There is no understanding of who the key client is
Sometimes companies lack a clear profile of a key client with clear criteria. And the key account manager mistakenly believes that a key client is the one who brings in the most income at the moment, or a company with a well-known brand.
Before taking action, it is necessary to understand who our strategic consumer is. A company with the maximum potential for consuming products or services in the long term is one option. There are effective methods for determining this potential. They are based on the analysis of the client's current consumption and its forecasting for the short and long term.
In the area of building materials supplies, we can canada mobile number estimate the volumes of construction and delivery of housing planned by the developer for the next three years. Analysis of this data will help determine whether the developer is a key client.
There is no understanding of who the key client is
Source: shutterstock.com
When working with a manufacturing company, you can study the list of equipment and production plans of the counterparty to determine the current need for the tools we offer. And having information about the modernization plans of this enterprise, you can assess the needs in the future.
In any field of activity, an experienced key account manager will be able to determine which client is most valuable to the company in the long term. At the same time, it is not worth focusing on the size of the company, its popularity or the current volume of purchases. It is much more important to assess how fully we can satisfy the client's needs and what income this can bring us in the future.
The company and its managers do not think strategically
The lack of strategic thinking in a company, when its management and managers do not take into account the long-term perspective, is extremely ineffective. Focusing on the implementation of immediate plans without investing in the future, in business development in 5 years, leads to the company losing to competitors who have chosen a strategic approach.
This situation is understandable at the key account manager level, but is unacceptable at the management level.
You can often hear that there is no point in investing in long-term relationships, because everything changes too quickly, it is impossible to predict the future. Unfortunately, this approach is becoming a cultural norm, manifesting itself both in personal life and in business. Clients also begin to doubt the reliability of cooperation.
Even if the partnership lasts for years, this feeling does not disappear and affects decision-making. It seems that neither we have chosen the client completely, nor he has chosen us, and everyone secretly hopes for a more attractive option to appear.
How to achieve multiple growth in traffic and sales from your website?
Alexey Boyarkin
Dmitry Svistunov
Head of SEO and Development
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The company does not understand (or does not want to understand) the important needs of its strategic customers
Often, KAMs seem to know about the importance of working with the client's needs, but in practice they do not understand the system of consumer motivation and are rarely interested in it. They do not know what clients receive bonuses for and do not offer their help in achieving these goals.
The company does not understand (or does not want to understand) the important needs of its strategic customers
Source: shutterstock.com
The situation is even worse with organizational needs. Specialists very rarely think about how to help the client's business become more profitable, overtake competitors, achieve set goals and strengthen positions in the market.
Instead of understanding the client's needs, key account managers often operate with vague ideas that have nothing to do with reality.