As summer ends and we refocus on maximizing our revenues, one of the most productive things you can do is to facilitate a major account re-alignment to keep everyone “productive” rather than just “busy”.
          Very often I hear account executives talk about being “too busy” to pursue corporate initiatives or special projects introduced by management.
If this is the case at your station, you are only skimming the cream in your market.
          Account executives who are too busy to capitalize on new revenue-generating projects are also too busy to drill deeper or to super-serve your key accounts.
          The solution?  A strict but fair account list management policy that prevents your best sales people from acquiring account lists that keep them too busy to sell.
          The lack of a strategic account list management policy poses a number of problems which all restrict your revenue potential:
1. Your most senior people really are “too busy” to stretch themselves or their accounts. They inadvertently find themselves relegated to making re- active submissions rather than pro-active presentations.  Can you say… “comfort zone?”
2.) Your entry-level staff turn-over rate is high because these new career hopefuls do not have the opportunity to work with high-potential accounts or enjoy the taste of success.
3.) You, and your sales people, can fall into the trap of thinking your top “biller” is your top seller.
4.) The people who would be the best at closing new business for you end up filling their day servicing “entitlement accounts”…..accounts your station is entitled to regardless who serves them.
5.) The account executives best-suited to take a leadership role in new initiatives and revenue development are not setting the example for the pack.
Strategic account list management is never an easy task. But if you have a written account management policy and quarterly account review that is applied equally and fairly to everyone, it can be one of the most productive management tools you have. 
To learn how your organization can install the ENS Media account list management system as part of our Total Sales Fitness program, Call Wayne Ens at 705-484-9993