It seems so long since we have seen each other, and truthfully I forget what you even look like anymore. I vaguely remember the day we tied the knot, signing that contract that, frankly, took too much time to read, never mind understand.
If your asking yourself if I am bitter, no I am not—I am just lonely, with new problems and challenges and trying to solve them all on my own. To cure my loneliness I went out, and can you believe it? I found an organization, one that is just perfect, and a great sight for sore eyes. Oh, and they have a solution that makes yours look…well, I won’t go there.
What I am trying to say is…the last problem we worked on was Y2K, which was a dud. But, you were shiny and new, full of excitement, firing off solutions one after the other. I was overwhelmed with anticipation, and now…well, you know. It’s time I call it quits— so if you want you can come by and get that “solution” of yours.
Is this what really plays out in our customers’ minds? Yes! Our client relationships are no different from our other win/win relationships. If you want to keep them, you’ve got to manage them, and if you want to grow them, you’d better nurture them.
With today’s economic situation, organizations need to better strategize their account management systems. Organizations need to optimize the way they sell and manage clients; fusing the sales and account management team can do this. I am not talking about joining the two teams together. It’s deeper. Organizations need to leverage the different sales skills and talent at different times to create an environment that is able to replicate success within new and existing accounts.
Optimized account management systems:
- Provide a collaborative culture that crosses your organization, driving a customer-centric mentality
- Prevent client and brand erosion
- Clearly articulate opportunities for account growth and expansion
- Dictate and executes against a clear strategy, linked to goals which have measurable metrics
- Decreases client revenue cost; it’s less expensive to grow revenue with a current customer than it is to acquire a new one
Finally, the number one goal of a good account management organization is truly deliver value by understanding that “the only value that is of any importance is that perceived by the client.”
