Only 28% of account management channels consistently achieve their cross-selling and account growth targets, according to Gartner.
But why are such a small percentage of AMs meeting their targets?
Key account managers (KAMs) have a lot on their plate. They are tasked with retaining customers that generate up to 80% of an organization’s business while expanding the revenue generated by those accounts. Successfully achieving this goal is a balancing act that is certainly attainable.
So, how do you help your AMs balance retention and expansion to achieve growth?
According to Gartner, future-focused account managers (AMs), who help their customers improve their business, successfully retain and grow their accounts. Here are a few ways to achieve this and increase key account retention and expansion effectively.
Reduce the Burden
Account management can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be that way. You can help your AMs by reducing their burden. I’m not talking about reducing the number of accounts per account manager unless you are overloading your AMs with too many key accounts.
There are ways to take the pressure off your AMs without reducing their account portfolio or adding headcount. By implementing strategies to scale your key account management program, you can give your AMs some valuable breathing room.
Ways you can scale your program include:
- Optimizing KAM operations by:
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- Establishing a repeatable KAM process to keep AMs on track
- Adopting KAM-specific software to provide one source of truth and automate routine tasks
- Provide KAM training to boost effectiveness
- Leverage organization-wide teamwork to increase and accelerate customer value
- Creating a structured customer onboarding program provided by your learning and development (L&D) team
- Knowledge bases and resource center to answer common customer questions
- Webinars, live training events, and user groups
By scaling your key account management program, you give your AMs valuable time to be more strategic and engage with clients in a more meaningful way. This helps them avoid getting stuck in the vendor trap so they can become the trusted advisor their clients need and desire.
Achieving Retention and Expansion
Once your KAM program is optimized your AMs have the bandwidth to act as advisors to their key accounts. The following behaviors help them successfully boost account retention and expansion.
Deliver Knowledgeable Insights
Customers expect a trusted advisor to provide them with knowledgeable insights. After all, isn’t that why they are doing business with you?
To deliver the guidance your VIP customers desire, AMs need to know the customer’s business and industry, your products or services, and what issues they solve. This knowledge enables AMs to understand and anticipate the customer’s needs and challenges. This enables reps to walk alongside their clients and work with them collaboratively to achieve their goals and solve their problems.
Keep Abreast of the Customer’s State
There are a couple of tools that AMs can use to stay up to date with top clients:
1. Continuous engagement and voice of customer (VOC)
Consistently engaging with contacts at all levels and across the breadth of the client’s organization enables AMs to develop a clearer picture of their current state. It’s essential for AMs to go beyond day-to-day interactions by routinely conducting voice of customer (VOC) surveys and interviews, especially with customer leadership.
This is the best way to keep up with customer goals and priorities as market, industry, and internal conditions evolve. Digging deeper with client executives by asking them radically authentic discovery questions gets their attention and reveals new insights while allowing AMs to act in an advisory role.
2. SWOT analysis
Another tool that helps AMs guide VIP clients is a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). Leveraging this practice allows AMs to take a step back to objectively inventory your organization’s strengths and weaknesses as they relate to the client. And it entails uncovering risks to your or your customer’s organization plus identifying opportunities to improve your account management practices and new ways to help the account succeed.
So, getting in the habit of completing a SWOT analysis helps AMs identify new expansion opportunities.
Once opportunities are identified, timing is everything. AMs must patiently time their recommendation and leverage their unique selling skills to avoid damaging the relationship by pushing for a sale too quickly.
Account Planning, Action, and Measurement
When AMs keep current with their customer’s state and can deliver knowledgeable insights, they become a trusted advisor and are able to easily recognize growth and expansion opportunities.
They need to create and continually keep account plans current and advancing toward customer goal achievement. Then track and keep customers apprised of progress and attainment. These accomplishments combined with the AM’s strategic advice help clients realize value from doing business with your organization. This is essential to key account retention and the client’s desire to expand their relationship with you.
Align With Key Accounts
Establishing executive customer advisory boards (CAB) is an excellent way for your company to develop a deeper understanding, bond, and alignment with top accounts. These regularly scheduled meetings are a win-win that benefits both the customer and your organization.
These meetings help AMs achieve trusted advisor status while helping:
- Uncover new expansion opportunities
- Mitigate customer churn
- Gain a deeper understanding of their client’s strategic priorities
- Develop a greater level of trust
Oftentimes, CAB members become loyal advocates of your business and excellent referral sources. So, as you can see, CABs increase retention and expansion efforts.
Increase Key Account Retention and Expansion
Key account managers who help customers improve their businesses are most successful at retaining and growing their accounts. Give your AMs the bandwidth to do this by scaling your KAM program. Once you’ve done this, your AMs will have time to become more strategic and advance from vendor status to trusted advisor.
This means that your team members will have time to learn more about their customers and provide them with more knowledgeable insights. Your AMs will be able to engage more fully and consistently with their client organizations and have time to routinely complete thoughtful SWOT analyses to identify more expansion opportunities. Plus, they’ll not only prepare meaningful account plans but will shorten the time to value for their clients and keep clients apprised of that value to boost retention. Implementing executive advisory boards further enhances your AMs' efforts to retain and expand their VIP accounts.
Ready to optimize your key account management operations? Schedule a call with a team member to see how Kapta can help.
