So your customer tells you that they are going to make only global decisions

But, is your global customer truly global? Or only providing procurement services for local companies? Have you scrutinized your customers real behavior? You better call the cards and adjust your operational model accordingly, to increase sales and stay competitive.

Horses for courses

Many companies have introduced Global Account programs in a blanket way. All global customers are treated the same way, global account managers are appointed and given the same, often unclear, responsibility and job description. This very often leads to conflicts where the local sales organization don´t want to accept any global steering, “my customer is making purchasing decisions locally”. Which they very well might do. Or not. At the same token the central customer organization might negotiate very favorable deals against vague market share commitments, but are not able to bend the arm on their local counterpart, who instead uses the global contract as the platform for their next local negotiation. Awarding business to whoever they like, not respecting HQ commitments.

The trick is to manage two things that may look simple, but are are hard in reality:

1. From a corporate perspective it is to scrutinize global customers and determine whether they genuinely are global. Can they implement a global decision in reality? Our experience is that many companies fail to understand the real decision power of their multi country customers.
2. When the global customer capability assessment is done, the challenge is to take the consequences of the conclusions and implement a more granular approach accordingly.

The first problem is just hard work, the second is more political. 

Today´s decision making is often unclear

Complex decision making today is less about WHO makes the final decision, instead it´s a question of understanding the customer´s key points of collaboration and coordination. Knowing who owns the P&L, understanding investment committees, voting procedures in RFP steering groups. One client we have been working with had a customer that made binding investment decisions by voting. In this case the seller needs to know who is on the committee and with a voting right or not. Decision power and influencers might be spread all over the globe. Others have more subtle decision processes where a verdict for vendor selection somehow just transpires among several people that meets in front of a coffee machine. In some entrepreneurial companies, it´s very easy, the tycoon himself or herself, makes the final decision.

Your task is to understand this, and you cannot not always trust your Global Account Manager´s view, nor your local Key Account Manager. They may be influenced by their own personal agenda, or by such a mundane thing as bonus.

Adopt your operational model

Once the true global decision behaviour is understood and customers grouped comes the hardest part. Implementation. To change metrics, job descriptions, your own decision criteria, authorities and even telling the customer that you will not enter into any new global price negotiations. At the same time you need to empower Global Account Managers for customers that are truly global. They need to have the possibility to make decisions (and be held correspondingly responsible) without asking for permission from a variety of local stake holders. One of the clients we have been working with are able to generate more and better business by a more focused approach towards their truly global customers, based on a clear and efficient responsibility and accountability structure.

Tough calls and hard work, but necessary to be successful with global customers. And one important part of evolving your sales organization from Multinational to Global into true Total Account Management.