I need a plan for the biggest threat to my key account before it shows up.

I need a plan for the biggest threat to my key account before it shows up.

Many key accounts face one threat that could change everything: a price challenge, a new competitor, a lost executive. The best time to plan the response is long before anyone raises it.

Five questions to see if your team can do this job today:

1. Does your team know the single biggest threat to your key account?
2. Has your team prepared its response to that threat before it arrives?
3. Is your team building proof today that shows what happens to the client if you're replaced?
4. Do your executives, your champions and the client's own people back your case?
5. Can your team connect its pricing to the service, speed and quality that pricing funds?

Two or more no's, and your biggest threat may arrive before your answer does.

Several years ago, an active customer came to me and asked that I drop our rates by 10%. No RFP. No bid defense. She threatened that if we did not, they would not renew our contract and would suspend utilization of our service. That meant a reduction of our annual revenue by $3M.

The answer I gave her was a polite "no."

The difference between the other vendors and me was that I had already prepared to say no to a price decrease a year earlier. I knew how we would respond to any request as long as we could demonstrate how vital we were to the account's success.

The only way to show someone you're vital to them is to show them what happens when you are no longer their partner. That case has to be built well before you can successfully defend your pricing, margins, and volume.

By then, we had air cover from executives, champions selling on our behalf, five-star client feedback, and account teams working in complete unity across all 5 client locations. She came into this process with one data point: a 10% drop in price. We came into it with many proof points as to why the partnership is working as is and what happens when that changes.

We protected 10% of our gross margin and ultimately became their #1 supplier.

Pricing power is built before the pricing conversation ever happens.

Our system, the Vitality Index, shows your key account teams where they stand today, the work it takes to level up, and how to do it, until they reach a vital partnership that lasts.

What is the biggest threat to your key account, and when did your team start planning for it?

We built a free, 4-minute Key Account Risk Assessment. It gives you a risk score for your key accounts across team alignment, account planning, account transitions, and visibility. Link in the comments.