Account managers are on the front line of customer satisfaction, adoption, and renewals. No matter what the product or service, all B2B companies benefit from longer-term, stable and productive customer relationships.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom the job of the account manager is to make sure the customer is getting value from their product or service and that they are inclined to continue to do business with the company.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

Yet today, account managers work without the purpose-built technology tools that their peers in sales and marketing use on a daily basis. For example, sales teams have CRM software, lead generation tools, automatic dialing services to call prospects, and email tracking tools.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom marketing teams have marketing automation platforms, content management systems, social media dashboards, and data cleansing tools.

Account managers, despite managing over 70% of a typical company’s revenue, don’t have software designed to make their jobs easier.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom instead, they pull together ad-hoc combinations of CRM, spreadsheets, word documents, checklists, and emails to try to manage their customer accounts.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom instead of a “single pane of glass” through which to view all of their customer interactions, they have six or more systems, none of which are designed with their needs in mind.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom powering your key account relationships

Good news for account managers everywhere: there’s a new category of software tools emerging that are specifically designed to help manage customers beyond the initial sales.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom key account management software, like kapta, allows account managers to do what they do best – build relationships and solve problems for their customers – while automating the rest.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

Think of key account management software as CRM for account managers with a real focus on “relationship.” if there’s one thing that account managers are masters of, it’s building strong relationships with their customers.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom KAM software provides visibility into the relationship dynamics, suggests ways to strengthen key relationships, and shows a holistic view of complex, multi-team, multi-stakeholder dynamics.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom focus on the accounts that matter most

The whole idea is to focus on what matters most: developing your strategic accounts. This means building relationships with buyers inside your strategic accounts, deeply understanding their goals and objectives, and aligning your capabilities to what they are trying to achieve.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom think of it as joint success: your job as an account manager is to make your customer successful, which will in turn bring you success.

How do you deliver on joint success and bring true win-wins to your customers?Cognitive learning theory in the classroom first, by truly understanding what your customers are trying to achieve and how you can help them. How well do you understand the corporate objectives and personal goals of your customers?Cognitive learning theory in the classroom and, how well aligned are your products or services to help them achieve success?

Once you understand your customer’s goals, KAM helps you track and manage them in a central place, so everyone inside the company hears the voice of the customer firsthand.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom imagine a single repository that contains all of your customers’ goals and objectives – so you can understand not only what they are trying to achieve today, but also their future plans, concerns, and risks.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom imagine the insights that would provide to your organization.

Tracking and managing customer goals isn’t enough. You have to show your customer that you are taking action to help them achieve them.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom joint success isn’t just about information; it’s about the specific actions that both sides are going to take to achieve success. KAM is about building plans in collaboration with your customers and showing them that 1) you understand what they are doing, and 2) you are the right partner for them.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

Finally, once you have shared your action plans with your customer, create a mutual accountability dashboard that clearly shows who’s doing what.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom remember, in all significant business relationships, both sides have a lot riding on the success of the project. Hold your customer accountable for their part of the work, too.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom KAM is relationship-based

Key account management means that your whole company is customer-centric and committed to successful customer outcomes.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom the most critical element here is the relationship. How well do you know the customer stakeholders? Do you understand their buying and decision-making dynamics?Cognitive learning theory in the classroom can you identify the personal goals and motivations of various team members?

KAM keeps you focused on the relationships so you can build an accurate picture of your customer.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom relationships require nurturing and support; this isn’t a one-time activity. For you to become a true trusted advisor, you have to invest in relationships and manage them over time.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom situations change, people leave, new competitors emerge – it’s up to the account manager to stay up to date. Key account management vs. Customer success

cognitive learning theory in the classroom

Customer success solutions rely on analytics to determine which customers are the best users of your saas product and who is most likely to renew their subscription.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom they use “rules engines” to send emails to customers based on certain criteria. This is in direct contrast to KAM where we know that your large customers want personalized service and that a machine can’t do an account manager’s job.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom