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PM Forum - Nottingham
Best practice in client relationship and key account management processes
Can you ever have too many clients? Tony Reiss of Sherwood Consulting certainly thinks so. In fairness, it's not about having the right number of clients; it's about having the right clients. How do we know who's right for us and how do we identify our key accounts? Possibly they could be our biggest clients, those who spend the most with us. Whatever criteria we apply, one thing is certain - chemistry will define who we hit it off with and who ultimately become our key accounts.
How do we keep them once we've got them? Make them feel special for starters, spend time doing lots of background research into them and their competitors. Understand a client's clients and gain valuable insights into their markets and key motivations. To fully understand your clients, engagement at the very top level is vital. So called "top to top" meetings between senior partners, MDs or CEOs are key. By talking at this level key insights are gained and thought leadership strategies are developed. It's important to spend time gaining background research prior to engagement at the top level, find out about their personal interests, financial year end, key suppliers and main focus of the business - CEOs rarely take prisoners.
It's the relationship not the sale that's important. Never be too pushy with senior people, take a measured approach, customer care questionnaires provide valuable client feedback so don't be afraid of them. Perhaps even allocate scores to client relationships using a 10 point scale: 1 = never met them in person, 2 = met them a couple of times, 3 = working closely together etc working up to 10 = advocates that would recommend us. The more time you spend with a client the more you'll get to know about them.
Do your partners or directors have sufficient training in front line account management? Developing a team-working culture with CRM training at all levels is vital as people need to feel confident and secure in their roles, not defensive of senior relationships. Do your secretaries or PAs have enough knowledge and training to meet and have drinks with your clients at social events? At the end of the day your organisation is only as good as its weakest link.
So how do you make it happen? Monthly or even weekly meetings with key client contacts are essential, devise a business meeting plan and stick to it. Ensure that your client database is bang up to date with the latest details of status and job title. Introduce a traffic light system for meeting schedules, driven by the CEO, red for clients who you've not seen for a while, amber for monthly meetings and green for on-going good relationships. Try to avoid too much focus on the "numbers" in the short term, change the way results are measured, some client relationships may have longer-term returns and be regarded as slow burn, show them how much you care today and it will pay dividends tomorrow.
Alan Boyden
BCS PR
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