When Sellers Become Trusted Advisors!
Frederick Reichheld of Bain & Company researched on prescription for cutting costs and discovered that increasing customer retention rates by as little as 5% can reflect an increase in profits by 25% to 95%. Traditional sales enablement involved ‘enabling’ sales teams with the right information at the right time to make the right selling decisions to important prospects. In the post-pandemic era, Sales Enablement when it comes to Key Account Management is a continuous process stretching from discovery to customer retention. With a large number of buyer interactions happening digitally and taking place much before they reach out to salespeople, how does one ensure customer retention? Within Key Account Management practice, what does sales enablement look like? Michael McCarthy, Senior Business & Technology Consultant, Sales Enablement Duke Energy, had a lot to share on this topic in ‘The Changing Role of Technology in Key Account Management’ webinar featuring Forrester. Don’t Build a Long-term Relationship on Short-term Thinking The separation of Opportunity Management and Account Management is now more delineated than it used to be. For account management to successfully work, the team has to become a trusted advisor to the buyer within that organization. If that sort of interconnected relationship is not built between the sales team and the buyer organization, then a “won and done” relationship forms. There is only ‘short-term thinking’ when it comes to opportunity management. However, customer retention requires long-term planning which forms the basis of account management. From a Sales Enablement perspective in Key Account Management practice, Michael McCarthy had the following to say. “Sales enablement is being pulled and pushed more and more to deliver influence for the sellers that they can use to become that trusted advisor. And in order for us to be successful at that, we need to be able to very quickly create Insight that the seller can provide at the account level that the the buyers within the account can then use to make decisions.” If accurate, good, intelligent Insight is not provided for Key Account Management activities, then one cannot become a trusted advisor. Subsequently, teams also miss out on the ability to grow revenue substantially within a Key Account Management practice. What are some of the factors that go into having good insight? Leadership-Driven Change Management Salespeople often rely on being agile and it might feel a bit restrictive to have the concept of a ‘process’. Thus a transition to automated, data-driven sales processes will have a pushback from salespeople. Standardizing sales enablement processes within key account management requires change management. Within sales enablement teams, salespeople need to grow to become more data savvy to be able to provide data-driven sales processes. Data is not useful merely because of its availability, but in how the data is being used to position the team as a trusted advisor to the buyer. “They need to be able to push through data and pick data. That is going to help them in the customer’s eyes and not get overwhelmed by too much data,” says Michael McCarthy. Penny for Your Thoughts: Is Your Data Conversational? Another issue facing sales enablement is that the data needs to be conversational. An issue with the data available now is that it is centered around reporting, and it is not necessarily conversational. Sellers are often faced with this issue where if they go in with data to the buyer it looks like a piece of reporting numbers. Making sure that data presented can drive conversation is something that needs to be accomplished. CRMs are Just a Starting Point When data is automated, the ability to consolidate data into one of the very few places becomes important. This will prevent the formation of information silos and salespeople will have ready, easy access to consolidated data to support them. While CRMs are a good starting point for it, some data providers don’t integrate very well into your CRM. Besides, while CRMs provide a space for data aggregation, to ensure your sales is data-driven you have to extend further. Don’t Let Your Data Go To Waste A major issue is that a lot of times, sales leaders use PowerPoint presentations or they allow sellers to bring PowerPoint Presentations into a business review. They never open the CRM or piece together data that is put into an Insight-driven dashboard. To fully utilize the abundance of data available these days, sales leaders need to upgrade how they present in business reviews. Every Michael Jordan Needs a Scottie Pippen A point to note in existing sales processes is that often there is no data that is customer journey or buyer journey focused. In the middle of a customer journey, the seller is instinctively in a defensive mode. Getting the seller to move off of defense and bringing back a conversation should be on the agenda. A pivotal focus of Sales Enablement within the Key Account Management space is that the sellers need an assist in making that data conversational. This is difficult to achieve and requires years of practice. However, with advancing digital tools and technology, the gap reduces. For Michael McCarthy, we are moving in the right direction for this through digital transition in Key Account Management and over time with more prototyping, it can become more successful.
From Sales Methodologies to Sales Insights – New Perspectives
Global sales expert Matt Dixon has one important thought to share with all of us. There is an evolution in sales happening right now and it begins with insight selling. Traditionally, Sales Methodologies have dictated how companies approached customers. A set of guiding principles on how to behave during and in-between different sales stages have been the go-to strategy for closing deals. Such conventional methodologies focus on hitting a set number of targets. A more useful approach perhaps focuses on increasing sales ‘effectiveness’. This involves understanding roadblocks and leveraging opportunities in order to accurately forecast based on information. Capturing key, intelligent insights is essential to translating raw data into something actionable/ functional. Time for a Mind Shift In ‘The Changing Role of Technology in Key Account Management’ webinar featuring Forrester, Joshua Gregg, Vice President Strategic Accounts from the Qt Company, spoke about this transition from Sales methodologies to Sales Insights. “I really remember not using any CRM and doing account planning on Excel spreadsheets. And then we kind of got really fancy and started using PowerPoint and Word Documents. We went from the bar napkin to PowerPoint pretty quickly. And, we just became faster and more effective.” With advancing technology, even faster insights are possible. You only need to grow beyond making your Account Planning on PowerPoints and Excel Sheets. As much information as you can get from your CRM, using that data effectively should be the priority. If one is to lean on the data, it also needs to be accurate. While tribal knowledge forms a big part of selling and account management, its digitization has opened new doors now. An insights-based sales approach with newer technology has led to an increase in opportunities. “It took maybe 15 to 20 years of selling and different roles within an organization to get into the sweet spot of strategic account management. Now, I think you can do that much faster,” says Joshua Gregg. Challenges of Traditional Sales Methodologies It takes people a long time to be coached into developing specific skills. Resistance to adopting newer technologies. Reliance on sales ‘superheroes’ who manage the best accounts. Depending on individuals, which leaves the company lost if that person quits. How Insights & Data-Driven Account Planning Changes the Game The challenge is in coaching people to develop skills that would previously take multiple years to learn, and to adopt technology that is more powerful and more effective. Joshua Gregg refers to it as ‘embracing the assist’. Technology that is data-driven and insights based is an assist that will help the sales team be more effective. The goal these days is to not just be service providers to customers, but become their trusted advisors with more data and information. Customer Insights enables understanding their business better than the customers themselves do a lot of times. Sharing Account Plans and having mutual growth conversations with customers with compelling data to back it up ensures that a strong, long-term relationship is built. Shifting to an insights-based selling approach, reduces dependence on sales superheroes. Technology bridges the gap between rookies and sales heroes, and makes everyone collaborate. The challenge of replacing a sales superhero, the tribal knowledge they possessed is no longer a debilitating concern. Tribal knowledge can become enterprise memory with digital Key Account Management and tell a story of the client’s needs. This will enable the Account Management team to also find new ways to meet those customer needs. Performance and ability take over to help customers move forward. Sales teams, in hand with advancing technology, also innovate better. Teams can now function across different verticals and manage different accounts with more fluidity. For Sales Leaders, this gives an opportunity to leverage resources effectively across the business. Insights-based selling and Account Planning also helps you discover blind-spots in your strategy with which you can further create value. DemandFarm’s Account Planner is designed to help enterprises create an annual plan for each key account with clear goals and objectives using both qualitative and quantitative insights. Find out more about it here.
Digitalization of B2B Sales Interactions: Technological Changes in Key Account Management Processes
B2B interactions today are primarily taking place in digital channels. In a recent Forrester Sales Enablement Report, the report indicates that the average number of buying interactions has surged since the pandemic; from 17 pre-pandemic to 27 post-pandemic. Hybrid and virtual selling environments (partially forced by the pandemic) have made buyers innately digital these days. These ‘new buyers’ have needs and expectations that do not necessarily line up with traditional B2B sales and selling methods. B2B interactions typically happen these days without even meeting the salespersons directly on digital channels. The question of the hour is, at a time of such huge shifts to digital ecosystems, what does Key Account Management entail in terms of sales organization? How does one adapt to this new condition of data-driven B2B sales? Shift to a world of ‘Click and Transact’ In the DemandFarm webinar ‘The Changing Role of Technology in Key Account Management’ featuring Forrester, Rick Bradberry, Principal Analyst & Executive Advisor B2B Sales at Forrester reaffirmed that what we do in terms of sales or account management and interactions with customers has changed a lot, “I would say that COVID actually drove the trend that had existed before the pandemic. And that was a preference that buyers had for self-service experiences.” Consumers have become accustomed to what Rick refers to as the world of “click and transact”. This consumer experience started in the B2B space of e-commerce for consumers. It went from physical products to digital products and these experiences have come into B2B. The SaaS field has amplified this further. What We Want, When We Want It! This mindset of shifting to self-service is accompanied by a second aspect in the B2B field. These new experiences and preferences created are produced by enabling capabilities. “Why do we need to still architect these experiences with customers the way we did it 20 years ago?” asks Rick. Consumers, i.e. B2B companies or buyers, or even users of those B2B products, not only prefer to do it themselves, but they are also able to do it because an enabling technology or experience exists that allows them to do so. Great Expectations! (No, not the novel) The shift to this era of ‘self-service’, in a sense has changed expectations on leaders to deliver experiences with customers as well. For company boards and CEOs, the focus has been retargeted on how to deliver the type of expected self-service experience using technology that customers truly prefer and want to use. For Rick Bradberry, “That’s where Insights becomes a new mantra for leaders!” In order to be able to deliver customization to customers, one needs an insight-driven approach to how to think about people, processes, talent, and the way the business is run. Generational Variances… Each generation brings in a completely different perspective within the workforce when it comes to digital compatibility in the sales process. This pertains to both the buyers and the sellers. What sort of culture is sought out also differs as a result. Rick Bradberry shared a few interesting data points in the webinar. According to him, when it comes to self-service in internal app stores, external marketplaces or within any product, “An average Gen X buyer would look to do that 37% of the time. But in Gen Z (the younger generation), this goes up by 10% furthermore to 47%.” Of course, we can’t forget the millennials who stick to about 43%. So, companies have to shift their understanding of the ‘sweet spot’ in B2B digital interactions. What does this mean for you? What do these trends say about Key Account Management in a digitally expanding B2B era? Things that have traditionally been done in Key Account Management have now become digitized and improved at the same time. Functions that were done tediously and manually before, are now enabled as capabilities within the technology and tools used by consumers. Such technologies facilitate improved quantitative and qualitative usage to understand your customers better and course-correct how you serve them. This will inevitably lead to better long-term value, bigger deal sizes, better forecasting and accuracy. Check out these 6 key takeaways for a successful digital key account management transformation. What used to be a struggle when managing accounts before, for example – whitespace, becomes a metric that is easier to improve upon. These capabilities are now quickly being embedded in technology if they haven’t already. Additionally, with the advancement of Artificial Intelligence of AI, analytical tools are also progressively built to improve. Insights, the future of faster functionality, and assisted account planning awaits account management. Built-in analytical tools do more than what humans are capable of doing in terms of number crunching. What the future holds is perhaps such intelligent tools giving a perspective that might otherwise go unnoticed to human eyes. This might boost functioning in Key Account Management in unparalleled ways! Check out DemandFarm’s Insights-driven Account Planner to aid your key account management process!
Account Manager Skills 101
Who is an account manager and what do they do? An account manager does the overall management of sales and relationships with the various customers of the company. The main roles of an account manager are the following:- Maintaining and developing relationships with customers by addressing their concerns Building strong strategic relationships with clients Explore white spaces with clients to retain business and crack opportunities Enhance business prospects with long-term relationships While all account managers need hands-on experience managing customer relationships, there are wide ranges of other (equally important) account management skills that are critical for the role. Find out 3 unique ways how John grows his key accounts as a strategic account manager. 5 Must-Have Skills for Account Managers! 1. Good listening and understanding capacity The key to effective working relationships with clients is good listening. This enables building trust and reduces conflict to build objectives and find opportunities in every client interaction. This helps account managers anticipate the needs and exceed expectations of the client. Guide: Comprehensive Career Path for a Key Account Manager 2. Collaborative and Customization ability In the current world of business where customers are situated globally, companies don’t compete on pricing or product alone but also have to show that the customer experience they offer is the best. Account management is never a solo game but a collaborative effort. Collaborating with customers to make them fully participate in the process can help build strong relationships, in turn, drive sales forward. Additionally, an account manager has to ensure that internal teams are in coordination with each other. 3. Leadership and Ownership capability Account Managers who are leaders should inspire and challenge clients to take brave decisions. This can help build strategic account planning for disruptive transformations. Only by embracing changes in every process can you yield better and larger results. Account managers should have the foresight to focus time and attention on the development of key accounts. 4. Dynamic Business Analytical knowledge Being able to analytically think about the process and dealing with the load of information from various sources is part of the critical actions that an account manager does everyday. The ability to identify the cause and effect relationships quickly is vital to being a good account manager. 5. Excellent communication skills To build strategic relationships with clients and retain them, an account manager will need to have excellent communication skills. They need to keep each team informed and maintain coordination. An Account Manager needs to be highly skilled, clear and concise in his communication to ensure that long – term client relationships are maintained. Key Account Management is a continuous process that keeps evolving. Not only does it require a highly skilled account manager, but it also requires account managers to be equipped with the right key account management tools and account planning tools that can assist them through their journey (Fun Tip: Check out this cheatsheet on choosing the right sales account planning tool). DemandFarm’s Account Planner makes account planning ridiculously easy. Perform whitespace analysis, relationship analysis and financial analysis to forecast growth potential. Gain enhanced visibility in order to analyze your key accounts.
7 Key Takeaways for a Successful Key Account Management Transformation Journey
7 Secrets to Successful Key Account Management Transformation Journey Digitalizing your key account management practice is like a journey rather than a milestone. Our team has been a part of several successful digital account management transformation journeys. So what did we learn? In this ebook, you will find 7 key takeaways for a successful Key Account Management Transformation Journey. This includes executive-level buy-in, change management, going modular and much more. Learn more vital Digital Key Account Management tips in order to have a successful transformation.
Measure the Impact of Your Account Planning Solution
Impact of Account Planning Solution This ebook provides ways to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of your Digital Account Planning Solution. From must-have basics to improved data quality & account growth, find out the impact of implementing a Digital Account Planning Solution.
Webinar: The Changing Role of Technology in Key Account Management
The Changing Role of Technology in Key Account Management – Webinar by DemandFarm Average number of buying interactions today in a B2B sales process have surged by 58.8% since the pandemic (Forrester 2021 Sales Enablement Year End Review). As Key Account Planning grows complex with account-centric interactions, technology that can continuously improve based on intelligent insights becomes a necessity. Decision-making will soon be based on Data, Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI), not on intuition and experience. Artificial Intelligence takes into account thousands of sales engagements within a CRM to provide contextual insights from your data. In the future, AI will most likely evolve to a stage where AI capabilities are embedded within Account Planning tools and can guide client engagements. This webinar will address some challenges and opportunities that arise out of this. Agenda The role of Artificial Intelligence, Data and Analytics in Key Account Planning Intelligent and Contextual Insights Evolving role of Key Account Management teams Augmented Intelligence vs Artificial Intelligence Speakers Milind Katti Co-Founder & COO DemandFarm Rick Bradberry Principal Analyst & Exec. Advisor B2B Sales Forrester Joshua Gregg Vice President, Strategic Accounts The Qt Company Michael McCarthy Senior Business & Technology Consultant, Sales Enablement Duke Energy Watch the webinar on-demand:
Strategic Account Map: Account Mapping Process for Strategic Account Management
Buying decisions in companies are getting increasingly complicated. Recently, Gartner has reported that “the typical buying group for a complex B2B solution involves 6 to 10 decision makers.” What involved a one-person decision some years ago, now has multiple decision-makers or stakeholders. In addition, there are different types of such decision-makers. Add to this the number of key accounts you have to manage and keep track of, and suddenly you’re overwhelmed! Patricia Fripp, author and presentation skills authority says, “Technology doesn’t run an enterprise; relationships do!” So, while you may have CRM systems in place to track all your data, the biggest drawback is just that – a CRM system only tracks data! How do you record usable information on the key decision makers, their preferred communication styles, the key account’s major pain points, and all other intel you gather over time? Enter – Strategic Account Mapping! What is Strategic Account Mapping? In its simplest form, a strategic account map is a visual representation of key contacts, decision makers and relationship dynamics within a key account’s organization. Looking for an easy way to identify key accounts? Use this cheat sheet! Why go through the trouble of this exercise? Because relationships matter. And with business relationships, you want to maintain a relationship with the organization as much as you want to maintain a relationship with a key person or a strategic decision maker. In the words of American billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban – “Business happens over years and years. Value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.” The fact is that people leave, but your relationship with the key account doesn’t have to end there. This means it’s important to have several points of contact within the organization and keep track of all the key information you need to keep your most important customers happy. Thereby increasing sales and revenue! Within a key account’s organization, you may need different points of contact for different activities. There could be one point of contact that’s essential for maintaining the relationship, another may be essential on account of their decision-making authority, and you could need others to confirm important details or pitch ideas to. All these are important for different reasons. Just identifying whom to reach out to isn’t enough. To optimize time and increase efficiency, it’s best to know who the decision-makers are. In this way, you can start developing those all-important business relationships. And cultivate them in a way that you can at some point go beyond the people and be strongly linked with the organization. With all this as background, you can see why this cannot be a one-time project. Strategic account mapping is, in fact, just the beginning of the business relationship. It is the starting point of the map that gets bigger, with more details and more layers. It should be a continuous building process to which details keep being added. How do you add details? When a new point of contact is established. This could be because the original point of contact is separating from the organization or has been transferred or promoted. It could also be on account of the contact being on long leave or taking a hiatus. When another department in your organization has collected data through surveys or interviews. By browsing the key account’s social profiles, periodically checking their websites for new appointments, new launches etc. and scanning the news for announcements about them. Before or during any major projects undertaken, renewal of service contracts or similar activities where new information or details may be discussed. Strategic account planning is just good business practice. When it is consciously and actively made a focus, it helps you build better and stronger connections with your key accounts. Since details are constantly tracked and updated, a strategic account map can be the source of reference for every new interaction. It helps to avoid contacting the same person over and over again, making others feel side-lined. Knowing exactly whom to reach out to begin a new conversation makes your communication more targeted and relevant. You, therefore, appear current and better-informed, earning major credit for your organization! Importance of Strategic Account Mapping for Key Account Management Even today, the 80:20 rule applied to business holds true. That is, 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your clients. Combining this principle with the knowledge that client retention is less expensive than client acquisition, key account management becomes vitally important. And it all starts with strategic account mapping. Strategic account mapping is the first step of Key Account Management. It should begin with the first interaction with the key account and continue to be built and reviewed with every deal. Strategic account maps are relevant and important to every department that has a connection with your key account. Your sales teams are, of course, the biggest beneficiaries, but strategic account mapping can be equally invaluable to marketers and customer service representatives among others. Top 5 Benefits of Strategic Account Mapping Some of the major benefits of Strategic Account Mapping for Key Account Management are: 1. Client retention Despite all the data on customer retention v/s customer acquisition, only 18% of companies focus on customer retention. This offers an excellent opportunity! Since the major objective of a strategic account plan is to map the important and influential players of key accounts, this information can then be used to communicate and deal with them effectively. In-depth and current information about pain points, priorities and influencers can make a big difference in your dealings with key accounts. With this information, your teams are able to offer services and solutions that are pertinent and appropriate and that match the key accounts’ requirements, thus showcasing your knowledge and interest in them. 2. Long-term relationships Your relationship with a key account may begin with one point of contact or a friendly face that has helped you get a foothold. But to manage
DemandFarm is ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and ISO/IEC 27701:2019 certified
DemandFarm is happy to announce that it complies with international Information Security Management System standards. The ISO/IEC 27001:2013 has been awarded for meeting internationally-recognized requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and improving Information Security Management System within a company. DemandFarm now assures you with a higher quality and higher level of trust, reduces the risk of cyber attacks and information security breaches. With the ISO/IEC 27701:2019 certification, DemandFarm has also followed the privacy extension. You can now trust DemandFarm even more when it comes to managing personal information and adhering to international standards of privacy regulations. Examination Scope: Information Security Management System (ISMS) Certification: ISO/IEC 27001:2013 (link to certificate) Examination Scope: Information Security Management System (ISMS) Certification: ISO/IEC 27701:2019 (link to certificate) We are committed to ensuring information security at all levels and maintaining the certifications!
Key Account Management Strategy: 4 Successful Account Management Strategies for Account Planning
A major portion of a company’s sales typically come from a small group of customers. Or, as the saying goes, around 80% of a company’s profit will come from 20% of its clients or accounts. We’ve all heard this management adage time and again. However, it continues to hold for many businesses around the world, no matter their size or the industry in which they operate. That’s why it’s critical to have proper strategies in place to ensure you, as a company, manage 20% of your clients with extra care than you normally would. How do you do that? By strategizing and picking the best account management practices for your firm. But despite the best account managers, Key Account Management strategies and approaches are failing. The main reasons behind a failed key account management strategy are a few critical mistakes that organizations tend to make. Those include a misguided selection of key accounts in the first place, overburdening key account managers, and wasting of resources, according to a study by Gartner published earlier this year. By resolving these issues, sales teams can greatly improve their key account growth, the study adds. source: Gartner What is Key Account Planning? Key Account Planning or Strategic Account Planning is a business process that entirely deals with the administration of these strategic key accounts. The best way to administer key accounts is to nurture them into long-term relationships. Key accounts are not just those that are bringing in the most money to your company right now, but can also offer the most promising prospects for growth. The Key Account Management process, in short, involves employing key account managers to maintain, develop and nurture those key accounts, and strategic customer relationships. It requires more in-depth and specialized handling than the role performed by the larger sales team. The popular saying is that in sales, you sell. But when it comes to Key Account Management, you help customers buy. What are the benefits of Account Planning? Key account planning offers a few important benefits for businesses, especially small and medium-sized ones, that make it a must-have. Account Planning is considered one of the most effective ways to both grow revenue and safeguard current sales. In other words, with Account Planning, in one stroke, an organization can protect its present while simultaneously working towards the future. By using Account Planning strategies, your business gains opportunities to cross-sell and upsell additional products or services to existing customers. Can you do this without Account Planning? Perhaps. But it would be a haphazard process. Account Planning ensures that your key account managers or sales reps know exactly which products or services to pitch, and which existing client to pitch it to. As we mentioned above, Account Planning also allows you to protect your existing customer base. It helps curb customer churn. When you use Account Planning strategies, your key account managers and sales rep are armed with the right tools. They can offer personalized solutions to customers who matter. In the process, what occurs is a mutually beneficial transaction between your organization and your key accounts. How do you use key account planning in your business? In the rest of this article, we give you a starting point by examining four best account planning strategies that will benefit your organization. Four Successful Key Account Management Strategies for Account Planning 1. Select the right key accounts How do you identify your key accounts? That should be the first question that comes to your mind, before you can even think about what Key Account Management strategies you need to implement. Key accounts or strategic customers aren’t only the ones that are bringing you the largest chunk of revenue. There are several other parameters that you need to consider before you can designate a client or customer as a key account. Here’s a look at some of those factors you need to consider to arrive at your own list of key accounts or strategic customers: Historic data: How much revenue has an account brought in over the years? How has its ratio of contribution to your company’s profits/revenue expanded (or shrunk) with time? Answering questions like these give you a more accurate and comprehensive description of key accounts in terms of revenue contribution. Growth potential: Now that you have an idea of how much revenue an account has historically contributed to, the next step is to map out its growth potential. How much more can your company earn from an account? Is there enough long-term potential? Do you believe that the organization is financially sound and will remain so for the foreseeable future? Value potential: Does the company offer you opportunities for growth that’s not necessarily based on numbers? For example, does the company have an extensive network or connections that you can tap into? Does it have access to resources you may need, or come with a stellar industry reputation that makes them a value add to your portfolio of customers? Match potential: Of course, it goes without saying that any account you are looking to classify as a key account must be a fit with your own company. For example, the solutions you currently offer (and plan to in future) must, obviously, be a match with what the other organization wants. Often, the culture of a strategic customer also ought to match your own, as it makes it easier to do business with them. As you implement a selection strategy to identify your strategic customers or key accounts, it’s very important to remember not to go overboard. It may be tempting to create a large portfolio of key accounts under the assumption that it boosts your company’s credentials. But the process is meant to be a narrow, selective one. You don’t want to end up with a long list of key accounts that may not be strategic for your company. When you do that, you run the risk of having to remove or demote some accounts, and that can cause unnecessary