Flooring provider Shaw Industries, Inc.’s “Surround the Account” program was developed as a coaching tool to drive consistent behavior in the field and to connect field sales to more decision-makers and influencers. “Surround the Account” aims to:
- Drive marketing initiatives downstream to retail customers.
- Develop regional managers’ ability to coach territory managers’ performance.
- Keep the process simple, sustainable, and repeatable.
- Provide a common language for coaching and measurement for sales leaders.
To achieve these objectives, Shaw Learning Academy developed the “Surround the Account Coaching Plan” in conjunction with sales and marketing leadership. It involves four concepts:
- Plan
- Present
- Manage
- Maintain
Phase I involved a soft launch to a pilot group comprising regional managers, sales leadership, and marketing. A pilot group vetted the plan, and enhancements were made based on their feedback.
Phase II entailed a large-scale rollout to Shaw’s entire sales leadership to train the trainers. One hundred percent of Shaw’s residential sales team has been trained on Surround the Account. This group of 80 regional managers learned the process, practiced coaching through simulated exercises, and incorporated these concepts into writing their 2014 business plans.
Phase III continued to follow up by merging the coaching plan with detailed metrics via Varicent, an internal account management software. Here, salespeople can see live data on their accounts framed in the Surround the Account terminology of “Plan, Present, Manage, and Maintain.” This allows a salesperson to have a deeper discussion with customers about their year-to-date business and what products and services are most appropriate.
Results
Since launching Surround the Account, sales were up 5.62 percent in 2013 in a relatively flat market. In a short period of time, Surround the Account has become the standard language for coaching in sales at Shaw.
