As I prepare this column, we are beginning to enjoy the winter months. While I'm not a person who takes pleasure in cold weather, I do enjoy the slight respite brought on by this traditionally slower sales season. Winter gives me the chance to take a little bit of a breather, stay a little closer to home and concentrate on organizing the year that lies before me.

One aspect that I take great care with is looking over accounts and/or areas where I may not be enjoying the success that I want. While I do this all year long, we are flying so fast most of the time that it's difficult to take the time to the recognize problem areas and to make the necessary course adjustments as we go.

Thankfully, the overwhelming majority of my accounts are in great standing. Their sales are growing, their people give my products the attention that I desire, quality issues are relatively minor and payments are current.

And I am working hard to ensure that their months and years to come are even better.

Identifying Issues

As with any business, however, not every account is in this situation.

There are always a handful of accounts with various issues that need to be addressed.

All year long, I pay attention to these details, but this time of the year I can dedicate more effort to putting together game plans to truly improve the situation as opposed to just finding quick fixes. Problem accounts, problem jobs and problem times are chances for us to learn our weaknesses and, in turn, make these areas stronger.

When approaching such problems, I have a very deliberate process that I like to follow. My first step is quite basic: I take sheets of paper and write each "problem account" at the top. Below their names I list the issues in question and record my thoughts about each. I find it helpful to separate my thoughts on each one.

After I have given each some thought, I next look to work directly with the accounts. It's important for us to do this together. If we are adversarial, we will not reach a positive resolution to whatever the issues are.

First, I work to ascertain what the real problem is. Why are sales below expectations? What is the dissatisfaction based on? What's at the root of the payment issues? I like to jot down what I think is wrong and then meet face-to-face with my customer to discuss the situation.