80/20 RULE -WHY SOME ACCOUNTS ARE WORTH MORE TIME THAN OTHERS
When Building relationships with accounts, always keep in mind:
- It takes time- nothing will happen overnight, so take your time and make incremental progress.
- It should be mutually beneficial.
- Every buyer is different- So be prepared to adjust your approach based on the buyer's personality type.
- Build relationships with all the staff. This week's barback is next week's head bartender.
- Be Generous - With your time and your help.
One of your main goals when visiting accounts should be to build relationships & drive advocacy for your Brand.
Doing this begins with providing value to your customers above and beyond your brand. This is called the "Law of Reciprocity."
The Law of Reciprocity:
# 1 rule is never to look at your accounts as just transactions.
The best way to build relationships is to be genuinely interested in providing value to them. By providing value, you will receive value in return. This takes time, so be patient.
#2 Your product is not Unique on its own.
What is unique is the services you provide to them above and beyond. They can be tangible or intangible; the point is that this will put you one step above the competition, and in turn, the client will reciprocate by remaining loyal to us.
What expertise do you have that can help them?
- Connections
- Resources
- Education
- Special skillsets
We dive deeper into this below.
#3 Help your customer, compliment your customer, listen to your customer, and value your customer.
Even if you believe potential customers will probably not buy from you, it never hurts to offer something of value.
Though your effort may not be repaid immediately with a purchase of your brand, the law of reciprocity states that your generosity or help will eventually be repaid.
The Law of Reciprocity Begins With You!
THE 80/20 RULE
Not all customers are created equal!!
The Law of Repricocity is a fact. Second, you cannot spend the same amount with every customer. The good news is you do not have to!!
As you begin working with accounts, you will start to see:
- Which customers want to work with you.
- Which ones are a waste of time.
- Which ones will drive volume & which ones will not.
The 80/20 rule dictates that 20% of your accounts will drive 80% of your volume!
This means if you have 30 accounts, six will do the most considerable numbers.
What this means for you is that you should not beat yourself up over the accounts that are not performing as well. Not every account is going to be a winner! Instead, use that energy to focus on the accounts that want to work with you and are willing and able to give you incredible returns for your effort.
*This does not mean ignoring the rest. It just means to be conscientious of where you spend your time and money.