10 Steps for Growing Your Key Accounts

10 Steps for Growing Your Key Accounts Retaining current customers costs 6-7x less than acquiring new ones,' and improving customer retention rates by a mere 5% can increase profit per customer by 25-95%. So it makes sense that top companies focus on building relationships, increasing loyalty, and selling more to current customers as a growth strategy. Use the following 10 steps to replicate their successes. Get leadership buy-in Get your leadership team on board with your plans early. The more senior management is involved, the better account management works, from planning and implementing processes to providing training and building the right team. STEP 1 83% RAIN Group's strategic account management research revealed that 83% of high performing companies believe that getting senior management involved and supportive of strategic account growth contributes most to revenue maximization. STEP 2 STEP 3 Know your company's full suite of products and services Implement a strategic account management process Make sure your process is right for your organization and that your account managers are intimately familiar with it so each stage is executed for each key account. While you don't have to be an expert on your organization's entire product/service line, you should be able to uncover needs across the spectrum of areas of where your company can help. Average/ below-average performers find having an effective strategic account management process 2.7x more challenging than high performers. 36% of average/ below-average performers struggle with cooperation and collaboration among various groups at their companies. A 2% INCREASE IN CUSTOMER RETENTION IS THE SAME AS CUTTING COSTS BY 10%.³ Develop a strategy and action plan to grow key accounts Craft a compelling strategy for growing accounts, and make sure the implementation plan is rock solid. STEP 4 CREATING STRATEGIES AND ACTION PLANS TO GROW IMPLEMENTING STRATEGIC ACCOUNT PLANS STRATEGIC ACCOUNTS DRIVES REVENUE GROWTH AFTER THEY'RE BUILT IS A TOP CHALLENGE Average & Below-Average Performers 54% 75% High Performers 29% 75% of high performers believe creating strategies and action plans to grow strategic accounts is one of the most effective ways to maximize revenue. 2x more challenging Select the right accounts Not all customers are created equal. When looking to grow accounts, you should target those accounts with the greatest opportunity. STEP 5 83% Your profit potential with Top 85% Strategic fit with an account an account factors identified as 79% 93% Revenue potential you believe you can generate with an account important or extremely important for proactive account development Current level of mutual trust with an account 76% Target account's size 9s of tatal res pandents 60% OF COMPANIES BELIEVE THEY SHOULD BE GENERATING 25% OR MORE REVENUE FROM STRATEGIC ACCOUNTS. STEP 6 STEP 7 Use an account management tool Build a solid account team Using the proper tool allows you to work step-by-step through what you know about your accounts and helps you discover areas in which you Having an effective Construct a team comprised of the 8 roles that must be played to grow accounts: 53% planning tool is 2.8x more challenging 1 Relationship lead 2 Entrepreneur 5 Technical expert 6 Researcher 19% 3 Innovator 7 Project manager 4 Collaborator 8 Skeptic can provide value. While one person may play multiple roles, it is unlikely one person can play all of these roles well. High Performers 78% of all respondents believe creating a team-based approach contributes most to revenue maximization. Average & Below-Average Performers Communicate lue If buyers value you and what you bring to the table, they'll buy, keep buying, and be open to expanding their relationship with you. When it comes to account growth, high performers are better at both internally assessing the additional value they are able to provide accounts and working with accounts to co-create value. STEP 8 High performers are Internally assessing and evaluating additional value they can bring to strategic accounts. -2.8x Working collaboratively with strategic accounts to co-create value in innovative ways. more effective THE PROBABILITY OF SELLING TO AN EXISTING CUSTOMER IS 60-70%, WHILE SELLING TO A NEW PROSPECT IS ONLY 5-20%.* STEP 9 STEP 10 Maintain and build the relationship Get account management training Building and maintaining your relationships with accounts will insulate you from threats from competitors. Existing relationships are also critical for establishing new relationships in other buying centers at the account. High performers tend to provide training for both strategic account management and selling skills, deliver higher quality training, and get more out of the training. Belief that training in sales and relationship skills contributes most to their efforts to maximize reven ue from accounts A CBS/New York Times poll asked: 68% High Performers "Of people in general, how many do you think are trustwoithy?" 51% Average/Below-Average Performers The answer. 30% But when asked, "Of people you know, how many do you think are trustworthy?" Belief that train ing in strategic account management skills contribu tes most to their efforts to maximize revenue from accounts The answer: 70% 61% High Performers When people get to know you and start to like you, they begin to trust you. This is essential for growing accounts. Average/Below- 43% Average Performers STRENGTHEN CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS, BUILD LOYALTY, AND GROW YOUR EXISTING RAIN Group ACCOUNTS WITH STRATEGIC ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT TRAINING FROM RAIN GROUP With RAIN Group's strategic account management training, your team will gain critical skills and knowledge needed to help you achieve the greatest possible success in key account management. They'll learn a proven process for strategic account planning that will allow them to systematically review and grow their accounts. To learn more about bringing training on-site to your organization, click here. AMER - APAC - EMEA www.raingroup.com info@raing roup.com (508) 405-0438 Sources Unless otherwise noted, theresearch in this infographic comes from RAIN Group's Benchmark Report on High Performance in Strategic Account Management, which you can learn more about here http://www.raingroup.com/sambenchmark. "Christopher W. Hart, James L Heskett and W. EarlSasser Jr,"The Profitable Art of Service Recovery, Harvard Business Review 68, no. 4 (1990), http://hbrorg/1990/07/the-profitable-art-of-service-recovery. 2 Frederick F. Reichheld and Thomas Teal, The Loyalty Effect: The Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits, and Lasting Value (Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2001). * Emmett C. Murphyand Mark A. Murphy, Leading on the Edge of Chaos (New Jersey: Prentice Hall Press, 2002). * Paul W. Farris et al, Marketing Metrics: The Definitive Gu ide to Measuring Market ing Performance (New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2010). O RAIN Group. Allrights reserved.