KAMCast - Key Account Management Strategies for Business Leaders

How successful is your key account management team? What is the definition you have for what success is, for your business? How do you measure the performance of your key account managers?

If you find that the answers are all to do with growth, you’re probably looking at it TOO LATE and you are running a massive risk with your most important accounts.

Whether you talk about KPI’s, goals, objectives, or metrics – we are looking for

early warning signs and alerts that tell you clearly whether someone is on track for success or way off course.

We could think of them as the ‘flight deck’ of important gauges to give you a clear overview of what is really going on.

These important measures, and the intelligence they give us, will ultimately provide an opportunity to check against benchmarks and fuel coaching conversations with the team.

In this episode I speak to Ian Windle and we get into the nitty gritty reality of creating your own Leadership Map.

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𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗟𝗘 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Ian is an award-winning Leadership and TEDx speaker, Executive Coach and team builder. He is the author of an Amazon best seller The Leadership Map: The gritty guide to strategy that works and people who care. He works with leadership teams on their strategy, vision and values, as well as developing their capabilities to perform at their peak.

In his first career Ian worked for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in many European capitals and in Asia; this was in a variety of roles from Political Desk Officer, through to Strategic Change Consultant. He then moved into consultancy with Celemi International, where he was Managing Director for 10 years of the UK business and Head of Global Consulting.

𝗗𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗗 𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗔 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

David is the principal KAM consultant & Managing Director at KAMGuru.com, a specialist Key Account Management training and consultancy business, based in the UK.

David is a Speaker, Author and Performance Coach with more than a decade of hands-on and consultative experience in sales and management roles in the leisure, entertainment and telecoms industries.

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Key account management is a beautifully simple business basic…one that isn’t that easy! If it was, we’d all be doing it brilliantly wouldn’t we?

There are a handful of common, or typical reasons why a KAM culture struggles to get off the ground in an organisation. In this episode, I seek to shine a glaring light on the assassins of good KAM practice.

I’m a big believer in shining a light on vulnerabilities in a business – it serves as a wonderful opportunity to mitigate risks, develop and create new ways of working and foster better ways of thinking.

In this episode, I share the experiences we’ve had at kamguru.com in working with clients. Some of these clients have called for our support as a result of experiencing the loss of a customer and realising their vulnerabilities way too late.

Others have started their respective KAM-Paigns to implement a KAM Culture and the momentum has dwindled and progress halted, caused by one or several of the reasons shared in this episode.

Join me!

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𝗗𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗗 𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗔 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

David is the principal KAM consultant & Managing Director at KAMGuru.com, a specialist Key Account Management training and consultancy business, based in the UK.

David is a Speaker, Author and Performance Coach with more than a decade of hands-on and consultative experience in sales and management roles in the leisure, entertainment and telecoms industries.

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Are you 'ready' for getting back to normal? And…what is normal?

For many of us, the effects of the pandemic have been going on for so long that we can’t quite remember what normal is anymore.

So, as we start to 'unlock' society, here in the UK, and begin thinking about how we will reengage with our key accounts, many of whom we won’t have seen for over a year, how ready do you feel to 'hit the ground running'?

Have you thought about who you need to see first, what you want to achieve and how you will need to adapt?

In this episode of KAMCast I welcome back my good friend and fellow KAM activist, Warwick Brown, as we set about answering some listener questions and talk about some common themes we are hearing with our clients at the moment.

Our aim for this episode is to pause and reflect on what we may need to do - to be “match fit” for the NEXT normal, and fast track the performance of our most important accounts

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𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐖𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐁𝐈𝐎:

Warwick Brown, a Key Account Consultant and Founder of thekamclub.com, has led business development and account management teams in Australia and Europe for more than 15 years. He has worked with some of the world's most prestigious firms including Merck & Co, Deutsche Bank, McKinsey & Company and Vodafone.

His mission is to support in-house KAM Professionals with the right advice, tools and learning resources to boost their results. He also spends time educating organisations about the importance of leveraging the power of key account management which in turn to accelerates higher performing KAM Professionals, improved client retention and increased revenue.

𝗗𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗗 𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗔 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

David is the principal KAM consultant & Managing Director at KAMGuru.com, a specialist Key Account Management training and consultancy business, based in the UK.

David is a Speaker, Author and Performance Coach with more than a decade of hands-on and consultative experience in sales and management roles in the leisure, entertainment and telecoms industries.

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Have you ever found yourself struggling to understand, or get along, with people who are older or younger than you?

Perhaps a clash in communications style, working preferences, belief systems, values or motivational needs?

Many of the business leaders that we talk to in our work at KAMGuru tell us how difficult they find driving higher levels of motivation and engagement from younger sales teams.

They say that age is just a number… except it isn’t, is it?

When you listen to this episode – you’ll gain some really pragmatic and practical advice from Henry Rose Lee who helps us look through the intergenerational lens from a position of understanding.

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𝗛𝗘𝗡𝗥𝗬 𝗥𝗢𝗦𝗘 𝗟𝗘𝗘 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Henry Rose Lee is a speaker, author and consultant specialising in Intergenerational Diversity, an emerging science and management skill of maximising the engagement, collaboration and productivity within and across the five distinct generations in today’s workplace.

She is passionate about busting the many myths people have about Millennials and Gen Z, and has written three books on maximising today’s young talent. She focusses her attention on providing business leaders with practical tactics for attracting, recruiting, engaging and retaining their youngest employees.

𝗗𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗗 𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗔 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

David is the principal KAM consultant & Managing Director at KAMGuru.com, a specialist Key Account Management training and consultancy business, based in the UK.

David is a Speaker, Author and Performance Coach with more than a decade of hands-on and consultative experience in sales and management roles in the leisure, entertainment and telecoms industries.

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How has the last 12 months been for you and your business?

At the time of recording this episode, it’s been a year… to the day…that I delivered my last ‘in person’ seminar for a group of Chief Executives in Leeds.

By then, we had already stopped shaking hands with people and we were pouring copious amounts of antibacterial gel over our hands at every opportunity.

The juggle struggle has been real and balancing work, family, home-schooling, friendships and our own mental health has often felt like too many things to do!

For many, there have been moments of joy, basking in the glorious sunshine in the spring of 2020, trying to become ‘Tik Tok famous’ and starting lockdown or furlough projects.

And for others, the last 12 months has been incredibly tough, trying to stay optimistic and upbeat in difficult market conditions, knowing that their performance really will determine the survival chances of the business.

Whichever camp you find yourself in, I’d really encourage you to listen to this episode, hear my reflections on the last 12 months on how KAM Pros have been managing their relationships with their most important customers. AND – what it means for the future of those relationships.

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𝗗𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗗 𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗔 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

David is the principal KAM consultant & Managing Director at KAMGuru.com, a specialist Key Account Management training and consultancy business, based in the UK.

David is a Speaker, Author and Performance Coach with more than a decade of hands-on and consultative experience in sales and management roles in the leisure, entertainment and telecoms industries.

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Do you wish your team members were having more strategic conversations with your key accounts? Do you have a clear understanding of what strategy is? Does your team have a clear understanding of what strategy is?

It’s fair to say that the S word – strategy – gets bandied around a lot in business - we even talk about it as one of our guiding pillars for success in KAM.

And with words that get so heavily used, it’s common for the waters to get muddied and the definition to become overcomplicated, leading to overthinking activities and behaviours.

In this episode I take a look at the topic of strategy, with brand strategist Shelley Röstlund.

Shelley has strategic conversations on a daily basis with her clients, so I was keen to hear her thoughts and dig deep on this topic.

Strategy is such an important component to understanding our customers, it’s so important that, as KAM Pros, we are able to get a firm grip on the strategic skillset, empowering us to truly Become the expert in the customer’s world.

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𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗥𝗢̈𝗦𝗧𝗟𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Shelley is a Brand Strategist at harbour32.com who teaches subject matter experts to clarify their brand purpose and value by leveraging a blend of brand archetypes, belief systems, customer insights & core product refining.

Having had delivered 150+ one-to-one strategic sessions with SME's across more than 30 different industries in the private, public and third sectors – she is well-versed on holding strategic conversations to cut to the chase and articulate intent and value.

𝗗𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗗 𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗔 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

David is the principal KAM consultant & Managing Director at KAMGuru.com, a specialist Key Account Management training and consultancy business, based in the UK.

David is a Speaker, Author and Performance Coach with more than a decade of hands-on and consultative experience in sales and management roles in the leisure, entertainment and telecoms industries.

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How often do you put aside time to reflect honestly on the learning you have gained following the closure of a deal, whether you won or lost it?

Do you pause for a moment to celebrate the victory or commiserate the loss?

Or do you go deeper than that, in pursuit of feedback that can be fed forward into future pitches?

Creating a learning culture in an account management team is hugely beneficial and requires us all to embrace feedback, even the painful stuff.

This episode’s guest is Vince Tickel, seasoned entrepreneur, executive coach and group chairman of the Vistage Central London group. I get his take on the importance of critical feedback (and what you can learn from it).

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𝗩𝗜𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗟 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Vince hails from an early background in brand marketing, working with businesses like Unilever, Bacardi-Martini, Bass and P&G. In later years he focussed on building teams and growing businesses to multi-million-pound enterprises.

He has extensive experience across several categories across B2C and B2B sectors, and today he is the CEO and majority stakeholder at Hunter Luxury, a UK-based award-winning luxury packaging provider, and is the Chairman of a premium printer and office solutions business called Four Digital Solutions.

He is also the Group Chair for Central London for Vistage – a peer group organisation for high performing Managing Directors, CEO’s and Business Owners. With Vince’s business philosophy being ‘drive your business, don’t let it drive you’ – he gets to motivate, inspire and drive his members to do just that.

𝗗𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗗 𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗔 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

David is the principal KAM consultant & Managing Director at KAMGuru.com, a specialist Key Account Management training and consultancy business, based in the UK.

David is a Speaker, Author and Performance Coach with more than a decade of hands-on and consultative experience in sales and management roles in the leisure, entertainment and telecoms industries.

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What is the toughest question you have faced from your most important customers?

What is the toughest question you have faced from you team?

How did you handle those questions?

Did you answer with confidence and finesse? Or did you crumble under the pressure and end up blurting out more that you would care to share?

As a business leader, you will have undoubtedly faced some really tough questions over the years. Your ability to answer them will have played a really important role in the growth and success of your business.

So, what happens when you are not around? How do the account managers in your business cope under the mounting pressure of a difficult and challenging question?

Are the team naturally skilled in remaining cool, calm and collected under pressure or is this an area that needs development?

In this episode, I talk to Michael Dodd, international speaker, consultant and author of “Great Answers To Tough Questions At Work”.

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𝗠𝗜𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗘𝗟 𝗗𝗢𝗗𝗗 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Michael is a Communication Specialist focussing on training clients to sharpen their skills in how to deal with tough questions from prospects, customers, staff, shareholders and the media.

With a background in broadcast journalism, Michael has learnt at the coal-face how to react, respond and communicate at warp speed. In the past he has worked as the Berlin and London Correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), has filed reports from across Europe and the US, and covered events in Eastern Europe before, during and after the 1989 revolutions for the ABC, Radio New Zealand and the BBC World Service. AS if that wasn’t enough - he has worked as a political correspondent in the Australian capital, Canberra, for national and international current affairs programs, and is a visiting lecturer on broadcast journalism for MA students.

Today, Michael draws on his rich media background & experience on camera, to teach entrepreneurs, professionals and business leaders how to tackle tough questions with confidence and finesse.

𝗗𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗗 𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗔 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

David is the principal KAM consultant & Managing Director at KAMGuru.com, a specialist Key Account Management training and consultancy business, based in the UK.

David is a Speaker, Author and Performance Coach with more than a decade of hands-on and consultative experience in sales and management roles in the leisure, entertainment and telecoms industries.

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(Part 2 of 2) See Part 1 in EP009. We continue our discussion with jaybaer.com, Hall of Fame Keynote speaker and the author of SIX best-selling books which all point to the importance of the customer experience. One of those books is ‘Talk Triggers’ which delves into creating intentional mechanisms within the day-to-day carrying out of your business which spur your customers to CHOOSE to talk enthusiastically about you to their friends, colleagues and networks. This is without being prompted by you!

This introduces the importance of having a contagious Word Of Mouth (WOM) strategy –which creates involuntary marketers out of your existing customers and ultimately wins you more business (for free!)

If you haven’t listened to the first part of our conversation (in EP009) where we explained what a Talk Trigger is and what the structure of true and impactful Talk Trigger is, make sure you listen to that one first. It will help contextualise this second part to the conversation for you.

With 91% of B2B decisions being influenced by word of mouth, it is so important that we consider the stories that our key contacts might be telling their networks and design experiences that feed them with great stories to tell.

Have you ever wondered why a deal with a key account is stalling, not going anywhere fast or, at worst, heading in the direction of the competition?

Do you know what stories your key contacts are telling about you when you are not in the room?

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𝗝𝗔𝗬 𝗕𝗔𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Jay Baer, CSP, CPAE has spent 27 years in digital marketing and customer experience, consulting for more than 700 companies during that period, including 36 of the FORTUNE 500. His current firm, Convince & Convert, provides content marketing, social media, and customer experience advice and counsel to some of the world’s most important brands.

Jay is best described as one of the world’s most inspirational marketing, customer experience, and customer service keynote speakers. He is a Hall of Fame speaker and emcee, a New York Times best-selling author of six books and an Internet pioneer. As a 7th-generation entrepreneur, he has founded five, multi-million-dollar companies and today runs his digital strategy consulting and media firm, convinceandconvert.com. Jay has two College-age children and lives in the idyllic college town of Bloomington, Indiana with his wife and travels from Indianapolis to speaking opportunities world-wide.

𝗗𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗗 𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗔 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

David is the principal KAM consultant & Managing Director at KAMGuru.com, a specialist Key Account Management training and consultancy business, based in the UK.

David is a Speaker, Author and Performance Coach with more than a decade of hands-on and consultative experience in sales and management roles in the leisure, entertainment and telecoms industries.

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How many of your Key Account contacts have a story to tell about their (customer) experience of you?

I am not talking about a prompted testimonial packed with marketing quotes, engineered to pitch your products and services to a new audience.

I am also not meaning a review of the features and benefits they enjoy from using your solution or engaging in your service.

I am rather referring to the kind of story that arises only from a truly REMARKABLE customer experience.

One that… ensures that you stand out from your competition, and differentiates you from the overwhelming noise in your crowded market

And, more importantly, one that your contacts are delighted to spontaneously tell their network of peers, colleagues and friends...ultimately giving you the very best form of advertising (FOR FREE) - enabling you to win more business and influence wider stakeholders.

My guest on this episode is a Hall of Fame Keynote speaker and the author of SIX best-selling books which all point to the importance of the customer experience. If you haven’t heard Jay Baer speak yet, you are in for a treat.

We deep dive into his Talk Triggers concept. He shares his proven method of implementing a system (“Talk Triggers”) to help you to engineer your ability to provide your customers with the kind experiences that create spontaneous conversations and ultimately make your customers your volunteer marketers.

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𝗝𝗔𝗬 𝗕𝗔𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Jay Baer, CSP, CPAE has spent 27 years in digital marketing and customer experience, consulting for more than 700 companies during that period, including 36 of the FORTUNE 500. His current firm, Convince & Convert, provides content marketing, social media, and customer experience advice and counsel to some of the world’s most important brands.

Jay is best described as one of the world’s most inspirational marketing, customer experience, and customer service keynote speakers. He is a Hall of Fame speaker and emcee, a New York Times best-selling author of six books and an Internet pioneer. As a 7th-generation entrepreneur, he has founded five, multi-million-dollar companies and today runs his digital strategy consulting and media firm, convinceandconvert.com. Jay has two College-age children and lives in the idyllic college town of Bloomington, Indiana with his wife and travels from Indianapolis to speaking opportunities world-wide.

𝗗𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗗 𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗔 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

David is the principal KAM consultant & Managing Director at KAMGuru.com, a specialist Key Account Management training and consultancy business, based in the UK.

David is a Speaker, Author and Performance Coach with more than a decade of hands-on and consultative experience in sales and management roles in the leisure, entertainment and telecoms industries.

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