Accenture Identifies New Sales Models to Help Drive Profitable Revenue Growth in Selling Through Someone Else: How to Use Agile Sales Networks and Partners to Sell More

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) today announced the release of Selling Through Someone Else: How to Use Agile Sales Networks and Partners to Sell More, authored by Robert Wollan, Naveen Jain and Michael Heald, managing directors in the Accenture Sales & Customer Services practice. The book, published by Wiley, reveals how changes to sales strategies and execution models can help sustain profitable growth amid an increasingly complex and fast-evolving selling environment.

The book explains the potential benefits of agile selling, a new model based on the strategy of “selling through someone else,” that encourages companies to use a broader mix of intermediaries, channel partners and customers to extend their reach and growth. Agile selling is the model of choice among leaders in industries that have some of the most complex distribution channels, such as consumer goods manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, insurance and electronics and high-tech. The approach offers lessons that can be easily and quickly replicated across other industries.

“Without a doubt, globalization, new competitors and low-cost threats have disrupted the sales process,” said Robert Wollan, co-author and global managing director of Accenture’s Sales & Customer Services practice. “As a result, traditional approaches to sales are becoming less effective and less reliable for many. To be successful, sellers must be agile to navigate this increasingly complex environment and they can benefit from creating unique experiences that influence customers in a more complex and competitive setting.”

Selling Through Someone Else informs the entire C-suite, not just the Chief Sales Officer, about how to develop and scale this more agile approach. It addresses how the CIO can work together with peers in sales and operations, as well as the implications for the Chief Talent Officer. The book presents trends and lessons learned from the authors’ work with a range of companies, from Fortune 500 and Global 500 businesses to small-medium businesses owners. It identifies how analytics, the adoption of digital selling and mobile sales tools and greater collaboration with channel partners and customers can reshape a company’s sales function and help it reach its financial and strategic objectives.

“This book differs from most selling theory or methodology books that tend to either help the individual salesperson or the sales manager,” said Wollan. “It is based on Accenture’s vast collective experience working with companies all over the world to dramatically transform their selling models. Selling Through Someone Else discusses the specific experiences of leading companies that have transformed the way they sell and the way they support their selling ecosystem.”

The book also includes guidance from numerous Accenture professionals with deep knowledge and experience in underlying capabilities that support the agile selling model, including:

• Mastering core capabilities such as lead generation, incentives and pricing and analytics that leaders use to bring agile selling to life;
• Building a better sales network that extends far outside the walls of the organization (and your employees) and capitalizes on new market opportunities;
• A fresh look at motivating a sales force and what the “right” behaviors and the “right” incentives really are;
• Building an advanced sales and distribution IT infrastructure to support a sales force; and
• Creating the infrastructure to sustain the relationships with customers, channel partners and other entities that are critical to agile selling.

For more information on Selling Through Someone Else: How to Use Agile Sales Networks and Partners to Sell More, visit http://www.accenture.com/microsites/selling-through-someone-else/Pages/index.aspx.

About the Authors

Robert Wollan is global managing director of Accenture’s Sales & Customer Services practice. He leads a global team of professionals skilled in customer-centric marketing, sales, service, and customer operations across the industries Accenture serves globally. Robert holds seven patents for innovations in customer relationship management. He is co-author of The Social Media Management Handbook, a practical guide to implementing social media strategies.

Naveen Jain is a managing director in the Accenture Sales & Customer Services practice. His team helps sales organizations increase productivity and effectiveness and provides strategic insights, functional expertise and global implementation skills to help clients maximize profitability by transforming customer relationships across all of the industries Accenture serves globally.

Michael Heald is a managing director in the Accenture Sales & Customer Services practice. His team focuses on the unique and dynamic needs of communications, media, and technology companies, including how to deliver greater results from sales forces and sales channel partners. Formerly holding executive positions in the industry, he brings personal experience in both change management and operations.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 259,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$27.9 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2012. Its home page is www.accenture.com.