“Foreknowledge cannot be gotten from ghosts and spirits, cannot be had by analogy, cannot be found out by calculation. It must be obtained from people, people who know the conditions of the enemy." – Sun Tzu

How well do your clients know your products and services? How many people in their organization know your products and services? If you were working for your competition, how would you work your way into your current company's best accounts?
I take a passing interest in college basketball and enjoy watching the journey the players are on. Each of these players come in as freshmen and were probably the best players in their high school. Maybe the best player in their city or state. They jump into a situation where they start at the bottom, and they are no longer the biggest, fastest, or best coached. From year to year they make huge jumps in skills and awareness. One of the reasons for this is the work their teams put in over the summer reverse-scouting each other.
Reverse-scouting is when the coaches take their intimate knowledge of the player and approach them as if they were coaching the other team. What are their tendencies? Where are their strengths? What situations do they not want to be in? From this reverse-scouting report they make a plan. What if they took away your 3 point shot going to the right? Can you make going to your left a strength? What if they defended you with a bigger player? Would you be able to get a shot off?
Your best accounts should be reverse-scouted. What happens if another vendor gets to the CEO and enlightens them about a higher end service? What if a vendor combined efforts with another competitor and put together an integrated package?
Taking a look at your key accounts from another point of view gives you a checklist, a plan to work from in the off-season.
Oh right, we don't have an off-season. Good point. You'll have to make your own off season. Put that on the list too.
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