In a perfect world, there would be no threats to our key account relationships and churn wouldn’t exist.
Sadly, business doesn’t work that way. Challenges and risks abound in the marketplace to potentially rock the boat with our key accounts. So, when it comes to key account risk, the best approach to risk mitigation is early detection so you have sufficient time to influence the outcome.
How do we proceed once we’ve identified at-risk accounts so we can impact the outcome? Developing a plan to overcome risks is your best course of action.
Not sure how to do this? We’ve got you covered. Let’s look at the steps you should take to create a risk mitigation plan for known at-risk accounts.
Identify and Document Risks
Risk mitigation planning starts when a key account manager (KAM) or another team member recognizes risk signs in an account. They need to then consider what the risk potentially means for the customer and your organization. What type of risk is it and what might be the root cause that precipitated this particular risk?
The KAM or internal stakeholder needs to document these insights and flag the account in a central location such as a KAM-specific platform like Kapta. This makes the information easily accessible to all stakeholders in your organization who are involved in the customer’s relationship. And this adds the account to your risk register for discussion during the next ‘At-Risk Key Accounts Review Meeting.’
Assess, Prioritize, and Plan
The next steps can take place during an internal at-risk review meeting where all internal stakeholders that touch the customer are present.
Everyone should come to the meeting prepared to discuss the at-risk accounts flagged in your risk registry by reviewing the notes. If you don’t have these notes documented in a central location, you should share them with all team members in advance so they can consider each situation and be ready to discuss it.
Assess: For each at-risk account, determine the severity and manageability of the risk, and consider the likelihood of influencing the outcome by resolving the risk. In some cases, the risk is one that is totally out of your control, meaning that loss is likely to occur, so you must choose between accepting or minimizing the impact.
Prioritize: Once you have assessed the risk for each account, prioritize which accounts you’ll address and when. You should put in place criteria to simplify this task and minimize debate over this. For example, you might consider criteria like dollar value, timing of potential loss, stability of current relationship, and longevity of the partnership.
Plan: Brainstorm a preliminary plan with the team. Establish clear milestones broken into manageable steps and tasks. Then assign ownership to the appropriate stakeholders and agree on internal metrics you’ll use to gauge success.
Collaborate with the Client
Schedule a strategy session with key stakeholders within the client account. Review your preliminary plan, get their input, agree on steps to move forward, and assign responsibility, milestones, and KPIs to gauge success in terms that are meaningful to the customer.
Implement, Track, Measure, Adjust, Resolve
Once you have finalized the plan of action to address the current account risk, it’s time to follow through by taking action, tracking progress, measuring success, and adjusting as needed.
Ultimately, the goal is to resolve the risk successfully.
Implementation: Share the final plan with your internal stakeholders, highlighting any changes made in collaboration with the customer.
Track and Measure: Schedule reminders to ensure you stay on track and that nothing falls through the cracks. It’s essential that everyone take their appointed actions to ensure you successfully overcome the risk.
Measure progress toward the end goal by tracking the designated metrics, being sure to share updates with the team and the customer.
Adjust: Finetune the plan accordingly to course correct as needed.
Rinse, repeat, and ultimately resolve, assuming that all goes as planned.
Streamline Risk Mitigation Planning
Simplify the risk mitigation planning process by using a platform like Kapta. Our KAM-specific solution acts as a single source of truth regarding your key accounts.
Kapta gives you a central place to document observations about accounts and share essential account information like:
- The org chart and client profiles
- Voice of customer (VOC) responses
- SWOT analysis
- Account plans
- Customer and internal success metrics
- Contracts
This makes Kapta an excellent guide and resource during internal at-risk or routine account reviews.
Plus, our solution notifies stakeholders when plan tasks are due and displays critical success metrics on an easy-to-read dashboard. This simplifies tracking your progress toward plan goal attainment and detecting when it’s time to adjust plan details.
Mitigate Risk in At-Risk Accounts
The process of creating a risk mitigation plan for known at-risk accounts starts when the first sign of risk is spotted. Considering the implications, categorizing the risk, and then documenting these insights and flagging the account is essential.
Then during your internal at-risk account review meeting, assess and prioritize the at-risk accounts to address first. Create your risk mitigation plan for the account, breaking it into milestones and manageable tasks.
Take the plan to key client stakeholders for their input. Collaborating with the client and getting them onboard can increase the odds of success, so involve them if at all possible.
Once your risk mitigation plan is finalized, it’s time to implement, track, measure, adjust, and ultimately reach resolution, thereby reducing churn.
Looking for a solution to streamline key account risk mitigation planning? Schedule a chat with a team member to see how Kapta can simplify key account risk mitigation.
