Commercial Excellence 
Commercial model redesigns have accelerated as customers consolidate and decision‑making shifts to system‑level stakeholders. New strategic account roles and structures make sense on paper, and the strategies behind them are often comprehensive and sound.
The issue is that most transformations fail to deliver. Roughly 70% of large‑scale change efforts fall short. The root cause isn’t the model. It’s the widening gap between how quickly organizations change structure and how slowly they build the capabilities and adoption required to operate within it.
The Execution Gap
Organizations invest heavily in the “what”—the new structure, roles, and engagement model. They communicate the change, move people into new positions, and declare success. What’s missing is disciplined investment in the “how.”
Account‑based engagement requires a fundamental shift in daily behavior:
- Planning across systems, not individual customers
- Influencing without authority
- Integrating cross‑functional partners
- Applying business acumen far beyond product knowledge
This is not a simple skill gap. It is a behavior change, and behavior change requires intentional change management.
Many organizations move top individual contributors into account roles and expect them to “figure it out.” A short training event is not a change strategy.
Why Transformations Stall
Three patterns appear again and again:
- Leaders underestimate how different the work truly is. Selling to a system CMO is not the same as calling on individual physicians. The customers’ needs have changed. The conversation must change too.
- Development is treated as an event, not a process. Launch meetings and playbooks don’t build capability. People need repeated practice, real‑world application, and ongoing reinforcement to adopt new behaviors.
- Managers aren’t equipped to lead the transition. Frontline leaders can’t coach behaviors they haven’t mastered. This is where many transformations break down, at the point where change must be reinforced.
What Successful Organizations Do Differently
Organizations that make change stick treat capability development and change management as core components of transformation—not afterthoughts.
They understand that results don’t shift because an org chart changes. Results shift when daily behaviors change.
Success starts with leaders. They must understand the business case, align expectations, and assess their own readiness before guiding their teams through the transition.
High‑performing organizations:
- Build capability before and during the transition
- Equip managers first, so they can coach and reinforce new behaviors
- Provide practical tools—conversation guides, assessments, structured check‑ins
- Create learning ecosystems that sustain behavior change over time
This doesn’t require elaborate programs. It requires intentional design, consistent reinforcement, and leadership accountability.
Over time, these organizations build true change agility, the ability to adapt with speed, balance, and discipline in a marketplace where transformation never stops.
The Real Question
If your organization is redesigning its commercial model, ask:
- Are we investing as much in capability and adoption as in structure?
- Have we prepared leaders to guide the transition, not just announce it?
The answers will determine whether your transformation becomes a competitive advantage—or another stalled initiative.
Contact WLH to discuss how to prepare leaders and teams to drive the behavior change that makes transformation stick.
