I think the focus needs to shift to treating "new business" in "existing businesses" equally as valuable as finding a whole new account.
This is not to say that new accounts are not a focus. We believe that by finding new contacts within our existing accounts amazingly allows us to grow our network and get "new accounts" through referrals rather than always cold calling. Some of the best reps in our business tell me they never cold call. I've also heard this from people like Jeffery Gitomer and other sales gurus. (This is of course once you get going - paying those dues.)
We find that in most cases our reps were not going "deep and wide" enough.
We find that in most cases our reps were not going "deep and wide" enough. Often, there are multiple people sending out work but our reps get in the mindset that having that one key contact is enough. As an example, our AEC reps would forget about the marketing department—Color Digital Reps would forget about the AEC needs— on and on....
to be continued...