Written
by Lestraundra Alfred @writerlest
After
a deal closes, the customer relationship is still in its infancy. Beyond
renewals, existing accounts present a great deal of new revenue and partnership
opportunities for sales pros who understand their continued role managing
customer accounts strategically.
What is strategic account
management?
Strategic account management is a framework that focuses on
building engaged, mutually beneficial relationships between a company and its
key accounts or customers to drive sales growth. Typically managed at the
organizational level, strategic account management encompasses teams across
departments within a company.
In
this space, Strategic Account Managers identify and create opportunities by
positioning solutions aligned with customer goals, challenges, and initiatives.
By focusing on strategic account management, sales professionals can grow
accounts and enjoy other benefits, including:
Once
the deal has been closed, the company needs to be able to dedicate efforts on
maintaining and growing these relationships. In doing so, existing accounts can
grow, offering many benefits, including:
·
Shorter sales cycles
·
Reduced acquisition costs
·
Priority relationships
·
Greater access to decision-makers
It
is important to note, that in an ideal state strengthening relationships with
valuable accounts should come from dedicated support in the form of Strategic
Account Managers so sales reps can focus on closing new deals.
Strategic Account Manager
Strategic Account Managers are responsible for facilitating the
development and growth of key customer relationships. They often serve as a
point person for the stakeholders of the strategic account.
In
this post, we’ll ways your company can leverage strategic account management in
your pursuit of opportunities with existing customers.
Strategic Account Manager Job Description
Ready
to add a Strategic Account Manager to your team? Here’s a job description to
help you find a qualified candidate.
[Your
Company Name] is hiring a Strategic Account Manager.
This
role is responsible for managing relationships with our most valued customers.
As a Strategic Account Manager, you will oversee customer retention,
satisfaction, and revenue growth strategy.
In
this position, you will:
·
Serve as the main point of contact for your
assigned accounts.
·
Get to know your assigned accounts to
understand their opportunities and challenges.
·
Identify how our company can support the
customer’s opportunities and challenges.
·
Monitor the satisfaction level of your
customer accounts and report progress to internal stakeholders.
·
Be on point as the internal company contact
regarding your customer accounts.
Skills
and qualifications:
·
Must have hands-on experience and demonstrated
success managing multiple key customer accounts.
·
Strong relationship-building skills to build
trust and rapport with customer account stakeholders.
·
Effective written and verbal communication
skills.
·
Excellent customer service skills.
·
Data reporting and analytical skills; must be
able to pull and analyze key metrics to measure the results of customer
retention and satisfaction.
·
Creative problem-solver.
·
Sales experience — meeting quota should be the
norm.
Strategic Account Management Process
To
ensure success implementing the strategic account management process, consider
these best practices.
1. Focus on the right customers.
Growing
a current relationship starts with smart customer selection. Salespeople must
take the time to determine which of their accounts represent the most
significant opportunities. How? By finding the overlap between the customer’s
strategic initiatives and your solutions.
In
this early stage, examine "hard" factors — including revenue
generated and product mix — and "soft" factors, such as level of
access, relationships, and buying behavior.
Consider
the divisions, departments, and locations within a target account. The best
opportunities aren’t necessarily found in the accounts that have spent the
most. In fact, these accounts often represent fewer sales opportunities because
they’ve spent so much. Look for the accounts with the most significant
potential for future purchases.
2. Analyze customer needs.
Targeting
an existing account requires as much foresight as targeting a new one. Though
salespeople already have access to some stakeholders, it’s still crucial to
build a plan. This process begins by understanding the buyer’s journey, which
helps sales professionals align their activities to the customer’s place in the
buying process.
Of
course, the buyer’s journey begins when they encounter a challenge in their
pursuit of long-term goals and short-term objectives. The value of expanding
existing accounts is it places the sales professional on this path early.
You’re there to greet your customer when they arrive, so to speak.
In
these initial stages, sales professionals can shape the customer’s thinking and
properly frame their needs. This level of influence comes from salespeople who
become trusted advisors. Reaching this point means you’ve provided insight to
the customer and have taken the time to understand their business.
A
trusted advisor can even be the person who triggers the buyer’s journey. This
position is powerful and influential because, as McKinsey says,
"research has found that journey performance is significantly more
strongly linked to economic outcomes than are touchpoints alone."
3. Align with the customer.
A
compelling solution is not enough. Salespeople need to be better than the
competition. They must find alignment with the customer, so the value of the
solution resonates with their business need. This step is critical, because it
differentiates their solution from competitors.
Creating
alignment involves stakeholder analysis. Sales professionals need to understand
who will make the buying decision. Some of these stakeholders will have an
existing relationship with the sales professional. Others will be new.
Taking
a strategic approach means engaging established relationships to expand to new
ones. The process is ongoing because stakeholders enter and exit the picture.
4. Engage customer needs
Business
drivers change — and that’s a good thing. These changes are exactly why the
business needs solutions in the first place. To track these changes in
real-time, however, salespeople must keep the customer engaged. Without a high
level of communication, they risk presenting solutions and insights that don’t
resonate with their customer.
Regular
dialogue clarifies evolving needs and boosts profitability, because fully
engaged customers are more profitable than average customers. According to
findings from Gallup, 40% of customers
who are highly satisfied with their account manager are deeply engaged.
5. Measure success.
Strategic
account managers must be able to demonstrate success to both their customers
and stakeholders within their company. Customers who engage in a long-term
partnership with an account manager expect a personalized experience that will
help them achieve their goals and keep their business running smoothly.
Using
a CRM to track
customer communications can help Strategic Account Managers stay on top of
their valuable partnerships.
When
you are able to measure and document successful conversations and support
initiatives for your customer, you gain valuable insight on how to continue
having a fruitful partnership.
Additionally,
those who manage strategic accounts must be able to measure and report success
to their company’s stakeholders. If a company is allocating resources to
strategic account management, there is an expectation that the account will be
able to generate significant revenue to justify the investment. Strategic
account managers must be able to demonstrate success for their company.
Strategic Account Management Planning Tools
With
so many inputs to consider in the strategic account planning process, it’s
important sales professionals have the right tools to manage and track their
research and relationships.
There
are many options for account planning tools and
templates. Selecting the right tool is important, because your team needs a
tool that’s robust enough to capture all critical customer information and lean
enough to be put to practical use.
As
you evaluate strategic account management tools and templates look for these
key components:
1.
Industry Analysis Tool —Include
a component that supports examination and documentation of external industry
issues that may impact the customer.
2.
Customer Relationship Analysis Tool —Include
a component that documents history with the customer and avenues for expansion
-- like untapped business units and new divisions.
3.
Customer Strategy Map —Include
a component that captures the customer’s strategy to determine which of their
objectives and initiatives connect with the solution’s capabilities. List the
customer’s goals, challenges, and culture.
4.
Stakeholder Assessment Tool —Include
a component that helps your sales professionals categorize identified
stakeholders by their role, level of influence, and alignment with the
solution.
5.
Competitive Assessment Tool — Include
a component where your team can review your competitive position from the
customer’s perspective to identify ways to articulate your unique value.
To
begin the strategic account planning process, check out HubSpot’s sales tools to
facilitate mutually beneficial customer relationships and grow your business.
Ready
to learn more about how account management can benefit your business? Check out this post to
learn the difference between account management and sales.
Originally published Jan 26, 2020 7:45:00 PM, updated January 27
2020
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