Leadership
Account Management - How to Manage Accounts to Maximize Sales
This article answers the following questions: 1) What is Account Management? 2) What skills and talents are required to excel in Account Management? 3) What activities must be performed to maximize Account Management return on investment?
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Congratulations! You successfully sold one or more of your company's products or services to a business unit, department, or division of a large organization. Now your manager has tasked you with "account management". If you are not already familiar with account management, you are probably asking yourself the following questions:
What is "Account Management"?
What skills and talents are required to excel in Account Management?
What activities must be performed to maximize Account Management ROI?
Providing answers to these questions is the focus of this article.
What is Account Management?
Account management is actually a synonym for account penetration. Just because you have sold one product or service to one business entity within an organization doesn't mean your job is done. Think of all the additional opportunities that may exist in the account! For example:
Does your company offer additional products or services that might be a "fit" for this customer?
How many other business units, departments, divisions, and subsidiaries are potential prospects for your company's offering(s)?
Required Skills and Talents
A critical talent for successful account management is the ability to build relationships, as relationship selling is a very effective way to increase account penetration. Another critical skill/talent is organization. If you are going to manage large accounts effectively, you need to be willing and able to keep meticulous records.
What kinds of records do you need to keep? Picture a large, three-dimensional spreadsheet in your mind. In the left-hand column is a list of every product and service that you
This article answers the following questions: 1) What is Account Management? 2) What skills and talents are required to excel in Account Management? 3) What activities must be performed to maximize Account Management return on investment?
Enlarge Image
Congratulations! You successfully sold one or more of your company's products or services to a business unit, department, or division of a large organization. Now your manager has tasked you with "account management". If you are not already familiar with account management, you are probably asking yourself the following questions:
What is "Account Management"?
What skills and talents are required to excel in Account Management?
What activities must be performed to maximize Account Management ROI?
Providing answers to these questions is the focus of this article.
What is Account Management?
Account management is actually a synonym for account penetration. Just because you have sold one product or service to one business entity within an organization doesn't mean your job is done. Think of all the additional opportunities that may exist in the account! For example:
Does your company offer additional products or services that might be a "fit" for this customer?
How many other business units, departments, divisions, and subsidiaries are potential prospects for your company's offering(s)?
Required Skills and Talents
A critical talent for successful account management is the ability to build relationships, as relationship selling is a very effective way to increase account penetration. Another critical skill/talent is organization. If you are going to manage large accounts effectively, you need to be willing and able to keep meticulous records.
What kinds of records do you need to keep? Picture a large, three-dimensional spreadsheet in your mind. In the left-hand column is a list of every product and service that you