what everyone expects. Next is the timeline of what will take place when. This is more than the project plan for implementation and rollout, although that is a critical element. The plan should include a communication cadence, and a schedule of account reviews and meetings to take place throughout the year. There is always a hierarchy game afoot in an enterprise account relationship. Doers talk with doers, managers talk with managers, and executives talk with executives. Understanding the hierarchy dynamics is important, and the senior members of the vendor team need to own their responsibility to build rapport with their customer counterparts. An executive to executive relationship can be critical to defusing problems that occur lower in the hierarchy. The account plan needs to recognize this dynamic and the right people need to be scheduled to attend the right meetings.
I suggest weekly or monthly account meetings with the front-line teams, quarterly meetings with senior managers, and semi-annual meetings with executives. It is important to agree to the meetings up front and get them on everyone’s calendar right at the start of the project — particularly the executives. While the execs are still engaged, you can get them to commit to reconnect six and twelve months later, and you can lock the meetings onto their busy schedules. Best practice is to designate the first executive briefing to focus on the client’s satisfaction, wins, challenges, wants and desires. The second meeting, approximately 4-6 months later, should be more focused on the vendor’s roadmap to demonstrate that the vendor listened to the needs and wants and desires, and responded with product growth. The second meeting is the vendor’s showcase, and is intended to earn the license renewal.
In addition to defining the players and the schedule of activities and meetings, the account plan needs to identify responsibilities. The best tool is a Responsibility Assignment Matrix or RACI chart. RACI stands for: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed. Every major task or milestone will have a collection of people associated with it, and a RACI chart clearly defines their roles. A task is assigned to the Responsible person or persons to get it done, and they actually do the work. The Accountable person is typically in a leadership role, and there is only one person per task. They oversee the Responsible person(s), and they are accountable to the organization for the project. There may be many people who are Consulted and asked for input, and there may be many people that are Informed of decisions and progress. [for a thorough discussion see https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/raci-chart/ ]
Most teams focus on identifying the Responsible and Accountable people. I suggest that the most important people to identify in the account plan are who should be Informed, and who can add value if Consulted. Clearly identify the executives and senior managers that need to be kept in the loop and informed, and document a routine communication plan that they accept at the start of the project. When the entire team knows and agrees to a communication schedule, there is a permission structure for publishing achievements and missed commitments so there are no surprises. Too often, when there is no routine communication to the upper levels of management, if a problem arises it is the first they hear of it, and the vendor is thrown way under the bus. An account plan can avoid this catastrophic outcome by defining the flow and frequency of project information.
Identifying the individuals that should be Consulted is important because their knowledge may help guide the project to success. Ignore them at your peril because they are usually vocal in the form of “if anyone had asked me, I would have told them that was the wrong direction…” These are the folks with institutional knowledge, and usually they have considerable informal influence. The account plan needs to rope them into the mix.
The bottom line is that post-sale success takes a village. The key is to create a comprehensive plan for the account and diligently build buy-in from all of the members of the village. Use the plan to formalize commitments from senior managers and executives to remain involved. Document a communication calendar and cadence in the plan to avoid surprises. An account plan incorporates the implementation project schedule, but must go way beyond the initial projects and extend throughout the year and beyond to ensure ultimate customer success and contract renewal.