If you’re like me you’ve been having Thanksgiving leftovers in some form or fashion from a leftover turkey dinner to turkey sandwiches, turkey omelets, turkey tacos and even turkey casserole. For some reason we want to make that turkey lasts as long as possible. It’s not just the taste of it, as turkey is far from the most flavorful meat. I think it is more the feeling of Thanksgiving – the feeling of having friends and family near and the impending Christmas season. Somehow each meal, which is built around the leftover carvings from that turkey, gives us the same warm feeling sense of togetherness we felt on the real Thanksgiving.

Going back to work, I can’t help but wonder what would the “Thanksgiving turkey” represent for me. Now thinking about it, without a doubt it would be a large customer. There are so many similarities…. And here are the top 4 I can think of….

1. Growing up I remember the most stressful part was clearly cooking the turkey. Turkeys do not have a lot of fat and so it is easy to overcook them. It is also hard to get flavor down into the meat and to crisp up the skin. People would always be nervously circling the oven – do we check again with the thermometer? Do we baste it now? Should we cover it with tin foil? That’s exactly the kind of stress and nervous energy I see B2B companies displaying when they are trying to reel in a large, strategic customer. Rather than having a dedicated team with set processes – most companies try to wing it (no pun intended). Should we be calling their CEO? Should we have another demo? Did anybody talk to purchasing? Do we know where the DFO used to work? As you can imagine that frantic, last-minute running around aimlessly is rarely successful – with turkeys or large customers.
   
   
2. At Thanksgiving time everyone always wants to know about the turkey. “How big is it this year – a 15 pounder? You going to try and deep fry it this year? Is it farm raised?” That level of interest reminds me of when I used to be courting a large, strategic account and everyone around me was asking how big the deal was, when was it going to close, what they were going to buy, etc. Every B2B company loves a big customer win just as much as they love a big turkey being brought to the table on Thanksgiving. There is a collective feeling of positive energy and when the deal closes, a collective win. That creates momentum that increases the confidence of the whole sales team which leads to more closed deals. Unfortunately, the reverse is true as well. Companies hunting large customers the same way they do small ones, without a defined plan for strategic accounts, usually end up losing to more prepared and deliberate competitors.
   
   
3. I remember growing up watching my dad take out the shiny, silver carving set that we saved each year for the holidays. I watched him carve piece after piece (and curse when he couldn’t cut through the bone). I waited and waited until I was old enough to carve the turkey and after a few lessons from my dad, I am now able to deliver everyone a solid, uniform slice of turkey. That’s really the way you need to think about strategic sales. Your marketing and sales team need to be prepared and dedicated to land large accounts. The process is different, the sales and marketing materials are different, and the team should be different. For most companies, however, one size fits all and they don’t dedicate sales or marketing staff to hunt for large customers. Essentially, they let everyone carve their own slice of turkey which leads to one hacked up looking carcass!!
   
   
4. As I mentioned above having leftovers of the turkey are almost better than the original Thanksgiving dinner. The turkey really becomes the gift that keeps on giving as people get more and more creative with ways to insert turkey into their everyday meals. That’s the same way you will fee about a large customer win! Not only do you enjoy the immediate satisfaction of adding a large client to our roster, but your sales team will find creative ways to insert that customer name into everyday conversations with prospective clients. Your marketing team will think up new and innovative ways to incorporate the new case study into marketing collateral – brochures, announcements, webinars, etc. Your support and product teams will reassess their processes and make improvements in order to serve your new large customers. Just like your amazing turkey enchiladas, you will find many innovative ways to make that strategic customer last as long as you can.
   
   

So, there you have it – landing large, strategic accounts requires a different level of preparation and focus than your typical Thursday night dinner. It requires a dedicated team that approaches sales and marketing differently – focused on Relationship, Reputation and of course Revenue. This investment has proven to have the highest ROI of all sales and marketing investments. Book a free discussion so we can assess your current process and offer up some advice on how to turn your ”turkey” customers into a Thanksgiving feast.