The Account Assessment

Documentation, reporting, tracking — all items on the salesperson's “I don't want to do list.” Just getting a salesperson to complete a weekly call report is a challenge for most managers. They just don't want to do the paperwork!

But the need for completing a comprehensive account assessment is vital to understanding your accounts and tracking the progress of these relationships.

As you develop each account assessment, include these 10 basic items:

1. An organizational chart. Ask your customer for an organizational chart of their office, agency or department. This will tell you where they fit into the overall structure of the business, who they report to and the names of others in the organization who may have the same job responsibilities.

2. Key contacts. Obtain all contact information including your customer's office phones, e-mail address and pagers. Ask how they prefer to be contacted. Ask if there is another person to talk to if you are unable to reach them. If information about their birthday ever comes up, include this in your assessment as well. (You never know when a birthday card might help your business.)

3. Products presently ordered. Ask about the products your customer most frequently orders and possibly from whom. You want to understand not only what they order but also how frequently.

4. Previous problems. If you are going to be the customer's provider of choice, you want to know about any problems they have experienced in obtaining products and locating what they needed for their patients. Many referral sources are eager to offer a list of problems they have encountered to make sure these issues do not happen again.

5. The referral source's most important requirements when working with a home care provider. Learn about your customer's service requirements and what they expect from your company. Are they looking for a company that opens early in the morning or has Saturday hours? Do they want an order-intake form to speed the ordering process?

6. Special requirements, such as follow-up or utilization reports. Does the account expect a follow-up report regarding each delivery? Can you play a role in helping them meet accreditation requirements or in their efforts to determine what happened to a patient after being discharged from service?