LinkedIn Posts
Competitive advantage erodes when Key Account Teams are disconnected from an overarching growth strategy.
The design of the system the team runs is now the advantage, and the key account role is being rewritten around it.
Watch: The key account role is being rewritten
Competitive advantage erodes when Key Account Teams are disconnected from an overarching growth strategy.
The design of the system the team runs is now the advantage, and the key account role is being rewritten around it:
What happens when a competitor runs one growth strategy with everyone on the account working from it, and your team is moving at random, not knowing what the other contributors are planning, executing, or even why it matters? This is where thinking in systems is critical today.
The role then versus now:
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Account Manager to Growth System Owner. The job moves from keeping the account plan current to running the system that keeps it current.
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Issue Resolver to Partnership Architect. The job moves from fixing what the customer raised to building the operational ties, peer relationships and executive sponsorship that keep issues from becoming fires.
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Relationship Manager to Strategic Relationship Owner. Trust, influence and judgment get more valuable as the system takes on the coordination. That part stays human.
A system is a set of connected parts that work toward one outcome. We built the Vitality Index as that system to be the strategic layer that shows the work ahead. Each key account team runs one growth strategy, and the Vitality Index connects it through 7 domains and 21 growth drivers of partnership to over 1,200 strategies that create the action required to build partnerships that last. That connection guides the owner and contributors to the next steps, and the system carries the coordination, scoring and next moves.
A question for key account leaders: if a system took the coordination off your team's plate next quarter, would your team know what to do with the time?
If you want to see where one of your key accounts stands in two of our seven domains, you can assess it free. Link in the comments.
More in LinkedIn Posts
LinkedIn Posts
Account risk stays hidden when Key Account Teams assume the customer trusts them.
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A good plan starts from your true position. Can your team say where it stands across every dimension of a key account relationship?
LinkedIn Posts
If you don’t have these 2 things in your key accounts, you could lose millions in revenue.
To become a Vital Partner who can expand and protect your most critical accounts, you need access to the top executive and a champion willing to help you build that relationship.
LinkedIn Posts
Is strategic thinking showing up in your Key Account plans?
Four things every Key Account Team should think about when doing their key account plans: objectives, growth strategy, actions and timelines.
LinkedIn Posts
One misaligned team member can crash a multimillion-dollar Key Account.
How well are your KAMs leading cross-functional teams they don’t manage?
LinkedIn Posts
When someone leaves your Key Account Team, how much of the account walks out the door with them?
If the knowledge of how your team solves problems lives in one or two people’s heads, the account is one resignation away from starting over.
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The same frameworks that power this post power Vitality Index - the platform strategic account teams use to measure, plan, and grow their most vital partnerships.