I need to know what each person on my account team values and how they're measured.

I need to know what each person on my account team values and how they're measured.

People who don't report to you put their effort where their own goals are. When the key account manager (KAM) knows what each person values and how they're measured, the account can help them win too.

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

1. Has your KAM held one-on-ones with the team members the account depends on?
2. Does your KAM know how each of them is measured and rewarded?
3. In team conversations, does your KAM let others speak first and ask what they think?
4. Has your team mapped where more resources would help the client most?
5. Can your KAM explain how growing the account helps each team member hit their own goals?

Two or more no's, and your team may be working toward goals your KAM can't see.

Sometimes the person with the fewest touches in an account can still make a huge impact. I had a good finance person assigned to me, but I didn't have a job for him in the account. He asked where he could provide value, and I didn't have a quick answer. The contract was executed, we'd been billing for years and everything was moving in the right direction.

Then it occurred to me that I also didn't have a great relationship with a finance contact at the client, for the exact same reason. Contract signed, pipeline full, so what's the issue, right? Wrong. I should have had a peer-to-peer matrix for every function that could touch the account at any time.

Once I connected the two, they had a lot to talk about, and it was eye-opening for me. They found concerns about billing and payments they could resolve, addressed issues around updating the contract's payment terms, and came up with novel ways to report that gave us more transparency as the partnership grew.

He wanted to contribute, and the account had needs only a finance expert could see. Your team can ask each member where they want to add value, then pair them with their counterpart at the customer.

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.

Which function on your team has never met its counterpart at your largest customer?

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.