Are you looking for tips on how to manage customer accounts? Look no further! This article provides 9 helpful tips for success.

Managing your customers’ accounts can be a daunting task. These tips on how to manage customer accounts will help you. So read on and you’ll be well on your way to success.

What is account Management?

It is a collective strategy method that businesses use to maintain their best clients throughout their business journey. Account Management allows account managers to think strategically and identify business continuity opportunities for their key accounts. Account management is more than just keeping the best clients. Click To Tweet

Account management is the collective process of overseeing sales, planning for business continuity, and managing client relations coherently. Managers strive to manage the highest client accounts by using innovative resource gathering strategies and building rapport with clients.

Clients who have been with the company for a while and are part of its success story are valuable assets. Businesses of all sizes need to build strong relationship with their clients. This means that your sales company cannot afford to lose the opportunity to develop a strong account management strategy.

A strategic account manager must take on the responsibility of creating the most customer-oriented business models using the best offers, and the best resources.

This combination is what defines account management for business success. Technology has made it possible to have many account planning tools that offer multiple features. This will allow you to create a sales account management program that is effective and can propel your business to new heights.

Account management

Olivier Riviere, a thought leader in strategic account management, says that the key to a solid grasp on account management is to remember that “true key accounts have an extra strategic meaning for the company beyond their size.” It is important to distinguish between large and key accounts. In many cases, it may be difficult to translate The account management process from what you have seen for a while.

It is a slow and cyclic process that requires time, effort, and money. These value accounts can be snatched from your business relationship at any time. It could be taken by businesses similar to yours.

Your competitors would love to have a client who has been with them for years. The chance of losing them is high, and it all depends on how well your customer account management strategy is.

What are the responsibilities of account managers?

It is easy to underestimate the importance of growing customer relationships. When you break down the responsibilities, it becomes apparent how much benefit a dedicated account management team can bring.

These are the key duties of an account manager.

Assist as the daily contact

An account manager’s primary role is to be the first point of contact for customers. This can be done in many ways.

• Customer can contact the company to resolve a problem or address questions.
• Even if the AM is unable to resolve the concern, the AM should still be able to guide the client request through the appropriate channels within the organization.
• AMs should schedule regular client meetings or check-ins to ensure that customers are contacted regularly.
• AMs must understand the client’s long- and short-term business goals, and develop a strategy to tie those goals to the company’s offerings.

Perform data analysis and reporting

An account manager also has the responsibility to analyze client data and provide regular updates to customers.

• Regular status updates and reports are a way to ensure that each customer is aware of what value is being delivered. This is important for customers to be kept informed. It also allows the client to share these reports with other decision-makers at their company, which can help clients when it comes time to evaluate a renewal request or upsell.
• AMs need to know the performance of all their accounts in terms of service or product performance, as well as upsell opportunities and renewal opportunities. To accomplish this, AMs can create reports or perform analysis using CRM software.

Account management strategies to help you excel

It is not easy to win customer trust. It takes specific strategies to build a customer relationship and grow it into additional revenue. Here are some ways you can achieve this success.

1. Be proactive

Although the primary responsibility for an account manager lies in maintaining positive customer relationships, it is not possible to build these relationships unless The account manager actively reaches out to customers.

Tips to be proactive

Clients are busy and won’t contact companies unless they have a problem. Account managers need to promote the benefits being offered. This can be done in many ways.

• Recurring performance update: An AM should email clients performance results with notes about how the client is doing.
• Check in meetings: Regular check in meetings with clients demonstrate a proactive customer communication approach.
• New client onboarding: Discuss onboarding procedures and workflows with a new client. For example, how to escalate an issue that isn’t being resolved quickly enough. This kind of support is appreciated by customers, especially at the beginning.

2. Consultative selling

Managers must be able to play the role of a consultant to clients. This helps to build trust and deepen relationships.

Tips for consultative sales

Account managers are experts in their field and must stay up-to-date with developments within their company as well as within their industry. They also need to keep an eye on how their company compares to others.

• Keep up to date with the industry. AMs need to keep up with industry trends and learn about new technologies, as well as compare products and services. AMs must be able to understand the pros and cons associated with competing offerings, as clients will undoubtedly encounter them.
• Line up recommendations In order to help clients achieve their goals, the AM’s suggested strategies must not only be compatible with their company’s offerings but also make sense in the client’s industry. If the AM works at an ad agency and the client is car dealership, the dealership might need to use online advertising targeting to find buyers for a vehicle on its expiring lease. The account manager should have enough knowledge about the industry to present these ideas to the client. This helps build trust and deepen relationships.

3. Upsells should be in line with customer goals

An AM can easily fall into a trap when upselling clients. This approach can be a turnoff to customers if it is done randomly and does not align the upsell with the customer’s goals.

4. Execute key account management.

If a business is successful, the number of customers that fall under the control of an account manager can eventually exceed the AM’s bandwidth. It is, therefore, logical to implement a KAM strategy.

KAM stands for key accounts management. It refers to the idea of the AM focusing its efforts on The accounts that generate the highest revenue. A KAM strategy is essential for all businesses, as there is no way to have unlimited time or resources.

Tips to Execute Key Account Management

It’s much easier to add clients to the KAM account list than to remove them. Therefore, it is important to carefully define the criteria for the higher tier of service.

• Limit KAM client: A small number of KAM accounts should exist, approximately 5 to 20 accounts depending upon the total of an AM’s clients (referred to here as their book of businesses). Additionally, AMs should review their KAM accounts at least quarterly to ensure that accounts that were previously qualified continue to qualify and to identify new candidates.
• KAM strategies affect the entire company: KAM clients require different work processes than other clients. KAM programs should not be a sales process, but a corporate change that involves the entire organization.

Tips to upsell

Upsells are not meant to increase company revenue. They must be relevant to the client’s strategy and maximize the benefits of working together with the AM’s business. If you do not, it can cause mistrust and make it difficult to get rid of.

• Upsell timing An upsell opportunity should only be introduced after trust and a relationship have been established with the client. An AM should only attempt to upsell after having established a track record for success with the services or products the client purchased in the first instance.
• Matching customer objectives: Upsells must make sense within the context of the client’s strategies and goals to increase the company’s benefits. An example of this is the ad agency. While an AM’s company may be able to create TV commercials, if the client wants to concentrate its efforts on online advertising it doesn’t make sense for them to pitch a service that’s centered on TV ads.

5. Use CRM software

Account managers have a lot to track for each client. CRM software can help. CRM stands for customer relation management. This concept is focused on providing a superior customer experience.

CRM software supports this goal with a variety of capabilities.

(Source)

A CRM example of life cycle management. Source: Salesforce software.

Tips to use a CRM

Today’s CRM software has advanced features. It is important that the team is well-trained in its use to maximize its potential and ensure that it is being used efficiently.

• Automate repetitive tasks: Use software’s built in automation tools to automate repetitive tasks such as sending regular reports to customers.
• Customer lifecycle management: Track every client through their customer life cycle using CRM software to identify opportunities such as which accounts can be up-sold and which are growing enough to become eligible for the KAM List.
• Ensure that the CRM is really helping customers. CRM software doesn’t replace a customer strategy. Before leveraging a CRM, it is important to understand the client’s needs. Consider sending weekly automated emails to customers. Some clients may feel that it’s spam.

Why is account management important?

It can help enhance customer loyalty and therefore increase customer retention, decrease churn, and increase revenue with current customers.

It is also more cost-effective as you don’t need to spend as much on lead generation.

What is the difference between account management and sales?

Sales are about converting leads into customers.

Account management is about building relationships with customers and providing the best service.

How to manage customer accounts successfully: 9 important tips 

The romantic comedy ends when the couple says “I do.” But for those who have been in committed relationships, that’s when the work starts. The same applies to business relationships. The key account managers are the unsung heroes of the story.

Sales teams often get the credit for landing large accounts. They must maintain a healthy, mutually beneficial relationship for many years.

Here are 10 tips to help you manage key accounts in today’s business world.

1. Create relationships that acknowledge the whole

Those who seek an account manager career path should be ready to prioritize relationship-building. A clear understanding of the bigger picture is key to building strong relationships. What is the company’s primary goal?

How do the various functions, relationships and business needs of the company fit in that larger picture? This type of high-level understanding will allow you to take more confident action to meet the client’s needs.

2. Be an effective liaison

You are the key contact between your clients, your business and them as the key account manager. The Key Account Management teams must listen carefully, translate client’s needs to the appropriate people within their company, and ensure that client’s requests are met in a timely and efficient manner.

Your client will have more faith in you if you can say, “Yes, I know who to talk to about completing that,” than you can say. You can ensure customer satisfaction by being a good liaison between your key accounts.

3. Get to know your clients

Every company has a culture and a personality. Each company also has an objective, a set or goals, and a dream. It is crucial to understand your customers, their motivations, and what they want to achieve.

What is their business about? What is the current state of their industry? What are their goals and how can your company help them reach them?

Your service will be more tailored to your customers the more you know them.

4. Be proactive

We love it when a waiter offers us a refill before we finish our meal. This is true for key accounts as well. Be proactive and don’t wait for clients to raise concerns or ask about product and service options.

To ensure that they are satisfied, regularly check in with your key accounts. They are unlikely to be interested in changes to your company so keep them informed about your new offerings. You can build trust and insight by communicating regularly with your key accounts.

5) Be reliable

If you promise to do something, make sure you do it. To set accurate customer expectations, be open if a timeline changes. Trust is impossible without reliability.

Keep these things in mind. Don’t make promises that you can’t keep. Set realistic goals for yourself, which correspond to the goals of your key accounts.

6) Make clear plans of action

This means that you and your account teams should clearly define a step-by, step approach to achieving the key accounts customers’ goals. This step is similar to traveling without a map. Your team will arrive at the same destination if they have a clear plan of action.

7) Looking to the future

Keep your clients in the know and prepare your team to meet them quickly. Ask yourself what clients similar to yours have needed in the past or how the current economic climate might impact this business. It is amazing to be able to predict your business needs from your key accounts in advance.

8) Personalize your service

Remember that not everything works for every client. You can gain insight into their needs by building a close relationship. Match their needs. Clients will be less satisfied if you seem to be just going through the motions.

This can be avoided by having a closer working relationship with your key accounts.

9) Be collaborative

As key account manager, your goal is to be a valuable partner for your clients. Instead of trying to figure out how to manage this key account by yourself, you should work with them to create strategies that will help them achieve their goals.

You can work with your key accounts to develop a collaborative approach. This includes regularly discussing the specific actions you can take and listening carefully to their feedback.

Existing customers are a critical revenue source for almost every organization. Meeting organizational growth targets requires sales leaders to establish well-defined account management processes and tools that not only retain customers but also enable account teams to identify, develop and execute on growth opportunities within their account base.

In order to grow a company, your sales leaders should know how to manage customer accounts effectively. A successful account management team is discussed in the Blueprint.