CASE STUDY · COMMERCIAL STRATEGY
Strategic Account Development
From transactional customer management to structured multi-year partnerships.
A structured approach to high-value accounts designed to increase business predictability, strengthen competitive protection and create more sales capacity for new-business development.
- 40
- Multi-year agreements
- ~3 years
- Average agreement horizon
- Digital integrated
- Across most partnerships
THE CONTEXT
Protecting value before chasing growth
A significant share of the business was concentrated across a limited number of high-value customers. These relationships were commercially important but often managed through individual orders, short-term negotiations and frequent operational intervention.
The opportunity was not simply to increase purchasing volumes. It was to make an existing portion of the business more predictable, protect strategic relationships over time and reduce the operational dependency of the sales team on top accounts.
THE CHALLENGE
From recurring business to recurring commitment
The customer base included approximately 93 high-value A-B accounts with different purchasing patterns, levels of loyalty and development potential.
The challenge was to move selected customers from predominantly transactional relationships toward structured multi-year agreements — without artificially forcing volume growth.
Success therefore meant creating visibility over future business while maintaining commercially sustainable conditions for both customer and company.
MY ROLE
Connecting account potential and execution
As District Manager, I led the account analysis together with the Territory Managers, defined the commercial strategy and proposal for priority customers, and supported or co-led negotiations when required.
My role connected account potential, commercial conditions, long-term commitment and digital opportunities into customer-specific proposals.
THE APPROACH
Five steps. One commercial direction.
- 01
Segment
Identify strategic accounts by current value, potential and purchasing profile.
- 02
Analyze
Review history, annual volumes, commercial conditions and development opportunities.
- 03
Design
Build customer-specific multi-year proposals combining commercial commitment and relevant solutions.
- 04
Negotiate
Work with Territory Managers through proposal, objection handling and agreement.
- 05
Protect & Expand
Increase predictability on existing business and redirect sales capacity toward new customers and opportunities.
DIGITAL INTEGRATION
Building partnerships beyond the implant
Most agreements incorporated a digital component — through software, intraoral scanning or other workflow solutions — when relevant to the customer's needs.
This strengthened the relationship beyond a single product category and created a broader commercial and technological partnership.
IMPACT
More predictability. More protection. More capacity to grow.
40 multi-year agreements
Approximately 40 strategic customers transitioned into structured multi-year commercial agreements within one year.
Long-term business visibility
Agreements typically covered an average horizon of around three years, making a significant portion of existing business more predictable.
Sales capacity released
Reduced operational dependency on top accounts allowed Territory Managers to rebalance their time toward new-business development and underdeveloped opportunities.
The main outcome was not an artificial increase in customer purchasing volume. It was the transformation of existing business into a more structured and defendable commercial base.
BUSINESS VALUE FRAMEWORK
From protected value to growth capacity
- Existing Business
- Multi-Year Commitment
- Revenue Predictability
- Competitive Protection
- Sales Capacity
- New Business
CAPABILITIES DEMONSTRATED
Strategy connected to field execution
- Strategic Account Management
- Commercial Planning
- Complex Negotiation
- Sales Leadership
- Cross-functional Execution
- Digital Integration
- Business Development