I need to keep my account team engaged when the business slows down.

I need to keep my account team engaged when the business slows down.

Teams rally when an account is in trouble. In slow seasons, with less money on the table, people stay engaged when they can see the next mile, track progress toward it, and get rewarded for positioning for future growth.

Five questions to see if your team can do this job today:

1. Does your key account team know the next moves in this account?
2. Does your key account manager (KAM) measure the things that lead to future growth, such as executive access?
3. When revenue slows, does your team keep strengthening foundations, deepening relationships and expanding its reach?
4. Does each team member know how their work moves the account's position forward?
5. Does your KAM recognize and reward the people who advance the account's position, before the revenue shows up?

Two or more no's, and your team may lose ground while it waits for the business to pick up.

Delayed gratification is a reality key account leaders have to manage toward, especially when the business is slow or stagnant.

The work doesn't stop, even though the business may have slowed. This game is about position: placing your key account team in the best possible position to take advantage of future growth opportunities.

The work is always strengthening your foundations, deepening existing relationships, expanding your reach across their enterprise, and climbing higher up the client's executive floors with champions and proof of value. So there is plenty to do. The question is, does your team act this way? This is where strategy, planning and leadership matter.

To keep my teams active in pursuit of future outcomes during slow seasons, I did three things:

1. Consistently communicated the next mile we needed to travel (for example, securing a new champion in a new business unit).
2. Measured the things that lead to future growth (for example, access to the executive chair of our largest business area).
3. Recognized and rewarded the people doing the first two things well.

As the leader of a key account, I can always move the team forward in our position in the relationship, then do the things we need to do to stay there. If you want to become essential to your key account and a vital partner, spend most of your time building for the future, and become a supplier that lasts no matter what's happening around you.

Your team can stay engaged in slow seasons by naming the next mile, measuring what leads to growth, and rewarding the people who do both.

Our system, the Vitality Index, shows your key account teams where they stand today, the work it takes to level up, and how to do it, until they reach a vital partnership that lasts.

What's the next mile your key account team needs to travel?

We built a free, 4-minute Key Account Risk Assessment. It gives you a risk score for your key accounts across team alignment, account planning, account transitions, and visibility. Link in the comments.