4 Program Agenda Segment 1: SAM Defined Segment 2: … Finally, accompany them on some calls to better understand the style and substance of their conversations with their clients. Which clients would he or she hate to lose? By clicking continue you accept our use of cookies to modify the information we collect please click here. To do this, they need to conduct research on the client company to build out a comprehensive profile. For best results, follow a formal, scripted handoff from the sales team to the account management team. A large portion of this success is attributed to their account management abilities. Many sales leaders fall short of their annual “number,” which is one of the driving forces of high turnover among sales leaders. The ideal SAM should be a problem solver who will be sensitive to the client’s needs. Best Practices in Key Account Management JS5990. SAM Best Practice #6: Validate the Plan. Here’s where you need to look beyond the obvious and seek new win-win opportunities in your client’s business. Hello, you are using an old browser that's not compatible and no longer supported. Strategic Account Management Concepts and Implementation for CEOs and Senior Executives Leadership Synergies, LLC John S. Parke, President and CEO 410-414-9920 www.leadershipsynergies.com. A framework for key account management and revenue management integration.pdf. The first step to a successful program is to assign dedicated account managers who are separate from sales. When filling these roles, keep in mind that sales and strategic management have different objectives and require a different skill set and approach to customer relationships. The best way to avoid a costly breakup with your most valuable customers is to implement a strategic account management program. Ideally, you want to become part of the fabric of your strategic account’s organization — in other words, you want them to be dependent on you. Once you have a selection process in place and you have identified and assigned your key accounts, you’ll need to develop in-depth customer portfolios. Gartner’s strategic account management insights, advice and tools help sales leaders align around the highest-impact drivers of success when it comes to designing a key account strategy. The Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA) exposes companies around the globe to tools, methods and processes that enable them to forge closer relationships with their most strategic customers and co-create new sources of sustainable, customer-driven growth. Provide training on influencing behavior, which is especially important for building and strengthening strategic relationships. Based on your needs assessment, drill down to the best strategic opportunities and draft an account plan. Other candidates that might be designated as strategic accounts include those you consider early adopters or organizations that like to experiment and test new solutions. This management plan gives you the benefit to check if you’re providing every partner and customer with the appropriate amount of time. Dependence of Strategic Management in Account Receivable collections Authors: Emma Wallvik & Emmelie Viklund ... strategic management, connected to the resource dependency theory, we will arrive at ... framework, and are improvement of operational efficiency and minimization of Key Account Planning & Management require strategic thinking. Instead, create a team (or teams) with dedicated accounts and team leads focused solely on strategic management. Identify clients who contribute a significant amount of revenue to your company, and ask yourself, “If we lost this account, how much would we worry about filling the revenue gap?” If the answer is “a lot,” that client is likely to qualify as a key account. A opportunities 2. An outline for a strategic account planning template should include:An Assessment of the Customer’s Business 1. While you want to drive value for the client, the goal is one of mutual long-term benefit. Although they may help raise your profile and improve your marketing, it may be too difficult to make these accounts profitable enough to merit the resources you need to grow a true strategic account. One way to accomplish this is to establish executive sponsorship programs in which your senior executives build peer-to-peer relationships with executives in your strategic accounts. B opportunities 3. The reason behind a pilot is obvious; work out the kinks early and set yourself up for success by being extremely focused. With this intuitive, cloud-based solution, anyone can learn to work visually and collaborate in real time while building flowcharts, mockups, UML diagrams, and more. Strategic Account Management, or SAM, is all about the relationships you build with company customers or partners. Driving Value. These skills can be developed, but many require specialized training and coaching to become truly authentic, confident, and effective in the role. A Strategic Account Management Framework for Customer Success 6. Learn how our sales and customer success teams at Lucidchart have perfected this handoff. US: +1-215-940-9255 By adhering to this proven process, our account management training enables sales organizations to positively impact everything from customer perception to cross-team collaboration. Now that you’re convinced WHY you need an account management strategy, let’s talk about how to create one. You can introduce your strategic account plan at … DrupalCon Dublin 2016: Growing your Drupal Business via Strategic Account Management Framework Find the slides here. Clear communication is vital to a strong working relationship with your customers. Focus on three to eight objective criteria, weighted in relative importance to your organization. Strategic account management is an important job that requires rigor and discipline. Key Account or Strategic Account Implementation: Start with no more than 2 or 3 Key or Strategic Accounts. It takes into account your: Objectives, which are high-level organizational goals. The key to eliminating strategic account defections is to become essential to your customers. When done right, it is a cross-functional effort to define and create value jointly with major customers. Don’t solely focus your account management strategy on “big logos,” such as Fortune 500 companies or a sexy new startup. But the opposite also holds true. This management plan gives you the benefit to check if you’re providing every partner and customer with the appropriate amount of time. The strategic account manager has to know their customer inside and out. DrupalCon Dublin 2016: Growing your Drupal Business via Strategic Account Management Framework Find the slides here. In fact, research indicates that the average tenure of a sales leader is somewhere between just 18 to 24 months! Leverage technology for just-in-time sales training. The terms strategic planning framework and strategic framing models are often used interchangeably, but some say they are different. The solution 2. The acronym used by professionals in this industry is KAM. This means your SAMs need valid account plans, and you need to hold people accountable for executing their account strategies. Key Account Management a Strategic Imperative In the 1970s, companies like Xerox and IBM started to address their important customers as “Key Accounts”. Think of it as running a business within your business. By the way, I should mention at this point that an account management strategy is INTERNAL. Customers big and small can churn for many reasons. The strategic account managers (SAMs) that grow accounts do so because they drive value for buyers. ISVs 5. Business partners 6. While all customers are valuable, not all customers can be elevated to a key account. Coach SAM team members to meet individual, account and organizational goals. I’m adapting the Blue Ocean Strategy Four Actions Framework.It’s a really effective and simple way to look at how to create new value. There are … Every organization has a different definition of key account management (KAM). A framework for key account management and revenue management integration. Abstract It has been proven that businesses experience difficulties with the collecting process of accounts receivable. P.S. Account management training teaches organizations how to use this sales methodology to build actionable sales account management plans that ensure success for both sellers and their customers. simplicity, otherwise task 1 (lower left) becomes a monthly “pump priming” imperative at the expense of any strategic account development initiatives. Continually monitor and measure your performance on each account. A SWOT analysis 3. Introduction: Strategic Account Management (SAM) consequently a Used to ensure SAM is a strategic It provides a growing number of the long term approach means to develop companies have development and distinguishable and nurture made SAM part of retention of from account relationships with their core strategy strategic management major customers for customer customers. You’re are going to end up with a huge amount of information and a big list of ideas which need to be translated into a strategic direction. The Spread of Global Account Management. When done right, it is a cross-functional effort to define and create value jointly with major customers. All rights reserved. Trying to get a farmer to hunt is futile. Building an account plan will help you identify all of the key players who influence the need or preference for your solution. Each customer (whether they become a key account or not) should be methodically organized and tracked in your account system. A Strategic Framework for Customer Relationship Management Introduction: This article explores the plethora of literature available on CRM and relationship marketing and emphasizes the need for a single, process-based framework that helps in making a comprehensive … So now you have strategic priorities, it’s time to put them into the strategic account plan. Technology strategy (information technology strategy or IT strategy) is the overall plan which consists of objectives, principles and tactics relating to use of technologies within a particular organization. ... Key account management seeks to optimize long-term relationship returns through investment in ... W Hotels is primarily focusing on annual ‘room nights’ volume and it is difficult to say whether the selected key accounts are of genuine strategic value. See more, know more, sell more. Strategic accounts are reserved for customers whose partnerships can propel your organization toward its goals. What progress have you made on your short-term and long-term goals? The critical success factor during implementation is promise nothing you cannot deliver. What is key account management? Key Account or Strategic Account Implementation: Start with no more than 2 or 3 Key or Strategic Accounts. With your portfolio of customer research, the next step is to conduct a needs assessment. Educating the customer about insights relevant to their business is a major focus for SAMs. You should involve the client in the process to ensure that the plan is valid and actionable. About SAMA. Transition accounts between reps and teams. An account overview 2. There will be bumps in the road, but in the end, it is worth it. partnering 3. Through in-depth research and assessment, strategic account managers find opportunities to drive value for their partners by identifying problems, offering creative solutions, and leveraging partnerships to move both organizations toward their strategic goals. The Balanced Scorecard is a strategy management framework created by Drs. But even with that idea in mind, building strong relationships worth the time and effort isn’t always an easy process. Successful sales leaders build their reputations and careers on their ability to consistently meet or exceed their revenue goals through focused sales strategy execution. Strategic account managers should be both analytical and personable. Without this plan, marketing is hard-pressed to develop engagement plans that map activities to sales goals. To reflect this, a framework of tools to gather and understand customer feedback that can be fed back into developing a strategic account management approach should be deployed. Founded in 1964, … Read: Competencies of Strategic Account Managers. Strategic account management is an important job that requires rigor and discipline. Lucidchart is the essential visual productivity platform that helps anyone understand and share ideas, information, and processes with clarity. Strategic account management doesn’t happen by accident – it’s made up of formalized, repeatable, and measurable processes. STEP 2: Evaluating and Prioritising Your Strategic Account Plan. The Strategic Account Management Competency Model. The strategic account manager also needs to have credibility and the ability to marshal internal resources when necessary. This dependence can be built in many ways including operational dependence through channel partnerships; technological dependence through systems integration, business dependence through special terms and financing, and contractual dependence through multi-year contracts or automatic renewals. It is easy to get distracted from the fundamentals necessary for account management strategy execution. How do your results measure against your KPIs? The 4 Phases of the Project Management Life Cycle. Tip: Study your best strategic account managers to better understand what makes them successful in their jobs. The two sides (revenue management and key account management) of the diagram reflect the research findings, which demonstrate that company managers had separate agendas and, therefore, different management priorities. Strategic accounts are long-term investments. To Learn More, Download the White Paper: Growing into the White Space With a Prosperous Account Strategy. Our account management … SAM planning works largely the same way. It would make sense, then, to treat these valuable assets with greater care. Among our key findings are that Top Performers in Strategic Account Management have strategic account managers who: 1. As with just about everything in business and sales, when you have a plan in place, you can stay organized more easily while ensuring that no projects, customers, or clients are neglected. The most successful organizations rely on formal, measurable, repeatable processes to develop and maintain their most valuable customer relationships. Managing a strategic account is an important job that requires consistency and discipline. ), Specific long-term goals with short-term benchmarks. Drive Value: The best strategic account managers grow accounts because they drive value for buyers proactively. Once you have a strategic plan in place, set a regular cadence for ongoing communication with your key accounts. Here are our seven habits for highly effective strategic account managers: Execute a smooth handoff from sales to account management. Page 11. Some of this comes from seeing success in the existing framework. The account management framework we teach covers three key stages of account management: data gathering, strategy sessions and execution. Although it can feel intuitive to many people and to smaller teams, there is need for an established, mature SAM process. Initiatives, which are key action programs that help you achieve your objectives. EMEA: +44 (0) 20 7917 1806 The Strategic Management Frameworks Arnoldo Hax Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Management • Porter • Resource-Based View of the Firm ... An integrative strategic framework Adaptive Processes Strategic Agenda Competitive Positioning • Activities that drive profitability Industry Structure EMEA: +44 (0) 20 7917 1806 If you want to create one, you should . With those reduced sales costs and increased revenues, key accounts make up the lifeblood of many companies. Key account managers that take the time to build a reservoir of trust and goodwill with their counterparts will prove invaluable to your company. They need to build rapport with customers, think strategically about partnership opportunities and solutions, collaborate and communicate with high-level stakeholders and decision-makers, and lead a cross-functional team. SAM Best Practice #6: Validate the Plan. SAMA enables world-class companies to gain competitive advantage and secure market position by helping them build world-class capabilities around strategic account management. Tip: When thinking about which customers to name as strategic accounts, take your CEO’s opinion into consideration. Strategic Account Management Training: Best Practices. An organization may achieve either lower cost of production or product differentiation as an advantage against its rivals. Are there any problems looming that you can anticipate and address for them? Is it a calendar year, a 6-month plan, a rolling 12 months or perpetual? Account planning is important to help identify the resources that you need to achieve your growth objectives. Identify the objectives, goals, and key performance indicators to track progress, just as you would manage your sales pipeline. Available via license: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. Extensive technical expertise isn’t necessary, but an aptitude to call in the right people at the right time is critical to an account manager’s success in seizing opportunities that can further the relationship with the strategic account. From account maps to process flows, Lucidchart helps you visualize relationships and stay on track as you move through the account management process. An oft-overlooked step in the SAM process is the transition from sales to account management. You may believe that working with these companies will bolster your credibility and create some buzz, but keep in mind that many of these organizations can be difficult to work with and highly cost-conscious. Account Managers have some chance of success if they have the right “toolkit”: This plan is your strategic roadmap for the next 1-3 years. For example, how often will you touch base with them via phone or email? This means that projects and tasks can easily become forgotten and get pushed to the side, while customers and partners are left fee… As a sales leader, you need the revenue from your strategic accounts to achieve your goals. Key Account Performance Management framework (Internal) Key Take away: ... John is the global leader of SBI’s account management business unit. By implementing a KAM strategy, you create opportunities for both you and your clients to sustain and grow your businesses—as well as opportunities to bring in more revenue. Our framework of controls includes documented underwriting policies and structured delegated pricing and underwriting authorities. Pharma companies needn’t risk being put on the defensive. It is very helpful to use valid, reliable psychographic assessments, along with time and activity studies. Lucidchart helps organizations manage their processes seamlessly. Yet, too often, companies don’t have a dedicated process to nurture those key business relationships. Selecting more accounts is a recipe for disaster. Inside salesA Su… This site uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. It is important to look at the market positioningMarket PositioningMarket Positioning refers to the ability to influence consumer perception regarding a brand or product relative to competito… You probably don’t want an account manager whose strategy is so aggressive that he or she pesters the client or proposes new ideas that are not in the client’s best interest. These behaviors are quite different from a hunter’s; hunters often have an “eat what you kill” mentality. If the relationship no longer holds the same strategic value for your organization, it’s better to identify that sooner rather than later. Here are five tips... info@richardson.com Did you know you can create a free account and start diagramming with just an email address? Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA) Certification. This research introduces a strategic framework of key account performance that integrates theory from relationship marketing, key account management, and customer equity. It also includes investment policies which take into account the nature of our liabilities, guarantees and other embedded options given to policyholders. Strategic management of key accounts has become an important component of many companies' sales efforts. Why Account Management Proactively identify account risk Reduce customer churn Increase Customer Lifetime Value. This muscle helps fortify the relationship, expedite decision making, and protects you from changes in executive leadership or company strategy. |, Enhanced Service through Consultative Sales, White Paper: 6 Key Account Best Practices To Help You Execute Your Sales Strategy, eBook: Growing Strategic Accounts Through Customer Co-Creation, eBook: Becoming a Trusted Advisor Can Earn You a Seat at the Table. Tip: It’s important to identify potential buyers and strong influencers early. Measure your account performance continually so you can keep the plans on track and pivot or reassess as needed. ; Initiatives, which are key action programs that help you achieve your objectives. Make sure to communicate clearly with the customer, so they understand who their points of contact are and what to expect going forward. Key account management requires discipline and structure to succeed. Speaking in very simple terms, SAM’s can accomplish this in three ways: Sellers who strategically manage key accounts shape and create opportunities within their accounts and benefit by mitigating competition, reducing price sensitivity, and building deeper and higher-level relationships in the account. This article provides a framework that will help suppliers to avoid these mistakes. Find out more here. Luckily, like other good habits, these processes can be learned, and in time, become engrained in your company culture. When people change jobs, they often update their LinkedIn profile quickly. Introduction: Strategic Account Management (SAM) consequently a Used to ensure SAM is a strategic It provides a growing number of the long term approach means to develop companies have development and distinguishable and nurture made SAM part of retention of from account relationships with their core strategy strategic management major customers for customer customers. Find out how to grow your team’s existing accounts by leveraging relationships to find new selling opportunities early in the customer’s buying process. will foster a trusting relationship with your customer. Successful account management is easier said than done It functions as both a strategic planning and management system, and it helps connect a company’s plan to the operational elements that make it happen. An effective SAM program isn’t something you stumble upon. Which clients does he or she brag about often? By skipping this step, companies increase the stress and tension placed on the partnership and reduce the odds of its success. Key account management is not just about sales or quarterly results. Tip: Sometimes, clients won’t be 100% satisfied, or they’ll hire new key account personnel who’ll introduce new biases and preferences. Strategic account management (SAM) is a complex topic. John’s marketing, sales and product expertise span a multichannel strategic approach. Other industries developed the needed capabilities, often while in a defensive mode … Corporate membership has proven to be an excellent investment in building and sustaining a world-class global sales force.” CORPORATE MEMBERS. How well you handle account transitions is an important part of building a trusted relationship with your customers. Identify key relationships in an organization. Although segmentation of customers will vary by business we have outlined below a generic customer segmentation approach and identified an effective tool for each segment. 3. Measures, which help you understand if you’re accomplishing your objective strategically. Some people are cut out for new business development, and others aren’t. This site uses cookies. At the end of the day, strategic account management should be all about responsiveness, problem-solving, customer satisfaction, and building long-term relationships that lead to additional revenue. The Strategic Management Framework (SMF), issued by the Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF), guides the Victorian public sector on the key elements of a better practice management cycle, which is structured around five core elements of public sector activity: analyse and plan; allocate resources; implement; measure, monitor and evaluate; and report. Setting clear expectations (and following through!) However, successful results don’t prove that your process is mature. Once you polish the plan, approach your customer with your proposal. Also, implied in the word "driving" is a connotation of proactivity. One of the more popular strategic planning frameworks is the balanced scorecard. Use your data to find ways you can help them, and assess opportunities for collaboration and partnership. APAC: +61 (0) 8 8376 1667, 1818 Market Street #2800 “SAMA provides us access to best practices, training and research in the areas of strategic account management from innovative selling organizations, including our own successful customers who are members as well. The account management framework we teach covers three key stages of account management: data gathering, strategy sessions and execution. Please consider updating your browser to a newer version. And, for sure, we aren’t engaging high enough level decision makers." The reason behind a pilot is obvious; work out the kinks early and set yourself up for success by being extremely focused. Building relationships with existing clients to transform them into key strategic accounts is a crucial component of any sales strategy because selling to an existing account is much more profitable and predictable than trying to win new business. If these areas are well maintained, your team will be able to dig deeper into existing key accounts and maximize the revenue potential that’s there. A formal strategic account management program can: Unlike a sales program, which focuses on short-term selling cycles and customer acquisition, strategic management goes a step further to develop deeper relationships with a small number of core customers over time. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. The work isn’t done when the sale closes. Make it clear what time frame this plan applies for. Tip: Strategic account managers must possess strong business acumen. By implementing a formal strategic account management process, you can reap the benefits of long-term partnerships for many years to come. Content may be subject to copyright. Other industries developed the needed capabilities, often while in a defensive mode as they watched their customer base evolve. According to Bain & Company, it is six to seven times more costly to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one. Strategic Account Management Roadblock #3: "There's so much more value we can create for our strategic accounts, but it takes us forever to get them introduced to, and using, our new products, services, and capabilities. Research shows that 70 percent of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated 5. Key account management (KAM) is one of the most important changes in selling that has emerged during the past two decades. If you don’t regularly check up on your progress, it’s easy to get too confident in a … If you are linked to your SAM and your SAM is linked to contacts in the account, you will have visibility into these contacts and the ability to connect with them. Dependence of Strategic Management in Account Receivable collections Authors: Emma Wallvik & Emmelie Viklund Supervisor: Jean C. Mutiganda Umeå School of Business and Economics Spring Semester 2014 Bachelor Thesis 15hp International Business Program!! Instead of a typical 3-12 month transactional lifecycle, you are creating a strategy for the next 1-3 years. How can you determine which accounts are worthy? Balanced Scorecard. Monitoring performance is not only important to ensure you deliver on your end but also to track how well the key account fulfills its obligations to you. A summary of the customer’s initiativesDiscovery and Prioritization of Opportunities 1. Strategic account management is complex. The most popular online Visio alternative, Lucidchart is used in over 180 countries by more than 15 million users, from sales managers mapping out prospective organizations to IT directors visualizing their network infrastructure. Be selective. While there are an unlimited number of initiatives around people, process, and technology that can help you reach your goals, few will be as impactful as establishing key clients as strategic accounts and managing them well. Diagnosing Your SAM Process. Strategic account management (SAM) or key account management focuses on building long-term mutually beneficial partnerships with key customers. Once strategic accounts have been identified at an organizational level, the role of a strategic account manager is to act as the point of contact between the strategic accounts’ stakeholders and the company. Developing a successful key account management (KAM) program is critical for achieving revenue and growth objectives, but given the complexity surrounding these programs, this isn’t an easy task.
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