CSO Insights reports that sales cycles in existing accounts are at least 50% shorter than new accounts. This is a huge savings in the cost of sales and marketing investment in return for greater profitability and revenue growth. But, when asked to share their top priority, sales and marketing often cite filling the funnel with more leads and capturing new accounts.
Even though revenue derived from existing customers accounts for 70.1% of total results, CSO Insights also reports that there’s not a strong ability to expand business in existing accounts, with 54.9% of companies reporting a gap in penetrating new business units or cross-selling/upselling. Studies from Gartner and others show that 82% of B2B buyers are indifferent with their current provider, disengaged or actively looking to replace their vendor.
In working with SaaS, SCM tech (WMS/TMS/ERP), IT implementation firms and 3PLs, we learned that the challenge lies with silos and the traditional hand-off between sales, marketing, and account/customer success teams. In rare instances do the three departments work together with shared common goals and metrics and execute jointly to win, protect and expand specific accounts. This provides a great growth opportunity for the teams to work together to not only identify the best margin and revenue growth opportunities but also help named customers “see” how you help them solve business problems in a way that increases their loyalty.
RGL Logistics is an example of how “must keep” accounts were protected and how “must grow” accounts were expanded by aligning sales, marketing, and customer success teams and focusing on the complete account experience.
Account-Based Enablement Protects At-Risk Fortune 25 Accounts Like P&G….
P&G (a long-time client of a regional 3PL located in Green Bay, WI that specializes in DC management, WMS & TMS) was a customer that our client looked to grow. The accounts team drove discussions at the Director level. But it was about the activities that were being completed and general “benefits” – and not about the gaps that were filled and how it positively impacted operations, finance, employees, and customers.
Because accounts were not having the right customer conversations that were supported by case studies, content, and messaging that proved “unique value” gained and where future opportunities lay, the team was not able to drive top-to-bottom engagement. They could not get access to the VPs and the CXO that Ryder (a larger, national competitor that operated the DC in Green Bay while RGL operated the warehouse) had close relationships with. Three years of having the wrong conversations led P&G to caution our client that the company would most likely move to the larger, lower-cost national provider. This was our client’s biggest customer with the greatest revenue growth potential, and they were about to lose it!
RGL Needed to Change the Sales and Marketing Conversation to Reduce Churn and Capture Revenue
RGL’s teams were like most commercial leaders (nearly 60%) who saw no need to take a different approach between customer acquisition and customer retention and expansion. More than half believe the same provocative messages they use when communicating with new prospects are still applicable in a renewal scenario. But studies from Corporate Visions and others show that customer retention conversations require an entirely different approach – especially when you have to defend the relationship, reinforce your value and highlight the reasons why you are the safest choice.
When it comes to retention, you need to realign with key stakeholders. Most customer success teams focus on adoption, utilization, satisfaction and problem/resolution and they lose track of the metrics and goals that decision-makers actually care about. If teams do not show existing accounts how staying – and potentially buying from you is the safest move, they’re more vulnerable to your competitor’s disruptive messages, as was the case with P&G. They were looking toward Ryder as they did not feel safe and assured that they’re already working with a partner who can help them solve new challenges as they arise.
To overcome the relationship gap with the much larger competitor, the team decided to involve sales & take a personal approach to marketing.
This began with looking across each touchpoint that our client can have with key decision makers and influencers and seeing where we can increase relevance and have P&G acknowledge gaps filled and the impact.
This included the LinkedIn profile of their SVP of Sales and Marketing, which went from a resume-looking profile to a tool where P&G would see:
• How 50% of 3PLs under-leverage the warehouse, distribution center, and transportation as they focus on costs rather than growth (a key differentiator).
• 14+ years of tenure at P&G that demonstrates that she understands their business, operations, and culture.
• Stories that are relevant to P&G, such as how segmented visibility resulted in Ryder making suggestions that would slow inventory turns by 50% and put 40% of direct ships at risk for P&G. She didn’t just make claims – she proved how other 3PLs focus on costs instead of getting a strong and accurate measure of how each part of the supply chain impacts each other and their customers’ growth. And, she proved how it impacted P&G personally.
Rather than being a credibility tool, case studies were designed for the conversations that sales and accounts teams needed to have with P&G leadership.
RGL Logistics moved away from the traditional case study that provides a quick synopsis of the client’s challenge, the activities that were completed and generic benefits. The case study discussed why there were supply chain challenges in the first place at P&G, why there were gaps and how our client was the only 3PL that would have filled those gaps (making the competition irrelevant!)
The case study was built for a conversation that showed the impact on On-Time, In Full Delivery that our client had (a key focus area) and the total value achieved in addition to where the future opportunity lies. Backed by stories, the purchasing manager decided it was time to reconsider buying habits. This led to an intro with P&G’s Director and the VP decision makers, where stories were further validated to prove the case on hard costs vs. soft costs (and risk versus growth).
RGL Logistics needed to consider P&G’s frame of mind during renewal conversations. They don’t currently feel the pain they felt before they chose your solution—they’re living in the “after-solution” state. So sharing quantified results will only put numbers to what they already know.
Numbers are helpful, but they aren’t enough to sway your customer on an emotional level. RGL needed to remind them what life was like before their solution. They needed to help P&G visualize the gap between before and after and remind them of the negative impacts they avoided by choosing RGL in the first place. P&G needed that emotional element that numbers cannot provide alone.
The team had on-demand content for the conversations that sales and accounts teams needed to have with P&G.
For example, our client’s “On-Time, In Full” article showed P&G how manufacturers like Unilever (a key competitor to P&G) have low service performance to customer scores and how it will cost them 3% in profit margins. Within the article, we showed how shipment delays are not just a transportation problem and it can be caused by how the warehouse and DC operates. Three out of the 6 stories that prove it’s not just a transportation problem were based on the challenges faced at the P&G plant and DC that our client directly fixed.
Our client’s “Total Value” article was created immediately after the buying committee mentioned that they wanted more than cost savings and that they were looking for increased efficiency, stronger KPI growth, improved customer experiences, and total supply chain value even though they didn’t know how to define it. Within the article, there are stories that demonstrate how most 3PLs have limited control over inventory turns even though there’s a 77% correlation between turns and profitability. We showed how 3PLs put cost over the customers of their manufacturing clients, which impacted service performance and organic growth. And, again most of the stories speak directly to P&G.
While the articles and content above and others we created for the RGL/P&G relationship can be used more broadly, it was first designed for the conversation that sales and accounts wanted to have with P&G. We even created a total supply chain value index and calculator that would help P&G define what they are looking for – and hold RGL accountable to delivering it.
The Team Needed Greater Account-Based Enablement to Protect P&G
RGL’s sales, marketing, and customer success teams needed account-based enablement where teams can get specific content, messaging, and insights for the struggling moments that sit at the center of every deal – moments that need to be listened to, understood, catered to, reframed and solved. We needed to enable their sellers, marketers, and customer success teams in the flow of their work so that they could respond to P&G with speed and precision no matter what obstacles or opportunities come their way.
We need to influence their social/email/digital and live “account retention” conversations, and the internal conversations that are happening behind closed doors. We needed to enable sellers and customer success teams to have the right interactions with the buyers and influencers in the organization that they do not yet have relationships with. They needed account-based insights and personal content that earned sales and customer success teams a conversation and the right for the C-suite and VPs to engage and get involved in the buying, renewal, or expansion process.
In working with RGL and others, we learned that customer success and sales teams need to know what content to use, when to use it, and how to deliver the right message across the organization. And, that is not automated sequences in Sales Loft or Outreach. Teams need to know how to deliver high-touch, personal 1:1 messages and content that shows how you are aligned with their business vision, you understand their specific gaps and how it would impact the key decision makers teams are trying to reach – as well as their department and the company as a whole.
Because RGL Took an Account-Based Approach to Protect P&G…
- P&G went from cautioning that the company will most likely move to the larger, lower-cost national provider (Ryder) for both the DC and the warehouse to awarding RGL Logistics with the complete Green Bay location.
- They awarded new e-commerce businesses without an RFP or bid process. They are also in conversations to expand the contract further across the Green Bay location – and other P&G sites.