How can our systems support KAM success?

In this episode…

Picture the scene…

You have just asked one of your top account managers to meet you and walk you through their account plan for your most important customer.

You want to know what we know, what we don’t know, what we are planning to do and how we are going to achieve it.

Sounds like a simple ask right?

And now you stand back and watch as your account manager battles with half a dozen spreadsheets, a PowerPoint slide deck, an under utilised CRM System and overwhelmed email inbox.

Where is the information?

What is the intelligence?

Do we have the right SYSTEMS in place?

The role of technology is to SUPPORT the business, to make the life of an account manager more productive, more effective and ultimately more successful.

The benefit of all of that for business leaders is clear – more visibility, more accountability and more control for the trajectory of where your top accounts are heading.

My guest on this episode is Alex Raymond, CEO and founder of KAPTA, one of the world’s leading KAM Enablement tools. He’s joining us from Boulder, Colorado, across the pond in the States, to discuss:

• What systems could we use, and should we have to support our teams in driving KAM success?
• Why the utilisation and adoption of new technology is woefully poor?
• And, ultimately ask ourself whether our systems support our success.

Highlights from this episode:

In a world where customers are easier to lose and harder to engage than ever before, it’s increasingly more important that we have the right systems in place to achieve consistency and visibility of our most important accounts.

In the future of account management, the winners will be able to answer 3 simple questions:

• Which of my customers are healthy and which are at risk?
• Do I have clear actionable plans to keep and grow my accounts?
• Are we doing a good job of measuring and communicating the value we provide to our customer?

With the use of technology, we can build an infrastructure to help get us there. Systems should be the support, the guide, the roadmap to success, to help us achieve trusted partner status, rather than ‘just another vendor’.

What systems do you have in your business today?

Are your systems being used to full effect? AT KAMGuru we strongly believe in the GIGO effect when it comes to sales enablement tools – which is Garbage In, Garbage Out.

Are your strategies supported by the systems or driven by them?

Alex shared with David his top 3 tips for being more effective at account management, all of which can achieved in a notepad or on a napkin, and can be even more effectively supported by the right systems:

1. Hone in on the customer’s goals when building an account plan – focus on building plans around what the CUSTOMER cares about.
2. Hold ‘Voice of customer’ interviews – where the mission is to understand THEIR WORLD not YOUR OPPORTUNITIES – packed with open-ended, future-looking, strategic questions. Get the customer talking about themselves.
3. Build a SWOT analysis – be thoughtful and objective and reflective. Remember to collaborate with team members to challenge perspective and understanding.

Fantastic value-packed episode. Be sure to listen.

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 Alex to give us his killer question which was:

“If we were looking out at a time in the future (say 2 or 3 years): do you know why your biggest customer stayed with you in that period of time, or left during that period of time?”

Alex says that you will more than likely expose risks and opportunities by asking yourself that question on a consistent basis and answering it honestly.

Find out more about my guest: Alex Raymond

Alex is the co-founder and CEO of Kapta.com, a customer experience mapping company based in Boulder, Colorado (US). Kapta is purpose-built for organisations who want to establish, expand, or improve their Key Account Management function. Their technology removes the busy guesswork from client services, so you can focus on the work that matters: building strong relationships.

With an MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor’s Degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, Alex is a smart man, with 20 years-experience in the customer experience software sector.

You can find out more on his website, and he is also active on LinkedIn where he is happy to connect with you there. Kapta also hosts an event called KAMCon which is held in Colorado every year which you can check out.

Coming up…

In the next episode of KAMCAST, we will be talking to Warwick Brown, a fellow KAM Expert from Account Manager Tips. We’ll be exploring VALUE at all it’s different levels and reflecting on how we can add value, and not cost to our most important customers.

Warwick, 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.