Research from groups like Gartner, which found that for most B2B companies, 80% of their future revenue will come from just 20% of their existing customers – the old 80/20 rule. You probably experience this in your business.
If you choose to implement a key account strategy, one of the critical components is the key account manager role. There are several traits key account managers possess, however the more successful key account managers tend to have similar specific characteristics.
The ability to take advantage of change for one. The successful key account manager knows change always happens and understands what works today will not work tomorrow. They actively embrace change and constantly look for opportunities that come about because of these shifts.
Adding to actively embracing change is having an understanding of what these shifts mean to the company. This begins with deep knowledge of the customer, their industry, their business, their value chain, their operations, and all other relevant aspects. There is always something going on, but the best key account managers know how to see through the changes and identify those few significant changes that have the most impact on the customer’s business.
This means the more effective key account managers know how to take knowledge and turn that into insight, then to action. Just having knowledge about the customer is not any good unless you truly understand the impact on the business and then move on it.
Another key component for key account manager’s long-term success is the ability to learn from mistakes and make corrections. The adage of doing the same thing and expecting different results is not in the mind of the more effective key account manager, but understanding what went wrong and taking advantage of this learning experience to improve the relationship.
The more effective key account manager can explain what a good relationship is with their customers, and more importantly, why. They are more objective and use measures such as margin, revenue, spend share and potential business to monitor progress. If progress is not being made, they determine what needs to change and apply any necessary actions.
Implementing a key account management strategy is an important decision, so you must make sure your investments in people and infrastructure pay dividends. It is a difficult job, so having a highly effective key account manager will have a profound impact on the business.