Account Management Secrets

By Alex Raymond

Account Management Secrets is the podcast designed specifically for the unsung heroes of the business world—Account Managers. Every week, we share insights, strategies, and tools that will help you ex... more

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FAQs about Account Management Secrets:

How many episodes does Account Management Secrets have?

The podcast currently has 13 episodes available.

Account Management Secrets episodes:

November 22, 2024Episode 12: How to Uncover Blind Spots in Your Strategic Accounts
Blind spots in customer understanding can hold companies back, but customer advisory boards offer a way to uncover them and strengthen strategic accounts.

Alex Raymond is joined by Betsy Westhafer, the CEO of the Congruity Group, to discuss how CABs reveal gaps in customer knowledge that companies often miss. Are you as customer-centric as you think? Betsy shares eye-opening stories, including one where a global company’s lack of account planning was laid bare in a CAB meeting. Insights from that moment led to significant improvements and pointed out the importance of truly knowing your customers.

Betsy breaks down the essentials of creating impactful CABs—aligning leadership, engaging a mix of customer voices, and encouraging honest conversations. CABs are about listening and acting on what matters most to customers. She also explains why bringing in a neutral facilitator can make all the difference and warns against half-hearted efforts that risk doing more harm than good.

If you’re an account manager or business leader ready to rethink how you engage with key customers, this episode offers actionable insights on building trust, uncovering critical gaps, and turning feedback into a competitive advantage.

Quotes
“We did a customer advisory board probably about two or three months ago. And within the first few minutes, one of the customer advisory board members said to the host company, ‘Here’s what I want to hear from you: What’s your plan for my account?’ And it caught this company completely off guard, and they had to fess up that they did not have an actual plan for that account. This is a large global company.” (04:48 | Betsy Westhafer)
“When you bring in an outside third party that can create an environment where these blind spots get uncovered, it’s really, really valuable.” (05:56 | Betsy Westhafer)
“We do look at different metrics that are non-monetary ROI… the number of blind spots that have been uncovered or the number of advocacy activities resulting from CAB members. There are lots of other metrics beyond strictly sales dollars that we do track.” (32:58 | Betsy Westhafer)
“One of the things we do at the very beginning of any engagement is create a value scorecard with our clients. Because it’s different for every client we work with… We build that value scorecard and then track it throughout the entire engagement using a red, yellow, green system to indicate whether things are on track. We pay close attention to whether the customer engagement activities are delivering the desired results.” (33:46 | Betsy Westhafer)

Links
Connect with Betsy Westhafer:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/betsywesthafer/
Website: https://thecongruitygroup.com/

Connect with Alex Raymond:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/
Website: https://amplifyam.com/

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm
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50min
November 15, 2024Episode 11: QBRs Don’t Have to Suck
“Most QBRs suck,” says Alex Raymond, calling out the truth that too many Quarterly Business Reviews are boring, one-sided, and lack real impact. But what if QBRs could be more? In this episode, Alex gets into why so many of these high-stakes meetings fall flat. Are outdated beliefs holding you back from having the kind of QBRs your clients want? Alex uncovers four common missteps: seeing QBRs as presentations, handling them solo, taking a defensive stance, and focusing too much on past results.

Imagine instead a QBR where the focus is on the client’s goals, where data is shared in advance, and where the agenda is co-created with the client. Through practical shifts like these, account managers can turn QBRs into dynamic conversations that build trust and foster genuine partnership. Alex’s advice on limiting presentation time, encouraging real dialogue, and setting clear next steps brings fresh insight on how to make these meetings truly valuable. How often do you reconsider the structure and purpose of your QBRs? For those eager to level up, this episode provides a preview of Amplify’s upcoming QBR Mastery program in January 2025, designed to help account managers make every meeting count.

Quotes
- “If your QBRs are nothing but a 60-minute monologue, you’re missing a massive opportunity. And not only are you wasting your client’s time, you’re also losing a chance to position yourself as a true strategic advisor to them.” (03:38 | Alex Raymond)
“If you’re thinking about the QBR as just a presentation about you, you’re thinking about it all wrong. And frankly, it’s not even a presentation; it’s meant to be a conversation. I’d like to invite you to reframe this and think about how we can use the QBR to align with our customer and create a dialogue.” (06:52 | Alex Raymond)
“Let’s make our QBRs forward-looking. This is an opportunity to strategize together, to look down the road ahead, and to use this time to ask open-ended questions about your customer—their future goals, needs, and challenges. It’s a chance to figure out what it will look like as we work together to achieve these goals. That mental shift creates a real partnership, where both sides are committed and focused on concrete goals that lead to long-term success.” (14:27 | Alex Raymond)
“If we want to make our QBRs truly valuable, we’ve got to ditch this idea that it’s a presentation—that our job is just to ‘show up and throw up.’ That’s not the idea at all. We also need to remember, we’re not here to do all the work ourselves. We have to enroll our customers and get them to do their share of work as well.” (25:04 | Alex Raymond)

Links
Connect with Alex Raymond:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/
Website: https://amplifyam.com/

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28min
November 08, 2024Episode 10: Unlocking the Ridiculous Upside That Already Exists Inside Your Strategic Accounts
“There are strategic accounts that will organically grow without proactive effort. Every account is strategic but you don’t have the time to grow them in terms of the way in which top performers do versus the rest. I think it’s a big mistake up front by trying to go for it all, because you end up winning less,” says Andy Springer, the Chief Client Officer at RAIN Group.

In this episode, Andy joins Alex Raymond to talk about the game-changing power of focusing on fewer, high-potential accounts. Why spread your resources thin when doubling down on the right clients can yield far bigger returns? Andy reveals how top-performing account managers know the value of strategic account selection—choosing which clients to grow proactively and which will thrive organically.

Andy also shares a fresh perspective on segmentation: how well do you really know your clients? The more you understand their goals and challenges, the more you can build trust and position yourself as a true partner, not just another vendor. Andy walks us through the essential roles of an account team, the importance of a flexible, evolving account plan, and why becoming a client’s trusted advisor can be the key to unlocking hidden growth.

Are you ready to rethink your approach and unlock the “ridiculous upside” within your accounts?

Quotes
- “What we find also separates those who outperform versus those who don’t in strategic account management is one very simple thing: it’s the accounts that they select to grow… As a practitioner, when you’re in, and when you’ve engineered the success in terms of shifting that dial to take someone from the rest to top performance, you go for less, you win more.” (06:48 | Andy Springer)
“There are strategic accounts that will organically grow without proactive effort. Every account is strategic but you don’t have the time to grow them in terms of the way in which top performers do versus the rest. I think it’s a big mistake up front by trying to go for it all, because you end up winning less.” (09:30 | Andy Springer)
“Top performers see account planning as a dynamic. The rest see it as a linear annual event.” (30:15 | Andy Springer)
“The bigger the org, the more complex it is. The more demands that they put on really important people like you who help generate future growth and sustain current revenues for the business—it’s critical.” (45:25 | Andy Springer)

Links
Connect with Andy Springer:
Website: https://www.rainsalestraining.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyspringer/

Connect with Alex Raymond:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/
Website: https://amplifyam.com/

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49min
November 01, 2024Episode 9: Building True Customer and Employee Experiences
“I strongly believe that there’s a strong connection between employee experience and customer experience. Employee experience drives the customer experience,” says Annette Franz, the CEO of CX Journey Inc. She joins Alex Raymond to talk about how putting employees first fuels customer success. Annette challenges the typical focus on metrics, asking us to consider: Are we truly supporting our employees to deliver the experience our customers expect?

Annette’s perspective is clear: collaboration—especially between sales and account management—is the key to equipping teams with the resources and support they need to meet customer needs. She shares stories from her work that show how a lack of support for account managers can directly impact customer satisfaction and retention.

They also touch on survey fatigue and the value of a smarter approach to customer feedback. Are we measuring what matters most? Annette suggests customer effort scores and lifetime value over traditional metrics like NPS, which often miss the bigger picture of loyalty and engagement. By centering on the employee journey as much as the customer’s, this episode sheds light on how a collaborative, well-supported employee experience can elevate customer satisfaction and drive long-term growth.

Quotes
- “I strongly believe that there’s a strong connection between employee experience and customer experience. Employee experience drives the customer experience. If we don’t have employees to design, build, service, install, implement, and deliver all of these things, then who’s going to do it? And who are we doing it for? We’re doing it for the customer.” (04:48 | Annette Franz)
“Customer experience is not technology. Technology is a tool; it supports and facilitates. The experience that customers have is very much human. And this feeling’s part of it. It really puts the human into the experience. And I think that’s an important thing.” (07:13 | Annette Franz)
“You’re not customer-centric just because you’ve got a slogan on your website that says you are. You’re customer-centric when you truly understand who your customer is, what they need and want, and where they’re going.” (08:03 | Alex Raymond)
“One of the questions I ask during interviews, and I think it’s fair for leaders to ask too, is: do you have what you need to do your job? That is the bottom line.” (12:29 | Annette Franz)
“I’m not a fan of NPS for a variety of reasons... It’s just a metric... And to me, NPS only makes sense if your business is truly 100% driven by referrals... So for me, things like customer effort score, customer lifetime value, those kinds of things. Let’s talk about those kinds of things.” (25:09 | Annette Franz)

Links
Connect with Annette Franz:
Website: https://annettefranz.com/

Connect with Alex Raymond:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/
Website: https://amplifyam.com/

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38min
October 25, 2024Episode 8: Customer Journeys That Drive Real Results
“When we try to get customers to do something, if we ourselves don’t know what the path to success looks like and how to measure that path to success, how do we get them to do what we want them to do?” says Kia Puhm, CEO of DesiredPath. In this episode, Kia shares her insights on customer journey mapping, making the case that businesses need to understand their customer’s true needs—not just follow their own process maps.

Kia introduces the idea of an intelligent framework, a flexible system that adapts as customer behaviors evolve. What if your business could actually predict what customers need before they even ask? This framework makes that possible by guiding teams to better align their efforts with real customer journeys. And how do playbooks fit in? Kia explains that they’re the practical guides that ensure each department understands its role in driving customer success. That way, it’ll keep everyone on the same page.

The impact is huge—companies that focus on mapping the customer’s desired path and using agile playbooks see higher customer retention, faster adoption rates, and fewer escalations. By asking the right questions and designing journeys that truly reflect the customer’s perspective, businesses can unlock real results.

Quotes
- “It’s this marriage of us understanding the customer from their vantage point, walking in their shoes in that desired path, and then understanding how to, in the most effective and efficient manner, allow them to leverage things really successfully, our products and services, to achieve their desired path. It’s about tapping into that wisdom that customers know and of what they need and then guiding it and bringing in your products and services in alignment to that.” (04:04 | Kia Puhm)
“My philosophy is on this notion of the intelligent framework, this customer-centric model that needs to keep evolving. We need to keep observing what the customer’s patterns of their success are and keep being organizationally agile. Take those insights, put those into the operational model, and keep evolving how we are making customers successful.” (10:02 | Kia Puhm)
“I don’t think that if you have created a customer-centric model and you understand what your journey is, and the whole organization is aligned to it, we need to be talking about who owns the journey. Instead, we will be discussing what each function and each role needs to do in order to make the customer successful.” (15:49 | Kia Puhm)
“When we try to get customers to do something, if we ourselves don’t know what the path to success looks like and how to measure that path to success, how do we get them to do what we want them to do?” (31:50 | Kia Puhm)

Links
Connect with Kia Puhm:
Website: https://www.thedesiredpath.com/

Connect with Alex Raymond:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/
Website: https://amplifyam.com/

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40min
October 18, 2024Episode 7: Real-World Strategies for Revenue Growth
“You’ve got to move your customers to be a partner. Your aim is to get larger revenues, have partnership relationships with your key customers, so that you have a much bigger share of the purse going forward,” says Janice Gordon, a renowned account management strategist. She joins Alex Raymond in this episode to talk about the importance of account managers shifting from transactional to more buyer-focused relationships. But what does this really mean for companies today? It starts with understanding your customers on a deeper level—not just what they need right now, but where they’re headed and the larger business landscape they operate in.

Janice also talks about the value of creating a frictionless selling environment, one where internal barriers are removed so account managers can focus on forging strong, strategic partnerships. How could this kind of shift impact the way your team builds client relationships?

Janice’s insights offer a reminder for account managers to embrace a customer-centric approach. It’s all about leveraging deeper knowledge and working collaboratively to keep pace with the evolving demands of today’s market, all while driving sustainable, long-term revenue growth.

Quotes
- “Every aspect that a key account manager needs to deal with internally creates a block, creates a problem. It’s possible, but actually it’s not probable. The problem is that we don’t have customer-centric organizations, so all aligned for the customer. We have sales processes, which means it’s internally focused. As soon as we talk about sales, it’s all about us. When we talk about buying processes, it’s all about the customer.” (10:55 | Janice B. Gordon)
“You’ve got to move your customers to be a partner… Your aim is to get larger revenues, have partnership relationships with your key customers, so that you have a much bigger share of the purse going forward. That’s your aim.” (23:39 | Janice B. Gordon)
“You want to work in partnership with a few niches so that you’re spreading your risk, and you want to understand how that’s going to happen. But you’re not going to do that if you have a poor product. So, that’s why you do need to understand your own product base, first of all, your own products and services, and where you have the competitive advantage and leading edge in order to appeal to the key customers. (24:08 | Janice B. Gordon)
“One thing that may not surprise you, but certainly surprises a lot of people, is that active listening is 375% more important to sales success than any other trait. Active listening is key. There are many other factors—21 sales-specific competencies that make a difference—but this one stands out. When someone is really good at active listening, they ensure the person in front of them knows they are the most important, and that understanding makes all the difference.” (31:49 | Janice B. Gordon)

Links
Connect with Janice B. Gordon:
Website: https://scaleyoursales.co.uk/
Website: https://janicebgordon.com/

Connect with Alex Raymond:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/
Website: https://amplifyam.com/

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44min
October 11, 2024Episode 6: Mastering the Art of Win Backs and Renewals with Tim Riesterer
“Winning somebody back who had experiences with you is easier than taking net new share. You need to understand why they left because certain reasons for leaving are more likely to result in a potential opportunity for a win back than others,” says Tim Riesterer, Chief Strategy Officer at Corporate Visions. He sits down with Alex Raymond in this episode to talk about the expansion sale and the nuances of customer recovery, stressing the importance of understanding why clients leave in the first place. So, why do customers actually walk away? In Tim’s experience, clients who leave over service issues are often more open to coming back than those who switch to a competitor. This makes a well-thought-out recovery plan crucial to winning them back.

Tim introduces “strategic altitude,” which is all about maintaining a big-picture view that aligns with your clients’ broader business objectives. How can account managers handle tough conversations after a service failure? Tim advises focusing on restoring value and demonstrating a commitment to improvement. In fact, these challenges can actually become opportunities to build stronger relationships. By communicating proactively and keeping long-term partnership goals in sight, account managers can position themselves as strategic advisors—helping drive both retention and growth in a competitive market.

Quotes
- “Winning somebody back who had experiences with you is easier than taking net new share. You need to understand why they left because certain reasons for leaving are more likely to result in a potential opportunity for a win back than others.” (04:25 | Tim Riesterer)
“I think the one thing we always see lacking is just sort of the general agreement that here’s what we’re all working towards. And it isn’t just, ‘here’s the project goals,’ but what were the business goals that caused everybody to decide to take this journey? And what are the corporate impacts of that if we do this right? We call it a triple metric. Project goals. Measure those. But how do those translate to the business outcomes that people wanted? And how does that then impact the ultimate strategic direction impact of the business? Like, daisy chain that thing up. One, two, three, triple metric. And that becomes your guiding story.” (19:50 | Tim Riesterer)
“The problem is we always say you get delegated to who you sound like. Too many project plans and too many account management strategies do not sound like the people with strategic altitude. So, what kind of business acumen or what kind of financial acumen are you bringing to the table that surrounds the project?” (27:10 | Tim Riesterer)
“The good news is there’s a concept called the ‘service recovery paradox.’ It’s a paradox for the very reason that you’re experiencing a service problem. But if you recover well, you can achieve greater awareness, advocacy, and loyalty after the problem is rectified than if you had never had a problem in the first place.” (32:00 | Tim Riesterer)

Links
Connect with Tim Riesterer:
Website: https://corporatevisions.com/
Website: https://emblazegrowth.com/

Connect with Alex Raymond:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/
Website: https://amplifyam.com/

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49min
October 04, 2024Episode 5: Why Unhappy Customers Stay
“Happy customers stay, and unhappy customers leave”—or at least that’s what we’ve always believed. But Greg Daines, a customer retention expert, sits down with Alex Raymond to challenge that assumption. Are metrics like net promoter score really reliable indicators of loyalty? According to Greg’s extensive research, retention has more to do with delivering measurable results than simply keeping customers happy. It turns out, customers who see clear, tangible outcomes are far more likely to stay—regardless of whether they’re fully satisfied.

Greg encourages account managers to rethink their approach and shift from focusing on customer happiness to ensuring that clients achieve real, measurable success. What happens when businesses prioritize progress over satisfaction? This results-driven mindset fosters stronger, longer-lasting relationships, as clients who see results are much more likely to stick around. By focusing on outcomes rather than satisfaction scores, companies can boost retention and create a foundation for sustainable growth.

Quotes
- “It turns out there’s just one factor that by far is the best predictor of long-term retention. Nothing even comes close, and that is customers who get results. In the data, customers who get measurable results stay six times longer on average than those who don’t. And the irony is that the measurable part is critical. If they’re not measuring, they might actually be getting results, but they just aren’t tracking it. It turns out that measuring their results makes all the difference. (06:47 | Greg Daines)
“I’m not saying we shouldn’t make our customers happy—of course, we should. And shame on us if we don’t. The point is, it has nothing to do with whether they stay or how much they pay. It’s irrelevant.” (08:56 | Greg Daines)
“The other way to think about this is, look, we provide the same product or service to all our accounts, and we treat them as similarly as possible. So, how do we explain the fact that their results vary so much—from incredible to terrible and everything in between? The answer is that there’s a variable we don’t control, which is them, their behavior.” (11:16 | Greg Daines)
“Renewal is about convincing them they should continue. So you have to approach the renewal not just with evidence of past results, but with a vision of where things can go next. By tracking results, you’ll see opportunities for improvement or growth—whether that’s through change or buying more from you. Either way, it’s about showing forward progress that’s worth their continued investment.” (37:06 | Greg Daines)

Links
Connect with Greg Daines:
Website: https://www.gregdaines.com/

Connect with Alex Raymond:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/
Website: https://amplifyam.com/

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42min
September 27, 2024Episode 4: Why Account Management Matters More Than Ever
“What if I told you that you’re responsible for over 70% of your company’s revenue, but probably aren’t getting the recognition, resources, or support you deserve,” says Alex Raymond as he draws attention to how often account managers are overlooked. In this episode, he talks about how account management is becoming more critical in today’s business landscape. Account managers are emerging as the key to long-term growth as sales teams struggle with decreased win rates, longer sales cycles, and rising costs to acquire new customers. Would it be wiser for businesses to keep chasing new leads or should they focus on sustaining existing relationships?

Alex argues that account managers should prioritize deepening relationships with current clients, who are not only easier to retain but also more profitable. He points out that focusing on client retention could be the game changer that many businesses need right now.

This episode also introduces AMplify, a platform built to support account managers with a vibrant community where they can share ideas, learn from each other, and access resources tailored to their unique challenges. With live courses, templates, and peer support, AMplify helps account managers hone their skills and show their true value within their companies. Alex encourages account managers to check out AMplify and take their careers to the next level by shaping the future of client relationships and business growth.

Quotes
- “Account managers take huge responsibility within their companies. They generate so much revenue. So much of the company’s revenue goes past their desks, and yet they don’t get the recognition they deserve. They don’t get the credit they deserve. All their credit always goes to the new sales team, who gets to ring a gong, and account managers typically don’t. It’s sort of assumed that account managers are operating in the background, in sort of like a status quo. And it’s really amazing because account managers are driving growth, they’re driving profitability, they’re securing renewals, they’re finding upsells, and the spotlight doesn’t shine on them.” (01:51 | Alex Raymond)
“This podcast is for the account managers who want more: more recognition, more skills, and of course, more success. It’s for the account managers who want to be seen as strategic leaders within their companies, not just relationship managers, not just paper pushers, not just the people who do the renewals.” (03:21 | Alex Raymond)
“Even though this podcast is for account managers who are looking after existing customers, we still want to understand what it looks like from a new business point of view. So, what is marketing concerned with? What is sales concerned with? Because the better we understand them, the better we can do our jobs and deliver for our companies.” (06:16 | Alex Raymond)
“The account manager’s role is more important than ever to ensure that customers stick around with us and grow. We know that the sales landscape is more challenging than ever, and traditional approaches are really cutting it. This really leads to account managers coming to the floor and becoming a very important force for sustainable growth inside of a company. This is why I think of account management as being the solution in 2024 and beyond.” (08:33 | Alex Raymond)

Links
Connect with Alex Raymond:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/
Website: https://amplifyam.com/

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26min
September 20, 2024Episode 3: Earning the Right to Sell
“When I got into sales, I was thinking about the customer throughout the whole life cycle. It wasn’t just about the hunting aspect; it was also about the farming aspect. Because of that, I think I always connected how to grow the account with how the customer was growing,” shares Jan Young, an expert in customer success and post-sale strategies.

In this episode, Jan joins Alex Raymond to dive into the concept of “earning the right to sell,” a core principle for account managers aiming to boost net revenue retention and unlock upsell potential. She stresses the importance of building meaningful, long-term relationships with clients—going beyond just understanding their business goals to continuously adapting as those goals shift.

Jan also contrasts the structured approach of initial sales with the looser methods often used for renewals and upsells. Why do so many account managers lose that focus after the first deal closes? Jan makes a compelling case for consistent customer engagement and disciplined tracking post-sale. By keeping a close eye on key metrics like onboarding success and time to first value, account managers can have more informed, impactful conversations around renewals and upsells.

This episode highlights the vital role of account managers as trusted advisors, who navigate complex client dynamics and ensure every part of the organization feels supported. This approach not only strengthens client satisfaction but also drives revenue growth, positioning account managers as key players in long-term success.

Quotes
- “You need to understand and translate how you’re impacting the business overall. This enables you to step up to the executive level and communicate effectively with other executives on the team.” (32:12 | Jan Young)
“There needs to be a team specifically focused on ensuring customers are achieving their goals, renewing, and expanding. But beyond that, everyone needs to understand their role and how they contribute to the customer’s success. Unfortunately, this is something we have to translate as leaders because we’re the ones working with the customers. Whether you’re in account management or customer success, we have that insight and the voice of the customer, and it’s up to us to translate it back.” (35:19 | Jan Young)
“We need to help marketing understand who the most successful customers are, which ones are more likely to renew and expand, and how they should go about identifying those customers in the marketplace. We also need to connect the dots across the executive team and speak in the language of business.” (36:41 | Jan Young)

Links
Connect with Jan Young:
Website: https://www.janyoungcx.com/

Connect with Alex Raymond:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/
Website: https://amplifyam.com/

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm
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41min

FAQs about Account Management Secrets:

How many episodes does Account Management Secrets have?

The podcast currently has 13 episodes available.