Streamlining the Sales Experience in Digital Key Account Management
In traditional sales operations, we have primarily focused on maintaining a healthy sales funnel, achieving high average win rates, and maintaining deal sizes. However, over the past decade, the selling process has undergone a complete transformation. We have transitioned to cloud-based and software selling models, shifting our focus to the customer’s product experience. In this context, Revenue Operations (RevOps) has emerged as a pivotal strategy that aims to align sales, marketing, and customer success throughout the customer journey. The goal is to break down traditional silos and establish a more consistent approach to enhancing the customer experience. The seamless integration of digital tools into the sales process has resulted in a more efficient and effective sales experience for both buyers and sellers. Digital transformation has opened up new possibilities for businesses, enabling them to deliver a seamless sales experience by streamlining processes, providing real-time data, and offering actionable insights. The RevOps team also collects, shares, and utilizes data to gain actionable insights that help teams make data-backed decisions. “Contrary to popular opinion, Revenue Operations is not a fancy term for Sales Operations. We need to take a more expansive view of RevOps as a whole. There are a lot more people involved in the revenue generation activity such as the customer subscription manager, and renewal manager to ensure that the customer adopts the product and is seamlessly engaged. RevOps includes everything from marketing operations to sales operations to customer success operations that are part of a larger ecosystem that works with the aim of providing a unique and engaging customer experience.”- Prasad Varahabhatla, Senior Director, Sales & Data Operations, Philips (Snippets from episode #8 of the Shift podcast) Sales teams can bank on AI-powered tools and data analytics to gain insights into their key accounts, identify new opportunities, and make more informed strategic decisions. The integration of digital tools and platforms has also created a more agile and adaptable approach to key account management, enabling swift adaptation to evolving market conditions, consumer expectations, and technological advancements. Benefits of Integrating Digital Tools into Sales Gain insights into key accounts Identify fresh opportunities Deliver a seamless sales experience Create an agile approach to Key Account Management According to Gartner, by 2025, 75% of the highest-growth companies in the world will implement the RevOps model. Moving forward, data will play a pivotal role in the success of any revenue operations strategy. By collecting, harnessing, and utilizing data, RevOps aims to foster even better synergy between marketing, sales, and success teams, ultimately leading to improved customer experiences. Sales Automation with AI to Optimize Customer Experience With the growing influence of RevOps and data-backed analytics, traditional strategies for one-off purchases are becoming redundant. Companies now focus on the entire customer journey and enhanced customer engagement to drive recurring revenues. The emphasis is on leveraging technological innovations, including artificial intelligence (AI), to automate workflows and achieve higher efficiencies. According to cross-functional research by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) technology can automate over 30% of sales and sales operations tasks. The most popular sales automation tools that harness AI include virtual assistants, chatbots, email, and appointment automation. Revolutionizing Sales with RevOps Align sales, marketing & customer success across the customer journey Break outdated siloed structures Enhance customer experience with consistency Leverage data to make strategic decisions From a skillset perspective, different teams that make RevOps need to be more curious and understand dependencies or processes that are dependent on them. They must possess a broader comprehension of the customer lifecycle and identify ways to eliminate friction from the customer experience. “We focus so much on the book or the process, we forget that these processes are there for a purpose which is to ease the way our customer or salesperson experiences the entire process. There’s a need for digital technology to automate non-value-added manual tasks and develop a level of transparency and seamlessness in the way the sales team or customer experiences our delivery.” – Prasad Varahabhatla, Senior Director, Sales & Data Operations, Philips (Snippets from episode #8 of the Shift podcast) Customer Adoption and Long-term Value Creation To boost revenue, cultivating long-term engagement with customers is essential. Achieving this requires consistent reminders of your product’s value and sustained value creation. The responsibility falls on the customer success manager to showcase the product’s features and benefits and how they add value to the customer. Customer value creation is integral to any business strategy and is increasingly driven by data-enabled insights and AI-powered tools. The adoption of digital tools allows you to comprehend evolving consumer needs and tailor your offerings accordingly. Depending on customer needs, systems must constantly evolve while ensuring the structures remain modular and scalable. Institutionalizing systems must be planned out in such a way that just a few tweaks can accommodate new features without having to make fundamental architectural shifts. The consumer and market constantly commands changes, and when that happens you must be ready with the right structures, technology, and solution architecture. Adopting a digital-first mindset is the initial step in streamlining the customer experience. “It’s not even a matter of choice anymore and the assumption that digital transformation is a choice is a joke. If digital transformation is implemented by a company and it doesn’t fundamentally change the job content of the people involved in that process, then we are doing it all wrong.” – Prasad Varahabhatla, Senior Director, Sales & Data Operations, Philips (Snippets from episode #8 of the Shift podcast) The Future is Digital Information and the power of data can be the deciding factors for the success of Rev Ops and your consumer engagement strategy. If Rev Ops is the machine, data is the fuel that keeps it running. If you can’t track customer data, manage assets, or use this information for future sales, you’ll miss out on opportunities. “RevOps is a relay race and not a 100-meter dash and the most efficient way of implementing this is through digital transformation and data,” – Prasad Varahabhatla, Senior Director, Sales
Quality over Quantity: How Focusing on a Select Few Accounts Can Drive Greater Success in Digital Key Account Management
Quality over Quantity: How Focusing on a Select Few Accounts Can Drive Greater Success in Digital Key Account Management As digital Key Account Management grows in relevance, many organizations find themselves confounded by the question of whether obtaining new customers is more important than retaining existing key clients. While there is merit in acquiring multiple accounts to meet higher revenue targets, less is usually more if you aim to drive greater and lasting success. A winning strategy is built around being selective and choosing quality over quantity. Not all your client accounts are equal and an integral part of strategic account management is identifying accounts that show the potential to grow in size and importance. To stay on track, your team needs to regularly review key accounts to understand the time, resources, and manpower they require and recalibrate strategy. Focusing on a select few accounts is also good for your organization as it leads to long-term growth, higher revenue, and improved brand reputation. Digital Account Management Masterclass by Pawanjeet Singh – AVP & Head of Sales at DemandFarm The Pitfalls of Quantity-focused Account Management Many businesses fixate on acquiring new accounts, driven by the belief that more accounts lead to increased earnings. But if you’re obsessed only with numbers, you could be missing the trees for the woods. Quantity-focused account management may work in the short term but usually falters as a long-term strategy. On the contrary, quality accounts offer bigger opportunities to generate revenue for your company. Accounts with high growth potential could also turn into your biggest and most valued partners. Challenges and Limitations of Managing a Large Number of Accounts When you’re focused on quantity, you’re constantly vying to get as many accounts as possible, without giving much thought to quality. This could mean a waste of time, energy, and resources on following up on prospects that will do little good for your brand. Another downside of focusing on a large number of accounts is the reduced efficiency of your KAM managers. If a majority of your accounts are classified as strategic, you run the risk of spreading your resources too thin. A compromise in resources usually impacts the quality of your team’s output and is likely to leave your clients dissatisfied and even disgruntled. Dilution of Resources and Attention Strategic account management works when the engagement with each account is consistent and meets a high benchmark of quality. KAM managers are required to pay close attention to the needs of each account and allocate enough time and resources to manage them well. However, when you focus on quantity, you end up burdening your account managers with more clients than they can handle. This often leads to a lack of attention and personalization that can hamper your relationship with key clients. Lack of Personalization and Tailored Strategies Even as you classify and tag your accounts in different categories, it’s important to remember that you are dealing with people. They include buyers, managers, and senior decision-makers. Understanding each person in this equation is essential to meet the account’s goals and requirements. As a part of the KAM strategy, you need to be nuanced and develop customized solutions to provide greater value. A large number of KAM accounts may come in the way of this tailored approach that is essential to building enduring partnerships. Potential Loss of Focus on High-Value Accounts You may start client engagement with great enthusiasm, but the burden of multiple accounts is likely to bog you down and lead to inconsistencies. High-value accounts require a focused approach and any loss of focus can result in strained relationships. An important relationship built over time can crumble due to a scattered approach and this could mean not just loss of revenue but can seriously dampen your reputation and image. The Benefits of Quality-focused Account Management By choosing quality-focused account management, you invest in long-term relationships resulting in consistent growth for your clients as well as your organization. With a focus on quality over quantity, your efforts will be concentrated on accounts with the highest lifetime value. You will also build a stronger team that invests their effort and energy in cultivating relationships that help your company’s bottom line. Enhanced Customer Relationships and Trust When you prioritize quality, you are actually prioritizing the needs of the customer. This approach leads to enhanced trust in customer relationships and raises client satisfaction. Once your key clients feel valued, you can be assured of their loyalty and reliance. With a quality-centric approach, your clients turn into your brand advocates and endorse your services in the public domain. These clients are likely to share their positive experiences with their friends and colleagues and recommend your brand. Deeper Understanding of Customer Needs and Objectives Understanding your customers is crucial at all stages of strategic account management. AI tools can efficiently drive customer profiling and facilitate a deeper understanding of prospects. Data is analyzed from sources like CRM systems, website interactions, and social media to arrive at a deeper understanding of your customers, needs and goals. These insights also help you visualize the customer’s pain points, preferences, and buying behaviors. Customized Solutions and Value-added Services With precise customer profiling, your team can create personalized strategies that appeal to your select audience. A quality-focused approach also supports innovation as it motivates you to constantly push the envelope and come up with creative solutions. This mindset gives you a competitive edge and sets you apart from your rivals. AI-powered tools can help you mine data connected to customer interactions and past purchases. Based on insights derived from this data, AI can customize solutions and create value-added services for your select accounts. Increased Revenue Potential and Long-term Partnership Opportunities Focusing on quality in digital Key Account Management leads to better ROI from your strategies, as your efforts and resources are aligned towards finding and retaining your most promising accounts. This is also the best way to know your audience better and deliver more targeted Key
Connected Apps Ecosystem in Digital Account Management
A connected apps ecosystem in key account management involves the integration of your digital key account planning tool with other tools in your sales tech and marketing tech stack. This includes contact discovery tools, sales intelligence or conversational intelligence tools, marketing automation tools, customer success tools and revenue intelligence tools. Role of a connected apps ecosystem in digital key account planning A connected app ecosystem is critical to leverage every possible data point from the existing tech ecosystem to provide data-driven digital selling ability to sellers. When a lot of tools are used to keep track of your accounts, you will often operate in silos within your ecosystem. This leads to an increased chance of missed opportunities and ignored red flags, buyer intent to action and strategy. In turn, this affects customer retention and growth. How does sales enablement currently manage this data? Sales enablement teams are often spending hours of their valuable time collating data and processing it further for reporting. Making sense of this data and feeding it to the users on a periodic basis is time-consuming. Over time, the sales tech and marketing tech landscape for most B2B organizations becomes crowded. For a salesperson, each of these apps delivers value – sales intelligence tools, sales forecasting tools, customer success tools, marketing automation tools, Account-Based Marketing tools, and lead generation tools. Companies today have dozens of SaaS apps to solve many point problems in every department. As technological solutions become more easily accessible, the number of apps being utilized will only increase. How do you keep track of all of this data? Does it become overwhelming for the sales team? Check out DemandFarm’s free, on-demand Masterclass on ‘Making Account Plans Actionable, Measurable and Sustainable’ now! Challenges encountered with heavy sales tech stacks There are five main challenges that arise with heavy tech stack. They are, Non-optimal ROI from tools No Cross-Pollination of data No visibility into Risks and Customer Sentiment in the right context Excess time spent on maintenance App Fatigue from using too many tools Most of the sales tech and marketing tech apps will have data at an organizational and enterprise-wide level. For any user to extract the maximum value out of all, they would need to log into each of these apps individually. This can not only be a highly laborious task but also leads to data silos, productivity loss and what is commonly called ‘App Fatigue’. For any sales organization to make complete sense of the data generated by each of these disparate apps, it is important that they not only talk to each other but are also able to deliver contextual value at the right time for a sales or marketing person to maximize impact. If these data sources are contextualized to strategic accounts then key account managers gain better insights. Optimizing a connected apps ecosystem with your digital account planning tool A single place for Account Intelligence can serve as a perfect place to plug in critical data points in the right context of Account Planning. Integrating your Account Planning solution with other sales tech to enrich the data quality and plan your account strategy can lead to better results both in the short term and long term. When bringing all of these data together, additional value can be found in the form of actionable insights that can be extracted from these data silos. 1. Integration with contact discovery tools: The benefit of integrating with Contact Discovery Tools is to get auto-populated data within your account planning tool rather than having to build it from scratch each time. 2. Integration with sales intelligence and conversational intelligence tools: This will enrich the existing data of your key accounts. Such an integration would enable gathering intel from calls and surfacing it in various parts of your digital account planning tool for further analysis to help strategize and grow your key accounts. Accurate B2B buyer intent data allows you to identify exactly if and when a B2B prospect is actively considering, or looking to purchase your product or solution. This enables informed and timely campaign decisions for your sales and marketing team. 3. Integration with Marketing Automation tools: By integrating marketing automation tools with your digital account planning tool, Key Account Managers can get access to marketing data which helps in better qualification of leads, better conversions, better engagement and hence stronger relationships. When product demand, white space identification and targeted marketing data collectively comes together with your account planning data, you get good insights across your key account portfolio. 4. Integration with Customer Success tools: The benefit of this integration is to equip client-facing teams with key insights regarding customers’ post-sale journey. This brings in increased transparency and alignment. It can help view and track all relevant metrics from your customer success tool and digital account planning tool in one place for better planning. This further enables client-facing teams to formulate informed strategies. DemandFarm’s connected apps ecosystem DemandFarm optimizes your account planning in a connected apps ecosystem in the following manner: 1) By being native to Salesforce, DemandFarm ensures consistency and continuity in your experience 2) By working with your sales enablement team to gather use cases of how 3rd party application data can be brought into DemandFarm and made available at the right junctures enabling timely, appropriate interventions as needed for your key accounts. 3) By leveraging the data from these 3rd party apps, our insights engine can generate powerful and intelligent nudges, recommendations and contextual insights to make your teams more productive and impactful. 4) By specializing in key account planning and management, DemandFarm enables connection to multiple apps, leveraging data from them and contextualizing it to key accounts. Check out DemandFarm’s free & on-demand masterclass on digital account management on ‘Making Account Plans Actionable, Measurable and Sustainable’ here.
Challenges in Digital Key Account Management Adoption and the need for Change Management
Digital Key Account Management is the process of managing and growing a company’s most important customers using digital tools and technologies. It is essential for Sales Enablement, as it enables businesses to manage their key accounts more efficiently and effectively. However, adopting Digital solutions for your Key Account Management process comes with its set of challenges. Challenges in adopting Digital Key Account Management for Sales Enablement 1. Integration with Existing Systems One of the main challenges of adopting Digital Key Account Management is integrating it with existing systems. Many businesses use a variety of digital tools and platforms to manage their key accounts, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, Marketing Automation software, and Business Intelligence tools. Integrating a new Digital Key Account Management tool with these existing systems can be complex and time-consuming, requiring significant investment in IT infrastructure and resources. Finding a solution that can integrate well into your existing sales tech stack is thus essential. 2. Maturity Level and Discipline Before adopting Digital KAM tools, businesses need to assess their readiness to leverage these tools effectively. This requires having a clear understanding of the organization’s maturity level and discipline. Is the organization ready to adopt a digital approach to account planning, and does it have the discipline to use it effectively? Implementing Digital Key Account Management tools requires discipline, as it involves following a set of processes and procedures consistently. Therefore, businesses need to assess their level of discipline and maturity before adopting. 3. Account Complexity As accounts grow in complexity, businesses need a strategic view to manage them effectively. Digital Key Account Management tools can help businesses manage complex accounts effectively by providing a comprehensive view of the account and its activities. Therefore, businesses need to assess the complexity of their accounts before adopting Digital KAM tools. 4. Changing Client Needs Businesses are constantly evolving, and client needs are changing rapidly. Therefore, businesses need to keep a dynamic planning approach to stay aligned with their changing needs. There is a need to stay aligned with their clients’ changing needs by providing real-time data and analytics. Therefore, Digital Key Account Management tools need to be able to keep up with the evolving needs of their clients. 5. Resistance to Change One of the biggest challenges of adopting Digital Key Account Management is resistance to change. Many sales teams may be hesitant to adopt new digital tools and technologies, as they may be comfortable with their existing processes. Resistance to change can slow down the adoption process, and even derail it altogether. Sales Enablement leaders must work with sales teams to overcome resistance to change by showing them the benefits of the digital tool being adopted and providing training and support, and involve them in the decision-making process. Need for Change Management Sales teams and stakeholders need to both be on board with changes. Here are a few reasons why change management is necessary for successful implementation of digital account planning solutions: 1. Combating Resistance to Change As mentioned earlier, one of the biggest challenges to adopting digital key account management solutions is resistance to change. With the right change management processes, this resistance can be curbed. Enthusiastic early adopters and tech-savvy team members who are less resistant to change are vital to overcoming the inertia that usually follows any major changes that are implemented in a digital ecosystem. 2. Clear Communication Effective communication is critical in any change management initiative, including Digital Key Account Management. It is essential to communicate the changes, the reasons for the changes, and how the changes will affect the sales team overall and other stakeholders. Clear communication can help to ensure that everyone is on the same page and that there is a shared understanding of the goals. 3. User Adoption If the sales team and other stakeholders do not adopt the new digital tools and processes, the implementation will not be successful. Change management can help to ensure that the sales team and other stakeholders are prepared to adopt the new digital tools and processes by providing training and support and involving them in the decision-making process. 4. Managing Expectations It is essential to set realistic expectations about what a shift to digital account planning can achieve and the timeline for achieving those outcomes. Managing expectations can help to avoid disappointment and frustration, which can lead to resistance to change. Download: Change Management Guide for Sales Leaders to Implement Digital Account Management Software How does one go about championing a change to Digital Key Account Management? There are three main criteria that go into championing the change to Digital Key Account Management 1. Aligning with your organization: Did you know that the tools and language used in the organization’s daily life might not be the same as the standard? It’s important to make sure that the requirements are aligned before implementing anything. Plus, aligning with previously existing systems also reduced naysayers when it comes to the adoption of a new digital Key Account Management tool. 2. Getting a team of ‘Advocates’: Having a group of beta testers or advocates can make it much easier to introduce new tools to your organization. These advocates are essentially super users who have tried out the tool, which means any issues can be sorted out before they roll it out to the organization. Plus, they can help others get trained on the new system, acting as champions for the change. Having these ‘advocates’ on board can make a huge difference when it comes to shifting to a digital key account management practice. Ensuring that you have the right early adopters is essential for showing value. It takes time to embrace change, and the right early adopters can speed up the process to show the value of adopting a new digital ecosystem that might be something they are not used to. It is a challenge to set aside time to take up something new, but enthusiastic early adopters can accelerate this adoption. 3. Support from
Benefits of Digital Key Account Management for Large Businesses
The world of B2B selling has transformed dramatically in recent years, as the shift towards digitalization has changed the way businesses interact with one another. With the growing size of buying groups in the digital age, it is imperative to consider factors that play into the challenges and benefits of digital key account management. DemandFarm’s Dr. Karthik Nagendra-Chief Marketing Officer had a one-on-one chat with Andrew Collings – Head of Enterprise at Gearset where they discussed the changing landscape of B2B selling and shared insights on how organizations can adapt to this new environment. Working with large businesses and going outbound According to Andrew, the key takeaway when working with large businesses and going outbound is being deliberate about a planned approach. This provides structure to your organization’s interactions. He emphasizes the importance of having a digital key account management software that: Integrates into Salesforce without requiring external software to manage accounts Represents data visually and is easy to use for faster adoption Accommodates custom needs accurately Shows all information in one place without having islands of data “We live inside Salesforce. All of our customers are Salesforce users. So the key thing for me was getting something across that integrates really well. I didn’t want to add to the tech stack and have other random bits of software outside of that,” – Andrew Collings. Challenges in Shifting to Digital Key Account Management Shifting to Digital Key Account Management also comes with its fair share of challenges. One of the primary challenges that organizations face is carving out time to document things in the tool. Additionally, making information shareable to everyone for increased collaboration and encouraging early adopters internally to drive usage is also important. “ A lot of people are really great at keeping things in their head. So they know all the people involved, but it’s in their heads. So actually, you need to spend time and put it into the system so that everyone else can enjoy your knowledge.” – Andrew Collings Selling the value internally: Andrew’s advice is to get the enterprise team included in the decision-making process. Ensuring the entire organization is part of the change, making everyone an advocate and engaging the whole team will in turn make the adoption of Digital Key Account Management easier. The leadership team plays a big role in creating an impression that as a business it is vital to understand all the stakeholders in the buying process. This will ensure that the rest of the organization will also become more involved once they realize its importance. Discovering all the gaps: Another major challenge for Andrew was that they discovered all the holes in their accounts. With larger, multinational businesses with huge teams and thousands of staff, there were often just 3-4 contacts who might not necessarily be the right contacts. So knowing where there was a lack of contact, where the relationship needed to be strengthened, and in which accounts further work needed to be done proved to be vital to growth. Is it time for a change? “When I was in the field selling, I used to do this on the spreadsheet, and it was one of the worst things I’ve ever done. And I look back at it and just think, that was really rubbish.” – Andrew Collings It is no longer sufficient to rely on PowerPoint presentations or rely on static spreadsheets for your Key Account Management and Account Planning. They are no longer efficient and just don’t cut it anymore. With the increasing need for Digital Key Account Management tools, organizations must consider adapting their operations to meet the evolving needs of the market. Download: Change Management Guide for Sales Leaders to Implement Digital Account Management Software Benefits of Adopting Digital Key Account Management One of the significant benefits of Digital Key Account Management is the ability to maintain a strong relationship with stakeholders during the buying process. By being aware of stakeholders’ feelings about your organization, it is possible to mitigate any red flags like lack of engagement, which can prevent loss. Additionally, having a Digital Key Account Management tool allows organizations to maintain a comprehensive view of their accounts in one place, enabling them to better identify opportunities and make informed decisions. Getting a holistic view of the organization “Leading a team, I’ve always been more interested in people within an organization, than that particular product or problem, I’m much more interested in people,” says Andrew. By focusing on people and their interactions within the organization, leaders can coach and support their team members effectively. At the same time, sellers can identify gaps in communication and ensure that all key stakeholders and buyers are accounted for. Understanding how an organization is structured and how teams are connected is critical. While some organizations are highly connected and referrals flow freely, others are more siloed. Understanding these differences can change how a seller approaches a business, including asking for referrals or using Account-Based Marketing to target the entire organization. Identifying communication gaps Sellers can also benefit from shifting to Digital Key Account Management. When all subsidiaries are plotted alongside one another, it’s easier to identify gaps in communication. This ensures that everyone involved in a deal is accounted for, preventing surprises during contract negotiations. Some things to consider before signing contracts include: Are you aware of all your champions and their influence? Have you understood all the stakeholders involved? Are you benefitting these stakeholders with something that will actually help them? Increasing collaboration internally and externally “Probably the most important thing for me is broader teamwork.” – Andrew Collings Ensuring that Business Development Representatives, account managers and executives, and the ABM team work together to engage with positive leads can be achieved when everyone has access to all the information about an account. This process is made more streamlined with the help of a digital tool for account planning. Additionally, when interacting with the Customer Success Team, having a digital account management
Digital Key Account Management: Challenges and Solutions
In the world of B2B software, having large technology companies as key clients is critical for growth and success. However, supporting and fostering these accounts requires a strategic and dynamic approach. Traditionally, account plans were created once a year and reviewed by the executive team. However, in today’s dynamic business environment, plans change quickly, and regular updates are necessary. This is where digital key account management comes in. Digital key account management provides several benefits over traditional account planning: it is dynamic and flexible, allowing for quick updates and changes. It provides a step-by-step approach to account planning, ensuring all account owners use the same approach. With digital key account management tools, employees can share information across the organization easily, ensuring everyone is aligned and up to date. Watch Now: Insights on Digital Key Account Management by David Shen, Head of Revenue Operations at Cambridge Mobile Telematics Factors to Consider While Adopting Digital Key Account Management As businesses continue to adapt to the digital world, one aspect that needs to be considered is key accounts and how they are managed. Shifting towards digital key account management is becoming increasingly essential, especially in sales. With B2B software sales moving majorly digital due to the pandemic, organizations need to identify the need to adopt a digital approach to key account management that is tailored to deal with large businesses that come with large buying committees. It is no longer just a matter of someone coming to the vendor asking for the tool. Now, sales teams must go outbound and convince people within that business to buy their product. This requires a different selling motion, and getting buying across the whole group is now a requirement. Digital Account Management Masterclass by Pawanjeet Singh – AVP & Head of Sales at DemandFarm To make this process easier and more organized, businesses need a solution that integrates well with their existing tech stack. It should be easy to use and represent the parent and child customer structure accurately. The software should be visual and easy to navigate, making it easier for sales teams to learn new muscles. It should also be able to provide comprehensive views of all data and not have little islands of data scattered around. It also provides other teams within the organization, such as customer success, BDRs, and ABM teams, access to this data. This means that the software chosen for digital key account management must be accessible to everyone within the organization. To make the transition smoother, businesses should consider software solutions that integrate well with their existing tech stack, accurately represent their customer structure, and provide a comprehensive view of all data. By choosing the right software, businesses can streamline their sales process and make it easier for everyone within the organization to access the data they need. Challenges in Adopting Digital Key Account Management As businesses continue to embrace the digital age, many are finding that adopting digital key account management tools can help them streamline their operations, increase efficiency and effectiveness, and ultimately drive better results. However, like any new technology or process, there are challenges that come with adopting these tools. The following are some factors to consider when making this shift: Maturity level and discipline: Is your organization ready to leverage a digital tool, and do you have the discipline to use it effectively? Executive buy-in: Do you have the support of the executive team to ensure adoption across the organization? Account complexity: Are your accounts growing in complexity, and do you need a strategic view to manage them effectively? Business transition: Are your clients going through a transition, and do you need to keep a dynamic planning approach to stay aligned with their changing needs? Team transformation: Do you have the right team to drive the transformation, and do you have champions who can lead the adoption process? Integration and training: Have you integrated the digital tool into your existing processes, and have you provided the necessary training and support to ensure successful adoption? Follow & Listen to: The Shift Podcast on Digital Key Account Management One of the biggest challenges businesses face when adopting digital key account management tools is ensuring that these tools do not detract from customer or client interactions. It is essential to ensure that these tools add value and do not add more internal steps or processes that pull the account team away from building relationships with clients. Therefore, it is crucial to think through the transition process and assess the impact of these tools on client face time. By doing so, businesses can ensure that they are not only adding value but also maintaining strong relationships with their clients. Many businesses have other corporate tools and systems in place that these tools need to integrate with. This can be particularly challenging when it comes to financial tools, as revenue tracking against plans and budgets for the year is essential. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that these tools integrate seamlessly with other systems and that any changes or updates do not cause undue disruption. Ensuring that the tool aligns with the requirements of the organization. Every organization has its processes and terminology, which can differ from the standard used by the industry. To overcome this, organizations should work to ensure that the tool’s requirements are aligned with the organization’s needs – this can be as simple as remaining fields to make sense to its users. This ensures that there are no misunderstandings that can cause naysayers to reject the tool. Training is another challenge that businesses face when implementing digital key account management tools. It is essential to ensure that everyone is trained properly and understands how to use the tools effectively. However, lengthy training sessions can be time-consuming and may not be the most effective approach. Instead, businesses can consider rolling out training over a more extended period, with shorter, more focused training sessions. This allows individuals to try out the tool, ask questions, and
The Complete Guide to Digital Key Account Management in 2024
In today’s digital-first world, traditional Key Account Management (KAM) strategies are no longer enough to keep up with the ever-changing demands of customers. The B2B sector is evolving at an unprecedented rate, and it’s critical that companies adapt to this new landscape to stay ahead of the game. Research is increasingly showing that companies implementing a digital Key Account Management strategy outperform their peers. This means, developing a comprehensive digital Key Account Management strategy is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’ but a ‘must-have’ for any B2B company looking to drive revenue growth, strengthen relationships with their most valuable customers and improve customer satisfaction. So, what does a successful digital Key Account Management strategy look like? It starts with understanding the unique needs of your key accounts and developing a customized approach that leverages the latest digital tools and techniques to drive engagement and revenue growth. This includes the whole gamut – from leveraging data analytics to identifying customer needs and preferences to automating routine tasks to allow your sales team to focus on revenue-generating activities. Digital Account Management Masterclass This comprehensive guide is an excellent resource to help you develop a comprehensive digital Key Account Management strategy. It will take you through how you can define your digital Key Account Management objectives, identify your key accounts and utilize the latest digital tools to drive customer engagement and improve profitability. Watch Now: Insights on Digital Key Account Management by James Manno, VP of Sales Enterprise @ Qualtrics Understanding Your Key Accounts If you’re in business, understanding the importance of your key accounts is crucial. Your key accounts typically generate a significant portion of your revenue. They can help sustain your business over the long term. But, managing key accounts in the digital era required a unique set of skills and strategies By following these steps, you can develop a successful digital Key Account Management strategy: Understanding your key accounts is the first step in developing a successful digital Key Account Management strategy. It involves identifying who your key accounts are, understanding their business goals and objectives and developing a customer-centric approach. To identify your key accounts, you’ll need to analyze your sales data to determine which customers generate the most revenue for your business. Your key accounts may also include some customers that have been part of your journey for a long time. Or those that you’ve identified as having immense growth potential. Once you have a list of your top customers, you can then start to examine their specific needs and goals. This could involve conducting customer surveys, reviewing customer feedback, or engaging in one-on-one conversations with key decision-makers at these accounts. Once you have a better understanding of your key accounts, you can begin to develop a customer-centric approach. This involves tailoring your sales and marketing strategies to meet the specific needs and goals of each account. For example, if you have a key account that’s focused on sustainability, you might want to highlight the eco-friendly nature of your offerings in your sales and marketing material. Ultimately, the key to developing a successful digital Key Account Management strategy is to put your customers at the center of everything you do. By focusing on their needs and business objectives you can develop more effective sales and marketing strategies. You will also be able to build stronger relationships with your key accounts and create sustainable revenue streams for your business. Follow & Listen to Insights from The Shift Podcast by DemandFarm on Digital Key Account Management Developing a Digital Key Account Management Strategy Developing a digital Key Account Management strategy can be a complex process, but it’s essential for success in the B2B sector. To get started, it’s important to consider a few key factors. First, it’s important to understand the role of data and technology in your strategy. Using the right tools and technologies makes it easier for you to track customer interactions, identify buying patterns and tailor our approach to each key account. This may involve investing in customer relationship management (CRM) software, data analytics tools, or other technologies to help you gather and analyze customer data. Once you have a clear understanding of the role of data and technology it’s important to set specific goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) for your digital Key Account Management strategy. Your KPIs may include increasing customer engagement, improving customer satisfaction, or driving more revenue from key accounts. To achieve these goals, you’ll need to select the right digital tools and technologies to support your strategy. This might include tools for account-based marketing, social media management, email marketing or other digital marketing channels. It’s important to select tools that align with your goals and the needs of your key accounts. For instance, imagine you’re a manufacturer of industrial equipment, and you have a key account that’s a major player in the oil and gas industry. Here, you might want to focus your digital Key Account Management strategy on account-based marketing. The tools that would work best for you include LinkedIn advertising or content marketing to reach decision-makers in the oil and gas company. You could showcase how your industrial equipment can improve the operations and profitability of your key account. Additionally, your digital Key Account Management Strategy might involve implementing a customer relationship management (CRM) system. This CRM system could be used to track interactions with the key account, manage the sales pipeline and ensure that everyone involved with the account has visibility into the account’s history and current status. This helps coordinate and streamline the efforts of sales and account management. It also helps identify opportunities for cross-selling and upselling. Guide: Cross-selling & Up-selling Explained While selecting digital tools and technologies to support your digital Key Account Management strategy, it’s important to consider factors like scalability, ease of use, and integration with existing systems. For example, if you’re already using a particular CRM or marketing automation platform, it makes sense to look for digital Key Account Management tools that
Whitepaper: The Impact of Digital Key Account Management on Sales Enablement
Measure the Impact of Digital Key Account Management on Sales Enablement Key Account Management is undergoing a digital transformation and with it comes abundant opportunities for sales enablement professionals. Formerly slow and laborious manual processes where sales teams relied on traditional communication methods have now been replaced by digital technologies. Newer ways of managing accounts and driving growth have emerged. This whitepaper explores how the digital era of transformation is pushing for new growth in Key Account Management along with its impact on sales enablement. Download to learn how to unlock your growth with Key Account Management solutions and increase your success with sales enablement Key topics include: Challenges in account planning processes, account retention, upselling strategies and how to overcome them. Institutionalizing account intelligence & enhanced standardization through Digital Key Account Management. Applying the dos and don’ts of digital Key Account Management solutions to build successful sales enablement
The Shift Podcast on Digital Key Account Management: Andrew Collings, Head of Enterprise at Gearset
When working with large businesses and going outbound, being deliberate about the planned approach provides structure to your organization’s interactions. Recently B2B selling has almost completely turned digital. With ever-growing, larger buying groups in this digital age of B2B selling, what are some factors that go into it; challenges encountered and benefits gained? In the fifth episode of The Shift Podcast on Digital Key Account Management, Andrew Collings (Head of Enterprise at Gearset) and Dr. Karthik Nagendra (Chief Marketing Officer at DemandFarm) discuss adapting your organization to this changing, digital B2B environment. Andrew shared some of the crucial factors he considered when shifting to a digital approach to keep track of his key accounts. This includes having a tool that :- 1. Integrates into Salesforce without requiring external software to manage accounts 2. Represents data visually and is easy to use for faster adoption 3. Accommodates custom needs accurately and works around that 4. Shows all information in one place without having islands of data
The Need to Spearhead Change in Digital Key Account Management
As Key Account Management practices head towards a virtual direction, technology takes the center stage. Account Managers and Sales Leaders have to accommodate changing customer trends and expectations. DemandFarm’s Dr. Karthik Nagendra – Chief Marketing Officer had a one-on-one conversation with Jennifer Smith-Byers – VP Client Services, from TaskUs on the journey to Digital Key Account Management. The following sections cover some of the inputs from the discussion about the factors, challenges and advantages that arise from transitioning into a digital era of Key Account Management. Increasing Revenues from Key Accounts is the need of the hour! In the post-pandemic digital age, the main priority for organizations has been increasing the revenue from their key accounts. ‘Digital’ is at the core of all functions and that has invariably transmitted to the B2B space and Key Account Management as well. For Jenny Smith-Byers, “Any company that’s able to secure large accounts need to continue to foster those accounts not only in order to grow them, but also to maintain them and those are key to our success.” Continued growth as a business involves retaining key accounts since that is where most of the revenue for an organization comes from. Large accounts are very complex and to ensure continuing business from them requires a strategic approach to handling those accounts. Traditionally, account plans were created once a year and were reviewed across the executive team in the account or product side. But now-a-days, plans change very quickly. When PPTs and Excel Sheets were the norm before, updates were also irregular. Digital Account Planning tools these days, however, encourage us to view Key Account Management as a dynamic rather than a static process. Factors to consider when making a shift to digital key account management tool Ensure you are at the right maturity level Have the discipline to fully leverage a tool Executive buy-in across the organization to ensure adoption Need to keep a dynamic planning approach Choose the right champions to drive transformation Ability to integrate into your existing tools Ensure you get the right training and support across the organization Choose the right partner to advocate for you and help you build strategic relationships as you use the digital tool Checklist: How to Select the Ideal Digital Account Planning Tool Challenges Faced With any kind of transformation within an organization, there are a bunch of challenges to be encountered. When shifting to Digital Key Account Management as well, there are a few hurdles to overcome. 1) Client Face Time Think about the impact on customer/client face time & ensure more internal steps or processes aren’t being added is a major concern. This could pull away the account team from spending valuable time building relationships. 2) Integration Integration into other business tools used by your organization, particularly financial tools. You need to be able to get real-time updates of where you’re at in terms of revenue tracking against your plan and budget for the year. 3) Getting the right early adopters It takes time to change things if one is used to a way of doing things. To show the value of adopting a new digital ecosystem and setting aside time to get everything set up is a challenge. How does one go about championing a change to Digital Key Account Management? For Jenny, there are three main criteria that go into championing the change to Digital KAM. 1) Aligning with your organization: Existing tools, and language used in the daily life of the organization might be different from the standard. So ensuring that the requirements were aligned before implementing was crucial. Aligning with previously existing systems also reduced naysayers when it comes to adoption of a new digital Key Account Management tool. 2) Getting a team of ‘Advocates’: Having a team of beta testers or advocates who have tried out the tool will make it easier to roll it out to the entire organization. Any sort of issues can be cleared up in the trial stages and these super users will act as champions to help others get trained in shifting to a digital key account management practice. 3) Support from Senior Leadership: Support from senior leadership is critical for efficient change management to ensure that transition to a digital ecosystem runs smoothly. Download: Change Management Guide for Sales Leaders to Implement Digital Account Management Software Advantages of taking a digital approach to Key Account Management For Jenny, 5 huge advantages stand out from adopting a digital KAM framework for Account Planning. 1) Consistency: There is consistency and straightforwardness when it comes to updating account plans. A real understanding of the client, their relationships, who the buyers are and what drives their decisions is available easily. 2) Adaptability: To be able to quickly adjust account plans is a huge benefit of digital KAM tools. It becomes easier to fit what your client is doing and the innovation that comes with a digital KAM tool also makes account plans more effective. For Jenny, having a digital tool simplifies a lot of processes and someone new coming to the organization can pick up an account quickly as it is already established. “For me it was a kind of AHA moment. We had a new Chief Operating Officer who joined the company and we wanted to introduce him to the key accounts across the organization. We didn’t didn’t do anything other than leverage DemandFarm. We used the Grandstand feature, walked them through the accounts – these are key people we meet with; these are our strengths, opportunities, threats, weaknesses; these are the areas we’re going after… We used everything in the tool and there was no extra prep. There wasn’t anything that caused us to spend a lot of extra time preparing charts for a new executive,” says Jenny. 3) Strategic thinking about Client Relationships Having an integrated, simple approach gives rise to a step-by-step flow thinking or strategic thinking about client relationships. Aligning focus and building on growth opportunities then gets standardized