Commercial Excellence 
One organization wanted all of their customer-facing roles to create an account management mindset and execute their overall strategy in a more collaborative and coordinated manner. The strategic driver for this initiative was the need to develop account management planning and execution. Both the sales leaders and the L&D professionals knew that the blended learning solution should not be like “spreading peanut butter” but one that allowed for targeted skill and competency development
Approach and Deliverables
WLH partnered to align on an initial account management competency model that representative “role agnostic” behaviors. Once the model was adopted, WLH used a two-prong approach to identify learning needs and priorities. First, the competency model was turned into an assessment for individuals and managers to assess strengths to leverage and learning gaps. Group reports from the assessments provided an evidence-based approach on overall learning needs. Then a cross-functional field advisory council provided additional guidance and input learning provided input on the revised curriculum map.
Results
Once the revised Account Management Curriculum Map was developed, managers and individuals were able to identify specific learning programs to participate in to close gaps. Complementing the curriculum map was a portal outlining on-the-job developmental activities to enhance account management capabilities related to business acumen, decision-making, and working as a collaborative account team.
As a result of this project, the organization reinforced its strategic focus on larger organized customers. Account teams and various customer-facing roles have greater clarity on roles and resources to close specific account management skill gaps.
