Unlocking White Space Opportunities Using AI-powered Analytics in Account Planning
Analytics is making inroads into influencing sales decisions, but there is still a long way to go. McKinsey’s Unlocking the power of data in sales survey shows that 57% of sales organizations their advanced analytics practice as inadequate. While organizations have more data than ever before, many of them struggle to benefit from even basic analytics. Many are on the verge of developing well-designed analytics programs, but the question of delivery of significant top-line and margin growth remains. Using AI-powered analytics can be the answer, as it can nudge sales teams by offering better facts and views. Organizations should identify areas where analytics can add value and implement AI power wisely. Ebook: AI-Assisted Account Planning – Conversations of the Future Part 1 Organizations need a commercial strategy that is not just focused solely on attracting new business while maintaining the status quo with existing accounts. Today’s B2B sales environment requires teams to balance retaining and growing existing accounts, just to keep pace with the competition. A Gartner survey supports this – teams that focus on improving ongoing customer conversations on an account, typically grow that account by 48%. Learn More: Analysts’ Predictions of AI for Sales, Account Management and Sales Enablement in 2023 The Shift toward Digital Account Management Companies are constantly looking for new ways to improve their sales and marketing strategies – and digital account management leverages technology to create personalized marketing and sales campaigns for specific accounts, resulting in better customer engagement and increased revenue. Shifting towards digital account management and powering it with AI-based tools can allow sales teams to target their products effectively. Listen to The Shift Podcast – A DemandFarm Original on Digital Key Account Management Account-based selling and account-based marketing are not new concepts, and many organizations have already adopted these techniques successfully. However, before adopting any new technology, it is essential to have the right processes in place. Companies should start with a pilot or proof of concept (POC) where they select a handful of accounts and test the effectiveness of their digital account management strategies. By doing so, they can identify the benefits, obstacles, and potential value that the approach brings to their business. Learn More: Key Account Management Scorecard Template to Identify Key Accounts Incorporating digital account management involves creating a transparent process that involves everyone in the organization. By involving people in the process, companies can increase transparency, gain buy-in, and ensure that all stakeholders understand the impact of the new approach. Therefore, involving employees from different departments such as marketing, sales, and customer success, and making them understand the value of digital account management, can make the transition smoother. Organizations must focus on driving revenue goals by leveraging digital account management, by ensuring every account receives a personalized experience and better engagement, leading to increased revenue. Relationship-based selling has become more critical in B2B spheres. With digital account management, companies can tailor their approach to individual accounts, building strong relationships that drive revenue growth. By providing customized marketing and sales campaigns, companies can increase customer engagement and drive better results. The shift toward digital account management can be a game-changer for companies looking to improve their sales and marketing strategies. To do so successfully, companies must have the right processes in place, involve their employees, and focus on driving revenue goals. By starting with a pilot and scaling the approach based on results, companies can realize the potential of digital account management and enhance their overall sales and marketing effectiveness. Case Study: 2x Improvement in Customer Relationships with Org Chart Infusing AI-based Analytics in Key Account Management Key account management can be a lot more effective with up-to-date data. The relevance of data can be assured by capturing details automatically and regularly while keeping key account managers free to focus on customer engagement. They can streamline their activities and define the usefulness of their engagements, and identify if accounts are getting the right amount of engagement. With AI, they can define what the right amount of engagement is, leverage existing relationships, and more. Identifying Account Intent AI can be helpful during account selection, by providing managers with details about the total addressable market, like revenue threshold, sector, previous engagements, and other parameters. From this, sales teams can whittle down their accounts list and create relationship maps. This refining of target accounts allows key account managers to enhance the probability of success instead of spreading themselves thin across opportunities. With the help of AI-based tools, they can establish customer intent quickly, and strike before competitors do. Optimizing Customer Touchpoints While sales graphs give the impression that customer journeys can be linear, seasoned sales executives know this is far from the truth. The buyer’s journey and its existence is something that’s been discussed many times, but it’s very hard to predict what their needs will be. AI can help in creating more realistic versions, and build a persona based on online behavior – which can be more pointed in B2B scenarios. This can allow key account managers to make the right move at the right time, and close the deal. Personalizing to the Customer With B2B tools, education, and continued knowledge transfer is essential for continued success. With AI, sales teams can create repositories that cater to the specific needs of customers – if the audience gets what it wants to see and read, it is bound to stay engaged. AI can lead to accurate content planning by using data to build a profile of interests on individual accounts. The rest is to pull the most relevant content to the front of the website, as per the user’s preferences. Hyper-targeting the Messaging The ability to hyper-target prospects is the predecessor to personalized website content – the same essence, but the value it brings is different. AI can utilize data on what prospects are researching and identify areas of growth that come under the product goal. By understanding the areas customers are looking to invest in, key account managers can
Key Metrics To Measure The Success Of Your Digital Key Account Management Program
A recent study has shown that B2B companies that prioritize customer experience generate higher revenues and profits than those that don’t. One key way to improve the customer experience for your key accounts is through a Digital Key Account Management (DKAM) program. With a well-designed digital Key Account ManageKey Performance Indicatorsment program, you can provide customized and seamless online experiences that drive growth got your business. However, simply launching a digital Key Account Management program isn’t enough. To truly reap the benefits, you need to measure the effectiveness of your program and optimize it for better performance. But what are the key metrics that B2B companies should be measuring to determine the success of their digital KAM program? As a sales leader or sales enablement leader, if this is a challenge you’ve been facing you’re in the right place. You’re about to discover actionable insights and key metrics to determine the success of your digital Key Account Management program. By tracking the right data and analyzing it effectively, you can optimize your program for business success. Download Whitepaper: The Impact of Digital Key Account Management on Sales Enablement Understanding Digital Key Account Management Digital Key Account Management is a strategic approach to managing your most valuable customers using digital channels. The main goal of digital Key Account Management is to improve customer experience, build strong relationships, and increase revenue by identifying and satisfying customer needs in a personalized manner. One of the biggest benefits of digital Key Account Management is that it allows companies to create a more effective and efficient communication channel with their customers. This type of relationship management enables businesses to identify and address customer pain points proactively and deliver customized solutions that meet their unique needs. This not only helps businesses retain their existing customers but also helps them generate more revenue by upselling and cross-selling products and services. However, implementing a digital Key Account Management program comes with its own challenges, one of the biggest challenges is identifying the right digital tools and strategies to implement the program successfully. Another challenge is ensuring that the Key Account Management team has the right skills and expertise to manage digital channels effectively. Despite these challenges, digital Key Account Management programs have been successfully implemented in different industries. For instance, a B2B manufacturing company can implement digital Key Account Management by leveraging digital channels to deliver timely and relevant content to help its customers improve their manufacturing process. Similarly, in a healthcare company digital Key Account Management can be successfully implemented to provide personalized healthcare solutions to its customers – specialized clinics and hospitals – based on the health profiles of the patients they treat and care for. Technology plays a significant role in enabling digital Key Account Management. There are several tools available to Key Account Management teams to help them manage their relationships with customers effectively. For example, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools help Key Account Management teams manage customer data, track customer interactions and create personalized customer profiles. Other tools such as marketing automation software, social media monitoring tools, and analytics software help Account Management teams deliver personalized content, track customer behavior, and measure the effectiveness of their digital Key Account Management program. Key Metrics to Measure Success in Digital Key Account Management Digital Key Account Management can boost revenue and profitability for B2B businesses, but measuring its effectiveness is critical. Here are some key metrics you should be tracking to evaluate the success of your digital Key Account Management program: 1. Revenue growth: The primary goal of Key Account Management is to maximize profitability from key accounts, therefore tracking revenue growth is a critical metric to measure success. Sales leaders can monitor revenue growth by tracking the percentage of revenue generated from key accounts over a given period. By setting revenue targets and analyzing the progress of each account towards that target sales leaders can identify areas that need improvement and take action to optimize sales strategies. 2. Customer retention rate: In the B2B sector, customer retention is critical to long-term success. Sales leaders can track customer retention rates by measuring the percentage of key accounts that continue to do business with the company over a given period. This metric provides insight into the effectiveness of the company’s overall sales strategy. It also serves to measure the effectiveness of the Key Account Management program in particular. By identifying accounts that are at risk of churn, sales leaders can take proactive steps to address challenges and retain the account. 3. Customer satisfaction: This is another important metric to measure the success of a digital Key Account Management program. Sales leaders can track customer satisfaction by using customer feedback surveys, Net Promoter Scores (NPS) and other relevant metrics. By analyzing the results, sales leaders can identify areas where improvements in the overall customer experience can be made. They can then work with their Key Account Management teams to make necessary changes. 4. Account Engagement: This measurement of this metric is crucial to the success of a digital Key Account Management program. Sales leaders can track account engagement by monitoring the frequency and quality of interactions between the Key Account Management team and key accounts. After a thorough analysis of the engagement data sales leaders can identify areas where Key Account Management teams need additional support or training to improve their engagement and overall effectiveness. By tracking these key metrics and analyzing the results, sales leaders and sales enablement leaders can gain a comprehensive understanding of the success of their digital key Account Management program. They can thus use the data to make better decisions for business success. Learn More: 6 Key Takeaways for a Successful Key Account Management Transformation Journey Key Challenges in Implementing Digital Key Account Management While Digital Key Account Management may be a powerful tool for driving growth and building long-term relationships with your key clients, it has its fair share of challenges. As a sales leader or sales enablement leader, you
Case Study: Healthcare Industry Company Boosts Strategic Account Revenue by 30%
A Mental Health services company from the Healthcare industry was looking for a solution to enhance their pipeline visibility. They were also looking for ways to capture information on deals with customers operating multiple business units. DemandFarm’s Account Planner addressed the key challenges and helped streamline their account management processes to achieve a strategic account revenue boost of 30%. Check out the Case Study to learn more about how the Account Planner Starter helped out. Read the Case Study here
The 2025 Practical Guide to Sales Opportunity Management
Sales success is crucial for B2B software products, as it not only brings in revenue but also helps build long-term partnerships with prospects. Managing the sales cycles of prospects is important to ensure that the right opportunities are selected and nurtured, leading to successful closures. Sales team members, however, have to be ready at all times – every conversation with a potential customer is the possibility of a contract in their case. While it seems all pervasive, sales opportunity management is usually referred to the stage in the sales pipeline where sales qualified leads transition to paying customers. Considering that in sales, no deal is a done deal unless payment has been made, it becomes necessary for sales reps to be able to identify and nurture sales opportunities that are more likely to pay for the product or service. What is sales opportunity management? Sales opportunity management is the process of identifying sales opportunities qualifying deals worth chasing and nurturing them that improves the chances of winning them. It involves selecting the right opportunities to pursue and understanding the prospect’s organization structure better in order to close the sale. This includes analyzing the prospect’s current needs, as well as identifying any potential future needs that the software product can address. The management of the customer from identifying the opportunity to closing or losing a deal maximizes the opportunity, and product sales teams introduce their product in front of the prospect, with favourable communication that leads to a purchase. Sales teams identify the right people to interact with, identify the issues they are currently facing, zero in on the messaging that need to be communicated, and showcase products in such a way that it leads to a quick decision to purchase. Guide: How to do Opportunity Management in Salesforce CRM Why is sales opportunity management important? Sales opportunity management processes allow accounts teams in product organizations to gain valuable insights into their prospects through whitespace analysis. From areas where they can expand their product offerings to customer pain points that can be addressed, this highlights areas that can increase revenue potential. Additionally, by understanding the prospect’s organization structure and future potential, organizations can build stronger partnerships and increase the likelihood of long-term success. An up-to-date org chart enables sales team members to tailor their messaging and communication approach to maximize results. Learn More: 8 Steps of Sales Opportunity Planning Making opportunity-specific strategies Common Sales Opportunity Management Strategies include utilizing organizational charts and product roadmaps. Understanding the prospect’s organizational structure and decision-making processes can help sales teams identify key stakeholders and decision-makers, making it easier to tailor messages and close the sale. Additionally, utilizing product roadmaps can help sales teams understand the product’s future capabilities and how they align with the prospect’s needs. Including sales teams in roadmap-led discussions can allow product organizations to craft customer-centric ways forward that keep in line with the product vision. Read Now: Opportunity Planner by DemandFarm boosts tracking capabilities in 65+ opportunities for Dairy MAX Strategizing based on emerging trends In the coming year, we are likely to see more companies using artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate and streamline their sales processes. Additionally, there is an increasing focus on customer experience, with companies placing a greater emphasis on understanding and meeting the needs of their prospects. Having a deeper understanding of upcoming changes is as important as understanding buyer’s decision-makers. 1. AI and ML: Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are being used to automate and optimize various aspects of the sales process, such as lead scoring and forecasting. AI can analyze past sales data and identify patterns that can predict future sales opportunities. This can help sales teams prioritize the most promising leads and opportunities. Various data points can be analyzed to assign a score to each lead, indicating the likelihood of them becoming a customer. This can help sales teams focus their efforts on the most valuable leads. Sales teams can quickly and accurately qualify leads by analyzing data points such as company size, industry, and budget, while creating personalized sales messages and recommendations for each lead. Their repetitive tasks such as data entry and lead follow-up can be automated, freeing up sales teams to focus on more high-value activities. AI can analyze historical data to predict future sales performance, helping sales teams set realistic targets and allocate resources accordingly. With AI and ML, Sales teams can identify and prioritize the most promising opportunities, increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their sales efforts, and make better-informed decisions. 2. Data and analytics: Sales teams are increasingly using data and analytics to gain insights into customer behavior and preferences, and to identify new sales opportunities. By analyzing customer data, such as demographics, purchase history, and online behavior, businesses can segment their customer base into different groups with similar characteristics. This allows them to tailor their sales approach to specific segments and increase the chances of closing deals. Their lead scoring efforts get a boost too, with the ability to assign a score to each lead based on their likelihood of becoming a customer. This allows sales teams to prioritize leads and focus on the most promising opportunities. Predictive analytics are used to identify patterns and check the veracity of decisions about future sales opportunities. They can plan ahead and proactively target potential customers. Customer sentiment analysis through feedback, reviews, and social media posts gives businesses insights into how customers feel about their products and services – paving the way to address any issues and improve customer satisfaction. Messages and the product can be personalized to the specific needs and preferences of each customer, increasing the chances of closing deals. 3. Social selling: This process involves using social media platforms to connect with potential customers and build relationships, and is becoming more popular. It allows salespeople to connect with potential customers and build relationships through social media platforms. This can help salespeople identify potential leads, establish credibility and trust, and stay top-of-mind with
11 Crucial Account Management KPIs that Dictate Success
Key Account Management can be a difficult process. The biggest challenge to selecting the right account management strategy is focusing on too many things too soon. Ideally, the focus should be on only a few impactful components or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that can set you apart from your competitors. This has the potential to grow your key accounts exponentially. What are KPIs in sales? Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs, in sales, are measurable values that demonstrate how effectively a sales team is achieving its key business objectives. By using KPIs, organizations can assess their sales performance, identify areas for improvement, and make informed decisions to drive growth. KPIs can cover various aspects of the sales process, from lead generation to closing deals, and provide valuable insights that help teams strategize effectively and gain customer retention. Sales KPIs can vary widely based on the specific goals of the organization, but some common examples include: Sales Revenue: The total income from sales, which reflects the effectiveness of the sales team in generating profit. Conversion Rate: The percentage of leads that are converted into actual sales, indicating the effectiveness of sales tactics. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): The total cost spent on acquiring a new customer, which helps in understanding the return on sales investment. Average Deal Size: The average revenue earned per deal, useful for setting sales forecasts and targets. Sales Growth Rate: The rate at which sales revenue increases over a specified period, providing insights into business health and market demand. By carefully selecting and monitoring relevant KPIs, sales teams can enhance their performance, optimize processes, and achieve greater success in their endeavors. Take a look at the top 11 Account Management KPIs that require focus for long-term success. Key Account Management Glossary: Crucial Account Management Terms Explained 1. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) Customer Lifetime Value is the total revenue that a business can generate from a single account in the entire course of the arrangement. It is calculated by: Customer Lifetime Value = (Customer Value) x (Average Customer Lifespan) Importance of Customer Lifetime Value Instantly tells your most revenue-generating buyer personas. Gauges the potential of individual key accounts. Identifies common factors that drive the most profitable customers. Analyzes the ability of account managers to engage existing clientele. Lowers customer cost per acquisition and maximizes profitability. 2. Referenceable Clients How likely are your clients to refer you to their professional network? When quantified, this is directly proportional to the performance of your account managers. There are three primary ways to track this KPI: Monitoring social media mentions to understand the consensus about the performance of account managers. Directly asking current customers by including a question in key feedback surveys Adding a field like “how did you hear about us?” in inbound contact forms. 3. Customer Satisfaction Customer Satisfaction scores (CSAT) is one KPI that can explain a lot about the performance of account managers. They can be easily captured via customized surveys across multiple channels. Net Promoter Score (NPS), is one of the best ways to calculate Customer Satisfaction. NPS asks clients about how likely they are to recommend the services and products to their colleagues and quantifies the result. Clients are then divided into Promoters, Passives, and Detractors. 4. Customer Outcomes Customer Outcomes is a function of customer-centricity. It involves tracking the achievement of customer goals to analyze and arrive at the performance of the account managers. Such tracking can be achieved by looking at: Leading Indicators: Forward-looking indicators that look at and anticipate future outcomes and events. Lagging Indicators: Backward-looking indicators that analyze whether the desired outcome was achieved. If any discrepancy exists between the inputs and outputs of Key Account Managers, the problem can then be diagnosed accordingly. 5. Customer Interaction Customer Interaction provides valuable insights into the amount of time that account managers dedicate to engaging with their customers. This engagement is crucial for building and maintaining strong relationships. Long gaps in customer interactions can signal inadequacies in relationship mapping and management, potentially leading to decreased client satisfaction and loyalty. Measuring this engagement effectively requires a thorough tracking of both inbound and outbound touchpoints. This includes monitoring phone calls, emails, meetings, and any other forms of communication. An ideal scenario involves a high frequency of reaching out to key account managers coupled with a low resolution time for any issues or inquiries. Such practices are essential as they foster increased trust from clients, contributing to a stronger relationship. Furthermore, these efforts are instrumental in driving the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), ultimately benefiting both the client and the organization in the long run in terms of business relationship. 6. Organic Growth When clients are satisfied with the product or service, they are more likely to scale their engagement, even when it comes to premium offerings. This satisfaction can lead to increased trust and loyalty, Customer Retention Rate, encouraging clients to explore more advanced or additional options provided by the company. Key indicators here can include the percentage of sales generated through references, which often signifies client satisfaction and trust, the percentage of repeat customers, showcasing ongoing client loyalty, the percentage of customers likely to engage in cross-selling or up-selling opportunities, reflecting their willingness to invest further, and the ratio of new to repeat sales, indicating the balance between attracting new key clients and retaining existing ones. These metrics are crucial for understanding client satisfaction and potential business growth opportunities. 7. Client Acquisition Rates This KPI represents the number of customers that account managers actually reach out to. This is the first step of a client relationship and may explain the discrepancies between your highest and lowest performers. Acquisition rates can differ for different outreach methods such as cold calling, emailing, or face-to-face interactions. It is imperative to find the ideal number of touchpoints beyond which conversion rates begin to plummet. 8. Employee Satisfaction This might seem an odd KPI, but it makes sense considering how demanding the role of an account manager can get. Internal surveys and interviews to ensure employee satisfaction translates to satisfied customers. A
Whitepaper: The Impact of Digital Key Account Management on Sales Enablement
Measure the Impact of Digital Key Account Management on Sales Enablement Key Account Management is undergoing a digital transformation and with it comes abundant opportunities for sales enablement professionals. Formerly slow and laborious manual processes where sales teams relied on traditional communication methods have now been replaced by digital technologies. Newer ways of managing accounts and driving growth have emerged. This whitepaper explores how the digital era of transformation is pushing for new growth in Key Account Management along with its impact on sales enablement. Download to learn how to unlock your growth with Key Account Management solutions and increase your success with sales enablement Key topics include: Challenges in account planning processes, account retention, upselling strategies and how to overcome them. Institutionalizing account intelligence & enhanced standardization through Digital Key Account Management. Applying the dos and don’ts of digital Key Account Management solutions to build successful sales enablement
Best Practices for the B2B Side of Key Account Management
Focus on key accounts is a lot more important in the B2B sector, and for good reason: the complexity of B2B businesses demands efficiency, and handling a large roster of customers all of whom clamor for attention can stretch teams thin. B2B businesses rely on customer management heavily to keep a steady sales flow. While they focus on key accounts, the management strategy usually follows regular account management practices. Based on the size and the products offered, vendor organizations can have multiple criteria for identifying key accounts, but it is important to understand the nuances of customer needs before embarking on a key account management process. Leaders of the organization can guide or collaborate on creating a plan for key accounts, with multiple departments – and implement practices that benefit both the customer and the vendor. The business of key accounts The first factor that pops up when ‘key’ accounts are mentioned, is revenue. Classifying customers based on the revenue share they bring to the organization is a common classification method, as any customer that drives a large chunk of revenue should be treated well. These key account contacts can also refer new prospects, because word of mouth carries a lot of weight when critical business functions are involved. Their endorsement can also lend credibility to the organization and its products, along with opportunities to learn, evolve and innovate. The major focus should be on prioritizing the future of the partnership, instead of instant gains. Understanding parameters like recurring sales, customer’s lifetime value, scope of innovation and common growth, and shared goals can make the choice of key customers obvious. Collaboration between multiple teams is necessary to provide a strong support that successfully nurtures them. Re-evaluating the current sales process can shed light on how long-term relationships can be formed with key customers, and can reveal if the upselling potential of the product is a feasible option. What does a successful key account manager do? Providing training in strategic account management is the preferred option for 61% of organizations to achieve greater revenue and customer satisfaction. Training teams on understanding best account management practices, allows managers to determine what accounts can be termed ‘key’ ones and apply different tactics instead of focusing on closing a one-time deal. Strengthening ties and aligning with customer goals for the short and long term requires key account managers to think beyond the box. 1. Making personal connections that focus on business might sound like an oxymoron, but strategic account managers with their in-depth customer knowledge can provide extremely personalized solutions to the problems faced by their customers. They can change their pitch sequence to address these issues, and convince customers on how the product is suited to fulfil their needs. They can also pitch customizations and add-ons that customers can use to extract additional value from their operations. The understanding of accounts keeps teams to be proactive, anticipate customer needs, and stay up-to-date on industry trends. Having a personal equation also allows employees to alert and educate customers about potential changes. Customers nowadays want a partner who can guide them into understanding best practices and why they matter, so that they can focus on the core aspects of their job and not spending time on researching a tangential aspect of their task. Results show that customer satisfaction can lead to a bump of 20% and more in engagement, while improving revenue generation by more than 15%. 2. Tailoring solutions in the best way possible right from the moment of pitching, can allow managers to create customer-specific product plans and benefits. Showing the benefits of the product usage to the customers on a regular basis switches the focus of customers on to the extra value provided, can be even interested in upselling opportunities with the same product, or other offerings from the vendor. based on the needs of each account. By tailoring the services to meet specific needs, the relationship can be elevated from buyer and seller to business partners. The big-picture view of key account management gives managers the freedom to fit relevant services in regular workflows of customer organization. The streamlining promotes confidence in the abilities of the solution provider, and interactions between both parties can take a consultation-based role. 3. Enabling decision making is essential for managing high-value accounts, which require time and resources of multiple teams and employees. Having a strong manager who can take calls that are in the interests of both parties and not just short-term gains, can drive operations smoothly. People skills and clarity in communication are essential for key account managers who handle large accounts that have multiple client stakeholders. Organizations should also look into tools that help in structuring and analyzing data, so that managers can plan future strategies with certainty, and keep team members on track. Why can’t all customers become key accounts? There’s a limit to key account management practices, and no matter how sophisticated a vendor’s processes are, some customer partnerships don’t develop past the transaction phase. Trying to convert such clients by assigning more resources, can only complicate matters – as it is really difficult to scale a client don from ‘key’ status, without losing it. Enthusiastic managers might be keen to designate the account they’ve just won as ‘key’, but leaders should have steps in place to negate such euphoric decisions. Highlighting differences between one-off transactions and potential partnerships through various lenses can solve this issue, and also helps managers look at factors beyond revenue (which is very important, but not the only important factor).The ratio of revenue to cost for customers shows the current state, while determining potential to expand ensures future growth, and highlights any mismatches with product fit. Based on the trajectory, key account managers can look at upselling and cross-selling, and push their customers toward high value status. Unlocking value from digital analytics AI and ML (machine learning) have made further inroads into efficiency and usability, and they can help B2B account management practices evolve too.
Fly High Even During A Recession
Make your Key Account Management strategy work even during an economic downturn The recession is coming down on us faster than any of us expected. This unforeseen economic downturn is likely to have impacted your 2022 account plans. While post-covid ‘Land & Expand’ was the favorite approach to growing Key Accounts, the recession has resulted in additional dimensions being added to the Land & Expand strategy. This article takes you through on how to get back on track with your key accounts, lay the foundation for regaining stability and continuing growth. Based on our interactions with existing enterprise accounts and knowledge of the challenges faced by them, this article runs you through how you can recalibrate your account plans for 2023 in light of the recession. What’s Going on in the Market Right Now? Right now, the market looks a bit bleak. You might be experiencing the following situation 1) Stalled contracts: Customers you were pursuing might have stalled contracts in fear of the recession and due to lack of funds. 2) Losing your Champions: Employees are getting furloughed due to the economic condition. They might have been the champions in your organization and this can negatively impact you. 3) Lack of resources: As you lose a percentage of your workforce, there are fewer people to take care of your key accounts. This can diminish the attention that should be given to the customers who bring in the most revenue. 4) Lack of focus: Diverted resources, loss in workforce and uncertainties surrounding current economic conditions directly affect the status of your key accounts. The sales concentration that key accounts should get is negatively impacted in the chaos of the situation. When times get tight, it is more important than ever to focus on your existing customers, to invest in them and solidify relationships you already have. Impact of the Economic Downturn The IMF projects that world economic growth will slow to 3.2% this year, down from 6.1% in 2021 (Forrester Research Inc. 2022). An economic downturn comes with its own set of issues for both your organization and yourself. Budgets are now tighter and expenditures are highly restricted. High-risk of churn – you could lose a major customer at any time. Customers will be looking to cut – costs and might not want to purchase your service/ product. Existing customers might not want to renew. Money is often lost by spending it on attracting new customers. Proving ROI becomes complicated. However, in the 2022 Forrester Research Inc. report titled ‘2023 Planning Isn’t Business As Usual’, leaders do not want to slow down tech investments. 67% of leaders expected budget increases when it came to technology. Being mindful of the impact of a downturn on your organization requires embracing consequences while at the same time rethinking your strategies. Winning the CFOs approval: How to Present RoI of a Key Account Management Software Keep Calm and Weather the Storm How do you deal with such uncertain economic times both as an organization and as an individual? 1) Become trusted advisors With a recession ahead, customers might be looking for ways to cut costs. To avoid being part of external vendors who could get cut, you should make yourself invaluable. The first step in making yourself invaluable is to become more than a vendor. You need to become a trusted advisor by becoming a strategic partner. Knowing the customer as much as possible is vital to this. 2) Know your client In order to become a trusted advisor and a beneficial partner, you should know all details about your client including how they work, their likes and dislikes. Analyzing what strategies have worked in the past for them, what hasn’t and what are their goals for the future also ensures you understand your client completely. Knowing both their short-term and long-term goals is important for providing strategic solutions. Proactively following up with clients is also necessary to help them reach their goals. 3) Build on Strategic Relationships A trusted key account manager should work on contingency plans and long-term strategies with their customers. So when the recession begins to hit, the customer is well-prepared to face the economic downturn. The question remains how do you build such strategic relationships with your customers? The answer lies in key account management. Seven Sure-fire Ways to Recession Proof your Key Account Management strategy 1) Build stronger processes Build a strong plan of action for your top strategic accounts or key accounts. Assess your client portfolio and prioritize based on current revenue and growth potential to develop a well-defined strategy moving forward. When tighter budgets and higher scrutiny becomes the norm, don’t lose out on defending and growing your key accounts by building a strong foundational framework of key account management. A few aspects of your KAM model ought to be equipped with: Ability to get a complete view of stakeholders in your key accounts Facility to manage relationships within them at scale Ability to track all activities between your company and the customer 2) Strengthen governance Ensure that there is real-time performance data and trend analysis to strengthen governance. Ideally, executive dashboards and reports with intuitive drill-downs are essential for enhanced governance in your key accounts. 3) Increase Collaboration Increasing collaboration among the sales teams and account teams helps build a strong support system both internally and externally. This can help engage with your customer in a meaningful manner across the board. This will also make certain you dig deeper into existing customer relationships so that you can stay on top of their needs and relevant to their long-term goals. 4) Relationships are even more important Nobody wants to receive bad news, and that can hold you back from being realistic with your customers. It is definitely easier to speak with clients and stakeholders when you are delivering good news. But, as trusted advisors, key customers rely on you for recommendations and solutions to the challenges they are currently facing.
The Need to Spearhead Change in Digital Key Account Management
As Key Account Management practices head towards a virtual direction, technology takes the center stage. Account Managers and Sales Leaders have to accommodate changing customer trends and expectations. DemandFarm’s Dr. Karthik Nagendra – Chief Marketing Officer had a one-on-one conversation with Jennifer Smith-Byers – VP Client Services, from TaskUs on the journey to Digital Key Account Management. The following sections cover some of the inputs from the discussion about the factors, challenges and advantages that arise from transitioning into a digital era of Key Account Management. Increasing Revenues from Key Accounts is the need of the hour! In the post-pandemic digital age, the main priority for organizations has been increasing the revenue from their key accounts. ‘Digital’ is at the core of all functions and that has invariably transmitted to the B2B space and Key Account Management as well. For Jenny Smith-Byers, “Any company that’s able to secure large accounts need to continue to foster those accounts not only in order to grow them, but also to maintain them and those are key to our success.” Continued growth as a business involves retaining key accounts since that is where most of the revenue for an organization comes from. Large accounts are very complex and to ensure continuing business from them requires a strategic approach to handling those accounts. Traditionally, account plans were created once a year and were reviewed across the executive team in the account or product side. But now-a-days, plans change very quickly. When PPTs and Excel Sheets were the norm before, updates were also irregular. Digital Account Planning tools these days, however, encourage us to view Key Account Management as a dynamic rather than a static process. Factors to consider when making a shift to digital key account management tool Ensure you are at the right maturity level Have the discipline to fully leverage a tool Executive buy-in across the organization to ensure adoption Need to keep a dynamic planning approach Choose the right champions to drive transformation Ability to integrate into your existing tools Ensure you get the right training and support across the organization Choose the right partner to advocate for you and help you build strategic relationships as you use the digital tool Checklist: How to Select the Ideal Digital Account Planning Tool Challenges Faced With any kind of transformation within an organization, there are a bunch of challenges to be encountered. When shifting to Digital Key Account Management as well, there are a few hurdles to overcome. 1) Client Face Time Think about the impact on customer/client face time & ensure more internal steps or processes aren’t being added is a major concern. This could pull away the account team from spending valuable time building relationships. 2) Integration Integration into other business tools used by your organization, particularly financial tools. You need to be able to get real-time updates of where you’re at in terms of revenue tracking against your plan and budget for the year. 3) Getting the right early adopters It takes time to change things if one is used to a way of doing things. To show the value of adopting a new digital ecosystem and setting aside time to get everything set up is a challenge. How does one go about championing a change to Digital Key Account Management? For Jenny, there are three main criteria that go into championing the change to Digital KAM. 1) Aligning with your organization: Existing tools, and language used in the daily life of the organization might be different from the standard. So ensuring that the requirements were aligned before implementing was crucial. Aligning with previously existing systems also reduced naysayers when it comes to adoption of a new digital Key Account Management tool. 2) Getting a team of ‘Advocates’: Having a team of beta testers or advocates who have tried out the tool will make it easier to roll it out to the entire organization. Any sort of issues can be cleared up in the trial stages and these super users will act as champions to help others get trained in shifting to a digital key account management practice. 3) Support from Senior Leadership: Support from senior leadership is critical for efficient change management to ensure that transition to a digital ecosystem runs smoothly. Download: Change Management Guide for Sales Leaders to Implement Digital Account Management Software Advantages of taking a digital approach to Key Account Management For Jenny, 5 huge advantages stand out from adopting a digital KAM framework for Account Planning. 1) Consistency: There is consistency and straightforwardness when it comes to updating account plans. A real understanding of the client, their relationships, who the buyers are and what drives their decisions is available easily. 2) Adaptability: To be able to quickly adjust account plans is a huge benefit of digital KAM tools. It becomes easier to fit what your client is doing and the innovation that comes with a digital KAM tool also makes account plans more effective. For Jenny, having a digital tool simplifies a lot of processes and someone new coming to the organization can pick up an account quickly as it is already established. “For me it was a kind of AHA moment. We had a new Chief Operating Officer who joined the company and we wanted to introduce him to the key accounts across the organization. We didn’t didn’t do anything other than leverage DemandFarm. We used the Grandstand feature, walked them through the accounts – these are key people we meet with; these are our strengths, opportunities, threats, weaknesses; these are the areas we’re going after… We used everything in the tool and there was no extra prep. There wasn’t anything that caused us to spend a lot of extra time preparing charts for a new executive,” says Jenny. 3) Strategic thinking about Client Relationships Having an integrated, simple approach gives rise to a step-by-step flow thinking or strategic thinking about client relationships. Aligning focus and building on growth opportunities then gets standardized
Key Account Management Plan Template
Key Account Management Plan As the saying goes, ‘failing to plan is planning to fail’. This could not be more true when it comes to Key Account Management. Creating and maintaining a Key Account Management plan can be critical to the success of your business. After all, your key accounts are the customers that bring the most revenue and profit. So it only makes sense to invest the time and resources necessary to keep them happy. But what goes into a Key Account Management plan? A Key Account Management plan will help you map out your approach, stay organized, and on track as you work to grow and nurture your relationships with your key accounts. If you are not sure where to start, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered with this Key Account Management plan template. We provide a systematic approach to analyze your customers, identify key areas, and adopt best practices of Key Account Management planning. 6 Steps of Key Account Management plan Broadly, a Key Account Management plan can be divided into 6 categories or steps: account analysis, self-analysis, business development, action plan, monitoring, and reviewing the plan. Each of these sections will provide you with an opportunity to capture information that you need to improve your business and ensure customer satisfaction. Step 1: Account analysis When creating a Key Account Management plan, start by analyzing your current accounts. This will give you a better idea of how to focus your marketing efforts. Also, it will help you identify the pockets of potential growth. For example, do you have any new customers on whom you are not able to collect data? Are there existing customers who are not satisfied with their experience? These and other questions can help you identify areas where you need to improve. Get to know their business better – what are their goals, what are their challenges, what are their priorities? Here’s a list of questions to guide you through some research: What is their company culture like? How do they view themselves? What is their budget like? How many employees have they hired? For each employee, what is their role description? What are their key performance indicators? What are the challenges the key account is facing? Best practice: You may find it helpful to create a diagram or table that illustrates the relationships between these various parts of your key account. Invest in an automated solution that can improve the integrity of your data while enhancing the research process. Step 2: Self-analysis What analytics can help you to understand is what type of information you need to focus on in order to improve your business. This includes customer requirements, competitive analysis, product development, and technical excellence. Depending on the situation, one or a combination of these elements will need to be emphasized. Current customers can be analyzed using a number of tools. You can use analytics and automation to get a handle on how your customers interact with your business. This will help you identify customer pain points that you can address with changes to your product or service. You can also analyze performance data to identify how your products perform. This can include identifying customer complaints, feedback, and satisfaction issues. Lastly, you can analyze sales projections to determine how much revenue you will be making in the coming year. These projections are based on estimated sales growth, which uses data from your previous experiences with similar products and services. All this information will help you create a list of initiatives that you need to address in your key account management plan. Define your objectives by answering questions like: What is your key account trying to achieve? What’s the bigger picture? Differentiate yourself by linking your capabilities to their key objectives. Best practice: Clearly define your objectives and allocate specific business units to a generic team rather than a specific account manager – it will foster a creative, collaborative culture. Step 3: Business development In order to sustain growth, businesses must constantly look for ways to improve their offering. This can include new products, processes, and services. However, innovation is not just for startups. Even large companies must continually look for ways to improve performance. For example, how can a company increase sales by 10% without increasing prices? How can they do this by improving their service? Or by adding new products that are both cost-effective and attractive to customers? Analyze the current state of the account and the factors that affect it. Consider this Market position (leadership, growth potential, share of market, price sensitivity) Business unit performance (income, cost, margin, growth potential) Current contracts (length, renewal likelihood, value, special terms and conditions) Customer service/relationship quality ratings (impact on new business opportunities) Competitors’ status (what are they doing?) Potential business opportunity value (current and future) Critical success factors (what would make the account happy?) Optional technology benefits Knowing this will help you frame how you approach the project. Also, it will help you identify the type of research needed to understand the client’s industry better. Best practice: Depending on the type of research you are doing, you can either outsource it to a specialist, or hire a professional researcher to do it for you. If you are conducting consumer research , you can create a survey or you can ask people who are familiar with the company to complete questionnaires for you. Step 4: Action plan Once you’ve done the research and analysis, it’s time to create your plan. Don’t worry about being perfect at this point – just get your plan drafted and then review it with your key account manager. Ensure everyone is committing to achieving the goals. A successful Key Account Management plan will show you where you need to go next to grow your business and build more value for your customer. Define timelines that are achievable and align with your objectives. What’s the short-term goal? What is the best time to do it? How will you
