Customer Engagement
Insights and Best Practice
Learn how Key Account Managers are making positive impacts, solving real problems for their customers, and building best practices inside their organizations.
Customer Engagement
Slow Growth? Try Key Account Management.
If you’re banging your head against the wall trying to figure…
May 4, 2020/by Alex RaymondHow B2B Companies Put Customers First
We know from talking to B2B companies across all kinds of industries…
April 27, 2020/by Kelly SharpBehaviors of Successful Key Account Managers
Ideally, everyone at your company is focused on delivering for…
April 20, 2020/by Alex RaymondKey Account Management for Services Companies
Key Account Management is the art of engaging with high-value…
April 13, 2020/by Kelly SharpThe Importance of Key Account Management During a Recession
Even before the COVID-19-induced panic, many economists were…
April 6, 2020/by Alex RaymondHow to Run A Great Client Workshop
In a world with email and text and Slack and Zoom, it’s easier…
March 30, 2020/by Alex RaymondProfile of a Great Account Manager
In a cross-functional team, Key Account Managers are the voice…
March 23, 2020/by Alex RaymondYour CRM is Not Enough: Why Companies are Using Dedicated KAM Software to Build Customer Engagement
In our line of work, we talk to all kinds of people, from all…
March 16, 2020/by Ben BlaskoCustomer Service vs Customer Centricity
At Kapta, we believe strongly in the power of a customer-centric…
March 9, 2020/by Kelly SharpIdentifying Key Accounts
If you’re new to Key Account Management, one of the first steps…
March 2, 2020/by Lesley PoladskyKey Account Management in 2020: Why It Matters More Than Ever
Customers have always been important to business—and they’ve…
February 24, 2020/by Alex RaymondWhy Ad Agencies are Investing in Key Account Management
Key Account Management is the art of engaging with high-value…
February 17, 2020/by Kelly SharpCategories
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Winners and Losers in the Customer Engagement Economy
/in Customer Engagement /by Alex RaymondAs we’ve written before, the Customer Engagement Economy is here to stay. That means your customers are demanding more than ever, and simple transactions won’t be enough—you need to build long-term engagement to drive profitable, resilient growth.
Companies who drive retention and organic growth through a deep understanding of their clients, clear action plans, and tangible results will be winners in this economy. Companies who can’t make the pivot will flounder.
In this post we’ll take a closer look at the Engagement Economy, asking who wins—and who loses—in the new B2B ecosystem.
Shifting Customer Demand
Today’s customers are harder to engage and easier to lose than ever. They are bombarded by personalized messages and services every time they look at their phone. They have a world of resources at their fingertips. Every day, someone offers them a new product or service.
In part because of their experience as consumers in the digital age, they have come to expect increasingly bespoke solutions from their B2B providers. Today’s customers demand their vendors:
It’s a high-pressure world for B2B providers, and most don’t rise to the task. How do we know? Because 71% of companies are indifferent towards or disengaged from their vendors.
In this new economy, some B2B companies will thrive. And some won’t. Let’s take a closer look at the difference.
Success: What does it take?
Companies who succeed in the Engagement Economy are able to rise to the challenge of increasingly personalized demand, building retention and growth through strategic account management.
They know their customers. They act powerfully on their behalf, creating and tracking against clear, actionable account plans. And they measure results, so they have the insights they need to course-correct towards demonstrable, tangible results.
Because of how well they know their customers, winners in the Engagement Economy have an accurate, real-time understanding of the health of their accounts, which makes their own planning and projection processes more reliable.
So how do they get there? It takes intention and infrastructure.
In order to work, KAM technology has to be purpose-built and process-driven, designed with the specific needs of client relationship managers in mind. Just like KAM itself, KAM technology can’t be overly tactical—it has to be strategic. We’ll talk more about that below.
The new Engagement Economy challenges companies to think beyond their pipeline, asking how they can drive shared success; growing when and because their customers do.
Failure: What’s missing?
Companies who don’t succeed in the Engagement Economy are, simply put, the companies who aren’t able to pivot. That means:
Some companies are still using a mashup of powerpoint, excel, email, and other tools to make account plans. But powerpoint decks only ever end up in one place: archived in a server somewhere. Static tools can’t connect to customer data—they don’t provide real-time tracking against customer goals, which means they don’t give you a sense of your real-life impact. Not to mention, they don’t give you a sense of real-time account health and customer engagement.
But it’s not enough simply to move to a more sophisticated platform. CRMs, though popular among sales teams, are designed for transactional relationships—not customer engagement. Interfacing with clients on a transactional level is the kiss of death for key account managers. If you only provide capacity, you’re very easy to replace; if you are a strategic partner, you’re indispensable.
That level of engagement is what your process and tools should be geared to develop. CRMs might generate leads, but they don’t help you do the deep dive.
While a failure to adapt your tech stack for the new B2B landscape is a critical issue, the more important thing is what it reflects: A deep adherence to the status quo. This, more than anything, is what companies need to overcome if they want to succeed in a rapidly changing customer environment.
Conclusion
The Engagement Economy is here to stay. To be successful, B2B providers need the intention and infrastructure to build customer engagement. To learn more about how Kapta can help you win in today’s B2B environment, schedule your demo today.
Five Questions To Ask When Rolling Out KAM Software
/in Key Account Management /by Alex RaymondAt Kapta, we want you to be more than just a vendor; our key account management software propels you to be an indispensable strategic partner. Our KAM Process™ will allow you to learn more than you ever expected about your clients, to act more quickly and effectively on their behalf, and to demonstrate value, time and time again. But your rollout will be a process—not a big bang. Prepare by asking the following questions as you deploy the KAM software.
1. Do we know which of our existing customers are healthy and which ones are at risk?
There are a few different ways to measure account health (you can read our more in-depth articles here about calculating an account health score and determining churn risk), but as a first step, ask teams that have direct contact with the customer about things like overall client satisfaction, likelihood of continued and increased engagement (upsells and cross-sells), long-term outlook, and the client’s likelihood to recommend your organization to their colleagues. Ask team members for these ratings individually; if the feedback seems consistent, that’s a good indicator that the account is stable. On the other hand, disparate opinions among customer-facing team members may mean it’s time to convene for a larger discussion on the state of the account.
Of course the drawback to this method is that it’s not very precise; ultimately, things like behaviors that build customer engagement as well as how successfully clients are meeting their KPIs should be quantified and tracked.
2. Do we have clear, actionable plans in place for our key customers?
Account plans are a crucial component of Our KAM Process and we’ve made it one of the standout features of our platform. Account plans are more than a spreadsheet; they’re a roadmap for growing, nurturing, and maintaining your key relationships, by getting clients closer to their goal. An effective account plan is easy to follow, includes both short-term and long-term goals, is repeatable and adaptable, and breaks goals down into smaller objectives and actions.
An effective account plan also requires strategy, looking at things like shared values between an organization and its accounts, and how accounts can be better serviced through proactivity. An account plan done correctly will produce long-term goals and milestones that all parties embrace because they all had a part in setting them. The KAM software takes the tedium out of this process to ensure a dynamic, effective account planning process that can serve as the backbone of your team’s operations.
3. Do we clearly measure and articulate the value we are providing to our customers?
It’s important that you not define value based on your company’s perspective, but rather, to find out what value means to your customer. One you have a better understanding of what the client wants to gain from using your products and services, you can work to identify the specific metrics and goals you must meet to ensure you’re delivering value.
Measuring your customer’s success according to predetermined KPIs, though it may be challenging, is the best way to unquestionably demonstrate value. It’s not enough to take action if you can’t articulate results; if specific metrics are embedded into everything you do for your clients, you can provide irrefutable evidence of what’s working, and prove impact on their bottom line. Results that are tied to numbers and metrics will make renewals and repeat business happen with greater ease.
Determining how your customer defines value requires more than a brief conversation; read more about our formula for creating metrics for customer success.
4. How clear are we on our customers’ goals?
As explained above, the value you bring to your clients depends on what their goals are. If you are follow Our KAM Process of knowing your customer and acting purposefully, the third function is to measure success—for your client, and, in turn, for your C-suite.
A strong client relationship will ensure a strong understanding of their client goals, and vise-versa. Even if a client isn’t completely transparent about all of their objectives up front, the more you can learn about their business through an ongoing relationship, the better you’ll be able to help get them to where they want to be.
5. How can we leverage Our KAM Process™ to reduce risk and drive adoption?
Key account management is based on a long-term, measurable strategy that defines success based on the client’s goals, and consistently produces mutually beneficial results. Kapta’s customizable tools help you capture current knowledge and fill in missing links to see the big picture, enabling your customer success team to become trusted advisors to key accounts.
Through exercises like VOC surveys and SWOT analysis, you will spur your customers to think and plan more strategically, which will create more opportunity to proactively provide the solutions they need and build a stronger business partnership.
With strong operational processes and account management software, key account managers can develop a collaborative, two-way relationship built on trust, that customers cannot do without.
Get more tips for creating practical, actionable client engagement plans in our KAM To-Go ebook.
Conclusion
A successful KAM software rollout relies on team skills and behavior and a well-defined process, and answering these questions for your business and clients is a good place to start. Set up a call to learn more.
What IS a Key Account?
/in Customer Engagement /by Alex RaymondKey account management—focusing on the development of a company’s most strategic accounts—is at the center of everything we at Kapta do. But the question often gets asked: what’s the difference between a “key” account and a “regular” account? One typical way of defining a key account is to look at the “80/20 rule”—the oft-true premise that 20% or less of your client base drives up to 80% of revenue. But what defines a key account in actuality can be a bit more nuanced, and based on more than just revenue.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the other factors that go into defining what is a key account.
Potential for Development and Growth
Of course it’s logical to prioritize high-value clients. But there can be big gains to be had by applying a proactive approach to small and mid-sized accounts, if you’re able to identify their ability to grow with you.
In order to determine a client’s growth potential, it’s imperative you get crystal-clear about two things: first, what your company’s ideal customers look like, and second, who your current customers are. This dual-lensed approach is the best way to ensure that the foundation of key account management is in place, and that the relationship can be built to fuel mutual goals. (This exercise of determining your ideal clients is circular, by the way; once you’ve identified your core customer, real profits should be continuously analyzed to determine if your ideal customer is actually who’s bringing you business.)
Your client research shouldn’t be purely speculative, though; there should be a clear understanding from the client of what their philosophy is in partnering with you. How does this client buy? Do relationships matter, or is the client’s business more transaction-based? Is the sales cycle reliable? If you can collect evidence to show how and why a currently small or medium account has the potential to grow into your ideal, then it may well be worth applying a key account management strategy. Read our tools and best practices for getting to better know the clients you serve.
Providing targeted, smaller accounts with specialized treatment can require a lighter short-term effort that may still reap future big rewards.
Your Vision Aligns Well With Their Challenges
This one seems obvious, but it’s worth careful consideration in evaluating your most important accounts: are your solutions highly valued by the client? Is the client work an ongoing, collaborative process that takes advantage of the full scope of your company’s capabilities? A strong customer connection and jointly working toward mutual success is the bedrock of key account management. Your value should be evident to the customer; in turn, the customer understands the full range of your offering and wants to utilize your services and hold them to their highest capabilities and standards, ensuring mutual success.
Another angle to explore in assessing the mutual beneficiality of a client relationship is: How does selling to this client affect other areas of the business? You know that your large customers want personalized service and tailored solutions—so how do the operational costs and margins involved in creating those solutions trickle down to affect more nascent accounts? The needs of and learnings from your largest accounts can often shape your offering in a way that will attract and grow new business in the future. The result of a key account’s success should have a far-reaching positive effect on the business.
Executive Fit and Relationships
We know that key account management is based, above all else, on strong customer relationships. So it’s a simple fact that in order to be a key account, the ingredients that foster a strong client relationship must be in place. Some of the relationships areas to consider are:
Conclusion
The goal of key account management is to be a strategic partner and trusted advisor. Once you have clarity on who your key accounts are, you should have systems in place to make sure they receive white glove service and feel special. To see how Kapta can help you transform your approach through the power of our KAM Process™, schedule a demo today.