Key Account Manager vs Sales Manager: Navigating the World of Digital Key Account Management
Is a key account manager the same as a sales manager? Meet Anna, a diligent Sales Manager at Brilliant Solutions, a thriving software company specializing in cutting-edge automation tools. Her daily tasks revolve around driving sales, managing the sales team, and ensuring sales targets are met. She focuses on generating leads, closing deals, and keeping her team motivated to push their limits. With a knack for numbers and an eye for detail, Anna tracks her team’s performance and ensures they have the necessary resources to succeed. On the other side of the same office is Ted, an experienced Key Account Manager. A typical workday for Ted involves nurturing long-term relationships with Brilliant Solutions’ most valuable clients. He’s the go-to person for these clients, addressing their unique needs and ensuring they receive personalized attention. Ted is a master of collaboration, working closely with various departments within Brilliant Solutions to guarantee top-notch service for his key accounts. While both Anna and Ted contribute to the organization’s success, their roles differ in critical ways. There are plenty of similarities between the roles of a Sales Manager and a Key Account Manager, but equally, they are quite different. While we examine these, let’s also look at how each role can benefit from Digital Key Account Management. Similarities between Sales Managers and Key Account Managers You might be wondering if is key account manager a sales job. Both Sales Managers and Key Account Managers play essential roles in driving business success. They share some core responsibilities like: 1. Revenue generation Sales Managers: Focus on acquiring new customers and achieving sales targets. Sales Managers aim to expand the customer base and generate revenue for the company. To achieve this, they devise and implement sales strategies tailored to their target market. They set measurable goals for their team, ensuring that the company meets its financial objectives. Sales Managers also monitor their team’s performance, providing guidance and coaching when necessary. Key Account Managers: Responsible for maintaining and growing revenue from existing high-value clients. Key Account Managers focus on the company’s most valuable clients, striving to maintain and grow their revenue streams. They analyze client data to identify opportunities for upselling and cross-selling and devise strategies to improve client satisfaction. By fostering long-term relationships, Key Account Managers ensure a steady flow of revenue and increase the client’s lifetime value. 2. Collaboration Sales Managers: Work closely with marketing, product development, and customer support. Sales Managers recognize that collaboration is critical for business success. They partner with the marketing team to create campaigns that generate leads and align sales strategies with overall company objectives. Sales Managers also collaborate with product development and customer support to ensure a smooth sales process and exceptional after-sales experience. Key Account Managers: Collaborate with different departments to develop custom solutions and services for key clients. They understand the importance of interdepartmental cooperation in meeting the unique needs of their high-value clients. They collaborate with product development to create customized solutions, work with marketing to develop tailored promotional materials and liaise with customer support to ensure their clients receive exceptional service. This cross-functional collaboration helps maintain strong relationships and client satisfaction. 3. Relationship building Sales Managers: Foster relationships with clients and team members. By cultivating relationships with both prospective and current clients, Sales Managers can secure sales and ensure customer loyalty. They understand that building trust and rapport with clients is crucial for long-term success. In addition to external relationship-building, Sales Managers focus on nurturing strong internal relationships. They motivate their team, offer support, and foster a positive work environment that encourages growth and collaboration. Key Account Managers: Excel at nurturing long-term relationships with high-value clients. High-value clients are critical to the success and longevity of the business. Key Account Managers develop the special skillset to foster and maintain long-term relationships with these high-value clients. They take the time to understand their clients’ unique needs, provide personalized attention, and consistently exceed expectations. By demonstrating genuine interest and commitment, Key Account Managers strengthen client loyalty and ensure continued revenue growth. Differences between Sales Managers and Key Account Managers Despite the similarities, Sales Managers and Key Account Managers have differences in their roles. Some key aspects where these differences can be seen are: 1. Client scope: Sales Managers: Focus on the broader market and on growing the customer base. Sales Managers concentrate on the overall market, seeking to acquire new clients and grow the company’s customer base. They manage the sales pipeline, monitor the flow of leads and opportunities, and ensure that their team actively pursues potential clients. Key Account Managers: Concentrate on a select group of high-value clients. Key Account Managers dedicate their time and effort to a select group of high-value clients. They focus on retaining and growing these relationships. They prioritize the unique needs of these clients, delivering customized solutions and services that cater specifically to their requirements. 2. Long-term vision Sales Managers: Driven by short-term sales targets. They are primarily concerned with achieving short-term sales targets. Sales Managers thus focus on generating revenue quickly and efficiently by closing deals and meeting their teams’ sales quotas. Key Account Managers: Emphasize long-term growth and client retention Key Account Managers, on the other hand, prioritize long-term growth and client retention. Their primary goal is to ensure key accounts remain loyal and satisfied with the company’s products and services over an extended period. By focusing on nurturing these relationships, Key Account Managers contribute to the company’s long-term success and stability. 3. Problem-solving Sales Managers: Address general client concerns and overcome objections. Sales Managers work to sell the company’s existing products and services. They do this by addressing general client concerns and overcoming objections during the sales process. They use their expertise in the company’s offerings and their understanding of the target market to provide solutions that meet the clients’ needs, ensuring a smooth sales experience. Key Account Managers: Coordinate custom solutions for client-specific issues. Key Account Managers take a more tailored approach to problem-solving. They act
Successful Large Account Management Strategies for Account Managers
Pareto principle or the 80/20 rule can be seen in action in many organizations – but sales is where the effect becomes crystal clear; existing clients account for a large chunk of revenue, yet organizations focus their attention on acquiring new customers at the expense of existing ones. Treating valuable assets with greater care requires dedicated resources, which might not be feasible because of various reasons. Even in such cases, understanding and practicing successful large account management strategies and processes can help in extending the good work done at the time of sale closing. For small and medium businesses where sales teams wear many hats, it can add more value to existing customers through these methods. Guide: Comprehensive Career Path for a Key Account Manager What is large account management? Large account management can be seen as a highly scaled up version of Key Account Management, as it also focuses on long-term relationship building in a mutually beneficial way, between a vendor and their key customers. In-depth research and assessment help large account managers find opportunities that can be used to drive value for their organization. Identifying problems faced by large clients and offering creative solutions can leverage partnerships better, and get closer to achieving their strategic goals. A successful large account management program not only fosters customer loyalty, but also stimulates growth, increases profitability, and drives innovative solutions that can be scaled. While sales functions focus on customer acquisition and short-term selling, large account management weaves deeper relationships with core customers. The immediate impact on revenue overseen by sales, can grow exponentially over time if large account managers work their magic. Learn More: Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Large Enterprise Account Planning Processes involved in large account management An effective and successful large account management program relies on formal, measurable, and repeatable processes to enable better partnerships with key customers. The factors that play a part in the success of a large account manager are quite similar to that of a key account manager: 1) Dedicated large account managers form the first line of requirement of any program that aims to provide and derive value. A program that assigns dedicated account managers who are separate from sales, so that their priorities aren’t split between other functions. The difference in the objectives of sales and large account management require different skill sets and approaches, as establishing customer relationships is vastly different from nurturing and maintaining them. Being analytical and approachable helps large account managers to build rapport with customers and provide strategic inputs on the growth opportunities. 2) Developing selection criteria distinguishes key accounts from large ones, and allows managers to provide necessary value to take the partnership forward. A shortlist of selection criteria derived from the alignments between the two organizations can drive focus on the actual issues, instead of the most recent ones. Picking three to five objective criteria, weighted according to their importance to the organization, reduces confusion among the Key Account Management team. These criteria can include product fits to customer needs, revenue and growth potential of the customer, cultural fit and geographic alignment, further partnership potentials, and so on. These factors vary from organization to organization, and different departments can designate key clients based on different criteria too. Having senior management take the lead can reduce confusion, as they can align the strategic goals and vision of the organization or product. This also streamlines the handover process from sales teams to large account management, and a formal, scripted handoff works well. This step, done regardless of the ‘key’ or ‘large’ nature of customers, leads to a central information repository that can be tracked in the account system. 3) Keeping up with the customers should begin as soon as large accounts are identified, or maybe even before that. Leaders should facilitate communication between the customer and the large account management team. The team members can take the dialogue forward and establish clear points of contact and what to expect. Managers can assist in developing an in-depth customer portfolio that assess details about the customer’s business and markets, what goals and initiatives they’re pursuing, details about stakeholder roles and responsibilities, information about key decision makers, latest trends and reposts in the industry, what the competition is doing, etc. These data points lead to a better understanding of the issues that customers face, and account managers can provide value through collaboration. Considering the organization’s pain points, how their needs or goals overlap with that of the vendor organization’s, can help managers to identify areas of progress and any problems that might be apparent in the near future. Data can aid in assessing collaboration opportunities in the short and long term. 4) Working with the customers based on the needs assessment, can help large account managers drill down to the best strategic opportunities and create a roadmap for the next year and more. They can provide strategic recommendations like potential partnerships opportunities, creative solutions to issues, establish specific long-term goals with short-term benchmarks, call out resource requirements in advance, and other such steps that demonstrate that managers are going above and beyond to understand and address customer needs. 5) Sticking to a frequency enables the strategic plan to be executed in accordance to the needs of stakeholders, and provides opportunities for regular checks and any course correction that might be necessary. Managers can also stay updated on the market trends and customer needs, and have clarity in their communication. 6) Monitoring and adjusting processes based on performance ensures short-term and long-term goals are on track, and allows for KPIs to be changed accordingly. It also provides a way to ensure accountability, where large account managers deliver on what is promised. It also shows the ways in which vendor organization has gone above and beyond, cementing the value add in customer’s mind. If the goal of mutual long-term benefit is not materializing, it can be apparent in these assessments – and becomes easier to reclassify the
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.
Top 8 Key Account Management Tools Every Key Account Manager Needs to Grow Key Accounts
Accounting for all variables, ‘Key’ accounts are the ones that help organizations strive to achieve something exceptional. Organizations try to identify and hold on to such key accounts, with a variety of sales strategies to improve numbers. Most of these organizations would already be using a form of customer relationship management, and using Key Account Management Software can be seen as the logical extension of the same. KAM tools focus on a section of clients to build a bond by providing personalized consultation services. What should you look for in Key Account Management Software? Once the right accounts are earmarked for Key Account Management, associating a dedicated team with them removes obstacles in understanding, approvals, change requests, and many other activities. Other employees can focus on their main responsibilities, instead of handling client management duties. Key account managers can rely on the support of a cross-functional team for proper execution of deliverables. They can use features of CRM tools their organization is using, to keep track of communication with the account stakeholders, give visibility on what’s going on and what can be done, and ensure effort is not wasted across teams. The tools listed below take different approaches to Key Account Management, and any of them can be chosen based on the needs of the team using the tool. While some are CRM tools with enhanced functionalities, few are built with KAM as their focus. List of 8 Key Account Management Tools Every Key Account Manager Needs 1. DemandFarm DemandFarm is the world’s first agentic AI-powered and CRM-agnostic Key Account Management Software tool for account managers and sales leaders to manage and grow the top 20% of key customers. What it does DemandFarm helps thousands of sales leaders and account managers in global enterprises: proactively uncover cross-sell & upsell revenue opportunities methodically manage deal-critical strategic relationships systematize opportunity management. DemandFarm seamlessly integrates with all popular CRMs, including Hubspot, Dynamics, Zoho, Pipedrive and Salesforce, ensuring a smooth transition into the existing workflow The need for it B2B companies use DemandFarm to simplify key account management and make it predictable and scalable. Here are the pain points it addresses: Systemize whitespacing through a visual representation of customers’ buying centers vs your offerings Prevent the risk of losing important account knowledge and thereby the account itself Gain better visibility of your growth/expansion opportunities by pulling in data from multiple apps in one place Eliminate blindspots in key account relationships and let account managers spend 100% of their time on the right contacts Makes account planning dynamic, proactive & real-time, so that you can track growth & course-correct on the fly See DemandFarm in Action 2. LinkedIn Sales Navigator Being the world’s largest professional network, LinkedIn boasts of 700+ million users in more than 200 countries and territories, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator uses this wide reach to keep its users up-to-date with the accounts, while identifying and connecting with important stakeholders and new prospects. What it does Generate and qualify leads, grow networks, cultivate relationships, grow revenue – the basic responsibilities of KAM team members can be easily executed with LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The option to create custom lists of clients is a positive factor, where the tool fetches insights based on the contents of the list – like job switch of a client manager, prospects who have interacted with posts in the last week, etc. The need for it Being the preeminent social network has its advantages – and Sales Navigator provides more contact data than the limited access of the free version. Sales teams can unlock more people in their search results during prospecting. Sales Navigator allows for filtering contacts based on engagement, interactions, and social behaviours and events. 3. Chili Piper Chili Piper is a hands-full add-on for CRMs, and augments their functions with account management related functions (not necessarily key management specific). It simplifies meeting bookings and suggests agreeable times for a connection. What it does ‘No calendar tetris’ is what Chili Piper promises, and delivers handsomely too. Apart from scheduling and reminding participants, it records every interaction in the CRM, with meeting details time stamped and recorded to help sales teams manage their pipeline better. Their mobile apps and browser extensions help sales executives access the tool from anywhere and book meetings at their convenience. The need for it If arranging meetings is a pain for the sales team, Chili Piper works out really well. Features like one-click booking via email, embedding suggested times and smart signatures in emails so that the guests can schedule meetings with one click, automated reminders and rescheduling features etc. seem simple enough, but the mental load of remembering to follow up and reschedule can be quite burdensome on individuals. Sales executives don’t have to refer to their calendars every time they have to arrange meetings, and that is a win all by itself. 4. Outplay Outplay is a multi-channel outreach tool that helps sales teams scale. Sales teams can connect with prospects on multiple platforms such as email, chat, SMS, Phone, LinkedIn and even Twitter. The ability to personalize interactions across channels is its USP. What it does Outplay is an AI-powered sales engagement software designed to automate outreach across email, social media, chat, and phone. It enables personalized campaign creation, integrates with various CRMs for streamlined workflows, and offers robust reporting to track performance. With excellent customer support and competitive pricing, Outplay consolidates multiple sales tools into one platform, helping sales teams engage prospects effectively and drive better results. The need for it It enables personalized engagement at scale, helping teams connect with more leads, nurture relationships, and ultimately close more deals 5. Avoma Learning from the best in the organization or team becomes simple with Avoma, as the tool identifies patterns and aids in building playbooks that match the performance of leading sales executives. What it does Avoma records, transcribes, and analyses sales conversations to help teams adopt the best methods (that are working). The analysis is scalable and AI-powered, and helps in performance cloning of
5 Essential Skills of Account Managers
5 Essential Skills of Account managers It takes months of conversations, demos, and meetings to close a deal. Both parties will be excited about the partnership. But now what? It’s critical to building a healthy strategic relationship with the client that can assist you with retention and expansion. A well-structured account management process in place might be your key. Guide: Comprehensive Career Path for a Key Account Manager What does an account manager do? An account manager is accountable for the overall management of sales and relationships with customers of the company. Account Managers are always on the lookout of developing and maintaining a strong relationship with the customer by addressing their concerns and needs. What is account management? Account management is a collective strategic method that businesses use to upkeep their best clientele all along with their entrepreneurial journey. It is a process of overseeing the sales structure, planning the business continuity, and managing client relationships coherently. According to a study done by Gartner, customer service doesn’t drive revenue, but customer improvement might do the trick. And that is where key account management responsibilities comes into play. KAM Glossary: Crucial Key Account Management Terms Explained Account Management vs Sales The perspective differences between these two propositions are far and wide. The very difference between account management and sales can be illustrated with the example of a nomad merchant and an online global store. A nomad merchant aims to sell out the commodities in any means to the customers around his way. And the merchant’s sales proposition keeps varying. The online store reaches a far wider customer audience. The online shop owner equips the shop and supports the customer with all possible facilities. Likewise, account management finds the scope for future benefits rather than the benefit of a one-time deal. Not surprisingly, the art of strategic account management and identifying key accounts is a complex process. You have to carry out a broad business prospect to afford and manage such accounts because they are going to get the benefit of your time and effort in the long term. Who are account managers? Account managers are generally a liaison between the business and its clients. They are essential to building strong strategic relationships and a healthy bottom-line with clients. Account managers think strategically and explore white spaces with the clients to retain the business and crack opportunities. White space refers to the gap between the products or services customers have currently invested in and the other products or services that your company can offer to them. The account manager has to take the responsibility to mitigate the challenges, solve the problems and find new opportunities to enhance client relationships. They play a prominent role in the business process to enhance business prospects with the best clients with long-term engagement. While all the 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. 5 Account manager skills you will need to master 1. Good listening and understanding capacity In a business organization, good listening is the key to effective working relationships with clients. Listening helps to acquire facts that assist in better decision-making. It is also essential to building trust and can reduce conflict. Purposeful listening can help build objectives, find opportunities and enhance relationships at every interaction with the client. The next essential skill is to understand the bigger picture of the client’s needs and business specifics. Thoughtful analysis can help you anticipate the needs and exceed the expectations. This can be achieved through effective questioning. The account managers must formulate questions that engage the mind and direct the thinking. Effective questions lead to useful pieces of information for decision-making. 2. Collaborative and Customization ability Account management is never a solo game but a collaborative effort. In the evolving business world, companies can’t compete on pricing/product alone. Companies must differentiate themselves with their customer experience. Collaborative selling is the future. Collaborating with customers to make them fully participate in the process can help build strong relationships, in turn, drive sales forward. Even internal team collaboration is essential for a sales account manager not only to relieve his pressure but also to get fresh and different perspectives to solve the problem. 3. Leadership and Ownership capability Account leaders always work towards a vision and have the ability to inspire clients with a creative plan for the future. They challenge the clients and encourage them to make brave decisions. This can help build strategic account planning for disruptive transformations. Account Leaders are unique and embrace changes in every process that can yield huge results. They focus time and attention appropriately on the development of key accounts with a clear idea of actions. 4. Dynamic Business Analytical knowledge Analytical thinking is the key ability to quickly identify the cause and effect relationships. This means understanding the scenario of what might happen in the process and proactively offering a solution to that. Dealing with a pile of information from various sources is critical for every account manager in his day-to-day work. So, having good attention to detail is necessary to notice, retain, and carefully evaluation of client problems. 5. Excellent communication skills Being the liaison between the client and the company, a successful account manager must excel in communication skills. This is necessary to build a strategic relationship with clients and retain them. Keeping everyone in the team well informed about what’s happening and also the results of every process helps in coordination and maintaining rapport. Whether oral or written, the account manager must be able to be clear, concise, and convincing with his thoughts. Key Account Management is a continuous process that requires immense effort from highly skilled account managers. But that’s not enough, the account managers must be equipped with the right key account management tools and account planning tools that can assist them throughout their journey and make life easier. Demandfarm’s Account Planner makes account planning ridiculously
Key Account Managers are also Key Employees
In most companies where there are hundreds or thousands of employees, it becomes very hard for each employee to link their final output to a significant contribution to the company’s bottom line. This is where I, as a Key Account Manager, really shine!According to the Pareto Principle, 80% of a business’s revenue and profits will come from 20% of its clients. My brethren and I have the privilege to be entrusted with 20% of these clients who are the biggest spenders in our organization. Thus, I am in a position where my success/failure can critically impact the company’s fortunes. Revenue growth Year on Year is my primary goal each year. A simple reason for this is the following: Value of Company at the beginning of Year 1 = $10Mn, out of which 4 accounts contribute to 80% of revenue. Value of my Key Account= $2Mn, Growth = 50%. Therefore, the Value of my Key Account is now = $3Mn. Assumption: None of the other accounts grew. My account is now contributing an additional at the end of Year 1 = 10%. My ability to enhance the portfolio offered to my client by 50% can improve the company’s revenue by a whopping 10%. These are extremely lofty aspirations, so how do I really manage to impact the company’s bottom line? The answer is actually two-fold: Tangible Benefits: These are the benefits that can be measured in monetary terms and contribute to the revenue of the firm. I virtually have a lever by which I can bump up the revenues of the company with effort on my part. 1) Reduce Churn When I am dealing with star clients, I make it my primary purpose in life to go above and beyond the expectations they have from my company. Why do I do that? Because attracting fresh customer costs 5 times as much as retaining an existing one. 2) Increased Use of Products / Services My job is to not only ensure that customers remain with us but to ensure that each year we are able to provide them additional products/services. This requires not only knowledge of my products, but it also requires a deep understanding of customers’ business. 3) Improved Profit Margins Each time I sell an additional product/service to a key account I allow the overall profit margins of my company to rise. The reason for this is the elimination of any acquisition cost we would otherwise have to bear to sell this additional unit. Did you know that existing customers are 50% more likely to try new products and spend 31% more than new customers? With key accounts forming such a vast chunk of my company’s revenue it is integral that I also concentrate on profit margins. 4) Maximize Customer Lifetime Value For me it isn’t sufficient to just look at the year on year growth as a key strategist it is very important for me to also maximize customer lifetime value. To maximize this value, it is integral for me to not just look at the short term, but a long-term view. This requires foresight and a deep understanding of the client’s business. Guide: Comprehensive Career Path for a Key Account Manager Intangible Benefits There are some benefits that I can get for my company with concerted efforts but they are immeasurable. 1) Closer Relationships with Clients It is a proven fact that when the client has a single touchpoint there is a marked improvement in the trust endowed in the relationship mapping. As a practitioner of Key Account Management, I am in a position of extreme trust with all of my clients. Building relationships with such corporate executives are not easy, but once I do manage it there is a huge reduction in client-business conflicts and an enhanced ability to understand the problems a client faces. All of this further reinforces the client’s trust in me. 2) Product Development Insight I literally have my ear to the ground the entire time. How do you ask? It’s because I am interacting directly with clients. I am in a position where I know exactly what the market thinks about our products and services and this allows me to give insights to the product team for both iterations and new product development. So not only can I strategize for key accounts I can also develop insights that can help my own company future proof itself. 3) Executive-to-Executive Relationships The friendships I develop with high executives allow me to be their confidante in this cut-throat world. When they shift companies, I often find them still turning to me for business which results in additional clients being added to my roster. The phrase “Your Network is Your Net Worth” resonates with my soul! 4) Increase in Referrals As stated above, I share a particularly strong bond with my clients. My proven results year on year prompt them to refer my company’s services to their powerful friend network. This results in quite a few referrals each year, which further drives down overall client acquisition costs. I am an integral part of my company and there is a whole slew of possibilities through which I can create value for it. My strategic insights can prove to be an asset not only for my clients but also for my own company. And that, my friends, is why I am a key employee of my firm!
The 7 Biggest Challenges Account Managers face while making Account Plans
Strategic Account Management may be accepted by the organization and the leadership as a good Account Management practice, but it is not devoid of challenges. Once the managers start practicing it, they realize the real-world problems or rather, challenges that they must face while creating strategic account plans. Let’s take a good look at the 7 Big Challenges faced while creating strategic account plans. Where did we get this top secret information? Straight from the managers themselves and their organizations, of course! KAM Glossary: Crucial Account Management Terms Explained 1. The eternal tug-of-war between short-term and long-term Even when the organization has made a policy decision of having a Strategic Account Management cell for Key Accounts or Strategic Accounts, some managers may find it difficult to choose between the short term and long term. Many times, the short-term wins as it is more achievable and managers often feel a quick sense of accomplishment. That’s exactly where the challenge lies; to choose the long-term over the short term when the situation so demands. It isn’t enough for managers to hit short-term goals and give themselves the pat on the back, it is integral to concentrate on strategic account plan goals like maximization of customer lifetime value too! Guide: Comprehensive Career Path for a Key Account Manager 2. Having access to an effective strategic planning tool Strategic account management needs more work than normal accounts and hence better tools. Although strategic account plans are about building key relationships and nurturing them, this process does need to be automated. There are various strategic account planning softwares and tools available that help the managers in planning and managing their strategic accounts well. But having access to a suitable tool may be a challenge, to begin with. Challenges of strategic account management can be overcome by ensuring the planning tool is made a part of the responsibility of the strategic management team and the leadership. 3. Having a good relationship with all key customers (other than that one key customer) within each Strategic Account It’s not enough to have a good relationship with just one key person within one Strategic Account. People move from one organization to another. Strategic Account Managers cannot afford to put all their eggs in one basket and need to form good relationships with other key people within the Strategic Account. This ensures that a great account isn’t lost, simply because the biggest influencer left the organization. A dynamic OrgChart can be extremely helpful to ensure that Strategic Account Managers know exactly where the influencers and detractors lie in an organizational hierarchy. 4. Interacting with enterprise-level organizations and key buyers at the top level Strategic Account Planning requires a CXO-level management involvement in any client. This bottleneck may arise due to a lack of training. This is very easily rectified with proper recruitment, training and a top-down approach to Strategic Account Management. 5. The actual implementation of the Strategic Account Plans Strategic Account Plans will remain so unless they’re put into action by a motivated Strategic Account Manager. The biggest detriment of a Strategic Account Plan is actually its implementation and thus it must be taken into account while creation. 6. Formulating a fair and comprehensive compensation policy for Strategic Account Managers Since the conversion in a Strategic Account happens over a period, incentive planning and compensation for Strategic Account Managers cannot be the same as your Salesforce, yet needs to be fair. Proper metrics need to be defined and implemented, which is a major HR challenge. It will keep evolving over time and will vary from organization to organization. 7. Training and skills in strategic account management What kind of training and skill sets do Strategic Account Managers need to acquire and how frequently do they need to be trained, is often the question. It’s a crucial decision that leadership needs to take, as it is not a good idea to take chances with the capabilities and delivery of the Strategic Account Managers. We are certain there are many more such challenges and that we can list more than the seven mentioned here. What is essential to this subject is the fact that the Top Challenges for high performers do differ from the Top Challenges of the average performer. Average performers are more concerned about the most fundamental challenges that are lower in the challenges hierarchy, such as ‘having access to an effective strategic planning tool’ and ‘the tussle between short term and long term goals’. On the other hand, high performers would be more concerned about challenges such as ‘fair compensation policy for strategic account managers based on sales results’ and ‘effective ways of building and communicating value’. Do share with me, your top Challenges of Effective Strategic Key Account Plans/Management!
6 Attributes of a Successful Key Account Manager
Decades ago, psychotherapist Thom Hartmann proposed two mental models that described how people go about their work. The hunter mindset, based on nomadic societies, suffered from a short attention span but had hyper-focus for short bursts of time. The farmer, based on agrarian societies, was patient and worked steadily with the understanding that he would enjoy the fruit of his labor in the future. These two mental models have been used to guide hiring. Most recruiters look for hunters to fulfill sales roles and farmers to fulfill account management roles. This clear distinction between the hunter and farmer mindset gets blurred when hiring a Key Account Manager. In the past, hunters were focused on acquisition and farmers were focused on retention. A blend of these attributes is required to successfully fulfill a Key Account Manager role. Traditional Account Managers tend to be too patient and they acquiesce too quickly to unreasonable client demands. This is detrimental to forging a mutually beneficial and strategically viable partnership. On the other hand, a hunter mindset is too short-term focused and will often lose out on larger opportunities because of the relentless pursuit of the sales opportunities immediately in front of them. When recruiting for a Key Account Manager, look for the following: 1. Leadership A KAM should be a visionary. They should help everyone see and be excited by what’s possible. Their customers and their peers should respect them. They should be able to respectfully challenge and direct the customer in the customer’s best interest. This means they must have a degree of comfort with tension. Traditional Account Managers are too quick to cave in when facing tension with clients. Also, when progress needs to happen internally, they need to have the respect of their team. Team members should want to go the extra mile for them. 2. Communication This is a big one. The best KAMs are able to keep all stakeholders informed on all the important issues. They will often have to lead the presentation of project updates or account reviews. Whether oral or written, it is critical that all communications are concise, clear and convincing. Communications must also be highly nuanced for the particular stakeholder or group being spoken to. 3. Business Acumen Many salespeople are far too focused on closing deals and do not understand broader business issues. This approach is fatal when it comes to Key Account Management. A Key Account Manager must be able to see the bigger business issues for the client and help the client manage their business. They must also ensure all business deals are profitable for both sides. 4. Relationship Savvy Today’s Key Account Manager must be able to read people and connect meaningfully with a variety of personalities. They must understand that all progress is made through relationships. They must know when to take the lead in relationship development and when to enable others to take the lead. Their objective is to build a highly intricate web of many-to-many relationships between the client’s people and theirs – the more intricate the web, the greater the partnership and the higher the cost to switch to a competitor. 5. Results Oriented Today’s Key Account Manager must have laser focus on getting results for the customer. This means they must be proactive and not wait for the customer to notice they are not on track to achieving a particular goal. They must have a “no excuses” mindset. They do what needs to be done. They coordinate multiple resources to the achievement of the decided upon outcome. They will take the blame for failures and give credit to the team for successes because they are driven by outcomes not their ego. 6. Appetite for Learning A successful Account Manager recognizes the pace of change we are undergoing. Consequently, they are always open to training and development. They never rest on their laurels. Part of the respect they gain from others comes from the fact that others see that they are constantly growing in their perspectives and abilities. They constantly look for white space opportunities to improve in areas that they have identified as important. All of these attributes require a mix of a hunter and a farmer mindset. There are some things that must be looked after with a short-term laser focus. These short-term issues must be executed while simultaneously understanding how they fit into and accelerate long-term objectives and a long-term vision. It is an unusual mix of attributes as it requires mental flexibility. Those who possess these traits will lead their organizations and their clients too much greater rewards than we have seen in the past from either hunters or farmers.
4 Lessons for Key Account Managers from Tony Robbins
It’s that time again! When you watch the future unfold right in front of you! Yes, Dreamforce’16 is right around the corner, due next month! Did you get a chance to check out the keynote speakers this year? I was super curious, and I’m sure so are you, but Salesforce has only confirmed a handful of speakers so far. The good news is that among those is already the who’s who of leaders, thinkers, and innovators, plus one of my all-time favorites – the “Michael Jordan” of thought leaders – Tony Robbins. A recognized authority on the psychology of leadership, negotiations, and business turnaround, Tony Robbins, is the nation’s #1 Life and Business Strategist. When it comes to making a positive difference in people’s professional life, there is nobody in the game with stronger credentials than Tony Robbins. And like on millions of others, he’s made a significant impact on me too. Inspired by what’s to come in his session, I scoured the web to remind myself of some of his best nuggets that I found Evergreen for all professionals, including Key Account Management practitioners like us: 1. Know who to know: In his own words, Tony Robbins said one of the most amazing pieces of advice he ever received was “proximity is power.” His journey to becoming a great leader included positioning himself in proximity to the people who possessed the expertise, skills, knowledge, and connections that he could access directly. Such an approach opened various opportunities that helped achieve his goals. As KAM Leaders, one of the biggest challenges is to first identify the key stakeholders internally and externally. Large organizations have a web of complex and dynamic networks. The trick is really to identify, nurture and leverage – at the opportune time – the right relationship mapping, make the right connections and join the dots to spot the not-so-obvious opportunities. Building trust internally and client-side requires proximity, understanding, and acumen all at once. It’s also critical to make oneself accessible to the stakeholders and win their trust. I’ve found the possibilities to be endless when I’ve made relationship management central to my approach. 2. Shift focus from creating products to creating value: According to one of the “7 Forces of Business Mastery” defined by Robbins, it is imperative to understand, anticipate and realize the deepest needs of our customers consistently. The more value we create for our customers, the more we can dominate the marketplace. Sounds simple but practitioners will obviously know the myriad complexities hidden under this seemingly simple statement. It takes a lot to keep tabs on the dynamic landscape – be it customer industry and business goals, competitor offerings, regulatory needs or our own capacity. It takes a lot to build a watertight internal business case to invest in new capabilities because that’s where we believe the customer needs us to go. The idea is not to fall in love with our product or service, but to fall in love with the client and their needs, fears, goals. This way we have the right knowledge to create more value for clients than anybody else. 3. Embrace the magic of ‘strategic innovation’: When Robbins said that, as a leader, you have to strategically innovate; he meant being better than what currently exists. Not just in product, but in processes, service, delivery – every facet. Strategic Account Planning innovation is another pillar for creating unbeatable value for customers. Now here is the thing about innovation that struck me. It doesn’t have to be fancy; it doesn’t have to be the responsibility of unseen wizards sitting in the ‘innovation department.’ You get my drift. In fact, my favorite Tony Robbins phrase is ‘innovation is a daily habit.’ So how do we constantly identify new opportunities to serve customers better through fresh and inventive approaches that also help meet their goals? In my experience, the key is real-time knowledge available to all team members. If all internal stakeholders know what is going on now, that gives us multiple perspectives and multiple ideas and therefore multiple possibilities to innovate. Less time spent on admin and housekeeping tasks, more on collaboration and connection. 4. Keep your eye on the goal: Today’s Key Account Manager skills include a sharp track of the business results even before the client notices a declining goal metric. Robbins points out that opportunities for maximization are plenty such as lead generation, conversions, sales, etc. The key is to document the results in each area and anticipate the challenges that hinder efforts to achieve goals. Because you can’t manage what you don’t, measure. Measuring an outcome further mobilizes the team to work on key areas of improvement and further cement positions of strength. In my years as a Key Account professional, I’ve found that quantifying the qualitative and qualifying the quantitative is a real art, and can hold the key to success. It is easier said than done, of course. Managing Key Accounts is both – art and science. Finding a balance between the two is something I take both as a personal challenge and a key focus area for innovation with my company, DemandFarm. Needless to say, Account Managers are the cornerstone of the organization, responsible for a bulk of the revenue from just a few strategic customers. Following Tony’s advice can certainly help up the chances of success. What are your favorite Tony Robbins insights? We’d love to hear them and how you used them in the Account Management Context! Write in and share the secrets!
The 5 Skills Every Kickass Key Account Manager Needs in 2024
We’ve gone over the fact that 80% of your key account revenue comes from 20% of your accounts. Thus, the key account manager who manages this 20 % of accounts plays a key role in the ongoing success of your business. He/She needs to nurture your company’s most valuable customers and build a long-term relationship with them, not just as salespeople but as trusted advisors. This key account manager can have such a huge impact on the fortune of a company is in a very influential position. The responsibilities and expectations may be many, but the time on their hands is very less and hence certain skills are needed to do the job well. Guide: Career progression for key account manager Here are the top 5 Skills that every Key account manager Professional should have to do his job amazingly: #1. Effective Communicator Key Account Managers are in a unique position where they constantly interact with people within the client organization who have extremely powerful roles and positions. Communicating with such high flying corporate executives is not easy. They need training on the specific key account they are handling. Key Account Managers must strive to constantly keep communication flowing to establish themselves as trusted advisors. The client touchpoints should feel that they can reach out to their account managers with any question/concern and that they will receive a helpful and thoughtful response. In order to be a successful key account manager, he/she should be indispensable to the client in every way. It is truly an art to keep clients engaged without being intrusive. #2. Proactive Key Account Management The biggest mistake that Key Account Managers do is thinking that they don’t need to rock the boat too much. They believe that their job is just wine and dine clients and build a relationship mapping through this. A Key Account Manager must proactively glean insights from the customers about how the product model is functioning for them, if there are gaps in product fitment and if there is any reason for them to be unhappy. This description can allow him/her to proactively put out key account management fires, even before they arise. This information can be used for new product development to address any gaping need, as spoken about in this blog. #3. Empathizing with Customers A Key Account Manager must, of course, have research and analytical bend of mind where he/she understands the client’s goals and expectations deeply, but it is also important to understand any problems that they may be facing. Key account managers must collaborate with customers to create a plan of action to work towards business goals. If the KAMs follow through with those plans while adjusting for market conditions they stand to demonstrate the real value of their company. A true Key Account Manager will consistently help clients achieve their end goals while remaining in a fiduciary position. When a client can show its senior management that a Key Account Manager positively impacted their bottom line by putting their blood, sweat, and tears in there is bound to be a lasting collaboration. #4. Challenging The Key Account to Use Optimal Strategies Look for opportunities to educate your key accounts, or even challenge them with a new way of thinking when appropriate. If they’re asking how to do something a certain way, and you know of a better way, use that chance to educate them for everyone’s good. When a key account asks you how to do something, seek to understand why they want to do that. By understanding their motives and reasons, you’ll be able to recommend an alternative course of action. Your job as a key account manager isn’t to make friends with your key account, and not even necessary to “satisfy” them. Your primary job is to push your key account, challenge them, and get them to think, in order to make them generate more revenue. #5. Becoming a disruptive growth key account manager Nevermore has there been a better time for key account managers to reposition themselves by taking charge of the disruptive growth agenda. Such initiatives by managers are often the most creative and have the biggest revenue potential. Key account managers that want to do their job well and reach their potential and move into a disruptive growth role in 2024 can do so by: Breaking the barrier: The manager that can best articulate a disruptive growth strategy will be king of account management. As most companies look to grow, key account managers should be the ones to step forward to create the platforms that will catapult their key accounts forward into new business possibilities. Data Monetization: While traditional key account management activities continue to be important, more focus can be allowed to drive disruptive growth initiatives that present data visualization and analysis. New tools and initiatives in mining data can help the key account managers to take necessary actions towards monetizing it. Competition analysis: The landscape of competitors is always changing. Every day new competitors enter the market. It is necessary to watch out for innovations your competitors are bringing up to stay aligned with the trends in the industry. Only a few key account managers believe defending their key accounts against new competitors that have not traditionally been part of their industry is a priority to their key accounts today. Key accounts can avoid being disrupted, but only if they can see what’s coming. As a Key account manager, you are now at an inflection point in 2024. You have a clear opportunity to step up to the plan of growth and expansion in 2024. So far, most have missed the opportunity, resulting in others being in front of the line for the role. Currently, the plan is ripe for the taking, but opportunities such as this one have a shelf life. With swift, sure action, key account managers can capitalize on their window of white space opportunity.