The key to running a successful business is simple, but it may not always be easy. Customer retention becomes possible when you keep your clients healthy and happy.
This means acquiring the right customers is more important than simply creating a large pool. Did you know that the top five players across any industry vertical have an average retention rate of 94%?
What many businesses struggle with is strategizing this approach. In other words, they know they must keep their most valuable customers happy to grow, but need to figure out how. In this article, we will put things in order.
Read to know four helpful tips that can take your business game above mere sales. The tips focus on building a solid key account management (KAM) strategy.
Use Relevant Tools and Relationship Maps
In a day and age when technological help is available for almost any business operation, it would be sacrilege to not consider it for key account management (KAM). Use relevant account planning tools and relationship maps that make your task easier.
For instance – A sales account planning template will provide the necessary framework to organize information about each client. According to Prolifiq, templates can vary, but most have features like competitive landscape, SWOT analysis, action plan, and account background.
This in tandem with relationship maps will help you understand your top 10% to 15% strategic accounts. You can have a far-reaching or short-term view of these accounts to modify relationship efforts for shorter sales cycles.
By prioritizing your key accounts in this manner, you reduce the risk of any discontinuing business (even if a contact or two leave the organization).
Have a Plan to Handle Transitions from Sales
This is an often overlooked step in KAM. Building a warm and trusted relationship with your clients requires handling key account transitions well.
To garner the best results, stick to a scripted handoff that passes from the sales to the account management team. Each client (whether they are a key account or not) must be exhaustively entered and tracked into the system.
Ensure you communicate clearly to your customers about their main points of contact and what to expect from each. Let’s understand using an example – clarify to your client how often you will touch base with them.
Let them know whether it will be done via email or phone. Clear and definite expectations are crucial to building a trusting relationship.
Conduct a Needs Assessment
Once your portfolio of customer research is ready, it’s time to conduct a needs assessment. Consider the following questions as a sample –
- What are some of the main pain points of the organization?
- Where do your and your clients’ needs overlap?
- How can you help each other (crucial to ask for B2B businesses)?
- Are there any looming problems to address at the earliest?
- What are some potential problems that may arise given the current market scenario?
The answers to these questions will help you find ways to help your customers. You will also be able to discover opportunities for lucrative collaboration. As you assess needs, keep a long-term perspective.
Remember that being valuable investments, key accounts must be assessed based on a 1 to 3-year transactional lifecycle (not just 3 to 12 months). The ultimate goal is to grow with your client.
Draft a Strategic Plan and Set a Cadence
After the needs assessment process is over, it’s time to get down to drafting an account plan. This plan will serve as a guide to preparing customer proposals. The proposal should ideally contain things like –
- Strategic recommendations, including creative solutions, potential partnerships, etc.
- Resource needs
- Short-term benchmarks for all long-term goals
Such a plan is your best chance of demonstrating to the client that you’re willing to walk the extra mile. In other words, they will be assured that your company is committed to addressing their needs. Following the strategic plan, you must set a cadence that maintains ongoing communication with key accounts.
Develop a fixed schedule for each meeting, touchpoint, and follow-up. Keep the client in the loop for timely feedback, questions, etc. By staying updated with your client’s requirements, you can extend prompt support.
The key account management software market is expected to have a value of $34.79 billion by 2028. It is experiencing a solid growth rate of 18.7%. More and more companies are realizing the tremendous value key accounts hold.
They are targeting these accounts to grow – be it in terms of more customers or profits. If you have not invested in key account management yet, you’re missing out. The best time to do so was yesterday; the next best time? Today!