The practice run. Perhaps the most dramatic and recurring mistake that is made is to do what I like to call the ''practice run." This is When a seller decides to start working with the smaller accounts in the market first; the thinking is to use these accounts to fine-tune the approach. The problem is that these sellers view the accounts as the less significant ones in their territory and thus are't as concerned about the outcome. They believe that once their sales process is optimized, they can move on to the larger accounts. This approach is in direct violation of the large-account strategy, however.