Account Managers need a unique set of tools to provide the right level of service and proactive management to key accounts. While general customer accounts may make up the vast majority of your total accounts, your organization's key accounts can provide up to 33% of your organization's total sales revenue.
Along with holding a substantial portion of the revenue pipeline, key accounts may form a substantial block of your referrals, testimonials, and other elements essential to your organization's brand identity. To best hold onto these key accounts through a blend of excellent interactions and upsells at strategic moments, your key account managers need tools that are designed to enhance relationship building, not just streamline sales.
Learn more about the critical nature of the role, why your sales and revenue leaders should consider the needs of account managers, and how the right key account management software can make all the difference.
It may be common wisdom to say sales is the most important part of your organization, but that's no longer the case. In reality, your key account managers make up the most important roles in your organization. They don't just generate new sales through upsells and cross-selling; they also retain customers, which leads to more profitable growth, stable and reliable cash flow, and a better reputation in your industry.
Shifts in how B2B organizations need to view their sales processes — such as building up post-purchase support and engagement so the sales cycle is more circular instead of truncated — demonstrate the growing value of trained account managers that build their book of business over time without dropping customers as soon as they sign a contract.
Some of the valuable skills that KAMs bring to your organization include:
These skills are different from those of a typical salesperson, as key account management is all about the long-term relationship and helping customers achieve their own organization's goals, not just pushing for an individual sale.
Thriving KAMs can strengthen your organization by keeping existing clients with your company, retaining and growing customers, gaining a deep understanding of future customers, and building trust with customers so they always think positively of your brand.
Discover everything you need to know in your first 100 days as an Account Management Leader.
Due to the fact that key account management is different from sales, they need different types of support than sales leaders may be used to providing. Remember: in today's markets, key account managers can generate up to 55% of new sales.
When this style of sales and customer support is such a profitable arm of your revenue team, it's too costly to have KAMs just make do with traditional sales resources. Instead, offer robust training opportunities, the right tech stack, and clear communication pathways.
At Kapta, our KAMGenius program includes a comprehensive set of training for key account managers. These educational resources offer actionable advice, robust processes, and new ways of thinking to create customer-centric experiences that benefit both you and your customers.
Our KAMGenius Key Account Management Program is built to help individual KAMs and growing KAM teams create a solid foundation for revenue and customer engagement. You can grow your skills from strategy to execution throughout these four stages:
In this foundational module, users will learn about the principles of excellent key account management and how to create a framework for continual improvement.
Learners will gain a deeper knowledge of tools built for deepening customer relationships, including:
In this advanced module, learners can see how to segment customers, understand customer dynamics, and analyze their portfolios for new growth opportunities. This leads to a deeper understanding of customer needs.
This specialized module showcases how to use brain science to gain an even deeper understanding of customer needs over time and manage accounts for mutual benefit.
In order to thrive, KAMs need specialized tools, training, and resources that help them proactively and strategically manage client accounts for optimal growth and retention. At Kapta, we provide comprehensive training in fundamentals and advanced approaches so your key account management team can grow over time.
Contact us today to learn more about the resources we offer, how you can integrate KAM roles into your existing organization, and how to adapt your revenue processes for a greater focus on retention.