Interview with VKW Limburg, for VKW magazine. March 2024

That question touches the essence of account management, according to Erik Houben, founder and managing partner of 4Result. He has 40 years of experience in sales and leadership, supporting companies in account management and solution selling.

In the Account Management masterclass at VKW Academy, he teaches you the tricks of the trade. Here is a preview.

It is sometimes said: you get the customers you deserve. Do you agree?

“Let me first clear up a common misunderstanding: apart from bad payers, there are no bad customers. There are, however, unprofitable service models. This means you must approach the clientele that fits your company. Proper customer segmentation is the first pillar of successful sales management. Often, this is not sufficiently thought through, causing salespeople to shoot at almost anything that passes by. The company then has to bend over backwards to meet the customer’s wishes. The result: a mountain of frustration, unnecessary costs, and a significant loss of energy.

“The core of successful sales remains the personal connection with the customer and understanding their unique needs.”

If only 1 in 10 sales conversations leads to a deal, something is wrong. With good segmentation and a powerful commercial approach, you should achieve a score of 1 in 3 to 1 in 5, depending on the turbulence in your market. To find out which customer type best fits your company, you must know your own DNA. Where do your strengths and weaknesses lie as a company? What is your strategic market position? Which type of customer can you serve most efficiently? Regularly engage with your customers about what they value, what they find redundant, and what they miss. Adjust accordingly and thus increase your loyal customer base. That is your most important asset.”

How do you establish a sustainable customer relationship and become a trusted business partner?

“Everything depends on the added value you offer your customer. To be seen as a problem solver, you must immerse yourself in the structure, operations, and challenges of your customer. Your focus is on helping to find the right sustainable solution. A step further is realizing a strong bond of trust. But you will only grow into a trusted business partner if you are focused on optimizing the ‘lifetime value’ of the customer. You understand your customer’s world and respond optimally to their needs. They trust that they will find what they need with you. That is not easy, because trust arrives on foot and leaves on horseback. Furthermore, your relationship must be aimed at increasing your customer’s comfort. They must feel that you are working together with them on tomorrow’s challenges and that they learn something in every conversation with you. Permanently improving customer comfort is only possible if your company is customer-oriented rather than product-oriented. Customer-centric thinking and acting starts with the business owner and is supported by the entire organization.”

If you could give business leaders one piece of advice, what would it be?

“According to Tracey’s strategy model, a company must be the best in at least one of these three factors to remain successful: product leadership, customer intimacy, and operational excellence. Today, you must score well on all three factors, but I see customer intimacy becoming more important every day. I expect this to be the defining factor over the next 15 years. Making a difference through innovation is becoming increasingly difficult because your products or services can be copied quickly and easily today. Due to the digital evolution, it is also becoming easier to produce efficiently. In short: all these solutions can be bought and are accessible to everyone. But the quality, competencies, and motivation of your team cannot be copied. Customer loyalty ensures a sustainable lead over your competitors and brings the most security and profitability to your company.”

And that remains human work? Or will artificial intelligence take over more and more sales tasks?

“Technology makes processes more efficient and AI is a great tool, but the core of successful sales remains the personal connection with the customer and understanding their unique needs. No chatbot can compete with that. There is also always a likability factor required. First, I have to buy into you before I even want to buy a product or service from you.”