Creating an account management playbook and developing trusted client relationships
3 min read
Sir Robert McAlpine’s unique issues
Sir Robert McAlpine has a selective approach to winning work, including a bid / no bid gateway, and has identified and created many discrete sales processes.
Sir Robert McAlpine needed an expert partner to co-develop an approach to account management that would be accepted across the company and, therefore, drive consistency in both planning and execution. After some extensive restructuring in the company, there was a strategic intent to improve the business approach towards customer selectivity and relationships. There was no formal, nor consistent approach to managing client relationships for Sir Robert McAlpine’s accounts, or dedicated resources. Many key customers were identified as having a “single point of failure” relationship. There was a lack of understanding of the definition of client account management, including the roles and responsibilities required throughout all departments of the organisation. Client account management activities were not recognised as part of everyone’s role.
Some of the results…
A co-created consistent approach that the business could take true ownership of, with support from senior leadership.
An increased focus on identifying and working with customers whose values align with Sir Robert McAlpine and with mutual value.
Increased collaboration where client’s cross-business unit domains, lead to an increase in repeat business including a broader range of services.
Deeper and more resilient relationships within managed client accounts.
Greater employee recognition of the role they play in developing ‘trusted client relationships.’
“SBR Consulting got under the skin of Sir Robert McAlpine and helped focus our attention on the value of a unified approach to account management. They felt like a true partner (and a great cultural fit for us) in that they worked closely with us to co-create the essence of what we needed to achieve.
The experience has left the company in better shape and helped us to achieve our work-winning goals in a very busy work environment.
I have stayed close to the team at SBR since our engagement and only have nice things to say about their approach and would strongly recommend them as a collaborative partner.”
Grant Findlay Director of Business Development
The approach SBR took
Key to the success of this objective was ensuring the support of senior leaders in the business whose customer and market base were quite diverse. 6 initial key customers and account teams were identified to develop plans, take part in relevant skills training and in the process, develop a better understanding of their clients. The approach was then extended to further accounts. The appointment and approach led to many positive outcomes, not least of all an overall improvement in customer focus throughout all stages of the project life cycle (not just during construction). Having seen the benefits of an improved customer account approach, the business intends to foster the same approach with its supply chain.
Phase 1: Creating and deploying a Sir Robert McAlpine Client Account Management playbook.
Phase 2: Training with the Leadership and Client Account Management Teams.
About Sir Robert McAlpine
Sir Robert McAlpine is one of the largest contractors in the UK and finds itself competing with the top 5 in most bids. They’re known for delivering large, complex engineering projects, focusing on 7 main industry sub-sectors.
