Digitalization of B2B Sales Interactions: Technological Changes in Key Account Management Processes
B2B interactions today are primarily taking place in digital channels. In a recent Forrester Sales Enablement Report, the report indicates that the average number of buying interactions has surged since the pandemic; from 17 pre-pandemic to 27 post-pandemic. Hybrid and virtual selling environments (partially forced by the pandemic) have made buyers innately digital these days. These ‘new buyers’ have needs and expectations that do not necessarily line up with traditional B2B sales and selling methods. B2B interactions typically happen these days without even meeting the salespersons directly on digital channels. The question of the hour is, at a time of such huge shifts to digital ecosystems, what does Key Account Management entail in terms of sales organization? How does one adapt to this new condition of data-driven B2B sales? Shift to a world of ‘Click and Transact’ In the DemandFarm webinar ‘The Changing Role of Technology in Key Account Management’ featuring Forrester, Rick Bradberry, Principal Analyst & Executive Advisor B2B Sales at Forrester reaffirmed that what we do in terms of sales or account management and interactions with customers has changed a lot, “I would say that COVID actually drove the trend that had existed before the pandemic. And that was a preference that buyers had for self-service experiences.” Consumers have become accustomed to what Rick refers to as the world of “click and transact”. This consumer experience started in the B2B space of e-commerce for consumers. It went from physical products to digital products and these experiences have come into B2B. The SaaS field has amplified this further. What We Want, When We Want It! This mindset of shifting to self-service is accompanied by a second aspect in the B2B field. These new experiences and preferences created are produced by enabling capabilities. “Why do we need to still architect these experiences with customers the way we did it 20 years ago?” asks Rick. Consumers, i.e. B2B companies or buyers, or even users of those B2B products, not only prefer to do it themselves, but they are also able to do it because an enabling technology or experience exists that allows them to do so. Great Expectations! (No, not the novel) The shift to this era of ‘self-service’, in a sense has changed expectations on leaders to deliver experiences with customers as well. For company boards and CEOs, the focus has been retargeted on how to deliver the type of expected self-service experience using technology that customers truly prefer and want to use. For Rick Bradberry, “That’s where Insights becomes a new mantra for leaders!” In order to be able to deliver customization to customers, one needs an insight-driven approach to how to think about people, processes, talent, and the way the business is run. Generational Variances… Each generation brings in a completely different perspective within the workforce when it comes to digital compatibility in the sales process. This pertains to both the buyers and the sellers. What sort of culture is sought out also differs as a result. Rick Bradberry shared a few interesting data points in the webinar. According to him, when it comes to self-service in internal app stores, external marketplaces or within any product, “An average Gen X buyer would look to do that 37% of the time. But in Gen Z (the younger generation), this goes up by 10% furthermore to 47%.” Of course, we can’t forget the millennials who stick to about 43%. So, companies have to shift their understanding of the ‘sweet spot’ in B2B digital interactions. What does this mean for you? What do these trends say about Key Account Management in a digitally expanding B2B era? Things that have traditionally been done in Key Account Management have now become digitized and improved at the same time. Functions that were done tediously and manually before, are now enabled as capabilities within the technology and tools used by consumers. Such technologies facilitate improved quantitative and qualitative usage to understand your customers better and course-correct how you serve them. This will inevitably lead to better long-term value, bigger deal sizes, better forecasting and accuracy. Check out these 6 key takeaways for a successful digital key account management transformation. What used to be a struggle when managing accounts before, for example – whitespace, becomes a metric that is easier to improve upon. These capabilities are now quickly being embedded in technology if they haven’t already. Additionally, with the advancement of Artificial Intelligence of AI, analytical tools are also progressively built to improve. Insights, the future of faster functionality, and assisted account planning awaits account management. Built-in analytical tools do more than what humans are capable of doing in terms of number crunching. What the future holds is perhaps such intelligent tools giving a perspective that might otherwise go unnoticed to human eyes. This might boost functioning in Key Account Management in unparalleled ways! Check out DemandFarm’s Insights-driven Account Planner to aid your key account management process!
Account Manager Skills 101
Who is an account manager and what do they do? An account manager does the overall management of sales and relationships with the various customers of the company. The main roles of an account manager are the following:- Maintaining and developing relationships with customers by addressing their concerns Building strong strategic relationships with clients Explore white spaces with clients to retain business and crack opportunities Enhance business prospects with long-term relationships While all account managers need hands-on experience managing customer relationships, there are wide ranges of other (equally important) account management skills that are critical for the role. Find out 3 unique ways how John grows his key accounts as a strategic account manager. 5 Must-Have Skills for Account Managers! 1. Good listening and understanding capacity The key to effective working relationships with clients is good listening. This enables building trust and reduces conflict to build objectives and find opportunities in every client interaction. This helps account managers anticipate the needs and exceed expectations of the client. Guide: Comprehensive Career Path for a Key Account Manager 2. Collaborative and Customization ability In the current world of business where customers are situated globally, companies don’t compete on pricing or product alone but also have to show that the customer experience they offer is the best. Account management is never a solo game but a collaborative effort. Collaborating with customers to make them fully participate in the process can help build strong relationships, in turn, drive sales forward. Additionally, an account manager has to ensure that internal teams are in coordination with each other. 3. Leadership and Ownership capability Account Managers who are leaders should inspire and challenge clients to take brave decisions. This can help build strategic account planning for disruptive transformations. Only by embracing changes in every process can you yield better and larger results. Account managers should have the foresight to focus time and attention on the development of key accounts. 4. Dynamic Business Analytical knowledge Being able to analytically think about the process and dealing with the load of information from various sources is part of the critical actions that an account manager does everyday. The ability to identify the cause and effect relationships quickly is vital to being a good account manager. 5. Excellent communication skills To build strategic relationships with clients and retain them, an account manager will need to have excellent communication skills. They need to keep each team informed and maintain coordination. An Account Manager needs to be highly skilled, clear and concise in his communication to ensure that long – term client relationships are maintained. Key Account Management is a continuous process that keeps evolving. Not only does it require a highly skilled account manager, but it also requires account managers to be equipped with the right key account management tools and account planning tools that can assist them through their journey (Fun Tip: Check out this cheatsheet on choosing the right sales account planning tool). DemandFarm’s Account Planner makes account planning ridiculously easy. Perform whitespace analysis, relationship analysis and financial analysis to forecast growth potential. Gain enhanced visibility in order to analyze your key accounts.
Moving beyond CRM: Why Key Accounts need a dedicated Account Management platform
Driving and sustaining growth is very different from achieving a goal According to the results of multiple surveys, the biggest priority of a CEO is to achieve growth, Yet, only a small quantity of corporate leaders succeed in driving and sustaining growth because the focus is not exactly on achieving growth, but acquiring customers – at least in the B2C world. For B2B software solution vendors, however, the choice is different. They can focus on acquiring new customers, but it is the existing partnerships that enable them to do so. The focus on acquiring new customers might be exciting in the beginning, but statistics show that the action of onboarding new customers is five times costlier than keeping an existing one, as the odds of a successful sale are between five and 20 percent. Nurturing existing customers requires a different kind of work, where team members ensure their customers see the solutions provider as one and they think of one as their trusted advisor to help them meet their desired outcomes. As existing customers already know the team and have experienced the working of other solutions, the probability of a successful sale rises to 60 – 70 percent. The Survey also reveals how existing customers are twice as likely to try new products from their service provider, and their spends are 31 percent more than new acquisitions. The numbers make it clear that focusing on existing accounts and allotting resources to their emerging needs leads to success, yet organizations tend to prioritize acquiring new users above expanding the footprint of existing customers. A survey by Alpine Investors found that nearly 70% of revenue-oriented activities were prioritised on new customer acquisition, and only the remaining 30% were focused on engaging existing customers to generate more revenue. The findings were backed by the Miller Heiman CSO Insights Report, which found that 57.3% of global sales leaders surveyed prioritised capturing new accounts, even when the revenue from new customers accounted for only 29.9% of the revenue. The signs of the tide turning are evident too in these surveys, as the next item in the order of priority for sales leaders is to increase penetration into existing accounts. These accounts account for 70.1% of total revenue, which marks an increase over the previous years’ numbers. No matter how exciting winning new accounts is, the focus on the bottom line makes organizations rely more on the growth of existing relationships. This growth comes from expanding the scope of existing accounts, while improving activities that ensure account retention. The CSO survey showed this to be an important roadblock too, with only one-third of the leaders (34.6%) admitting their confidence in the abilities of their organization to expand existing accounts. Making the most of key accounts: where organizations falter The elements of account management that drive successful strategies have changed a lot over the last few decades, but nothing compared to the changes that have happened since 2020. The new normal requires organizations to majorly redesign their Account Management processes. Having a dynamic account management and sales process is the biggest driver of success to achieve sales goals, as they allow teams to adapt to new conditions quickly. This gives them a concrete base to work on, and cater to discerning buyers, disruptive technologies, changes in the market, buyer need changes, features launched by competition, and more. A constant revision of account plans helps vendor organizations to keep their customers happy in the long-term. But establishing a dynamic account management process is not feasible for all clients – and establishing a key account practice becomes essential. Like account managers, key account personnel also take care of the needs of the clients, but in a proactive way rather than the reactive nature of current account management (the number of accounts that an account manager handles makes it almost impossible for them to be proactive, to be fair). They tackle challenges before they become serious issues, observe relevant data and tweak the key account plan accordingly to meet upcoming needs, and keep their organization ready for changes. Only 28.9% of SaaS vendor organizations report being anywhere close to that level of process maturity, and they are qualified by their revenue goal achievement and customer stickiness. They also enable their key account managers (KAMs) with relevant tools that allow them to create and maintain dynamic processes for every key account, and take the partnership forward from a solutions provider to a trusted advisor. Source: Gartner Understanding the limitations of CRM Customer Relationship management (CRM) software are the backbone of any organization dabbling in sales in any capacity, and their importance in software B2B sales is immeasurable. Rightfully so, as they simplify sales opportunity and customer acquisition by capturing key metrics. They accurately pinpoint leads in the sales pipeline so that sales teams can take relevant steps to convert them into customers. Their strong focus is what makes them indispensable, and it is the same factor that rules them out from enhancing existing partnerships. As typical sales cycles are a few months long (at most, a couple of quarters) CRM tools are not equipped to plan long-term strategies, which is the need when it comes to existing clients. They don’t provide provisions to track customer goals, history, experiences, and a whole lot of other factors. Sales teams and key account managers should be able to accurately track and monitor changing goals and expectations, to get the customer to understand that the vendor organization is genuinely interested in providing them with solutions for the issues they’re facing. Download this guide to learn how to move beyond your CRM and build a successful Key Account Management process in 9 steps! Driving success with Key Account Management Software Key Account Management tools are geared to build solid relationships with existing customers. They help account managers save and analyze precise information about their key accounts. Watch Now: The Changing Role of Technology in Key Account Management The volume of the data, structured by
Understanding the Key Account Planning Process
The Key Account Planning Process Nurturing existing customers is a time-tested way of improving business, and for good reason: people who are already in business with an organization are more likely to understand the strengths and advantages the partnership can present. The odds increase while selling to an existing customer, by four to five times – showing how vendor organizations can achieve exponential growth by prioritizing key relationships. And like any relationship, digital tools can help enhance the experience. While B2C organizations have been trying to mass-personalize for years, B2B sales teams can achieve the effect with relatively lesser effort, because the target audience is limited to a number of stakeholders. Creating a key account plan for important accounts develops an effective strategy that fosters an environment of mutual growth. The ‘What’ of Key Account Planning Process Before understanding what key account planning is, The definition of what ‘key’ accounts are should be established. This is important because not all organizations have the same goals: for some, a key account might be the one with multiple sales opportunities, and for a smaller form – a customer with very high potential might be a key account (even if they’re contributing less). Key customers can also become vendor organization’s evangelists, refer new prospects to the group, and champion vendor’s products because of the difference it makes to their work. A key account plan shows the way to keep these clients’ needs fulfilled. It can be seen as a map that shows the current status of the partnership, what can be done in the future, and what steps can be taken. As Key Account Management adapts to a fast-paced digital environment, how do you foresee its future? ● What has changed in KAM post-COVID? ● What are the top contributors to a successful KAM program? ● What are some of the key skills required for effective KAM in the future? ● How will digital KAM change the selling experience, going forward? ● What are the kinds of tools important for KAM today and tomorrow? Watch the video below to understand the shifts in the Key Account Management journey. The ‘How’ of Key Account Planning Process Key accounts can be moderate to big projects, and takes a few hours to get started. Once the Account plan and details are in place, the duty of the sales team of the vendor organization is to keep it updated so that the information stays relevant. The process starts with Account overview, which defines the information that is relevant to the account plan. The information leads to setting up of Objectives, which provide insight into the client’s needs, paving way to develop a set of goals or objectives keeping the customer’s targets and vision. Setting objectives allows us to understand how the Solution should be presented. These solutions should be worded/framed or presented in such a way that they answer the questions posed by the customers’ objectives. The Action plan details out how to reach the destination, and earmarks clear responsibilities that provide a defined timeline for task completion. Sub-tasks are also captured in the action plan, if the project involves many stakeholders or teams that need to sign off, they need to be mentioned in the action plan too. Change management is about evaluating positive or negative outcomes of the action plan and assigning a value to it. This gives an understanding of what forces are acting against change, and devise ways to overcome them (or abandon the pursuit if the cost is high). Implementation plans are presented to the customer based on the information and insights gathered previously, So that an agreement can be reached in accordance with the action plan, ownership of tasks, important dates, and other factors. Review of the plan decides the frequency, and the element to be changed in the key account plan. The plan should be flexible enough to accommodate changes like attrition, budget variations, department changes, etc. Depending on the scale of the project, key account plans can be reviewed at any frequency – from weekly to quarterly. The ‘Why’ of Key Account Planning Process Key account planning affects the bottom line by building long-lasting relationships, creating trustworthy referrals, and improving bottom line – key accounts are spending 33% more than the market average. The results are because of improved customer experience – A Harvard Business Review article noted that customer satisfaction went up by 20% within a few years of the introducing key account management programs, resulting in a 15% profit increase. A Stanford university research shows that Key Account Management programs that have existed for longer than five years, report double the results. Key account management also frees up time of sales executives, so that they can pay the same attention to non-key clients too. Key account management software introduces automated processes and systems into the workflow, while improving efficiency and ensuring equal attention to all clients. Choosing key accounts for key account planning The challenge for many organizations aiming at key account management is defining what ‘key’ is. Selecting the right customers necessitates buy-ins across the organization on the metrics to be used. Some steps that can be taken to ensure the choices are alright, are: Collaboration between different teams can align goals and responsibilities, and results in better solutions for client issues. The act of deciding what services to include should not ride with only the sales team – as the services provided for key customers like priority support, interactions with developers, and others won’t be fulfilled by sales team members. Having those team representatives on the panel while deciding on what services to offer key customers, can result in a perfect customized solution. The teams involved will also understand how they should contribute to the requests of the key clients, and can raise requests for any additional work hours or resources. A collaborative approach aligns the expectations of internal stakeholders, and helps in designing a winning key account program. The act of collaboration gains more prominence
Account Mapping 101: The Complete Guide to Sales Account Mapping
Guide to Sales Account Mapping Account-based marketing (ABM) has been gaining more and more attention in recent times. Many organizations and sales teams see it as the shining new toy that can change their fortunes for good. But the practice is a streamlined approach to existing ad-hoc processes followed in sales – and chances are service provider organizations are already doing some form of account-based marketing even if they don’t realize it. It might not be fully structured or intentional, but the underlying principles can be very similar. When done correctly, accounts-based marketing can allow sales processes to be extremely customized and personalized for different customers. The bespoke approach leads to a better experience for prospective customers, and sales team members of the vendor organization. The knowledge and skills required to handle different accounts might vary widely, but the underlying theme of account-based marketing – to provide value to customers and extract value for their organization – usually leads to more closed-won deals. Account-based marketing demands a lot of work from sales teams (and the rest of the organization too – but to a smaller extent), and one of the important parts of that work is sales account mapping. What is account mapping? The process of representing customer-centric data points and relationship dynamics in a visual way is known as account mapping. Account mapping is used by sales team members to understand how customer organizations work, identify key decision-makers, champions, detractors, and plan their course of action. It can be seen as a focused version of Org Charts, as it takes informal hierarchies into account and helps team members arrive at the best sales path for that customer. The process focuses on expanding the network and helping sales executives make the most of their foot in the door, even if the leads are only marginally qualified. As a result, a well-constructed account map provides a holistic view of customers and the opportunities that lie ahead. Knowing the preferences of key decision-makers, the issues they’re facing, and the kind of solutions they use can foster professional relationships that lead to long-term business relationships. Why is account mapping important? The task of charting external organizations adds details to the enterprise memory of a vendor organization, so that all of the sales team can use the information at any point in the sales cycle. It fills in the data gaps in the customer relationship management (CRM) tool used by sales executives and gives them a head start, especially in case of complex or enterprise accounts. Some more ways in which account mapping can help are listed below. 1. Builds a great first impression A Statistics from Salesforce shows that 85% of customers are not happy with the way their phone conversations go with sales executives. The overwhelming negativity of the sentiment aside, the reason for it happening is not that the sales teams are not putting in the required efforts but the number of different customers they pursue or manage at any given time. Any sales team worth its salt would want to handle multiple clients successfully, but the reality is that an employee, no matter how gifted and/or dedicated, has only a certain number of hours they can give a customer in a day or week. Field service management software can help maximize these hours by efficiently tracking field workers, ensuring they are where they need to be and that their time is used effectively. Spending this time in finding out more about the customer while handling their requests is not feasible in the long run – and eventually, sales team members just react to the requests instead of proactively finding solutions for newer customers. The pitches get normalized too, with general talking points about product or solution making, presentations are generic and uninspiring. Research dries down to scanning customer websites and going through marketing collateral; 42% of sales executives feel that they call up prospects with less than adequate information about the organization they’re calling and what solutions they might need. An account map at this stage can help the executive immensely to get insights into the prospect organization, the kind of customers it serves, and what are the problems currently ailing them. It provides details about key personnel that can help the sales pitch stand out from run-of-the-mill sales calls, if used properly. 2. Reach the ones with influence & power Talking to the right person matters in sales, and more so in software solutions – as preferences of different people may vary hugely. The person a sales executive talks to might get convinced – but if that person has to take someone else’s go ahead and fails to convey the advantages – the sale won’t go through. Even in cases where the product doesn’t match the expectations during the pitch, the team can always go back and see if building those into the product/solution is in line with the bigger vision. An account map that is updated regularly provides enough actionable information for sales team members to strategically build rapport with the decision makers in case of new contracts, and develop the business further with existing contacts. 3. Look for fallbacks Sales teams are at risk with a single organization contact – people quit their jobs in the middle of the deals all the time, and in most cases, the deal gets shelved eventually. The task of rebuilding goodwill falls on the sales team, and they have to start from zero all over again. It’s important to have a wider network so that there are fallback options. Account maps usually have a way around this, as they detail the internal structures with details filled in, so that multiple people can be contacted and kept in the loop at the same time. This is especially helpful in enterprise sales, where multiple stakeholders have to give their go ahead on any purchase of significant size. The additional context provided by the details in the account map leads sales teams closer
Strategic Account Map: Account Mapping Process for Strategic Account Management
Buying decisions in companies are getting increasingly complicated. Recently, Gartner has reported that “the typical buying group for a complex B2B solution involves 6 to 10 decision makers.” What involved a one-person decision some years ago, now has multiple decision-makers or stakeholders. In addition, there are different types of such decision-makers. Add to this the number of key accounts you have to manage and keep track of, and suddenly you’re overwhelmed! Patricia Fripp, author and presentation skills authority says, “Technology doesn’t run an enterprise; relationships do!” So, while you may have CRM systems in place to track all your data, the biggest drawback is just that – a CRM system only tracks data! How do you record usable information on the key decision makers, their preferred communication styles, the key account’s major pain points, and all other intel you gather over time? Enter – Strategic Account Mapping! What is Strategic Account Mapping? In its simplest form, a strategic account map is a visual representation of key contacts, decision makers and relationship dynamics within a key account’s organization. Looking for an easy way to identify key accounts? Use this cheat sheet! Why go through the trouble of this exercise? Because relationships matter. And with business relationships, you want to maintain a relationship with the organization as much as you want to maintain a relationship with a key person or a strategic decision maker. In the words of American billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban – “Business happens over years and years. Value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.” The fact is that people leave, but your relationship with the key account doesn’t have to end there. This means it’s important to have several points of contact within the organization and keep track of all the key information you need to keep your most important customers happy. Thereby increasing sales and revenue! Within a key account’s organization, you may need different points of contact for different activities. There could be one point of contact that’s essential for maintaining the relationship, another may be essential on account of their decision-making authority, and you could need others to confirm important details or pitch ideas to. All these are important for different reasons. Just identifying whom to reach out to isn’t enough. To optimize time and increase efficiency, it’s best to know who the decision-makers are. In this way, you can start developing those all-important business relationships. And cultivate them in a way that you can at some point go beyond the people and be strongly linked with the organization. With all this as background, you can see why this cannot be a one-time project. Strategic account mapping is, in fact, just the beginning of the business relationship. It is the starting point of the map that gets bigger, with more details and more layers. It should be a continuous building process to which details keep being added. How do you add details? When a new point of contact is established. This could be because the original point of contact is separating from the organization or has been transferred or promoted. It could also be on account of the contact being on long leave or taking a hiatus. When another department in your organization has collected data through surveys or interviews. By browsing the key account’s social profiles, periodically checking their websites for new appointments, new launches etc. and scanning the news for announcements about them. Before or during any major projects undertaken, renewal of service contracts or similar activities where new information or details may be discussed. Strategic account planning is just good business practice. When it is consciously and actively made a focus, it helps you build better and stronger connections with your key accounts. Since details are constantly tracked and updated, a strategic account map can be the source of reference for every new interaction. It helps to avoid contacting the same person over and over again, making others feel side-lined. Knowing exactly whom to reach out to begin a new conversation makes your communication more targeted and relevant. You, therefore, appear current and better-informed, earning major credit for your organization! Importance of Strategic Account Mapping for Key Account Management Even today, the 80:20 rule applied to business holds true. That is, 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your clients. Combining this principle with the knowledge that client retention is less expensive than client acquisition, key account management becomes vitally important. And it all starts with strategic account mapping. Strategic account mapping is the first step of Key Account Management. It should begin with the first interaction with the key account and continue to be built and reviewed with every deal. Strategic account maps are relevant and important to every department that has a connection with your key account. Your sales teams are, of course, the biggest beneficiaries, but strategic account mapping can be equally invaluable to marketers and customer service representatives among others. Top 5 Benefits of Strategic Account Mapping Some of the major benefits of Strategic Account Mapping for Key Account Management are: 1. Client retention Despite all the data on customer retention v/s customer acquisition, only 18% of companies focus on customer retention. This offers an excellent opportunity! Since the major objective of a strategic account plan is to map the important and influential players of key accounts, this information can then be used to communicate and deal with them effectively. In-depth and current information about pain points, priorities and influencers can make a big difference in your dealings with key accounts. With this information, your teams are able to offer services and solutions that are pertinent and appropriate and that match the key accounts’ requirements, thus showcasing your knowledge and interest in them. 2. Long-term relationships Your relationship with a key account may begin with one point of contact or a friendly face that has helped you get a foothold. But to manage
Shift to Digital Key Account Management with Anees Merchant
As Key Account Management practices head towards a virtual direction, technology takes the center stage. Account Managers and Sales Leaders have to accommodate evolving customer trends and expectations. DemandFarm’s Dr. Karthik Nagendra – Chief Marketing Officer had a one-on-one conversation with Anees Merchant – EVP Global Growth, from Course5i on the Digital Key Account Management journey. Course 5i is a pure-play data analytics and insights company that focuses on helping organizations drive digital transformation using artificial intelligence (AI), advanced analytics, and insights. The following sections cover some of the inputs from the discussion with Anees Merchant about technology as a key enabler, leveraging multiple stakeholders, transitioning into a digital era of Account Management and much more. Digital Key Account Management – why is it needed now? The optimum process to drive sales and client organization involves account management principles and practices. It is important to not only have a large set of accounts within an organization, but also to have good value accounts. When delving deeper into key accounts, understanding their innate capabilities is needed. Account management institutes a process and governance within the organization not only with the sales or client-facing teams, but also with the entire organization. This sort of Key Account Management process helped scale up Key Accounts. Digital Key Account Management in particular has transformed interactions with clients and how to build relationships at a larger scale. In addition, the digital Key Account Management space is also one that is continually evolving. According to Mr. Merchant, “Buyers have changed their behaviors in a significant way. There are many people now who can participate in the buying decision which was never the case before.” Day by day, it is becoming vital for organizations to leverage technology to enable key account management processes. Challenges when adopting Digital Key Account Management “We also had our own share of learning challenges along the way. At the end of the day we work with humans and we work with human behaviors and it’s hard to change,” says Mr. Merchant. Here are a few challenges that were encountered when shifting to Digital Key Account Management within Course5i. Building processes of governance and reporting so that employees feel that Key Account Management is a part of their job, and not just an additional burden. Integrating finance organizations within this process. Inculcating a sense of transparency into the process so that visibility into industry benchmark and company benchmark fosters growth. Making the Key Account Management process more real-time as an analytics and AI company. Benefits of adopting Digital Key Account Management The following are some of the benefits that have come from shifting to a Digital Key Account Management process. 1. Marquee Accounts Every organization has certain marquee accounts, long tails and recently acquired accounts within key industries. After adopting digital Key Account Management practices, sales leads are able to identify patterns between these accounts and between different verticals that can be leveraged. Marquee accounts are getting bigger and long tails are driving better growth for the company as well. 2. Enhanced customer centricity Integrating digital tools into the Key Account Management process of an organization has the ability to enhance understanding of the customer for the sales team. The ability to look at an account from various facets and various departments in an organization gives a real insight. Shifting to Digital Key Account Management enables scaling up accounts in this manner. Things to keep in mind when adopting a Digital Key Account Management process 1. Get the process right: Think before you act on how to go about before you bring on the technology element. It is crucial to understand, plan and map out how you will be able to go ahead and drive revenue goals. 2. Transparency: Involve people within the organization as part of the process from the beginning itself. This helps unburden the process of transition. Additionally, they can see the impact a digital Key Account Management system would make and how it can improve the overall functioning of the organization. 3. Integration: It becomes much more difficult to drive a piece of technology if it does not seamlessly integrate within the existing ecosystem. The transition to adopting a Digital Key Account Management becomes much easier when it can gel with your existing CRM platform. 4. Do a pilot: Depending on the size of your organization, doing a trial of the Key Account Management processes with a few accounts can bring a deeper understanding when it comes to the hindrances and value that you are able to incorporate. It is critical to keep all these aspects in mind when evaluating the different platforms for transitioning into digital Key Account Management. This is what makes DemandFarm’s Org Chart and Account Planner stand out. They integrate without any hitches to your CRM platform. Listen to the complete conversation with Anees Merchant below.
Key Account Management Strategy: 4 Successful Account Management Strategies for Account Planning
A major portion of a company’s sales typically come from a small group of customers. Or, as the saying goes, around 80% of a company’s profit will come from 20% of its clients or accounts. We’ve all heard this management adage time and again. However, it continues to hold for many businesses around the world, no matter their size or the industry in which they operate. That’s why it’s critical to have proper strategies in place to ensure you, as a company, manage 20% of your clients with extra care than you normally would. How do you do that? By strategizing and picking the best account management practices for your firm. But despite the best account managers, Key Account Management strategies and approaches are failing. The main reasons behind a failed key account management strategy are a few critical mistakes that organizations tend to make. Those include a misguided selection of key accounts in the first place, overburdening key account managers, and wasting of resources, according to a study by Gartner published earlier this year. By resolving these issues, sales teams can greatly improve their key account growth, the study adds. source: Gartner What is Key Account Planning? Key Account Planning or Strategic Account Planning is a business process that entirely deals with the administration of these strategic key accounts. The best way to administer key accounts is to nurture them into long-term relationships. Key accounts are not just those that are bringing in the most money to your company right now, but can also offer the most promising prospects for growth. The Key Account Management process, in short, involves employing key account managers to maintain, develop and nurture those key accounts, and strategic customer relationships. It requires more in-depth and specialized handling than the role performed by the larger sales team. The popular saying is that in sales, you sell. But when it comes to Key Account Management, you help customers buy. What are the benefits of Account Planning? Key account planning offers a few important benefits for businesses, especially small and medium-sized ones, that make it a must-have. Account Planning is considered one of the most effective ways to both grow revenue and safeguard current sales. In other words, with Account Planning, in one stroke, an organization can protect its present while simultaneously working towards the future. By using Account Planning strategies, your business gains opportunities to cross-sell and upsell additional products or services to existing customers. Can you do this without Account Planning? Perhaps. But it would be a haphazard process. Account Planning ensures that your key account managers or sales reps know exactly which products or services to pitch, and which existing client to pitch it to. As we mentioned above, Account Planning also allows you to protect your existing customer base. It helps curb customer churn. When you use Account Planning strategies, your key account managers and sales rep are armed with the right tools. They can offer personalized solutions to customers who matter. In the process, what occurs is a mutually beneficial transaction between your organization and your key accounts. How do you use key account planning in your business? In the rest of this article, we give you a starting point by examining four best account planning strategies that will benefit your organization. Four Successful Key Account Management Strategies for Account Planning 1. Select the right key accounts How do you identify your key accounts? That should be the first question that comes to your mind, before you can even think about what Key Account Management strategies you need to implement. Key accounts or strategic customers aren’t only the ones that are bringing you the largest chunk of revenue. There are several other parameters that you need to consider before you can designate a client or customer as a key account. Here’s a look at some of those factors you need to consider to arrive at your own list of key accounts or strategic customers: Historic data: How much revenue has an account brought in over the years? How has its ratio of contribution to your company’s profits/revenue expanded (or shrunk) with time? Answering questions like these give you a more accurate and comprehensive description of key accounts in terms of revenue contribution. Growth potential: Now that you have an idea of how much revenue an account has historically contributed to, the next step is to map out its growth potential. How much more can your company earn from an account? Is there enough long-term potential? Do you believe that the organization is financially sound and will remain so for the foreseeable future? Value potential: Does the company offer you opportunities for growth that’s not necessarily based on numbers? For example, does the company have an extensive network or connections that you can tap into? Does it have access to resources you may need, or come with a stellar industry reputation that makes them a value add to your portfolio of customers? Match potential: Of course, it goes without saying that any account you are looking to classify as a key account must be a fit with your own company. For example, the solutions you currently offer (and plan to in future) must, obviously, be a match with what the other organization wants. Often, the culture of a strategic customer also ought to match your own, as it makes it easier to do business with them. As you implement a selection strategy to identify your strategic customers or key accounts, it’s very important to remember not to go overboard. It may be tempting to create a large portfolio of key accounts under the assumption that it boosts your company’s credentials. But the process is meant to be a narrow, selective one. You don’t want to end up with a long list of key accounts that may not be strategic for your company. When you do that, you run the risk of having to remove or demote some accounts, and that can cause unnecessary
Sales vs. Account Management: The Relationship between Sales and Account Management
Account Management vs. Sales: The Difference Between Key Account Management and Selling. Managing accounts and selling products seem different, but the functions of both practices share plenty of similarities. The relationship between Sales and Account Management is about getting the product in front of the customers, but while sales processes end when a product is purchased, Account management never stops. In simple words, sales teams bring customers in, and account management nurtures them and helps both entities grow. Both account management and sales have goals that are similar – building strong customer relationships, and increasing revenue of their organization. Both are important for the organization to be successful, but the skill sets required are very different. What is Sales? Sales, for B2B companies, involves a wide range of responsibilities on a day-to-day basis which are carried out to connect the solutions/products/services of the organization to relevant customers. Members of sales teams should know the solutions/products/services they’re selling inside out, so that they match & offer solutions that suit the unique needs of their clients. By discussing the benefits of different products, they connect with possible clients – and are involved in creating special deals for high-value clients. It is their job to keep up with sales reports and marketing data, writing contracts (and invoices once the sale is closed), and achieve sales targets set. What Do Sales Managers Do? Sales managers are the backbone of any sales team. Their primary responsibility is to drive revenue growth by meeting sales targets and closing deals. They lead a team of sales representatives, setting sales goals, developing sales strategies, and monitoring sales performance. Sales managers play a pivotal role in qualifying leads, creating sales presentations, and ensuring that the sales process runs smoothly from start to finish. What is Account Management? Account managers should also be proficient in sales activities, but few key differences can be observed between the roles. Account management roles are created to build a strategic relationships with clients after the sale is done, so that the satisfaction levels with the product or solution are high. Account management teams also act as advisers to their customers, and help them plan their long-term growth strategies. Apart from customer development and upselling to grow existing accounts, the account management team also keeps customer service success as their first priority. Case Study: TaskUs registered a 30% increase in up-selling & 20% increase in cross-selling What Do Account Managers Do? Account managers, on the other hand, focus on building and maintaining long-term relationships with clients. Their goal is to ensure customer satisfaction and foster client loyalty. They manage key accounts, providing personalized solutions and addressing client concerns. Account managers excel in relationship management, often acting as the main point of contact for clients and ensuring that their needs are met consistently. Where sales and account management work well together! In small and medium-sized businesses, organizations can have their sales teams handle account management too. This gives the members of sales teams a better look at their customer’s needs, and allows them to craft customized plans. As both sales and account management are critical roles, organizations should consider bifurcating them once they have reached a considerable size. Since account management also involves cross-selling and upselling whenever opportunities arise, sales teams can build their product presence quickly – but managing the account where no selling is involved might get a bit difficult in some cases. Even if sales team members are responsible for strategic account management, leaders of the vendor organization must ensure the team members understand the different skills required to execute both roles successfully. Sales Vs. Account Management: The Difference Between Key Account Management and Selling Understanding the difference between the elements of each discipline, can help the two teams work together, exchange information and share best practices, and grow faster. Some differences that can be highlighted between the functioning of sales and Account management teams are listed below. 1. Pre-sale and post-sale activities Sales teams are traditionally responsible for bringing in new customers, and they usually have only transactional relationships with the customer’s employees. The ownership of the customer transfers to account management teams, who develop a relationship with the customers, understand their issues and help them grow their business. Using key account management software can help both teams equally, as the data about the customer in the vendor organization’s enterprise memory can be used by both teams to great effect. While the sales processes can convert better with personalised solution scenarios, account management can start delighting the customer from day 1 with the data about the issues and how the solution is being used. Deep expertise in the solution’s capabilities allows both teams to seize the opportunity presented by the extra information at their disposal. 2. Hunting for customers and farming that adds value to them Allusions to hunting are aplenty in sales circles, where sales executives scout out the prospects and then close the deal (or ‘hunt’ them). The task of account management, in this scenario, is to ‘farm’ the value brought by the sales team and keep all involved parties satisfied. The data about customers can help them identify ways to cater to the customers’ needs and respond quickly. This is important for client satisfaction and to build good healthy long term client relationship. 3. Shorter and longer frequencies While both teams follow different cadences of work, at the end – they are tied to the client’s decisions. There’s no way to know how long closing a deal will take – ranging from weeks and months to even years (for large enterprise customers), sales teams keep their pitch on all the time. They don’t rest until the sale is closed and the account is handed to… the account management team. The account management team starts selling once the sales team stops – and doesn’t rest. In that way, both teams work on unpredictable cycles, and the amount of information they collect in either stage can hugely benefit the other team. Even if the sales process fails to close, for example, after 8 months – the sales team would have
Whitespace in Business: All about using whitespace analysis
Attracting new customers can be five times more expensive than retaining existing ones, according to a Forbes survey. The rush to increase market share makes organizations throw money at new customers, not realizing that their loyal customers might get disillusioned and leave. The effect is more apparent in B2B circles – retaining and nurturing current clients provides better return on invested time and money. Also, the process of helping current clients can reveal new areas of opportunity that can be beneficial to both parties involved. Such unseen opportunities, or white spaces, are almost everywhere in business interactions, waiting to be seized. What does WhiteSpace mean in business? The process of identifying gaps between what is being provided to a customer, and what can be provided to them using other solutions of the provider – is known as the process of white space analysis in businesses. Using sales data, organizations can identify opportunities to cross-sell and upsell, where customers are offered features that improve upon their existing/previous purchase. The process also requires thorough knowledge about the industry, competitors, stakeholders, and the solutions being provided. Insights into emerging industry trends. Executed correctly, white space analysis guides sales teams in identifying ideal customers for their organization, and offers them solutions that are aligned with their goals or issues. How Does White Space Analysis Work? The process starts with identifying gaps and highlighting potential areas that can be addressed, and is known as white space mapping. There are two types based on the way the mapping is focused on – internal and external. Internally focused mapping identifies the strengths of the organization’s solutions/products, and lists the strengths, opportunities, and areas of concern. Internal mapping helps highlight market barriers, and teams can work towards addressing the obstruction by offering new solutions, modifying existing ones, or targeting a different section altogether. Externally focused mapping lists the products or services that are succeeding in the market, analyses the ones that are failing, and identifies where potential gaps are. Key areas of focus during whitespace analysis Whitespace analysis is all about looking for value where others think none exists, and it can happen only if sales team members are actively sharing and updating the information they have about customers. This differs from the typical account management process, which can be represented as below: This institutional know-how, with the help of key account management software, can be structured into an enterprise memory that can be used by any and every member of the team and take up from the last interaction. The process requires teams to consciously focus on the customer and the business, and here are a few pointers for the same: 1. Arranging and understanding current data Previous purchases of customers is a good place to start, as it provides details on the services that customers need. Details like opportunity type, industry, account type, products used – can provide information about a customer’s state, and the details can be used to highlight pain points and how products from vendor organizations can solve them. For existing customers, the incremental charge they may incur to use the new feature/product should be clearly communicated. 2. Limiting market scope Sales executives joke about ‘anyone and everyone’ being their target audience; while this helps teams reach a wider variety of users, there are few products and services that are universal. Customers who end up disappointed because of wishful marketing can lead to bad word of mouth and lower sales. Clearly defining the target, therefore, holds a lot of importance. Identifying customer challenges, gaps between product and customer workflows, what consumes the customer executive’s time, and many other factors direct the retargeting efforts. 3. Keeping an eye on what competitors are doing A common misconception is to think of white space as an area where no competitors are present. This is never the case. There are several competitors almost always, and analysing their marketing tactics can reveal their strengths and weaknesses. Comparison to the expected customer profile/solution to their organizations, gives sales team members a way to identify the gaps in their solution. 4. Treating current customers the same Sometimes when vendor organizations try to pitch for a substantial business, their existing clients might run into issues that need immediate attention. Learning and understanding their needs can also reveal potential white space opportunities. By asking the customers about improving their everyday workflow, sales teams can shortlist features and ideas that can improve overall experience. Opportunities for optimization, tweaks, or adding new features exist even in the most efficient companies. Being proactive assures customers that vendor teams are on the job all the time, and being receptive to feedback and responding quickly with a detailed response drastically increases the chances of them renewing their contracts. 5. Treating all new opportunities the same Since white space refers to the untapped areas of engagement with current customers, chances are teams ‘taking it easy’ are high. After all, they know the customers, or at least most of what is there to know. But after finding the right target and product, the next step is to leverage the data – no matter how well-acquainted the customer is. In fact, the pre-existing relationship can speed up matters, when sales team members directly reach out to the potential customer and set up a meeting. Other avenues, like retargeting them via marketing efforts or creating a product, service, or feature to address their problems can also take the relationship forward. Benefits of White Space Analysis Whitespace analysis leads to a better understanding of the buyer. Identifying the target market becomes easier, their pain points become apparent, and the overall customer buying journey can be analyzed. The knowledge gained from whitespace analysis can guide sales teams to customize their sales pitch to address specific customer needs. Identifying new customers and segments paves way for the expansion of the offering into newer markets. Increased customer insights can help decide the target, the value props that should be highlighted, if the solution for the white space is viable, the effort
