The question ‘is it time to go digital with your KAM’ can be addressed from two perspectives – internal and external.

Internal perspective:

First is the internal perspective. At the organizational level, the question to ask yourself is whether it is the right time to take the plunge. In uncertain times, what is generally seen with customers is that the tacit knowledge of key accounts is retained by certain account managers. Unfortunately, in circumstances where those account managers get laid off or furloughed, the critical knowledge they possess is also lost. The account intelligence is ‘in their head’ and they take it with them. 

External Perspective:

When you try to look at it from an external perspective, there is a lot more risk involved with large key accounts. Most large accounts are hedged on just one person or “champion” giving them their maximum revenue. In case that person leaves your accounts, the amount they were bringing into the organization is automatically at risk. In such a situation, it is important to give visibility to the organizations that relationships are important. 

Why should you adopt Digital Key Account Management?

1. What are some of the benefits of adopting digital account planning solutions for your key accounts? 
2. How will it optimize the investments in your organization and build stronger relationships with your customers? 
3. How will it be different from the existing account management strategies that you have adopted for your key accounts? 

To answer these, it is essential to know how digital key account management can be a value-add in your organization. 

Centralize Account Intelligence

It’s time to strengthen and centralize this account intelligence. The key to this is making account intelligence an asset within your organization. This enables the next person who is supposed to take over that particular key account to have more visibility.

Increase Internal Collaboration:

Considering the current work-from-home or hybrid environment that most organizations have adopted, collaboration is a must. Collaboration has also become much more challenging than before because of the sort of environment we live in. People often don’t have as much face time with each other as they did pre-pandemic. Thus, they need a common system or repository where they can come together and collaborate on key accounts. 

Increased efficiency

Digital tools can help account managers automate day-to-day tasks and focus on more strategic tasks such as building relationships with key accounts and providing personalized solutions. By automating routine tasks, organizations can reduce the workload on account managers, enabling them to focus on higher-value activities.

Personalized solutions

Digital Key Account Management enables account managers to provide personalized solutions to key accounts by tailoring them to their specific needs based on predictive analytics and insights. By providing personalized solutions, account managers and sales leaders can build stronger relationships with key accounts, increasing customer loyalty and retention.

Competitive advantage

By adopting digital strategies, organizations can differentiate themselves from their competitors and meet the evolving needs of their customers. Organizations that fail to adopt digital strategies risk being left behind, as customers increasingly expect personalized and efficient solutions. Digital Key Account Management can help organizations stay ahead of the curve, ensuring they remain competitive in the long term.

Improved analytics

Digital Account Planning solutions provide organizations with improved analytics. This provides organizations with real-time data on key accounts, such as their engagement levels, preferences, and buying behavior. This data can be used to analyze trends, identify opportunities, and make data-driven decisions. 

Mapping the right stakeholders

If we are unaware of the key stakeholders, decision-makers, or influencers within the target client’s organization, there is a possibility of losing the lead and the entire deal in the highly competitive B2B world. In order to ensure that the bargaining power of your sales and account management teams doesn’t fall short of expectations, stakeholder mapping is a must. More importantly, stakeholder mapping also ensures that customer needs are being prioritized. Knowing what key stakeholders in large accounts need both in the short-term and long-term ensures that your organization can satisfy them and have a strong relationship with them to build on. Thus, mapping the right stakeholders is important. 

Having visibility of white spaces

Having visibility of the white spaces and your actions towards that is important to identify new opportunities and increase revenue within key accounts. By analyzing white space, or areas of potential growth and untapped opportunities within existing accounts, organizations can better understand their customers’ needs and preferences, and tailor their offerings accordingly. White space analysis also helps businesses to prioritize their resources and focus on high-potential opportunities, ultimately leading to greater profitability and customer satisfaction. 

Additionally, by regularly conducting white space analyses, businesses can stay ahead of the competition and remain agile in a constantly evolving market, ensuring that they continue to deliver value to their key accounts over time. It’s important because you will have a better understanding of your customers about how the movements in these organizations are going and how it impacts your business and your strategies. 

Choosing the right solution for going digital

To maximize the benefits of your account planning strategies, it’s time to go digital. For this, picking out the right tool is vital. However, in the current digital environment we live in, there is an abundance of choice which makes choosing the right account planning a daunting task. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing the right solution for your key account management needs.

Maximize Sales Tech & Martech ROI

In a world where sales tech and marketing tech stacks already have an abundant presence in an organization, investing in another new tool can seem redundant. Hence, choosing a tool that can maximize existing sales and marketing tools your organization has invested in is important. It is important to note whether you are getting the ROI on the investments you have already made before making the next choice on your digital account planning tool. 

Winning the CFOs approval: How to Present RoI of a Key Account Management Software

Consolidating Account Intelligence

It’s time to consolidate account intelligence, tools and the investments you’ve already made, so that you’re not just adding another tool to your kit. Sales leaders and account managers should not have to shift between multiple apps and tools to know what is going on in their accounts. Rather, they should be able to go to one tool to understand the ecosystem, the stakeholders and their hierarchies, and get real-time insights into their key accounts. Such a consolidated account intelligence will enable account managers, sales leaders and sales enablement to be on the same page when it comes to an account. This also improves collaboration and ensures consistency in interactions with customers. 

Bottom Line!

Digital Key Account Management is no longer an option for organizations but a necessity. In today’s business environment, digital strategies are essential for meeting the needs of customers and staying ahead of the competition. By adopting Digital Account Planning solutions organizations can build stronger relationships with their key accounts, increase customer loyalty and retention, and ensure long-term success.

Learn more on ‘Making Account Plans Actionable, Measurable and Sustainable’, an on-demand, free DemandFarm Masterclass designed to help account managers, sales leaders and sales enablement transition from traditional to digital account management practices.