Triaging Key Account Management
Triaging. The Free Dictionary explains Triage as, “A system used to allocate a scarce commodity (food / medicine), only to those capable of deriving the greatest benefit from it. Triage is used in hospital emergency rooms, on battlefields, and at disaster sites when limited medical resources must be allocated” I will excuse you if you thought we were going anywhere near the above situations. That isn’t the case. The focus remains Key account management (KAM). Triaging is useful in addressing the ambiguity associated with Key Account Management’s critical first step i.e. selecting key accounts. Identifying Key Accounts Successful strategic account management requires a strong start. Identifying key accounts is one of the first critical steps. There are several ways to approach this of course. A good starting point would be to locate the stage of Key Account Management the organization is at. Is it an advanced practitioner of KAM/ Just getting started? Somewhere in the middle? Here are some more considerations Offer – Wouldn’t you differentiate key accounts from the rest of your customers? Lifetime Value – Key accounts should not only show revenue potential but also margin expansion. The existing current contribution will also be key. Service complexity – Key accounts have custom requirements that warrant varying degrees of service. Defining a key account, is well, key. Often, it isn’t clear and leads to ambiguity. Ambiguity Determining shortlisting criteria for selecting key accounts isn’t straightforward. Some factors are black and white, making for clear decision-making. Given the inherent complexity in key accounts, ‘grey’ is what will confront decision-makers, often. They would be lucky to get away with less than 50 shades of ‘grey’. To deal with this, university researchers in the strategic account management space were quick to start a ‘Science’ vs ‘Art’ debate. While the debate continues, triaging could help cut through some of the ambiguity. Triaging Prioritizing key accounts is necessary, but not sufficient. Triage is vital. During natural disasters and medical emergencies, teams have to decide – who really needs help, who doesn’t need it at all and who can wait. That also means the very difficult decision of deciding to give up on those who can’t make it. True, it does not entirely solve the ambiguity problem in selecting key accounts. But, it does move the needle forward in sticky situations. Approaching Triage DemandFarm proposes a ‘triage framework’ for key account teams who are still deciding which accounts to include as part of their key account management strategy. The framework is not recommended to decide on existing key accounts. ‘Demoting’ key accounts is a sticky subject and beyond the scope of this article. Key account teams would appreciate how easy it is to include companies as key accounts compared to managing and growing them – or worse, ‘demoting’ them. The DemandFarm ‘triage framework’ is best suited to helping KAM teams answer the following question.“ Who should not be a key account?” It is one way of approaching the meaningful identification of the most valuable accounts Table heading – Triage Framework (sumender to make an image of the below table) Broadly, there are 4 factors categorized as external and internal. The above table is a suggested triage framework that will guide organizations in answering the question, “Who should not be a key account?”. External Factors External are those factors that are dependent on the business environment and market conditions. These are as under. Market Position – Rate your account on the basis of its current market position and its future potential. Is the market growing? Is the company account growing its market share? Is the account lagging competition? Innovation Orientation – How is the account responding to innovation? According to the theory of ‘Diffusion of Innovations’, where does the account fit? Are they innovators, early adopters or laggards? Are they ahead of the curve or prefer to follow? Internal Factors Internal factors are those that are deemed to be under your control when dealing with the account. Strategy Influence – Do we have enough control to influence the current and future business strategy of the account? Will they take and value your opinion for key business decisions? Would we be a vendor or a strategic partner to the account? Operational Complexity – Will the account management be transaction-intensive? How easy is it to get approvals? What organization do we need to develop to deliver on the scope? What is the intensity of the existing relationship mapping with stakeholders and their colleagues? Do we see opportunities for margin expansion? Scoring the Framework The triage framework also contains scores and weights for scientific decision-making. The following scale is suggested. Score from 1 to 10 (1 – least favorable; 10 – most favorable) Weights or Percentage should not exceed 100% for all the 4 factors combined It is pointed out again that this score is only to help identify a “non-key account”. It is suggested that organizations pursuing key account management, should clearly define a threshold score below which an account would be rendered as a “non-key account”. At the same time, a score above the threshold will not necessarily make an account ‘key’. Finally, this is just a starting point – getting into the exercise, one will find several relevant variables to add to the grid. Will a key account management software help? Thanks to big data engine and predictive analytics tools, the white space opportunity exists to make the ‘selection’ and ‘triage’ steps, a bit scientific. Automatically capturing quality data and developing scoring mechanisms (similar to the above framework) to identify key accounts could make key account management methodical and predictable. Have we arrived there, yet? You could try triage to answer that question. If you liked the blog, you can also read an Interview with Adrian Davis, President- Whitestone Inc.
Impact of Presidential Elections on Key Account Management Strategy
Who do you think would be the next President of the United States? Any change that happens in the US economy substantially affects the world economy. In the past, the US economy and markets have responded well to the elections when the results have been predictable. However, this time things have been very unpredictable. The Times has called it “the most surreal Presidential campaign in modern times.” The very fact that Mr. Obama is not running again for President is a very crucial factor. If you are a senior executive running the P&L of an Enterprise IT (Information Technology) outsourcing company, I can imagine your nervousness. Over the years, while successfully helping numerous enterprise companies enhance their sales effectiveness through DemandFarm, we have realized that Key Account Management is highly useful for Enterprise IT outsourcing companies. This is because great relationships between the enterprise consumer and IT service provider are what get them more and repeatable business. These Key Accounts (or set of enterprise consumers) for these IT services companies correspond to key sectors such as Automotive, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Infrastructure, Technology, etc. Each of these sectors might experience a boom or slack due to the government’s tax policies, economic reforms, etc. Let us take a few examples to explain this. The Democrats and Hillary Clinton have been quite keen on health care reforms. If Ms. Clinton comes to power, analysts anticipate the further development of ‘Obamacare’. This can be a boon for life sciences companies and healthcare organizations such as managed care facilities, hospitals, insurance providers, and medical technology companies. If one or more of your Key Accounts happens to fall into these categories, you might want Ms. Clinton to win. Now few sectors might not do as well under Democratic rule. Take pharmaceuticals for example. The Clintons have fought to lower pharmaceutical prices for a long time. During his time as President, Bill Clinton took a pledge to stop drug companies from price gouging and his administration took measures to stop that. Hillary Clinton’s campaign announced in September that they plan to “hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable and rein in drug costs.” If we look at the other side of the picture now, if Republicans come to power oil and natural companies may benefit. Mr. Trump is quite serious about oil’s significance to the American economy and wants the country to be energy independent. Trump administration could increase new pipeline construction and drilling, which might result in increased supply and low oil costs. This could also result in more business for oil equipment manufacturers. There is a possibility that Trump may lift the current ban on U.S. oil exports. While things may seem good for oil and natural gas companies, clean energy companies could face setbacks because of the obvious reasons. If you are a senior executive running the P&L of an Enterprise IT outsourcing company, thoughts about which other sectors not mentioned here might perform well or suffer would be crossing your mind. What will happen to my Key Account that falls into Pharmaceuticals or Renewable energy sectors? Should I be asking my CEO to lower the targets for my team for this FY in the next meeting? And finally, who is leading the election race right now? To be honest, five days before the final election result, not even the best analysts can answer these questions with 100% confidence. Also, even after the results are announced you will have to wait for few months to see what policies the new president and government are following. However, one thing is clear – your Key Accounts need some pretty watertight planning and managing in these uncertain times. Key Account Management Technology or KAM Tech can come to your rescue. KAM Tech is a Key Account Management software or a set of tools that helps the key account manager manage and grow Key Accounts. If you have complex B2B offerings, to get consistent chunk revenues from your Key Accounts you need to go much deeper, do a proper analysis, make an actionable plan, and govern those accounts strategically. Just closing the first few deals is not enough, you need to farm and mine into those large accounts for deeper and wider engagements. DemandFarm has been able to solve this problem for hundreds of enterprises. Just imagine a solution that integrates with your existing systems such as Salesforce and you get fantastic analytics without putting in any extra data. Armed with key account management tools such as White Space analysis, farming and mining effectiveness, financial analysis, communication patterns, etc. you can build a powerful and actionable account plan. In short, you can be prepared for any situation that might arise. Still, thinking about whether KAM Tech can help you? The elections may be too close to call, but this one is a no-brainer. Experience it today, and sit back and enjoy the outcome of the elections, knowing you got at least one thing under control.
The Key Account Management Secret No One Tells You About
Key Account Management is necessary for the organization’s growth. Let me share its secrets. An Old Friend Brings Up An Old Challenge A few months ago an old friend from business school reconnected with me and wanted to meet up for a chat. During the evening, I was happy to learn that he is doing well in his career – so well that he is looking after close to half of his company’s major clients – quite a feat. Once all the congratulating was over, though, I could hold back no longer and had to ask, “so, how do you ever sleep at night”? With all the complexity that each Client entails, managing one is tough enough. And here, my friend had several Key Accounts, albeit with an extremely competent team of Key Account Managers to work with him. But the fact remains it could not be a cakewalk. ‘Yep. It has been more than tough. For a while there I had given up sleeping at night! And in all those waking hours, I have been giving it much thought. So this is why I am here today. Sometimes you need to undo what works to get the formula to get better and sometimes you just got to maybe go back to the basics”.Me (antennae on high alert for some juicy insight about Strategic Account Management ) “Tell me all about it!” Casing The Conundrum “You know the drill with Key Accounts. Each Account Manager is the king of his castle. As long as it ain’t broke, you do not try and interfere as their Manager..you just look at the numbers and keep your thumb up. PEOPLE…(he paused meaningfully).. is the key to Key Account Success. It is all about relationships mapping – their relationships with clients and internal stakeholders – and Intel – in their head and their laptops, emails, wherever – you know the drill. Of late, my level of dependency on these people had been bothering me. You know, in spite of our best efforts to create a desirable work culture and environment, I have no guarantees on how long any of them will stay with us. If even one of them leaves, it would take me months to rebuild what may be lost – if at all I can rebuild it to the same level. This was what kept me up at night.There has to be a way to take Account Management from person dependent to process driven..but that would mean taking away the very essence of Key Account Management – which is that each Key Account Relationship is owned, grown and nurtured by a dedicated Manager who had the freedom and flexibility to meet all his Key Clients’ needs in the most customized, individualized way! Quite a conundrum!And what’s more, (he was really on a roll now, my friend!) my Key Account Managers are all highly experienced professionals…they have been doing what they do for a long time..and they are darn good at it…but it is difficult to get them to work in ways other than what they are used to…they see it as a disruption to their work and often it’s quite a challenge to get them to participate in anything like that. Recently we spent a bomb on a sales excellence methodology training and everyone said they really enjoyed it – but guess what..once they went back to daily life, it was business as usual – my Ops guys sifting through a million different files and presentations to make sense of what was going on with each Account, trying to stitch together the big picture for me, you know…how could we operationalize all that we developed in the methodology training in a coherent way across the board? You know, given that whole conundrum we just spoke of…how can we possibly……institutionalise the core KAM processes?” I finished for him.“Exactly. How can we? (pause) Should we?” That was then That conversation left us both with a lot more questions than answers but in the time since then; I took this challenge back to our team at DemandFarm. Anything that keeps KAM professionals up at night keeps us up at night, so we spent a lot of time working on the basic question – can- and should- we attempt to operationalize the core Key Account Management model to improve efficiencies, effectiveness, and governance in large B2B organizations? And if we did find a way to do that in our Key Account Management Software, would it be adopted by KAMs? Would it take away from their ability to customize and improvise the way they managed and grew their Key Accounts?We have spent several months tearing into this question and its implications. We have looked at it from many angles, many perspectives. The pros and cons of doing such a thing. And slowly, we did see the light at the end of the tunnel. It was time to set up a meeting with my old friend.
What Kind of Icebergs are your Key Accounts?
B2B Key Accounts are typically large global enterprises, with interest across verticals, several lines of business, complex organizational structures, plenty of staff movement across geographies and entities and significant regulatory dynamics. So it’s obvious that the solutions offered to such Clients are equally complex, high value and typically medium to long run. While that kaleidoscopic level of complexity is mind-boggling in terms of management, it is also an indicator of the endless possibilities to build deeper and wider engagement with the Client…across verticals, across geographies, across buying units. If a Client has made the cut to be listed as a Key Account and be managed by the elite Key Account Management Squad, then it’s assumed that they are either high performance- high potential Accounts or High- Potential- Low (current) value Accounts (that need developing).In this post, I’m focusing on the ‘High Potential’ piece of the equation. How do we unlock all that potential in our favor? The visible potential and the invisible potential – i.e., both parts of the iceberg. If we lose a Key Account like that, it can unbalance the entire ship, even possibly sinking us. However, if we find a sustainable way to harness the potential it offers, of what lies above and beneath, then we are well on our way to winning with KAM. Unlocking the true business potential of a Key Account involves being a good hunter (spotting available opportunities for revenue – the visible part of the iceberg) and a good farmer (nurturing white space opportunities for growth and value creation, till they are ripe for harvest- what lies beneath). At DemandFarm, we call the latter Account Farming. Ok- with that said, the question is- how? What areas of Key Account Management play the biggest role in unlocking the business potential of Key Accounts? Here are some that come to my mind..I’d love to hear from you on others: Relationship Management Now, this is my number 1 pick for factors impacting Account Farming. I’m referring specifically to people: who are the people that matter in this Account and how can our relationship mapping with them be leveraged for growth? Large B2B companies have matrix structures with complex, often complicated relationship networks. People move around hierarchically, geographically, across verticals and buying units, and sometimes even functionally. So what are the key focus areas? First, is knowing the right people in key roles, their formal and informal affiliations, a predisposition towards significant issues, hierarchy, etc. Second, it’s about connections – connecting the right stakeholders at the Client end and internally, leveraging the right relationships at the right time, for the right opportunity Third, it’s about investing in building and nurturing the right relationships at all levels- gatekeepers, influencers, and decision-makers included – for the mid to long term Finally, it’s about capturing all of that into a format available to all internal stakeholders. Leaving it in the Account Manager’s head makes you vulnerable, but it’s virtually impossible to keep tabs on all of this in real-time, without a technology enabler Data Management This is a close second to Relationships. Winning with Key Accounts is all about client-centric intelligence and insights. So it’s important to address where the data comes from, what needs to be mined and how it needs to be managed. But the secret sauce is qualifying the quantitative and quantifying the qualitative. Remember that old saying – not everything that can be measured counts, and not everything that counts can be measured. In my eyes, knowing what to quantify and what to qualify is the secret to spotting business potential. It’s about having your eyes on the right metrics and building the right models to act on critical qualitative indicators. The right technology can make this process smoother. Even more important is enabling KAMs to leverage insights without spending inordinate time steeped in data. This involves: Leveraging data already available in other systems such as CRM to generate real insights – at DemandFarm we call it the Data consumption vs. data Creation approach. The former minimizes pressure on the KAM to be filling in forms and capturing data. Real-time data available in one format at one place with one click: shockingly, even today, much time that should be spent building relationships and doing strategic work is spent in housekeeping tasks like collating and formatting data from various sources, generating reports manually, etc. Account Planning How customer-centric we are is revealed in our Key Account Planning. And how customer-centric we determine how well we can unlock business potential. There is no way to widen and deepen engagements with Key Accounts if we don’t plan with an eye on the entire landscape and white space – including everything about Client plans, pains, and opportunities, competitors, regulatory constraints, etc. Opportunities for growth and value creation are uncovered if we know what the Client aspires to, and how they plan to get there. The process of Account Planning needs to go beyond the process of annual planning. Internal Collaboration Strategic Account Management is a team sport – everyone needs to be on the same page to harness potential effectively. Lots of wheels need to be set in motion to capitalize on medium to long-term value creation opportunities. How well we are able to manage data to spot opportunities; building an internal business case to go after the right growth areas; setting clear expectations and buy-in from internal stakeholders; spending time on collaboration rather than clarifications and explanations, institutionalizing core key account management processes to avoid surprises and improve accountability – are all crucial indicators of a collaborative team. The right platform can make the process of collaboration seamless. Got some more you’d like to share? Write into us at [email protected]
B2B Sales is a Funnel. No, Its an Hourglass aka a Damru!
Aren’t we all familiar with the Sales Funnel? It has defined the shape (literally) of marketing and sales, over the years. But I argue that for B2B companies, it is not a sales funnel, but an HourGlass or a damru. (Wikipedia says Damru is a small two-headed drum, used in Hinduism and an instrument used by Lord Shiva) Traditional B2B Sales Funnel What happens in a conventional sales funnel? Marketing generates thousands of leads and passes on the qualified leads to the sales team, who in turn win the deals. So far so good. But some B2B companies offer many solutions and long-term engagements with their customers. For these companies winning the first deal is just the beginning. It is consciously followed by identification of Key Accounts that are then, Farmed and Mined for more revenues i.e. LAND and EXPAND. Enter the Hourglass I was looking for a visual aid that could give me a good representation of this reality. The Traditional B2B sales funnel never gave me a good representation of this process. Thus, I extended the funnel by adding an inverted funnel at its bottom, shaping it as an ‘Hourglass.’ Images are a powerful means to drive home a point- in this case, Key Account Management as a critical component of revenue generation for B2B companies. Please refer to the diagram below. For most B2B companies, the bottom half of the ‘Hourglass’ generates 80%+ of the revenue in a given year. The most commonly used nomenclature is ‘Hunting’ & ‘Farming’. Hunting is to acquire new customers while Farming is to grow the business from existing customers. I have noticed that in recent years, companies have recognized that Hunting & Farming teams need to operate separately. Because inherently, hunting and farming skills are quite different. A good hunter is a flamboyant sales guy who connects with many people and ensures entry into an account. Whereas, a Farmer is a more intellectual and consultative type. He has a great knowledge of both customer business processes and how the solution fits into the concerned business’s reality. So a good hunter is invariably not so good at farming. The reverse is also true – a good farmer is uncomfortable in hunting. In a nutshell, a Hunter sells, while a Farmer helps a customer buy. Filling the Hourglass The hourglass concept can be further extended to include not just all the marketing and sales functions, but also tools and technologies that are impacting these functions. The ‘Hourglass’ also helps in organizing various functions in a B2B company. As you can see in the above diagram it is easy to define various roles of Marketing, Inside Sales, Sales and, Account Management in the revenue lifecycle. If I extend this further to sales and marketing technologies, we get the above. So, above the narrow neck, we have technologies and tools in Marketing automation, Inside Sales, Lead qualification and, Sales Process Automation. Key Account Management Software settles down below the neck. What is your view of ‘Hourglass’ as the right way of looking at the revenue pipeline for B2B companies? I look forward to your views.
Sales Enablement Tools for Key Accounts
Sales enablement as a concept is still evolving. Typically, sales enablement tools ‘enable’ sales teams with the right intel and content at the right time to make the right selling decisions to their most important prospects and customers. Sales enablement tools are powered by technology and allow scaling up of the processes that help move white space opportunities forward. However, when it comes to B2Bs that earn up to 80% of their revenues from a few (say 20%) Key Accounts, the whole ball game demands a different level of engagement and enablement. Undoubtedly, it is easier to grow the business from existing customers than to win new ones. This is all the more true in the case of large B2Bs selling high value, high engagement solutions, which are hard – and expensive – to win. Such B2B Key Accounts are typically complex, global entities. They have multiple buying units spread across varied lines of business, verticals, geographies and even functions. With the right enablement tools, the potential to farm and mine these Accounts for optimal revenues is virtually unlimited. Each key Account is owned by a Key Account Manager (KAM) who is responsible for managing the relationship and growing revenues from the Key Account. Without enabling technology, managing Key Account complexities and growing revenues would be unfeasible. Hence for good Strategic Account Management, you need a great Key Account Management tool. However, the nature of technology enablement required goes far beyond what sales enablement solutions offer. B2Bs need KAM Enablement tools, a subset of sales enablement tools specially designed keeping the complexities of Account Management in mind. KAM Enablement tools like a Key Account Management Software typically combine the ability to ‘manage the repetitive tasks at an operational level, the data & analytical complexities at an organizational level, and the flexibility KAMs need to build the relationships at a strategic level’. DemandFarm seamlessly enables all three so that KAM can most effectively and efficiently handle both- the scale and complexity of Global Key Accounts. This helps the key accounts grow while making the life of a key account manager easier. Learn more about how KAM Enablement will help you grow your business: Read the blog here.
How To Manage Large Accounts Successfully
While the short-term success of any sales organization relies on the quality of its offering and the individual abilities of sales team members, long-term success is rather different. Indeed, success in this area is less about sales skills and more about the ability to manage relationships with existing clients through key account management. In this article, we look at the best ways to manage those large accounts successfully, so that you build lasting relationships, are able to adapt as their needs change and, ultimately, maximize the lifetime value of customers. Learn More: Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Large Enterprise Account Planning Identifying Key Accounts One of the first steps to successfully managing your large accounts is to identify them and decide which of them constitute key accounts. The precise definition of a key account will vary from business to business, but there should be some shared attributes that separate them from your other accounts. It may be that your key accounts are all your biggest accounts, but this is not always the case. You should consider things like the frequency of business, whether there is the potential to sell them additional products or services in the future, whether there are further collaborative opportunities to work towards, and so on. “Good advice here is to start small,” says Lynette Ryals, writing for the Harvard Business Review. It is easier to add customers to your account management program than it is to ‘demote’ customers once you have told them they are key accounts. Be clear about what defines a key account and stick to that. Understand Your Customers Next, you need to truly understand the people and businesses behind those key large accounts, because the more you know about them, the more personalized your service to them can be. Obviously, you need to know what their business does, but it is also important to understand what the key challenges in their industry are, who their competitors are and what their goals are as well as recent developments and news within the organization. Miller Heiman Group’s Large Account Management Process goes into more detail about enhancing the relationship between the buying and selling organization, helping to unlock the true potential of strategic account management. The aim of the program is to help businesses to analyze relationships and set measurable goals. Of course, technology also has a key role to play, not only in terms of organizing information through CRM systems but also in acquiring some of that information in the first place. Thanks to the internet, a huge amount of useful information is now publicly available and can be used for sales management and sales prospecting purposes. Manage For the Long-Term Finally, it is important that once large accounts have been established and key accounts have been identified, those accounts are managed for the long-term, rather than sacrificed for short-term success. This means maintaining relationships during non-sales periods and using the information you have to spot potential changes in advance. “Key account relationships should outlive the KAMs and all the members that constitute the key account management teams,” says Milind Katti, CEO of DemandFarm. Therefore, it is critical to building account and people knowledge into the system so all internal stakeholders are tuned in and can do their part seamlessly. Crucially, a huge amount of large account management is not actually about making a sale – at least not right now. The absolute key to account management is customer retention and this should be over several years. As a result, the focus should not simply be on today’s opportunities, but also on opportunities in the distant future. If you’re interested in transforming your sales post the pandemic, explore our blog on Sales Acceleration in Account Management and how it can help you grow your business in 2021.
Key Account Management sans Org Chart
What does a 19th-century management tool get to do with modern-day key account management.It is not surprising that the org chart never gets its due. Partly because it is just that – an org chart. How about looking at the org chart as a key account management enabler?Interesting, right?I was as surprised as you are. The current version of the org chart that your business is using may not be equipped to do so. But, org charts do hold that power. If you aren’t using any, even better. You could give a new growth dimension to your existing key account management process. To understand how an org chart software enables key accounts, it is vital to understand the ‘powerful’ role of the key account manager (KAM). The Key Account Manager (KAM) The KAM is the face of the supplier to the key account. Over the many months and years, the KAM gathers many insights across : Business and market environment Relationships amongst the key account stakeholders Context of the relationships with the suppliers Assessment of internal capabilities to deliver towards common goals with the key accounts All this is powerful knowledge that unfortunately resides only with the KAM. If lucky, some of this knowledge will get documented, only to go missing in someone’s hard drive (or cloud).No wonder when key account managers leave organizations, they carry the Key Accounts with them. Not fair. It just doesn’t make sense. A key account management org chart is capable of addressing this shortcoming. And if such an org chart leverages cutting-edge modern technology to integrate with HR and CRM systems, it could go beyond the human prowess of a KAM. A modern-day org chart will not only answer key questions on KAM relationships, it will also show and prompt the necessary business action. No Org Chart, No Key Account Management To help DemandFarm’s audience understand the value of a key account management org chart, an eBook titled “No Org Chart, No KAM” is being released. This eBook covers the following : The Origins of Org Chart – This historical context will help establish the prevalence of the Org Chart as a potent management tool that has transformed business and society. Strategic Role of Org Chart in Key Account Management – It is a misconception that an Org Chart is only an HR tool. The section of the book attempts to provide a new context. Org charts can add valuable insights into the depth of relationships within key accounts. An Org Chart is not enough – A simple key account management org chart on paper or a PPT is a good start. But what is truly needed is a dynamic ever-changing org chart builder that represents hierarchy, influence, power equations, and relationships. KAM Power of an Org Chart – An org chart for strategic account management done well has the power to do better than ‘human’ account managers. It ensures continuity. It institutionalizes key account management. It is after all just an Org Chart. It may be times for a new perspective. Do read the eBook. Also, note that DemandFarm offers Salesforce Org chart and MS Dynamics Org chart
Alleviating Key Account Management pain with Salesforce
Alleviating Key Account Management pain with Salesforce How do you feel this time of the year with Yuletide and the New Year’s around the corner? “Mixed emotions.” If you are a Key Account Manager, I can perhaps understand your answer. It isn’t so much about the pressure of time than the complexity of doing key account management in perfect detail. DemandFarm, in its many posts, has dealt with the issue of complexity in key account management. Here is a short recap. The complexity stems from two broad factors: Strategic – Key account managers confront the tough job of thinking clearly and unambiguously on two business fronts. One, about the client’s business challenges or growth opportunities. Two, understanding one’s product and service offerings, to offer a credible solution to the client. Operational – On top of the strategic ambiguity, there is a long list of operational hassles account managers have to deal with. Account plans siloed across systems – many powerpoints, word documents, meeting minutes and emails. Ineffective activity management thanks to multiple excel sessions which becomes unwieldy quickly. Managing meetings with stakeholders both internal and external. Plus the added trouble of managing CRM applications across many devices. To address the above challenges and the complexity associated with it, businesses the world overturned to CRM applications, particularly Salesforce. For businesses, it was to instill a new way of working on Leads, Contacts, and Accounts. Well, almost !!! Everybody loves Salesforce The world’s favorite CRM should not sound like an exaggeration when it comes to Salesforce. “Salesforce is to businesses what the iPhone is to consumers,” said someone. This statement may sound too casual, but reflects the inherent power of the Salesforce.com CRM system. The latest Salesforce study from Bluewolf – an IBM global Salesforce consulting agency – is a strong testimony to the power of this CRM system. 86% of the surveyed 1800 Salesforce customers believe they can use Salesforce to drive innovation in their business. The survey goes on to highlight that 83% of the IT function believe the same. It is indeed noteworthy that Salesforce has been able to get vehement buy-in from one of the most challenging user segments, in this change management exercise. Such is the power of Salesforce. Salesforce faces challenges, nevertheless. The single biggest risk to a Salesforce implementation remains – Change Management. Because it is a new way of doing sales, business development, customer experience. Yes, it is about changing the culture, capturing data, maintaining activity logs, getting rid of spreadsheets, putting rigor into doing and documenting sales meetings. Yes, it is not easy. Organizations and teams who look beyond the ease, find the rewards. Salesforce Key Account Management Fundamentally, Salesforce isn’t built for Key Account Management. It is built for opportunity management. It keeps sales teams focused on what needs to be achieved. It does by providing them with a ready-to-access dashboard that documents every day how sales teams are going about their planned goals. Given the structural difference in how Salesforce is built, it does not ‘naturally’ address the necessities of key account management. Account management and sales leaders address this gap, through Salesforce customization requests and applications from the Salesforce App Exchange. A good bunch also learns to live with the inherent account management limitations of Salesforce. In most cases, DemandFarm finds that account management is done outside of Salesforce. Dgt27, a Salesforce consultant in NYC, assists businesses in doing account planning. These account plans reside in distributed documents – PowerPoint, Excel, notes, and Word documents. We are yet to fully understand why? If you are an account management professional and see this happen in your organization, I request you to document your perspective in the comments section. So how do strategic account management teams address limitations with Salesforce? 1) Strategic One – View of Key Accounts This is a fundamental issue faced by many strategic account managers. The Salesforce system’s inability to present a single view of the overall account plan. Not all the reasons are directly related to Salesforce. Scattered & Siloed Data – During the planning process, account plans tend to get distributed. Multiple versions of the same file tend to exist, creating confusion and wasting precious key account manager time. Non-standard approach – Many variations exist in account plans thanks to the lack of a standard approach in capturing data and checking its quality. Account Planning outside Salesforce – It is ironical but true. All accounts data and information are within Salesforce, but all the planning actions happen outside of it. In many cases, the carefully drafted plans also remain outside of salesforce, thus unable to impact the accounts to the maximum. KAMs lack a central view of account plans. This compromises insights. Thus, resulting in improper forecasting and inefficient allocation of resources for maximum impact. Account structuring also takes a knock because of this issue causing ineffective account management initiatives. 2) Usability User experience is an important driver to usage and adoption. A lack of ease of use is a deal-killer. It is not an issue that is discussed too often in the context of key account management. It is not difficult to figure out why this is important. Just look around. Every human on the earth is using cutting-edge web and mobile apps on the latest smartphones. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Amazon shopping, LinkedIn and the list is endless. So, how would their expectations be about using digital applications? As good as it gets, right? Usability of Salesforce account planning is not cutting-edge, yet. Salesforce Lightning has been a welcome surprise, but there is more ground to be covered. The platform nature of Salesforce also contributes to ‘wanting’ usability. IT Teams and CIOs love Salesforce since its ‘platform’ nature allows them to make, break, make, break and remake. This customization flexibility comes at the cost of UI and UX, not something that IT teams prioritize during their development stages. The result is usually a compromise for the user. In this case, the key account managers. 3)
Why Key Accounts Need More Than Sales Enablement Software
There is no debate on the need for Sales Enablement for any organization that deals with customers. To establish and maintain any kind of systematic process at scale, a sales enablement software is the cornerstone. It helps manage data, it delivers the analytical insights needed for decision making, and it automates a lot of the tasks that would otherwise take up valuable managerial time. However, for B2B companies that earn a significant part of their revenue from large, complex, global Key Accounts, there is a different set of unique characteristics and challenges that need to be addressed. These large ‘bread and butter’ accounts cannot be handled the same way- and with the same tools- that help manage regular customers. There is a need, therefore, for these B2Bs to look beyond sales enablement software for their Key Account management. They need Key Account Management Technology. It is a highly specialized enabling technology, designed specially keeping in mind the complexities and demands of Key Accounts. The objective with Key Accounts is the same as with regular Accounts- to grow them and optimize revenues from them, but how it is done is fundamentally different. The usual price and offer based solutions won’t do. The way to sustainable growth with key Accounts is by transitioning from Vendor status to Strategic Partner status. That is when the potential for ‘farming’ and mining’ the Account- selling up and across all the possible buying units in the global organization – really gets unlocked. Moreover, the only way to successfully transition from vendor to strategic partner is to identify areas of strategic interest to the Client, align with those, and be able to add and create value to those areas of business that help the client grow. So, the difference really, between sales enablement software and Key Account Management software comes down to the difference between a Sales Manager and a Key Account Manager. Both have the same mandate- to grow revenues- but the client base, the methodology, and the practices to achieve that are fundamentally different. Learn more about how KAM Enablement will help you grow your business in 2017. Download the e-book here.
