KAMCast - Key Account Management Strategies for Business Leaders

IN THIS EPISODE:

In today’s world we could categorise organisations into two camps: those that add value, and those that add COST.

• Why type of organisation are you?
• What is your definition of value?
• How will you know when you are adding and creating value for your customers?
• Do your most important clients know the extra lengths you go to provide them with unexpected, relevant and personalised value that is ultimately useful to them?

With value being undefinable to many and different to each of your accounts, I wanted to peel back a few layers of this really big onion and explore value with our guest for this episode: Warwick Brown.

As a fellow KAM “Activist”, Warwick’s mission is to help organisations leverage the power of key account management to accelerate client retention and revenue.

He has more than 15 years’ experience in the field, leading business development and account management teams in Australia and Europe and working with some of the world's most prestigious firms, including Merck & Co, Deutsche Bank, McKinsey & Company and Vodafone.

He has also recently launched The KAM Club – a private learning community that helps busy account managers get results.

Listen to this episode to hear Warwick’s definition of value; where he feels the most mistakes are made by account managers when it comes to value; how we track and demonstrate what we are achieving for clients; and what today’s market has done to the value playing field in the B2B world.

So, are you a value creator or a cost creator? Let us know once you have digested this packed episode.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE:

If you can hold your hand on your heart and say that you create value for your key accounts…Do they know? Are you telling them? And, are you measuring it in the business?

In a world where clients want and need more from you than ever before, Warwick shares his three tips, which are a great place to start:

1. Ask your main contact at the client’s company about what they need to achieve and how you can help them.
2. Create a highlight reel of all the good things you have done, ready to share in reviews with your accounts.
3. Find a way to track and measure the value you create for clients - what are your lead measures that you monitor to guide you in the direction of success?

With differentiation being a real challenge for so many businesses, what is your business the best at doing, the first to do or the only one doing?

Value really isn’t a one size fits all and our job as key account managers is to identify what is important to different stakeholders and customise the value for each of them. Warwick reminds us to always ask the “so, what’s next” question.

𝗞𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗥 𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗦𝗘𝗚𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧:

In each episode we ask you, our listener, a killer question that is designed to get you reflecting on your business, your KAM Culture and where changes in thinking and behaviour could lead to increased customer success.

In this episode we asked Warwick to give us his killer question which was:

“Write down two or three things, that make your company completely different. Unique qualities that nobody else can claim to do.”

It’s a good place to start when trying to nail down your value.

𝗤𝗨𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗥𝗘𝗙 𝗧𝗢 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗖𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘:

In line with this topic, we have designed a quick, free 5 PART KAM health check tool for you – if you want to temperature check how your organisation, team and systems fare on some of the topics we covered in this episode. The health check is delivered as short, bite size videos with some prompting questions to ask yourself and your team. (CLICK HERE FOR ACCESS)

𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗠𝗬 𝗚𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧: 𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗪𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗕𝗥𝗢𝗪𝗡

Warwick is a Key Account Consultant and Founder of The KAM Club, 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.

You can find out more about him on his website, connect with him on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter. You can find out about his learning community, The KAM Club as well.

IN THIS EPISODE:

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States

 “By Failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States

“Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning.” – Thomas Edison, Inventor & businessman

Even the creative genius Pablo Picasso knew that planning was key when he said:

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.”

So, with so many quotes by smart people to remind us of the importance of proper preparation and planning to avoid poor performance…WHY do most account plans simply NOT WORK?

Perhaps the answer is simple and it is because most account plans are just too complicated!

Do you ever feel frustrated at the lack of consistency in the way your teams create account plans? Perhaps some team members don’t even bother.

Would it make your life easier to have a straightforward system and process for planning so that you can keep your eye on what is going on and retain visibility of your most important customers?

In this episode, I share our Front&Centre® approach with you in building a simple, easy to use and effective Key Account Plan. This short, stress-free plan will act as your guide, toolkit and roadmap to achieving success with your accounts.

KILLER QUESTION SEGMENT

In each episode we ask you, our listener, a killer question that is designed to get you reflecting on your business, your KAM Culture and where changes in thinking and behaviour could lead to increased customer success.

In this episode we ask the question earlier than usual in the podcast to kickstart our topic. The question is:

If one of your top account managers left the business today, what details would leave with them?

The answer will help us to start to nail down what a good Key Account Plan should look like.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE:

I walk you through some key points around developing a simple KAM Plan that you should be implementing (right now!) in your business. By having a system of recording pertinent points outside of your lead sales person’s head – you are better at securing the lifetime of that top customer with your business.

Here are some of the key areas I talk about:

-      The vulnerability that all organisations have

Which is that account managers hold the plans for your most important customers in the safest place for them, and the most dangerous place for you…in their heads.

-      What’s on your ideal customer handover list?

I prompt you take out a pen and paper and work on this. Make a list of all the things that YOU would expect to be shared with you in a handover meeting if the account was to be passed on to you to look after going forward.

(i) The Front&Centre® KAM Plan consists of three segments:

• Intelligence: this section should give us the headlines, key facts, and the IMPORTANT details that will answer the fundamental question: What is the current situation on the account?
• Intentions: How can you: (a) add more value to this Key Account; (b) improve and develop the business we do with this account; &/or (c) develop relationships between the two organisations?
• Implementation: in short this is about who is going to do what and by when? (It’s the accountability section)

(ii) Plans are not just for times of disaster. A good KAM Plan should be a working tool that guides an account manager’s activity and gives visibility of the account to anyone that needs it.

(iii) KAM Activities. David suggests a range of activities that you may like to think about that will take the idea of the KAMplan and help convert it into a sustainable, profitable reality:

1. Monthly Quality Thinking Time (QTT) Sessions
2. Buddy system
3. Key Account Clinics
4. Team Review Meetings

Make sure you listen to this episode to grab all of David’s insights into each of the 3 segments of the Front&Centre® KAM Plan structure as well as his tops for KAM activities.

THEN: kick start your implementation of a KAM Plan which is an easy win with a high impact value for the long term. Read below for a FREE template to get you going.

In this episode

David Ventura, your host, explores the following BIG question:

What is a KAM culture and why is it so important in today’s market?

But first: what is KAM?

We all know that businesses love a TLA (Three Letter Acronyms) and KAM is just another one of those. It stands for Key Account Management. Many businesses we meet are naturally familiar with KAM whilst others will say “we don’t have key accounts” or “KAM is for bigger companies; we are too small for that”.

For us, the devil is in the detail here and the nuances around language and terminology determine how connected you feel to the idea of KAM rather than the reality of its existence.

• Some clients will repel the concept of KAM and, in the same breath will talk passionately about the ‘strategic partnerships’ that they have with key organisations.
• Others will sell through the channel and have important relationships with distributors or consultants who sell on their behalf.
• Firms in professional services often prefer the term ‘clients’ over ‘customers’.
• Charitable organisations have key relationships rather than the typical ‘customer base’ in a b2b organisation.

The point here is that when you strip KAM back to its bare bones, we are talking about how we interact and manage our most important RELATIONSHIPS. The language choice and nuances in definition belong to you and your business, and the principle remain the same.

Highlights of what we cover in this episode:

• What is a KAM Culture
• Why is a KAM Culture so important to instil in your organisation in today’s market?
• The 3-legged stool analogy:

1. Do you have a robust KAM strategy that is clear and that everyone understands, accepts and is committed to?
2. Do you have the right systems to support the customer and the teams in the business who look after them?
3. Do your people have the right level of skills required to deliver excellent service and business growth with our top clients?

• While KAM is a part of the sales process – it is not a sales technique (we dive a bit into how its different)
• How do you identify your top customers? Did you know that 4% of an organisation’s customers often product around 64% of the business?
• Research shows the single biggest reason a customer leaves a supplier as “perceived indifference”,i.e. our customers think we don’t care! (We dig into expectations and what those are)

Killer Question Segment

In each episode we will be asking you, our listener, a killer question that is designed to get you reflecting on your business, your KAM Culture and where changes in thinking and behaviour could lead to increased customer success.

In this episode we ask: What do your key customers say about you when you are not around?

Simple one, but one that, once you delve into it, will bring up all kinds of work that probably needs looking at. Listen to this episode to hear more about David has to share about this one.