On-Demand Webinar: Unfiltered take on AI in Account Planning: Meet DemandFarm’s KAM AI The Ultimate Guide to Global Account Management: Framework, Strategies, and Best Practices
In the competitive landscape of international business, there was a company called WorldWideTech. With a strong presence in several countries worldwide, WorldWideTech had made a name for itself as a leading provider of cutting-edge technology solutions. As the company expanded its operations, it had high hopes for continued growth in the global market. However, the path to success was proving to be more challenging than anticipated. The management team quickly realized that they were facing a number of obstacles in their quest for global presence. Among the challenges was gaining visibility into various aspects of their strategic accounts, leveraging best practices from different teams, and institutionalizing processes and systems to ensure smooth operations across their international offices. The situation was beginning to look dire, and the company’s leaders knew that they needed a solution – and fast! This is where Global Account Management (GAM) comes into play. This approach offered a comprehensive framework that would help WorldWideTech tackle its challenges head-on and achieve its growth objectives. Intrigued by the potential benefits, the company’s management team decided to give GAM a try. By adopting a strategic approach, they hoped WorldWideTech would be able to build stronger customer relationships, increase sales, and ultimately strengthen their business. With a clear understanding of their global accounts and customized strategies tailored to each market, they would be able to overcome the challenges of cultural differences and local business practices. This Ultimate Guide to Global Account Management helps with exactly that! It provides the tools and knowledge to take Global Account Management to the next level and unlock your business’s full potential. Read Now: 4 Ways To Optimize Your Global Key Account Management Understanding Global Account Management Embarking on the Global Account Management journey may seem a bit daunting at first! But here’s a breakdown of what it includes, the importance it holds for businesses and an overview of a comprehensive Global Account Management framework. What is Global Account Management? Global Account Management (GAM) is a strategic approach to managing and nurturing relationships with key customers across multiple international markets. It includes the alignment of sales, marketing and customer service efforts to deliver a consistent, tailored experience to global clients. GAM aims to optimize the value generated from these key accounts, fostering long-term partnerships and maximizing profitability by understanding the unique needs of each market and customer. Importance of Global Account Management for Businesses It is crucial for businesses looking to expand into international markets to implement Global Account Management. Here are some reasons why: Sales growth: By nurturing relationships with key global accounts, businesses can capitalize on upselling and cross-selling opportunities, driving revenue growth. Customer retention: Strong account management practices result in improved customer satisfaction, leading to higher customer retention rates and reduced churn. Competitive advantage: Effective GAM strategies allow businesses to anticipate customer needs, stay ahead of market trends, and differentiate themselves from competitors. Streamlined operations: GAM encourages cross-functional collaboration, ensuring that various teams within the organization are working towards common goals. This leads to more efficient operations. Risk mitigation: By understanding the unique needs and preferences of each global market, businesses can better navigate cultural differences and local regulations, mitigating potential risks. Overview of Global Account Management Framework An effective Global Account Management framework is composed of several key components. When these are executed together it results in business success in international markets: Account segmentation: Identify and prioritize key accounts based on criteria like revenue potential, strategic importance and growth opportunities. Account planning: Develop customized plans that outline objectives, strategies, and account items tailored to the unique needs and preferences of each global account. Cross-functional collaboration: Encourage collaboration between sales, marketing, customer service and other departments to ensure excellence in customer experience. Global Account Management Performance metrics: Establish clear metrics to measure the success of your GAM strategies viz. customer satisfaction, revenue growth and customer retention. Cultural adaptation: Train your global account teams to understand cultural differences, navigate language barriers, and be respectful of local business practices. This helps build stronger relationships with international clients. Continuous improvement: Regularly review and adjust your GAM strategies based on performance metrics, feedback and market changes to ensure continued success. Let’s take a look at some important aspects of the Global Account Management framework to ensure that your business thrives in the global arena. Key Components of Global Account Management Framework A strong framework will better help you navigate the world of Global Account Management. This framework serves as the backbone of your international success. It will also help you navigate the many complexities of managing global accounts. Identifying and segmenting global accounts Before diving in headfirst, it’s crucial to identify and segment your global accounts. This process involves recognizing key customers. These are customers that not only show the most potential for revenue and growth but also have strategic importance. By prioritizing these accounts you’ll have a better understanding of how to allocate resources. You can also tailor your approach to each client’s unique needs, ensuring maximum return on investment. Developing account strategies and objectives After your key accounts are identified, you will need to develop customized strategies and objectives for each. This involves understanding the specific needs, preferences and expectations of each global account. Once you have this clarity, craft account plans – outlining objectives, tactics and action items customized to each customer’s requirements. This personalized approach will strengthen customer relationships and enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. Establishing cross-functional collaboration and communication The success of your Global Account Management efforts relies on cross-functional collaboration and communication, this means ease of information sharing between the various teams involved in managing global accounts. Having regular touchpoints, sharing progress, and discussing challenges ensure that all departments have a clear understanding of what’s going on. They can, therefore, work together to ensure that your global clients always receive the best experience. Measuring and tracking performance metrics Clear performance metrics need to be defined to ensure that your Global Account Management strategies are delivering the desired results. Identify key
4 Ways To Optimize Your Global Key Account Management
Previously published under the Council Post for the Forbes’ Business Development Council In the last few decades, with the spread of globalization, many companies expanded their businesses to operate globally at either the supply side or demand side—or both. Take the example of Jane, an account manager, who used to wine and dine her customers. She once relied upon personal interactions with local stakeholders to run the business smoothly. Today, she faces the challenge of stakeholders dispersed across the globe. As a leader, Jane must now be able to keep track of multiple transactions and leverage what works in each region. Knowing just when and where to follow up is critical. How does Jane’s business survive in this global, digital world? Effective global account management is only complicated further amid a looming recession. Yet while they may seem scary, recessions don’t change the basics of how to interact with customers—they only raise the stakes. Read More: How to make your Key Account Management strategy work even during an economic downturn Existing customers have always contributed the most to revenue. According to an article from Harvard Business Review, within a few years of first introducing a global account management program, companies can expect existing customer satisfaction to go up by 20%—in addition to increases in profits. As key accounts are rendered even more important in a recession, retaining them during an economic downturn becomes of utmost importance. With the expansion of organizational growth targets, it’s important for sales leaders to initiate a clear account management process and establish global account management systems which not only bolster retention rates but also help in identifying and leveraging opportunities for growth. What is global account management? Global account management programs treat a customer’s worldwide operations as one integrated account. This involves clear and logical terms for pricing as well as specifications of products and services provided. An effective system will promote the cultivation of long-term relationships with key customers. It should also be capable of coordinating globally, with a variety of international resources and cultural diversity as well as a global account team that is catered to customers. A customer relationship management (CRM) tool’s key role is to help establish a long-term relationship with a global account. This can help a company learn more about the real needs of its customer and better determine its decisions by providing a clear view of the customers in one place. How can we move beyond the CRM? Global accounts are managed at multiple levels: Headquarters, regional, national and local. The biggest challenge in global account management is determining how to manage the flow of strategies, plans, information and execution in both directions across multiple levels. This requires a cohesive account plan, as it’s essential to build and maintain relations with both global customers and internal stakeholders. When business is spread across various places, available data is often isolated, which can make communication with stakeholders difficult. Frameworks for institutionalizing and viewing all data in a single place often do not exist. This impedes the ability of global account managers to collaborate with their account teams—which makes building an effective account plan all the more challenging. In order to implement a successful global account management, a series of complex measures are required. These include: • Analyzing customer requirements. • Solving complex problems and developing solutions. • Ensuring support for a range of services and products. • Developing global sales strategies in order to hit growth and profit targets. • Designing and implementing roadmaps that align across regions. • Developing global sales projects to continuously improve market performance. Why the shift to digital global account management? In today’s digitally interconnected world, it’s grown difficult to coordinate strategic account managers locally when managing global accounts. That’s why many companies choose to leverage a consolidated digitized space capable of handling global accounts. As a disclosure, my company DemandFarm is one provider of such digital global account management solutions. An effective digital account planning system should help in global account management, productivity and more. It should be able to help your team focus on relationships throughout the organization’s life cycle by providing support. It should also increase your ability to form long-term relationships with customers by setting an expectation of consistent, exceptional performance even during unstable times. Recent innovations in AI-backed digital account planning tools can provide essential intelligent insights. When considering such solutions, you want to make sure a tool will allow for trends in all your global accounts to be tracked progressively and provide guided solutions to empower your team. How can companies get the most out of their global key account management? An effective digital account management tool should track all your deals, providing a holistic view and prioritizing action items based on proximity to closing dates and urgency. A solid solution will keep track of your expected revenue and whether your revenue goals are met as well as provide insights into growth and depreciation. Here are four results you should seek out when considering a digital global account management tool. 1. It should boost your account manager’s experience. An effective tool will optimize your key account manager’s experience by connecting various verticals to provide a comprehensive look into your biggest accounts. 2. It should enhance your decision making. A strong digital account planning system should improve productivity and decision-making by providing smarter and faster knowledge bases and customer portals. 3. It should provide AI-backed insights AI can help address data overload and reduces the time it takes to complete administrative tasks. This can be a valuable feature for teams due to its ability to groom leads constantly, helping lead to strong relations with clients. It can also help ensure future targets are met. 4. It should bolster retention. An effective and customer-oriented tool should provide a better experience for your business and drive retention as much as products and services offered. Is your global account management leveraging the right tools? Increasing globalization and multiplying sales goals have compelled many
