Many organizations are late in waking up to the value of a Strategic Account Management program. If you were to look at trends in the lead to deal funnel, Account Managers are predominantly talking about how data is not easily accessible or is not leveraged fully or effectively, there is a sustainability challenge in the process and therefore the results; how a formal Key Account Management process will boost results and how a software platform derived from best practices of KAM will help them.

Reproducing here, some trends from DemandFarm Inc.’s report on ‘The Hype & Art of KAM’.

• Industry reports state that about 60% of organizations lose deals because competitors establish a better relationship with the customer.
• 50% of companies use the attribute “strategic fit” to select their key accounts, followed by 27% using “past/current revenue” for key/strategic account selection.
• 8 % of respondents identified access to customer executives and decision-makers as the main KAM challenge.
• 60% of respondents from best-in-class enterprises feel that their biggest KAM challenge is the balancing of short-term sales goals with long-term CRM goals.
• 2% of organizations still do not have a formal key account management process.
• 50% of respondents say data about key accounts in their organization is fragmented and not easily accessible.
• 83% of respondents believe that KAM planning and strategizing will receive a huge boost, with the adoption of a KAM software platform.
• 60% of respondents feel a software platform derived from KAM best practices would be useful to them.
• 28% of respondents feel a built-in account planning process would significantly aid them in planning and optimizing revenue from key accounts.

To address these challenges, it is important to learn about the different stages of the enterprise lifecycle, how clients and providers view their relationships, what a good client relationship is about as well as how it can impact your results. While doing this, it is integral to adopt one of the two processes – transactional or transformational. Sitting on the fence between the two could prove to be a hindrance in creating and maintaining a happy account.

The presenter, Adrian Davis, President, Whetstone Inc. also takes you through the above, as well as Winner’s Quadrant, the Knowledge Funnel, and other important things. He also helps you discover and discuss effective features of SAM software such as Account Whitespace Analysis, Organization Chart with Heat Map Analysis that could tilt the scales in your favor.

The session happens now at SAMA’s Annual Conference 2016.

Here’s to customer value!

To learn more, join the session by Adrian Davis at #SAMAAC16‘.