Inheriting Customers

5 action items to consider when inheriting customers or a territory

Most of us began our sales career by inheriting a set of customers in our sales territory. You signed on and were most likely given a list of customers to call on in your designated territory. In Ag, we are typically given a geographic territory.

The strange thing is that we often inherit these customers with little guidance on how to manage them: who to call on, who to ignore, or how to grow the business. Part of the reason can be that our managers may not know a lot about them. Maybe the previous salesperson was a long-term employee who retired and kept their customers closed off from the company. Maybe these customers are part of an acquisition and they are brand new to your company and to you.

Whatever the reason, we are challenged to venture out into the country and make the best out of our territory. With your time as your number one resource, it’s important to spend it wisely when given a large group of new customers.

Here are a few considerations as you approach these customers.

Current State: ABC…fine-tuned machine or total disaster

The very first thing to do is establish who is who. Obtain the most important sales data on them and segment into A-B-C performers. Most often this is total sales dollars, gross margin, net margin, unit sales, number of product lines they buy from you, accounts receivables and other terms you look at, etc.

Know who is paying the bills for this new list of customers. That doesn’t mean you are forgetting those that don’t. It just means you need to establish what is happening right now from a results stand point.

Along these same lines, determine whether this group of customers is a finely tuned machine or a total disaster. The reason for this determination is to decide how fast you need to make changes. If you inherit a group of customers that are high maintenance, spread all over the geography, making delivery difficult/costly, and typically are not staying current on their invoices, then you have a disaster on your hands. Your timeline to make changes is quick, like today. However, if you inherit a solid group of core customers from the previous competent salesperson, then you have time to listen and learn before implementing possible changes.

2. Alignment

With your Company: After determining a timeline, it’s important to step back and decide whether or not this group of customers is aligned with your current company’s Go-To-Market strategy. There are many ways to get our products out in the market: business to business, business to consumer, through a dealer or distributor network, through some form of on-line sales, and of course there are multiple ways these methods can be combined. Currently, your company has a go-to-market strategy. Does this group of customers fit into it? If not, how will they affect the rest of the company or your current customers?

With You: Use the same analysis you used to determine their alignment with your company on alignment with you. Maybe your company has multiple strategies, but you are solely focused on selling direct to large accounts. These new customers are selling through a dealer network. Not a fit for you. First discussion is with your manager. How will you divide your time and expertise? Is it worth your time and company time to develop both direct and dealer strategies? If not, can another salesperson step in?

Geographically: This is very important to your effectiveness as an Ag salesperson. Plot these new customers along with your current customers. This is also where your segmentation comes into play. Plot the “A” level customers first. Those are the priority for you to call on. Do they make sense from a drive time standpoint for you to call on them? If not, how will you work with them?

3. Sustainability (No, not that kind)

I’m referring to service level sustainability. Can you maintain the level of service based on your company and customer expectations?

I inherited a group of customers who were called on weekly by their salesperson. He retired and expected I would do the same. There was no way I could possibly do that. In addition, those weekly sales calls were mostly social visit discussions, not sales activities. We had to establish a new service level quickly with those customers to explain the new capabilities of sales calls.

4. SWOT:

If not familiar, SWOT analysis is when you list out the S-strengths, W-weaknesses, O-opportunities, and T-threats of anything you want to analyze.

You can do this with one of the inherited customers or all of them at once. At a minimum, take some time to run the top customers through it. Review this quick exercise with your sales manager and see what their thoughts are on it. It helps make sure you haven’t missed an opportunity, or overlooked a weakness/threat.

5. Transition planning:

Now that you compiled all this info, what to do with it? Review it, think on it, discuss it with your sales manager, let your sales manager discuss it with their manager, the marketing department, or the product line managers.

Then, develop a transition plan. Starting with your key accounts, “A” accounts. They will be the most sought after by your competition. So, they quickly need to be brought on board. Find out what they liked and didn’t like about the previous salesperson or company. Why did they buy from them? Then focus on going forward. What are their goals and how do you fit into them? What unique strengths do you bring to the table that can help move them towards their goals?

Best of luck as you begin a new journey with your new customers.