Selling 9th Edition by Stephen Castleberry,John Tanner

Exercise 9

Southwest Tools is a manufacturer of specialized tools used in the drilling and maintenance of oil wells. The company has about 10 percent of a highly competitive market in which no other competitor has more than 12 percent. There are three other companies that specialize in oil field tools, along with hundreds of others that offer general purpose tools and a handful of oil field tools.
Marjorie Roberts, chief marketing officer, was contemplating how to in crease sales in such a crowded market. The data suggested that 5 percent of all customers were responsible for 62 percent of the company's sales, but, more important, she saw that one customer, Prufrock Drilling, hadn't purchased anything in more than a year. When that was her old account back when she was a salesperson, it was a midsize account but growing. She decided to give them a call.
"Jack, I'm so delighted to find you're still with Prufrock," she said, as Jack Henderson answered his phone. "We've not talked since, what, that trade show in Houston three years ago?"
"Marjorie, great to hear from you," he replied. "What's up? I've not heard from your company in a couple of years!"
Marjorie was shocked. As they talked, she realized that, when her replacement left the company, a new rep had taken over the account but had never called on them. Curious as to the story on other dormant accounts, she called a few more. In every case, they gave the reason for switching as the new company salesperson called on them, but no one from Southwest had.
She took the findings from her short survey to Mark Linus, head of sales, and explained what she had found. "I'm not surprised," he said. "You have to make some choices on who you call. What I'm encouraging my reps to do is to find another account like one in that top 5 percent-that's where our real growth is."
Assume that Southwest's CEO has said, "Do both." What is marketing's role in helping salespeople find and grow very large accounts? In reviving dormant accounts? Specifically describe what actions you would take in each segment. How can salespeople support the dormant account revival strategy without giving up on growing the very large accounts? What other options should be explored?