An account manager has limited time. Without agreements, that time goes to the customers who call, who are nearby or who are pleasant company. Those are not always the customers with the most potential. A recorded contact cadence per customer class makes sure attention is divided deliberately. In this article you read how to classify customers, how to choose a contact frequency per class and how to check whether that cadence fits in a normal week.
What goes wrong without a contact cadence
I see this often. The biggest customers get attention, because they ask for it. So do the smallest, because they call with questions. The middle group falls in between. That is often exactly where the growth is. And that is where quiet churn creeps in: a customer who orders less goes unnoticed until the annual figures come in.
A second pattern: every account manager has their own habit. One visits a lot, another calls a lot. To the customer it feels random. For you as sales manager it is hard to compare.
Customer classes by revenue and potential
Do not classify customers by last year's revenue alone. Also look at potential: what could this customer buy if everything goes well? A simple classification:
- Class A. High revenue or high potential. This is where the growth and the risk are.
- Class B. Stable, with room to grow.
- Class C. Small, mostly maintenance.
Set the boundaries with numbers, for instance the top twenty percent on revenue plus potential as A. That way the classification can be explained and repeated.
Estimating potential feels hard. Keep it simple. Ask per customer: how much do they buy in total of what we supply, and what share of that comes to us? A rough estimate is enough. It is about the order, not the exact amount.
A contact frequency per class
For each class, record how often you are in contact and through which channel. An example:
- A. Twelve contact moments a year, four of them visits.
- B. Six contact moments a year, two of them visits.
- C. Two contact moments a year, by phone or email.
Then do the math. How many A, B and C customers does an account manager have, and how many contact moments a week does that produce? If it does not fit in the week, the cadence is too heavy or the portfolio is too big. Better to find out now than in March.
Worked example: does the contact cadence fit in the week?
A fictional account manager has 20 A customers, 40 B customers and 80 C customers. With the cadence above, that produces per year:
- A customers. 20 times 4 visits is 80 visits. Plus 20 times 8 other contacts is 160 calls.
- B customers. 40 times 2 visits is 80 visits. Plus 40 times 4 other contacts is 160 calls.
- C customers. 80 times 2 is 160 calls or emails.
Together that is 160 visits and 480 other contacts. Count on about 44 working weeks, and that is almost 4 visits and 11 calls a week. That is only the existing customer base. Prospecting, following up quotes and meetings come on top.
Does it fit? That depends on travel time and on what a visit costs. Sometimes it does. Often it turns out to be tight. Then you have three dials: fewer visits at B, more contact by phone or video, or moving part of the C customers to inside sales.
What the contact is about
A cadence without content becomes a courtesy visit. Attach a goal to every type of contact: a quarterly visit to an A customer has a fixed agenda, a call to a C customer checks whether there are new needs. That way the customer also knows what to expect from you.
A few examples of goals per contact:
- Quarterly visit A. Look back on the past period, the customer's plans, one new topic to explore.
- Call B. Are there projects running, are there new contacts, is there room for an additional product?
- Contact C. Check satisfaction and notice whether the customer is growing. A C customer that grows may belong in B.
Introducing a contact cadence in five steps
- Get the customer list. Revenue per customer over the past year, from your accounting system or CRM.
- Estimate the potential. Do this together with the account manager. They know the customer best.
- Divide into classes. Record the thresholds, so the classification still works next year.
- Choose a cadence and a goal per class. Frequency, channel and what role the contact plays.
- Calculate and test. Does it fit in the week? If not, adjust the cadence or the portfolio before you start.
Common mistakes
- Classifying by revenue alone. Then a large customer without growth opportunities gets a lot of attention, and a small customer with a lot of potential too little.
- Too many classes. Five or six classes feel precise, but nobody remembers the difference between B2 and C1. Three or four is enough.
- Not doing the math on the cadence. A cadence that does not fit in the week is quietly dropped. After that it applies to nobody.
- Forgetting lost prospects. A prospect who said no can say yes a year later. Also record when you approach them again.
- Never reviewing the classification. The customer who was A three years ago may be C now. And the other way round.
Re-contacting lost prospects
A contact cadence is usually about customers. Do not forget the prospects who said no earlier. A no is often a no for now: the budget was spent, the timing was wrong or there was still a contract running with someone else.
For each reason, record when you get back in touch and how. A few examples:
- No budget. Contact again just before the customer's next budget round.
- Contract with someone else. A few months before that contract ends.
- Chose a competitor. After six months, with a question about how it is going. Without pressure.
That way a lost deal becomes an appointment in the future, instead of a name that drops out of sight.
Keeping track
Check every quarter whether the cadence is being met per class and per account manager. If it is structurally not met, that is not a failure of the sales rep but information about the classification or the cadence. Review the classes at least once a year: customers grow, shrink and change in potential.
The contact cadence does not stand alone. The account manager's weekly rhythm builds on it: how many visits a week, on which days, in which region. The KPIs can measure it too, for instance the percentage of A customers visited this quarter. So if you change the cadence, you also look at the week and the KPIs.
Frequently asked questions
How often should you visit a customer?
That depends on the customer class. A common starting point is four visits a year for A customers, two for B and no fixed visits for C. Then check whether it fits in the week.
What is an ABC customer classification?
A division of customers into classes based on revenue and potential. A is the most important group, C the smallest. For each class you agree on its own contact cadence.
How many customers can an account manager handle?
That follows from the cadence. Add up the contact moments per year and divide by the number of working weeks. If it does not fit alongside prospecting and meetings, the portfolio is too big.
How often do you review the customer classification?
At least once a year. A customer that grows or shrinks strongly can be moved in between.
Capture the classification in the Account matrix of building layer 1 and the cadence in Contact cadence of building layer 4. If you change the classification, the cadence is ready to be reviewed. Weekly rhythm visits and Weekly rhythm meetings build on the contact cadence, and in KPIs per phase you can choose it as a data source. For your most important customers, the Account plans building block has belonged there since October.