In addition to that critical dynamic of account ownership, it makes the
most sense to put the most seasoned and highly trained members of the sales
force on those accounts that are the most profitable. There is also the
fact that in these larger accounts the purchasing decisions are more
complex, require a greater breadth of support across the product lines, and
are often project-based in scope. All of these reasons underscore the need
for personalized service.
What Ken Sutton needs to do is to explain to the new CEO that online
ordering works best for low-margin, high-volume orders, precisely the kind
of orders 80% of customers are ordering online today. He needs to further
explain that in order to maintain the top 20% of accounts significant face-
time is needed, and the customers aren't just interested in transactions,
they want service as well. In fact many of the top 20% of customers are
most likely using the products purchased from G. W. Pergault to complete
their own MRO projects internally as well. In addition, given the volume
and complexity of orders, many times these top 20%...
Going to a purely automated approach for
this top 20% of customers is in fact inviting competitors willing to invest
in personal relationships to invade and take market share in these key
accounts away from the company. If G. W. Pergault does not manage these top
accounts with personalized service, their competitors will. Ken Sutton
needs to define a private portal approach to give customers the opportunity
to complete common online tasks like smaller orders, tracking shipments and
returns, stock balancing, and a series of other tasks, yet the portal needs
to be positioned as a sales tool to help the sales managers in the
accounts. These portals need to be considered as tools to increase
customer satisfaction, not drop the cost per transaction. Finally, ken
Sutton needs to tell the CEO, that in addition to all these factors, the
sales managers have no sense of ownership around this new initiative, and
that in defining service portals for each customers, the sales managers
