Tag: Tools

9 Best Salesforce Apps You Must Have in 2025 to Unlock Enterprise Revenue Growth

Salesforce is the world’s #1 CRM platform—and for good reason. With over 150,000 organizations relying on it globally and $31.25 billion in annual revenue, it’s the backbone of how enterprises expand revenue from their strategic accounts, manage customer relationships, and drive scalable growth. But here’s the thing: Salesforce’s real power kicks in when you plug into its broader ecosystem. The best Salesforce apps on the AppExchange turn your CRM into a complete operating system for sales, marketing, operations, and customer success. Still, with thousands of apps available, choosing the right ones isn’t easy. This guide cuts through the noise. Whether you’re a growing nonprofit or a global GTM team, these are the best SFDC AppExchange tools to unlock speed, intelligence, and strategy in 2025. Top Key Account Management Applications  1.DemandFarm – Best for Strategic Account Management Use case: Managing strategic key accounts with repeatable, scalable revenue strategy Salesforce Appexchange Apps by DemandFarm: DemandFarm Account Management & Planning App for Salesforce(Enterprise) Org Chart – Relationship Map & Organization Chart App for Salesforce (Native) DemandFarm Opportunity Planner – Opportunity Management & Planning App Account Planner Agentforce Extension: AI Account Planning Agent for Salesforce If your biggest accounts still live in spreadsheets, you’re leaving revenue on the table. I’ve seen this play out across multiple teams. DemandFarm fixes that. It’s a 100% Salesforce-native app built to help you scale key account management (KAM) without losing the nuance of high-touch selling. Build multi-year account plans that link to pipeline and revenue Map white space across regions, products, or business units Visualize org charts and track influence and blockers Align seamlessly with MEDDPICC, Challenger, or your custom methodology DemandFarm doesn’t feel like an add-on. It feels like the KAM layer Salesforce always needed. If you’re serious about expanding wallet share, this is your toolkit.   2. DevOps & Release Management: Shipping with Confidence, Not Caution When your CRM is mission-critical and tied to revenue operations, even a small slip can have the snowball effect. That’s why DevOps should prioritize about stability, auditability, and clarity along with agility. These are the three best SFDC AppExchange tools to streamline release cycles, eliminate manual guesswork, and make Salesforce updates feel less like a leap and more like a glide. 1. Copado – Automate Everything, from Planning to Production If your team runs complex workflows and needs governance baked in, Copado is your DevOps backbone. It’s built to unify the full release cycle—from story creation to deployment—with security and compliance in every step. Set up end-to-end CI/CD pipelines across teams Automate testing and deployment while staying audit-ready Control changes with role-based access and version traceability Copado shines in organizations that treat DevOps like a product, not a patchwork. 2. Gearset – Git-Level Control for Non-Git Teams What people love about Gearset is how it simplifies technical workflows without dumbing them down. It compares metadata in real time, flags conflicts, and gives you the confidence to deploy without second-guessing your environment. Instantly diff sandbox and production environments Run pre-deployment validation to avoid surprises Roll back changes if anything doesn’t go to plan It’s the perfect fit for Salesforce teams juggling frequent releases with limited room for error. 3. Prodly – DevOps for Admins and AppOps Heroes Prodly is the tool that lets your admin team play DevOps without writing code. It’s purpose-built for handling data-heavy updates in apps like CPQ or Billing, where config is just as complex as code. Move data safely between orgs using pre-built templates Set up no-code pipelines to handle routine tasks Log every change for accountability and rollback Prodly feels less like a technical tool and more like a productivity multiplier for Salesforce operations. If your business depends on Salesforce but your releases still feel risky or manual, this DevOps stack is where I’d start. It helps your team move fast—but with the confidence that nothing will break along the way. Conversational AI & Lead Engagement: Turning Visitors into Pipeline, Instantly Web forms still exist, but in 2025, they’re not where deals begin. High-intent buyers don’t wait around—they expect answers, context, and relevance in real time. If your site doesn’t deliver that, they’re gone. That’s why conversational AI isn’t a nice-to-have anymore. The best Salesforce-native chat tools sync with your CRM, qualify leads on the fly, and alert your reps when it’s time to jump in. These are the ones to transform your inbound velocity in no time. 1. Qualified – Your Real-Time Conversion Engine Qualified doesn’t just pop up a chatbot—it becomes your AI-powered SDR, always on, always listening. When someone worth talking to lands on your site, it knows. It starts the right conversation, qualifies the lead, and passes everything to Salesforce without skipping a beat. Detects visitor intent based on behavior and CRM data Starts human-like conversations to uncover buyer needs Routes qualified leads instantly to sales, enriched and ready 2. Drift (Now Salesloft) – Conversational Marketing That Feels Personal Drift was one of the first to flip the funnel, starting with conversation, not conversion. It routes based on behavior, pulls CRM insights into the dialogue, and knows when to switch from bot to human without losing the thread. Lead routing and segmentation powered by real-time context AI-driven playbooks that adapt mid-conversation Deep Salesforce integration for personalized follow-ups 3. Intercom – Unified Conversations Across Sales, Support, and Success If you’re balancing multiple touchpoints—across teams, channels, and funnels—Intercom brings it all together. It lets your team manage sales, support, and onboarding conversations from one shared inbox, while pushing every interaction back to Salesforce. See the full CRM profile of every visitor, right in the chat Trigger proactive messages based on lifecycle stage or behavior Scale with bots, then hand off to reps at the right moment   Customer Service: Capture Intelligence Beyond the Ticket Customer service is the feedback engine, and feedback is fuel for product, marketing, and revenue. When these insights live inside Salesforce, you gain a single source of truth for how your customers feel, where they struggle, and how

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. 

3 Ways John used Salesforce Partner DemandFarm to Grow his Key Accounts

If you are managing Strategic Accounts using Salesforce within any sales organization, this one is for you! Salesforce partner DemandFarm’s data-driven and scalable practices helps you increase revenue from your key accounts. Sales teams now get support in terms of insights, best practices, and timely nudges. This has helped them experience a boost of at least 20% in their productivity with focus on the key aspects of account growth. If you are highly reliant on sales data being in spreadsheets and presentations, unable to coordinate between global teams, and are missing trends in the B2B buying processes, then the Account Planner is your go-to fix. DemandFarm’s Account Planner can help you: Enhance digital account management practices Get an instant, real-time view of your progress Use contextual insights to rapidly grow your accounts Download this E-book to learn how DemandFarm can enable you with Actionable Sales Insights to transform your digital selling today!

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 leading

Step-by-step guide: How to select the right sales account planning tools?

Importance of Account Planning Tools Any solutions provider organization worth its salt understands that its customers are not looking for vendors, but strategic partners who can provide insights on market trends, customer preferences and more. Planning of key sales accounts, therefore, has become a necessity to monitor and manage the sales pipeline – for small businesses and large enterprises alike. Solution provider organizations are catching up to the task too, and are adopting – or considering adopting – tools to manage the practice better. But adopting the latest solutions does not equate to success, as there are plenty of factors that organizations need to consider. What are sales account planning tools/software? Account planning has become a necessity for sales organizations: It helps sales and marketing team members understand their customers and make better use of their time. This is especially important in today’s fast-paced world, where organizations are forced to be more agile and responsive. It also allows employees to gain insight into the customers’ needs, which can help them improve their service offerings and increase revenue – as well as reduce costs by streamlining processes. Traditionally, these tasks have been done using easily available tools or software – pen and paper, spreadsheets, or even text documents. In Gartner’s Future of Sales 2025 report, it predicts 80% of B2B sales interactions will occur in digital channels by 2025. As B2B sales become more digital, technology and digital tools become central to Account planning. Sales account planning tools take the haphazardness out of maintaining account data, and help sales teams organize, prioritize and plan their activities. They can be used by any type of organization—not just the traditional B2B industry. There are several different types of sales account planning tools available, from software that comes equipped with a built-in CRM system (which incorporates all the customer data into one place), to enterprise applications that integrate with multiple platforms including email marketing automation, social media management, and lead management systems. Checklist: How to Select the Ideal Digital Account Planning Tool Why do we need sales account planning tools / software? Planning sales accounts is a strategic process that helps in the activities, focus on the right accounts and resources, and ultimately help achieve the goals set. Account planning tools help sales managers and executives understand both the current market situation and plan where they can be in three or four years. LinkedIn State of Sales 2021 found out that 77% of sales professionals say their sales org plans to invest more in sales intelligence tools. Such account planning tools also provide insight into how well each account fits within the overall strategy for achieving specific objectives—for example, if an engagement isn’t generating enough revenue per month (or quarter) then it may not be worth continuing because there’s no way for those funds spent on this client wouldn’t have been better spent elsewhere. Real-time tools are vital to success because they provide information on strategic accounts, and cross-platform tools are easier to use, and they churn out results faster by integrating data across departmental silos. They enable rapid-response decisions, by providing detailed analyses in visual forms like graphs and charts. They not only provide a lifeline for organizations to stay in business, but also build revenue and market share. What are the core functions of strategic account planning? Account planning strategy involves identifying key stakeholders, relationships, and opportunities that usually go unrecognized. These data connections are analysed and studied in graphs and charts. They aim to simplify complex information, so that sales teams and other stakeholders can take accurate decisions. Learn More: The Practical Guide to Sales Opportunity Management In order to do so, they have to perform several activities to understand the need and the issue faced by their clients. To strengthen the relationship and grow existing accounts, critical information needs to be captured to align features with customer priorities, and deliver value consistently. Account managers then draft action plans and collaborate with their customers to execute projects – and rise to the level of a trusted advisor. The number of different elements at play in sales account management, means sales professionals have to approach the process in a structured way. Understanding the parts which make the sales account planning process is essential to establish a working structure, and adopt  tools that suit the needs of sales teams and their organizations. Analysing industry trends throws out information on issues that may impact the customer in the future. Sales teams can understand their need for change through this – be it changes to market sentiments, resource challenges, competitor issues, government regulations, or something else. Identifying areas of customer’s priority can help the sales team in formulating the bare bones of a working solution. Maintaining healthy customer relationships opens up avenues, like new divisions or business units – that should be documented. Also, documenting the history with the customer gives a clear view of current opportunities, and adding possible future opportunities to this list can make it more useful in the long run. Customer strategy maps help in determining which objectives and initiatives match with the capabilities of the solution. These maps detail out the goals, challenges, and culture of customer organizations, and makes it easy for sales team members to identify areas where most value can be provided to boost the customer’s plans. Assessing stakeholders by their role, influence, and affinity to the solution gives an honest understanding of strengths and vulnerabilities of the solution. With enough details, sales account planners can clarify key objectives – be it strengthening the customer relationship, increasing the perceived value of the solution, and more. Taking the customers’ view of the product/organization shows the USP of the solutions provider in a unique light. Articulating this USP better, makes current and prospective clients understand the need for the solution easily. Determining how to align the solution features with customer needs, and ensuring that it happens at rate that isn’t viable for competitors, goes a long way in changing a

Selecting Account-Based Selling Tools: The Essential Features

Account-Based Selling / Account-Based Sales (ABS) Tools Account-Based selling is no easy feat. It’s a complex, time-consuming process that can take your team months to perfect. But once you’ve cracked the code, it can be a compelling way to grow your business. Thankfully, advances in sales technology are making it easier than ever to implement an account-based selling strategy. Today, account-based sales tools empower sales leaders to understand the nuances of customer interactions with the proper context of their accounts. And the end results are no less than significant boosts in the CLV of each account. Account-based sales tools are software or technology solutions that support the execution of an account-based sales strategy. These tools help sales teams identify, target, and engage with high-value accounts by providing insights and intelligence about the accounts and their key decision-makers. But all this is only possible if account managers can overcome the involved limitations of traditional CRMs such as not being equipped enough to execute account planning to its full potential. This is primarily because traditional account planning execution happens offline with an increased reliance on PPTs and spreadsheets. This often leads to the absence of a single source of truth for data and reports along with a missing systematic link between Account-based Management and Account-based Selling. Thus, this calls for a system that empowers account managers to paint a comprehensive account picture and collaborate with every account stakeholder. Fortunately, new sales tools are emerging that help account managers overcome these limitations. These account-based sales tools provide a centralized platform for managing customer interactions and account data. They also offer features specifically designed to support an account-based selling strategy. 8 crucial must-have capabilities in account-based sales / account-based selling tools: Account Intelligence : The ability to surface insights about individuals and companies that can be used to identify new opportunities and create a strategy for targeting these accounts. Relationship Mapping : The ability to see how different individuals within an account are connected and track all interactions between team members. Whitespace Identification : The ability to find and target new prospects in accounts with the most growth potential. Account Planning : The ability to map out essential information about prospects such as the decision-makers, competitive position, and the core strategic components to win these accounts, among others. Opportunity Management : The ability to track all interactions with an account and all related opportunities and identify which deals are most likely to close starting from the first to the last stage. Pipeline Management : The ability to manage all deals in an account and their associated stages and values. Forecasting : The ability to predict future sales outcomes by understanding which deals are most likely to close and estimating the value of those closed deals. Collaboration : Identifying and updating contact and account data by unlocking a holistic picture of every key account. Creating coaching content alongside, such as process playbooks is also crucial. Once you have the right account-based sales tools in place, it’s essential to ensure everyone on your team is using them effectively. That means appropriately training sales reps on using the tools and giving them the tools they need to be successful. The best account-based sales tools make it easy for sales reps to identify and target key accounts, build relationships with key stakeholders, and track all interactions with those stakeholders. This information can then be used to create targeted content and sales pitches relevant to each account. How Account-Based Selling Tools Help Maximizing Account Revenue Account-based selling tools are vital to maximizing the revenue from every key account by bridging the gaps between intent signals and growth opportunities. They do this via Connected Apps Ecosystem : Account-based selling platforms integrate with existing data and tech stacks to drastically improve forecasting accuracy. Predictive analytics can help identify which deals are most likely to close by analyzing past customer interactions and current account data. Sales Enablement : Account-based selling tools provide the sales team with the right content at the right time to help them close more deals. This content is tailored to the specific needs of each account and is delivered through channels that the customer is most likely to use. Account-based Selling Strategy : The right account-based selling tools can help sales leaders to develop a detailed account-based selling strategy and an account-based selling framework. This strategy will identify the best path that best integrates with the existing complexity of tech stacks. We are proud to share that DemandFarm has been recognized as one such leading account-based sales tool from a globally leading Independent Research Firm in the space of Account-based Sales Tools. Forrester Recognizes DemandFarm as a Mature Vendor in Account-Based Sales Technologies The report gives insight into what companies that use Account-Based Selling tools can expect. DemandFarm is mentioned as one of the few vendors that can provide account insights, opportunity tracking, and relationship mapping. For more information on how to maximize account revenue, please contact us. We would be happy to discuss our services and the many benefits of using an account-based sales tool!

Leveraging Smart Tools to Manage Key Accounts – Live Webinar

Achieving a deeper understanding of Key accounts is really critical for an account manager to grow revenue. This is only possible through improved data visualization and qualitative analysis of key account data. See how DemandFarm’s Account Planner (Enterprise) can help you scale and standardize your account plans with data-driven account planning!

Future of B2B Key Account Management

It is often too risky or even hazardous to make predictions these days. The pace of change is so fast and the possibility of disruption so high that divining the future would be impossible even for Nostradamus. But let me hazard a guess on the future of Key Account Management! Relationship Myths of B2B Key Account Management I always believed that the role of ‘relationship’ was misconstrued by many Concerning strategic account management. Relationships don’t give us business. The communication and delivery of ‘value’ build relationships and that in turn allows us to find more value creation opportunities. The myth of winning and dining or taking a corporate box in a baseball game to build relationships with clients will certainly be busted shortly. Social Media’s Role in Key Account Management OK, I am sticking my neck out here. Simply because social media marketing has been the buzzword for practically the past decade! To acquire new customers and to create awareness social media is a great place. But that is sales and marketing. On the other hand, if you go by the purist definition of Key Account Management where its role is played out in existing strategic accounts, social media has practically no role. An account manager should be able to reach out directly to contact(s) in existing accounts for any info, intelligence, changes, or even landscape. If an account manager is relying on social media for KAM, then s(he) is on the wrong foot already. Technological Impact on Key Account Management No discussion about the future is complete without understanding how technology can impact it. Finally, we are seeing, at least for simpler, low-value products – software has replaced human beings for generating top-of-the-funnel (ToFu) leads and also to push them to the middle of the funnel (MoFu). However, human beings are still needed to handhold the leads from the middle to the bottom of the funnel. ‍Account Management comes in after the customer is acquired, which is beyond even the bottom of the funnel; especially for complex high-value solutions. Therefore, I can safely predict that software will not replace key account managers for at least the next 4 years. The role of key account management software will only increase. What will they do best? 1. Provide a single platform for all critical key account data (opportunities, contacts, account plans, org charts, account intelligence) 2. Enable better collaboration 3. Helps in institutionalizing key account management across the organization 4. Provide insights by analyzing aggregated key account plan data 5. Technology will facilitate key account planning and execution to make it much simpler. But what about Artificial Intelligence? Can a humanoid with AI replace key account managers soon? If you’re curious to understand how Artificial Intelligence could impact Key Account Management do take a look at my blog here. Download Now: The Future of Key Account Management Report – A Global CSO study Platforms to Watch Out For I think B2B key account management software will increasingly be embedded in Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics platforms. With Salesforce undoubtedly being the world’s favorite CRM, it is highly improbable that people will be willing to purchase standalone key account management software. But these are just my predictions and I just might be wrong. What do you think the future of B2B Key Account Management truly is? What do you think, especially if you disagree? What are your predictions? Ebook: AI-Assisted Account Planning – Conversations of the Future Part 1

Did you read MTA’s Buyer Guide on Key Account Management Software?

Thinking of which is the best Key Account Management Software in the market? Here is the answer. ‍MarTech Advisor (MTA), one of the world’s leading sources for marketing technology news, research, product comparisons & expert views, recently published an extensive Buyer’s Guide to Key Account Management Software. This 32 page KAM Bible covers a wide range of topics from opportunities that induced the need for KAM enablement to listing Key Account Management software currently in the market. It makes us happy to announce that this exclusive Buyer’s Guide rates DemandFarm as the ‘Best-fit KAM & Sales Enablement tool’ in the market. Too busy to read the report? Don’t worry, we have got all of it covered for you. We have summarized all the useful information in this easy to read the blog. Without further ado, let’s look at the salient points that led to the rise of Key Account Management software. The Need for Key Account Management Software The inclusion of Key Account Management into various business processes has changed the dynamics of the relationship mapping between organizations and their Key Accounts. The importance of managing relationships with strategically significant customers was always a ‘no-brainer’, but only a few organizations were able to carry out the Key Account Management process efficiently. The times are changing for the better and organizations are investing both in Key Account Managers and Key Account Management tools. So what was the catalyst that brought forth this change… Catering to Key Accounts is paramount to an organization’s revenue growth. This fact is made evident by the 80/20 Pareto Principle which states that 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers. Key Accounts are a boon that keeps on yielding profit. With cross-selling up-selling in Key Accounts, the revenue increases without the hassle of acquiring a new customer. The customers you will acquire with referrals from Key Accounts helps ease the strain on your marketing and sales efforts. Key Accounts are hard to acquire and even harder to maintain. In fact, the real challenge of an Account Manager starts after the acquisition of an account. The inclusion of Strategic Account Management processes into the organization helped the management of Key Accounts. However, a tool was needed for the effective implementation of these processes. The statements above prove the true worth of Key Accounts and the need to harvest, nurture and grow them. This need led to the inception of Key Account Management Software. Challenges resolved using Key Account Management Software: Data in Silos – Data in an organization is spread in silos or distributed across multiple systems. This restricts Key Account Manager from identifying and extracting complete information regarding their accounts. Key Account Management Software plays a significant role in handling this challenge efficiently. Lack of key insights – Even if a Key Account Manager is successful in accumulating all the data points, they are useless without key insights. A Key Account Management software helps extract knowledge from this data, providing the KAM with key insights thus aiding in realizing the optimal potential of Key Accounts. Multiple tools – With various individual tools and systems such as CRM, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, etc for their day to day work to manage Key Accounts, the life of a Key Account Manager became tough and chaotic.  A Key Account Management software helps solve the complexity by directly integrating with existing CRM and providing insights and analysis from existing data. What should a Key Account Management Software deliver? A good Key Account Management software should increase Key Account Manager’s productivity while simultaneously providing him with key insights and tools to manage and grow Key Accounts. Key Account Management software should be a one-stop-shop for everything related to Key Accounts. Following are the things that a Key Account Management software should deliver: Visual Org Chart Communication Tracker Contact History Affiliations Mapping Data Management ( collation, formatting, storage, etc.) Data Consumption Approach Real-time, anytime, anywhere access Collaboration Tools Easy report generation, exporting and sharing Reminders & prompts Data Analytics Finance Tracker How to evaluate a Key Account Management Software? Choosing the right Key Account Management software is a challenge, which a guide book like this is addressing. Following are some parameters to evaluate a KAM software: Trial or Demo Cost of Deployment Ability to Customize Integration with existing CRM Onboarding and Customer Success Speed of Deployment Business Impact Areas Adopting an Account Management approach along with the right tool can help transform your business. Following are few KAM enablement impact areas: People cost – Account-related data in an organization is highly vulnerable. All the business intel is tied to Account Manager; if he leaves so does your data! Opportunity cost – An organization loses deals and opportunities every day due to the lack of key insights. These insights are hidden in data silos and are hard to discover without the right key account management tool. Business cost – Without the right tools, the highly paid Key Account Managers are forced to waste their time on creating reports, collating data and tracking down people. Key Account Management software in the market currently Following is a list of Key Account Management software in the market currently for Medium/Large segment: Now that you know about the best Key Account Management software in the market don’t forget to request a demo of DemandFarm. Remember, we are just a click away!

Value Selling – as the First Step to Key Account Management

Needless to say that the first step to Key Account Management is Value Selling. Key/Strategic Account Management is incomplete without it. Value selling, however, exotic the term may sound, is a basic step to elevating your most important and critical accounts to the stature of Key Accounts. Most organizations are adept at using the STP (Segmenting, Targeting, Positioning) principle to differentiate their offerings in the market, vis-a-vis their target audience. But they still stand a big risk of losing the fine line of differentiation to their competitors who are eager to kill their first-mover advantage in no time at all. The truth of the marketplace which resembles a war zone at all times is that competitors are fast to move in and duplicate your hitherto unique positioning or offering. This makes your USP a commodity over time and this holds for most products and services over time. As per buyer perception research (Corporate Executive Board Research), out of the 100 times that sellers do a unique pitch and call their products unique, 86 of these times, buyers do not find anything unique about it; neither do they find anything compelling enough; in fact, the universal feeling is that the features are more or less the same as offered by other sellers of the same category of products. The truth is that organizations should see their products from the customer’s perception and not inside-out. You need to understand certain basics of Value Selling. The first rule of Value Selling is that prospects and customers need to like and trust you, the seller, first. If they do, then comes the next challenge – they seek the best value and the lowest risk. The eternally and arguable lopsided customer expectation of getting the best product at the lowest price is truth. That is what customers expect. They buy the product that fits these expectations the best. That means that they are willing to pay a certain price for a certain value. The universal truth about customers is that – Value and Risk are defined by the customer and not you, the seller. Thus, every salesperson needs to be well equipped and prepared to discuss tangible business cases, deliver desired outcomes to customers and manage risks while embracing value selling to accelerate sales. The organization should enable its sales force to deliver value to its customers ably and easily with the right sales enablement framework. For the products and services that are more like commodities, organizations need to get into automation to ensure smooth delivery to buyers in little time, perfect pricing and a great deal of standardization. In such cases, getting in a salesperson may not be a good idea at all. However, for products that are high-involvement and one-time purchases, and products and on which there is a lot riding, as seen from the customer’s point of view, these products need to be handled with a lot of TLC by the sales force. This is where Value Selling needs to come in. The salesperson who is the front end for such products needs to be well trained in the principles of Value Selling. Here, the organization needs to support them in training so they acquire a strong business acumen, key domain knowledge, and powerful insights to enable them to sell the right way and make a strong case in the organization’s favor. They need to be good at handling senior-level talks which are key to value selling. The salesperson needs to have the right kind of maturity in selling these value products. To recap, every organization needs to have product differentiation and understand the sales enablement, they need to have for every product category. Automation for the lower hanging fruit, the low-involvement products where buying is a matter of habit for the buyer; and for the high-involvement products, a different kind of sales enablement with training in the right skills, to enable the sales force to value-sell. Value selling is an art and once acquired can lead to the acquisition of key accounts for the organization and hence should be the first step in Institutionalize Key Account Management processes and methodology. However, without the right sales enablement framework, this is more likely to remain a distant dream. Explore our blog on cross-selling up-selling in which we’ve elaborated how it can be used to grow business in 2021.