A show hosted by me, David Ventura, a specialist in training, educating and consulting on practical strategies for harnessing the power of Key Account Management (KAM) in SME’s today.
In a world of diminishing customer loyalty, what can business leaders do to retain their top customers, while still adding value. In this podcast I explore some hands-on tips and tactics you can implement today – to remarkably shift your sales culture in your business.
The episodes are designed to challenge your thinking and preconceptions of “sales”. They will teach you techniques for:
- Protecting your most important customers from competitors;
- Building & maintaining profitable partnerships with your key contacts; &
- Developing the strategies, systems & skills to deliver customer growth (i.e. identify, retain and grow your top ten customers).
I am joined by business leaders who have learnt to radically shift their culture and attitude towards sales, and empower their business with the ability to grow rapidly from within. I also invite experts in the fields of leadership, coaching and customer experience to share their insights into the psychology of sales, organisational culture and leading business growth.
In the modern, digitally-heightened business world we operate in today, can you afford to be flippant about your top customers, and why they choose to work with you? No, you cannot.
I invite you to subscribe to KAMCast and listen openly as I challenge you to reimagine your customer success protocols and relationship strategies.
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#013 Account Management is Where Marketing Starts, with Bryony Thomas
Episode 13
Thursday, November 7, 2024 • Duration 52:37
IN THIS EPISODE...
Sales and Marketing is like stealing your neighbour’s cat…and in this episode, I talk to Bryony Thomas at Watertight Marketing to find out why.
Bryony is the creator of the Watertight Marketing methodology, captured in her best-selling book of the same name which acts as the hub to a suite of thinking tools that have been designed and refined over two decades and across over 2000 organisations.
- - -
𝗕𝗥𝗬𝗢𝗡𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗠𝗔𝗦 𝗕𝗜𝗢:
Bryony is an award-winning speaker, author, marketing strategist and the creator of the proven Watertight Marketing Methodology. She stops people from wasting money on marketing.
In 2008, she left her corporate role as Director of Marketing for Experian, a FTSE100 company, and set up her own consultancy. She believes that small businesses are a real lever of meaningful and sustainable change in the world, and she has built a proven methodology to help them to do just that.
Through her 12-month marketing transformation programme, book and speaking she reaches audiences far and wide, and today also has a team of licensed Watertight Marketing Practitioners.
𝗗𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗗 𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗔 𝗕𝗜𝗢:
David is the principal KAM Consultant & Managing Director at Front&Centre, a specialist Key Account Management training and consultancy business, based in the UK.
David is a Speaker, Author and Performance Coach with more than a decade of hands-on and consultative experience in sales and management roles in the leisure, entertainment and telecoms industries.
#012 Selling Through Partnering, with Fred Copestake
Episode 12
Thursday, November 7, 2024 • Duration 46:15
IN THIS EPISODE
Do you tell your clients that you work in partnership?
What evidence do you have to reassure them that the statement is, in fact, true?
What are the qualities of a good partnership?
Does your team possess the skills required to forge strong win:win relationships, built on trust, transparency, transparency, comfort with change and interdependence and a focus on the future?
In this episode, I invite Fred Copestake, a sales consultant and trainer specialising in complex B2b sales environments, to get into this topic with me. He has spent the last 22 years travelling around the world to develop salespeople, in over 200 companies, to move from the transactional selling styles of yesteryear, into the collaborative selling styles of today and shaping the ‘business partners’ of the future.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE:
As you will by now know, here at Front&Centre we are big believers in fostering a ‘valued partner’ relationship with your most important customers/clients. Partnering with your clients should be more than just a statement, more than something you simply ‘say’ on your website. It should be lived in the values, attitudes, behaviours, and skills within your teams and consistently demonstrated in your most important customer relationships.
In my discussion with Fred, we dig into his concept of ‘PQ – Partnering intelligence’. (He has even written a book on it). We talk about what the concept is, and what qualities we should be developing and demonstrating in our key account relationships.
You will hear us talk through:
The three biggest challenges that senior leaders will see when they look at their sales teams. As Fred describes - are your teams:
Displaying ‘busy busy busy’ behaviours where busyness is getting in the way of business?
Are they thinking in the ‘olde worlde’ ways and struggling to see new, and change, as a force for good and opportunity?
Do they have a ‘muddled mindset’ where the focus switches as we get closer to month-end and the targets take over?
#003 Be a Value Creator, not a Cost Generator
Episode 3
Thursday, November 7, 2024 • Duration 31:39
IN THIS EPISODE:
In today’s world we could categorise organisations into two camps: those that add value, and those that add COST.
Why type of organisation are you?
What is your definition of value?
How will you know when you are adding and creating value for your customers?
Do your most important clients know the extra lengths you go to provide them with unexpected, relevant and personalised value that is ultimately useful to them?
With value being undefinable to many and different to each of your accounts, I wanted to peel back a few layers of this really big onion and explore value with our guest for this episode: Warwick Brown.
As a fellow KAM “Activist”, Warwick’s mission is to help organisations leverage the power of key account management to accelerate client retention and revenue.
He has more than 15 years’ experience in the field, leading business development and account management teams in Australia and Europe and working with some of the world's most prestigious firms, including Merck & Co, Deutsche Bank, McKinsey & Company and Vodafone.
He has also recently launched The KAM Club – a private learning community that helps busy account managers get results.
Listen to this episode to hear Warwick’s definition of value; where he feels the most mistakes are made by account managers when it comes to value; how we track and demonstrate what we are achieving for clients; and what today’s market has done to the value playing field in the B2B world.
So, are you a value creator or a cost creator? Let us know once you have digested this packed episode.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE:
If you can hold your hand on your heart and say that you create value for your key accounts…Do they know? Are you telling them? And, are you measuring it in the business?
In a world where clients want and need more from you than ever before, Warwick shares his three tips, which are a great place to start:
#002 Why most KAM plans don’t work
Episode 2
Thursday, November 7, 2024 • Duration 18:11
IN THIS EPISODE:
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States
“By Failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States
“Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning.” – Thomas Edison, Inventor & businessman
Even the creative genius Pablo Picasso knew that planning was key when he said:
“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.”
So, with so many quotes by smart people to remind us of the importance of proper preparation and planning to avoid poor performance…WHY do most account plans simply NOT WORK?
Perhaps the answer is simple and it is because most account plans are just too complicated!
Do you ever feel frustrated at the lack of consistency in the way your teams create account plans? Perhaps some team members don’t even bother.
Would it make your life easier to have a straightforward system and process for planning so that you can keep your eye on what is going on and retain visibility of your most important customers?
In this episode, I share our Front&Centre® approach with you in building a simple, easy to use and effective Key Account Plan. This short, stress-free plan will act as your guide, toolkit and roadmap to achieving success with your accounts.
KILLER QUESTION SEGMENT
In each episode we ask you, our listener, a killer question that is designed to get you reflecting on your business, your KAM Culture and where changes in thinking and behaviour could lead to increased customer success.
#001 Importance of a KAM Culture in today's modern marketplace
Episode 1
Thursday, November 7, 2024 • Duration 17:31
In this episode
David Ventura, your host, explores the following BIG question:
What is a KAM culture and why is it so important in today’s market?
But first: what is KAM?
We all know that businesses love a TLA (Three Letter Acronyms) and KAM is just another one of those. It stands for Key Account Management. Many businesses we meet are naturally familiar with KAM whilst others will say “we don’t have key accounts” or “KAM is for bigger companies; we are too small for that”.
For us, the devil is in the detail here and the nuances around language and terminology determine how connected you feel to the idea of KAM rather than the reality of its existence.
Some clients will repel the concept of KAM and, in the same breath will talk passionately about the ‘strategic partnerships’ that they have with key organisations.
Others will sell through the channel and have important relationships with distributors or consultants who sell on their behalf.
Firms in professional services often prefer the term ‘clients’ over ‘customers’.
Charitable organisations have key relationships rather than the typical ‘customer base’ in a b2b organisation.
The point here is that when you strip KAM back to its bare bones, we are talking about how we interact and manage our most important RELATIONSHIPS. The language choice and nuances in definition belong to you and your business, and the principle remain the same.
Highlights of what we cover in this episode:
What is a KAM Culture
Why is a KAM Culture so important to instil in your organisation in today’s market?
The 3-legged stool analogy:
Do you have a robust KAM that is clear and that everyone understands, accepts and is committed to?
#011 Perfect Your Communication Style with Practice
Episode 11
Thursday, November 7, 2024 • Duration 26:31
IN THIS EPISODE
How ‘in tune’ are you with the qualities, traits and characteristics that make up your personality?
How does your personality affect the results you have with your key account relationships?
If you are in tune with who YOU are, let me ask: how well can you read other people?
Do you use your knowledge and reflection to change the way you behave to better your chances of success? Or…do you act the same in every interaction you have with your customer contacts?
In this episode, we take a dive into an important topic in the world of building customer relationships: how well do you adapt your communication style with different customers?
I am going to challenge you to consider, for a moment, that rather than thinking of yourself as a classically labelled sales person… what if you were called a salespractitioner. In that vein…you could say: rather than being an account manager you were an account management practitioner.
How does that sit with you? Can you see how the change in language brings a change in focus?
To be a practitioner, you must continue to practice. To practice indicates that growth, development and improvement is always possible and we cannot sit back and assume that perfection has been attained.
Think of this episode as a moment to pause, reflect and decide how you will practice this imperative skill ofshaping your communications style and personality preferences to elevate your results with your most important customers.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE:
This is a full episode in 30mins of pure notable and actionable takeaways – so get your pen and pad out (and be sure to look at the full show notes on the website - as I couldn't put all the graphics in here for you).
#010 The Loyalty Loop, with Drew Davis
Episode 10
Thursday, November 7, 2024 • Duration 48:45
IN THIS EPISODE
Do you have LOYAL customers?
What does loyalty mean to you? Is it a destination where happy customers, who love what you do, gather to bathe in the success that your product or service has brought them? Or is it more than that…? Rather than a destination, is it an on-going journey of moments that inspire your loyal customers to commit to you, time and time again, whilst shouting from the rooftops to all who will hear their recommendation to work with you?
How often do you find yourself telling your clients that you are different?
And, when you are comparing your business to your competition, could you - hand on heart - say that you truly offer something that no one else does?
The likelihood is, as we’ve said so many times here on KAMCast, is that the real difference is in you, our team and the EXPERIENCE you provide your customers.
In a journey of moments, how well do you craft an experience that inspires your clients to commit data, time and eventually money before starting the whole cycle again?
Do you deliberately and intentionally inspire the emotions YOU need in your clients to motivate them to WANT the products and services you can offer?
In this episode, I am joined by Drew Davis, bestselling author and internationally acclaimed speaker. He was dialing in from across the pond, so you’ll have to forgive the odd connection glitch in the matrix on the recording!
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE:
In our conversation, we look at how Key Account Managers need to be thinking more like marketeers in the way they inspire their key clients - constantly engineering what Drew calls ‘The Loyalty Loop’ for repeat business and account growth.
You’ll hear us talk about the 7 key drivers of the Loyalty Loop and how we can create a series of customer interactions/encounters that leave an impression. (Which ultimately grows the revenue with your key accounts.) Listen to the full episode to hear the detail.
#009 A Conversation about Race in KAM, with Sharon Amesu
Episode 9
Thursday, November 7, 2024 • Duration 52:42
IN THIS EPISODE...
When was the last time you had a conversation about racism?
Perhaps, like so many, these conversations are triggered within your circles, by high-profile cases of injustice in the media or by your own personal experiences on the receiving end of overt or covert prejudice.
Or perhaps… like so many, you have NEVER had a conversation, within your circles, about racism. What about at work, in your business, with your team, or with your customers?
This episode is a conversation about race in KAM. And where KAM is all about effectiveness, I really wanted to explore this important subject that can consciously or unconsciously impair your ability to maximise the success and growth of your most important customers.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE...
With diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and anti-racism high on the agenda in the business world, I think it is so important that we have these conversations.
My wish is that, by listening to this episode, it will spark a conversation within your business, and with your team and that the learning, the growth, and the empathy continues.
We venture into a discussion that includes:
talking about our own experiences of race in the workplace (including the privilege I acknowledge as a white male in business)
exploring how bias may show up in the engagements with customers and business partners
discussing the role of an ‘ally’ and how getting comfortable with the uncomfortable conversations can create truly empathetic relationships
What are your reflections after listing to our conversation?
How are you going to continue the conversation and who with? I wonder what your experiences have been, whether on the receiving end of prejudice or from a place of privilege.
#008 Five Reasons your KAM Programme is Failing
Episode 8
Thursday, November 7, 2024 • Duration 17:39
IN THIS EPISODE:
Key account management is a beautifully simple business basic…one that isn’t that easy! If it was, we’d all be doing it brilliantly wouldn’t we?
Like most working practices in business, there are a handful of common, or typical reasons why a KAM culture struggles to get off the ground in an organisation. In this episode, I seek to shine a glaring light on the assassins of good KAM practice.
The intent for this episode is this: we’re big believers in shining a light on vulnerabilities in a business – it serves as a wonderful opportunity to mitigate risks, develop and create new ways of working and foster better ways of thinking.
In this episode, David shares the experiences we’ve had in working with clients. Some of these clients have called for our support as a result of experiencing the loss of a customer and realising their vulnerabilities way too late.
Others have started their respective KAM-Paigns to implement a KAM Culture and the momentum has dwindled and progress halted, caused by one or several of the reasons shared in this episode.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE:
We’d urge you to bookmark this episode and make sure that you listen to it properly – dig really deep and reflect. It could be the spur you need to make a long-term systemic change which could in turn could bring meaningful (and profitable) transformative change.
Here are the highlights that David walks you through on the 5 reasons your KAM programme is more than likely failing:
#1 Your Key Account criteria lacks focus & clarity
Do you and your team know who your key accounts are and why they are qualified as “key”? Yep, a simple one right? But so many businesses miss this.
#007 Mind the Intergenerational Gap with Henry Rose Lee
Episode 7
Thursday, November 7, 2024 • Duration 47:30
IN THIS EPISODE…
Have you ever found yourself struggling to understand, or get along, with people who are older or younger than you?
Perhaps a clash in communications style, working preferences, belief systems, values or motivational needs?
Many of the business leaders that we talk to in our work at Front&Centre® tell us how difficult they find driving higher levels of motivation and engagement from younger sales teams.
They say that age is just a number… except it isn’t, is it?
GENERATIONAL DIFFERENCES ARE REAL
The nuances of dealing with people across the generations can prove to be challenging, whether consciously or unconsciously, and the solution, as we’ve talked about so many times on KAMCast, is in the ability to raise your awareness, understand yourself, understand others and then choose if and how to adapt your behaviours to get the best out of your relationship interactions, whether it be with your teams or Key Customer contacts.
Whether you are working closely with the external customer base or whether you recognise your internal customers, on your team and colleagues across the business, you are likely to come up against the ‘generation gap’, highlighted by the notable differences across the different age groups.
In this episode of KAMCast, I talk to Henry Rose Lee - one of the few inter-generational diversity experts in the world.
Henry works with all generations in the workforce and particularly with Millennials and Gen Z - to help them become more productive and effective. As an author of three books on maximising today’s young talent, (consisting of Generation Z and the Millennial generation), Henry busts myths and provides business leaders with practical tactics for attracting, recruiting, engaging and retaining your youngest employees.
I hope you enjoy it – let me know what you think!
How we need to get comfortable with serving the customer whilst working together as equals - with mutual trust and respect.
How do you feel about the notion that the customer isn’t, in fact, king (despite the old saying) and that we should see them as respected peers who are there to work with us to deliver mutually beneficial win:win growth?
What the future of selling could look like in this fast-moving and ever-changing marketplace we work in.
KILLER QUESTIONS SEGMENT
In each episode we ask you, our listener, a killer question that is designed to get you reflecting on your business, your KAM Culture and where changes in thinking and behaviour could lead to increased customer success. In this episode we asked Fred to give us his killer question which was:
“Why would you NOT use partnering intelligence to build relationships with your most important
customers?”
There you have it. It's logical to just naturally want to build PQ into your sales skills toolkit – isn’t it?
Quick ref to a link we mention in our discussion:
Fred mentioned his PQ (Partnering Intelligence) Self Audit which you can take. Find out your Sales PQ now using this diagnostic tool.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MY GUEST: FRED COPESTAKE
Fred is the founder of Brindis, a sales training consultancy based in the UK. He is a Sales Consultant, Trainer, Speaker and Author with a special focus on teaching selling through partnering skills.
He has worked with 10,000+ salespeople in 200+ companies across 36 countries. His work is concentrated on sales professionals working in complex B2B environments. Some of his projects have included: implementing a European sales academy for a leading beer brand; developing sales skills for global healthcare companies in the Middle East; and introducing account development and sales leadership models in Latin America and Europe for IT and engineering multinationals.
Ask your main contact at the client’s company about what they need to achieve and how you can help them.
Create a highlight reel of all the good things you have done, ready to share in reviews with your accounts.
Find a way to track and measure the value you create for clients - what are your lead measures that you monitor to guide you in the direction of success?
With differentiation being a real challenge for so many businesses, what is your business the best at doing, the first to do or the only one doing?
Value really isn’t a one size fits all and our job as key account managers is to identify what is important to different stakeholders and customise the value for each of them. Warwick reminds us to always ask the “so, what’s next” question.
𝗞𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗥 𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗦𝗘𝗚𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧:
In each episode we ask you, our listener, a killer question that is designed to get you reflecting on your business, your KAM Culture and where changes in thinking and behaviour could lead to increased customer success.
In this episode we asked Warwick to give us his killer question which was:
“Write down two or three things, that make your company completely different. Unique qualities that nobody else can claim to do.”
It’s a good place to start when trying to nail down your value.
𝗤𝗨𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗥𝗘𝗙 𝗧𝗢 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗖𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘:
In line with this topic, we have designed a quick, free 5 PART KAM health check tool for you – if you want to temperature check how your organisation, team and systems fare on some of the topics we covered in this episode. The health check is delivered as short, bite size videos with some prompting questions to ask yourself and your team. (CLICK HERE FOR ACCESS)
𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗠𝗬 𝗚𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧: 𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗪𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗕𝗥𝗢𝗪𝗡
Warwick is a Key Account Consultant and Founder of The KAM Club, has led business development and account management teams in Australia and Europe for more than 15 years. He has worked with some of the world's most prestigious firms including Merck & Co, Deutsche Bank, McKinsey & Company and Vodafone.
His mission is to support in-house KAM Professionals with the right advice, tools and learning resources to boost their results. He also spends time educating organisations about the importance of leveraging the power of key account management which in turn to accelerates higher performing KAM Professionals, improved client retention and increased revenue.
In this episode we ask the question earlier than usual in the podcast to kickstart our topic. The question is:
If one of your top account managers left the business today, what details would leave with them?
The answer will help us to start to nail down what a good Key Account Plan should look like.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE:
I walk you through some key points around developing a simple KAM Plan that you should be implementing (right now!) in your business. By having a system of recording pertinent points outside of your lead sales person’s head – you are better at securing the lifetime of that top customer with your business.
Here are some of the key areas I talk about:
- The vulnerability that all organisations have
Which is that account managers hold the plans for your most important customers in the safest place for them, and the most dangerous place for you…in their heads.
- What’s on your ideal customer handover list?
I prompt you take out a pen and paper and work on this. Make a list of all the things that YOU would expect to be shared with you in a handover meeting if the account was to be passed on to you to look after going forward.
(i) The Front&Centre® KAM Plan consists of three segments:
Intelligence: this section should give us the headlines, key facts, and the IMPORTANT details that will answer the fundamental question: What is the current situation on the account?
Intentions: How can you: (a) add more value to this Key Account; (b) improve and develop the business we do with this account; &/or (c) develop relationships between the two organisations?
Implementation: in short this is about who is going to do what and by when? (It’s the accountability section)
(ii) Plans are not just for times of disaster. A good KAM Plan should be a working tool that guides an account manager’s activity and gives visibility of the account to anyone that needs it.
(iii) KAM Activities. David suggests a range of activities that you may like to think about that will take the idea of the KAMplan and help convert it into a sustainable, profitable reality:
Monthly Quality Thinking Time (QTT) Sessions
Buddy system
Key Account Clinics
Team Review Meetings
Make sure you listen to this episode to grab all of David’s insights into each of the 3 segments of the Front&Centre® KAM Plan structure as well as his tops for KAM activities.
THEN: kick start your implementation of a KAM Plan which is an easy win with a high impact value for the long term. Read below for a FREE template to get you going.
strategy
Do you have the right systems to support the customer and the teams in the business who look after them?
Do your people have the right level of skills required to deliver excellent service and business growth with our top clients?
While KAM is a part of the sales process – it is not a sales technique (we dive a bit into how its different)
How do you identify your top customers? Did you know that 4% of an organisation’s customers often product around 64% of the business?
Research shows the single biggest reason a customer leaves a supplier as “perceived indifference”,i.e. our customers think we don’t care! (We dig into expectations and what those are)
Killer Question Segment
In each episode we will be asking you, our listener, a killer question that is designed to get you reflecting on your business, your KAM Culture and where changes in thinking and behaviour could lead to increased customer success.
In this episode we ask: What do your key customers say about you when you are not around?
Simple one, but one that, once you delve into it, will bring up all kinds of work that probably needs looking at. Listen to this episode to hear more about David has to share about this one.
To be an effective Key Account Manager in today’s world means more than simply being a well-trained salesperson, adept with the skills to win more business and sustain relationships.
Whether you are a ‘hunter’ or, as with many Key Account Managers, a ‘farmer’, the playing field has changed, and we now work in an environment where it is less about ‘how you sell’ and more about ‘why the customer buys’
Some of the topics I share and discuss my views on in this episode cover:
Evolving old ABC to new ABC
Consider updating Glengarry Glen Ross’ ABC - Always Be Closing, to a more modern KAM- related ABC of:
Analyse how the customer thinks and works
Build a bridge to their world and
Communicate in their language not yours
The impact your FILTERS have on your brain’s processing of information (Through our five senses, the human body sends 11 million bits of information per second to the brain for processing, yet the conscious mind seems to be able to process only 50 bits per second!
An account manager’s true roles is to influence with integrity and support the customer to CHOOSE the right solution for them.
Using a psychometric tool to help you to assess and analyse how you “show up” (consciously / unconsciously) – does not give you a ‘free pass’ to behave in ‘stereotype’. Rather, they are designed to help you to (honestly) assess yourself and design your own results through adaptation and flexibility. (I share more below about how we use the Lumina Spark Model we use with clients here at Front&Centre – scroll down).
If Key Account Management was a little like speed dating, we would need to get pretty good at speed reading someone else’s personality if we are to stand a chance at ensuring we communicate and behave in a way that best suits them.
Reviewing the Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic (VAK) model for understanding preferences, on the context of KAM
Walk through the three types of buyer needs (and how these can vary when looking through the lens of the 4-colour energies of the Lumina Sparks Model)
In essence what I reiterate in this episode, is that we all live in the same territory, but we all have a different map of the world.
I’m sure you will agree that, in order to succeed in KAM, we must get better at really understanding the perception filters of our clients to identify their beliefs and fixed positions.
To truly become aware of the customer, we must first become aware of ourselves.
We must work at becoming a KAMeleon and learn how to dial up, or down, your different energies to enhance rapport and communicate in the customers language.
I hope you enjoy listening to this episode, do let me know what you have taken away from it and keep your request for topics and episode themes coming in!
MORE INFO: THE LUMINA SPARKS MODEL
Here at Front&Centre, some of the work we do with individuals and teams means that we need to do a little “uncovering” to dig into people’s strengths or blind spots. This is particularly useful when supporting teams to honestly evaluate their team and work towards a KAMCulture of inclusiveness and diversity of thinking and in value creation for customers.
Looking at our individual personality traits using, what is known as ‘Big 5’ research. This helps us to understand our effective qualities and how these play out in the interactions we have with others. (It will also help us to identify where our less dominant ‘blind spots’ are and help us to consider what changes we may like to make when interacting with our psychological opposites)
You might notice that I keep mentioning ‘blind spots’ and not ‘weaknesses’. The reality is that we are all capable of dialling up or dialling down our different psychological energies and therefore it is important to recognise any ‘low preference’ as a choice and not a weakness.
Many of the tools on the market will use a typical 4-colour model as the foundation to build on and, for ease of explanation and exploration of the topic, in this episode I walk you through the Lumina Sparks Model, which we often use with our clients.
In the episode I talk about the 4 energies of the model and how to recognise the traits of these energies in others and what that means in terms of how you relate to them. I also walk through how your customer’s buying needs may also vary when looking through the lens of the 4-colours. I have also provided some visuals below for you demonstrate these.
The drivers are:
Raise anticipation
Maximise the honeymoon phase
Re-inspire them
Answering their trigger questions
Scale comradery (at KAMGuru we refer to this as KAM being a team sport)
Remove friction from the experience
Crucial concern (YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO THIS ONE)
Through our really interactive discussion we talk about:
identifying moments of commitment
engineering the emotions you need your customers to feel at the right moments in the customer journey (Drew suggests quite simply for you to attach the appropriate emoji to each interaction to gauge if you’re getting it right for the customer)
how KAM, as a team sport, maximises the value of your brand-to-person relationships (getting the sales and marketing team to work with you on the customer's journey of moments)
where to start to craft different experiences that see you really standing OUT from your competition
My reflections from this episode…
I really loved the 7 drivers of the loyalty loop. I feel like they help us focus our attention on deliberately engineering a seamless and ongoing journey of interactions the leave an impression, increase customer growth and retention and leave a legacy that you and the team can be proud of.
One of my big takeaways was a confirmation that if you create a great experience and concentrate on loyalty - you get more of the clients you want and charge more for what you do because the experience is different
Your reflections from this episode…
When you think about your customer experience… the big moments, the little moments, the micro-moments… how are you engineering the interaction to evoke the right emotions for the right results?
Do you consistently and repeatedly inspire your key customers at the right times, to trigger moments of commitment that reward you with data, time or money?
How do you truly differentiate from your competitors?
As a sales team, are you working to a finite game in a race to this month’s targets and objectives? Or... do you see the key customer experience as a cycle that regularly reinspires to create upselling and cross selling opportunities?
Is KAM a team sport in your business? Do you scale comradery and involve the wider team of talents to maximise the brand to person relationships? (Book a chat with me and I can share more about this with you.)
Killer Question Segment
In each episode, we ask you, our listener, a killer question that is designed to get you reflecting on your business, your KAM Culture and where changes in thinking and behaviour could lead to increased customer success.
In this episode we asked Drew to give us his killer question which was:
“What emotion (or emoji) would you attach to the very next interaction you’re having with a customer?”
Is it a MEH? SURPRISE? YAY? If it’s a sad, disappointed or ‘grey’ (can’t distinguish) emoji – then FIX IT!
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MY GUEST: ANDREW DAVIS
Andrew Davis is a bestselling author and keynote speaker. Before building and selling a thriving digital marketing agency, Andrew produced for NBC and worked for The Muppets. He's appeared in the New York Times and on the Today Show. He's crafted documentary films and award-winning content for tiny start-ups and Fortune 500 brands.
Today, Andrew Davis teaches business leaders how to grow their businesses, transform their cities, and leave their legacy.
You can find out more about him on his website, connect with him on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter. You can learn loads from his Loyalty Loop Videos – so check those out on his YouTube channel.
Has race or racism ever impaired your effectiveness with your key accounts?
Understanding the context and communities we are sitting in, day to day, week to week, month to month is key to empowering our teams to maximise relationships
What is your organisational response against racism?
What awareness do you have of your own biases and how can you raise that awareness when interacting with others?
How much attention do you pay to the evolution of language and are you running the risk of using outdated terminology that could offend your contacts and peers?
With understanding being a key driver for KAM relationships - how does this conversation about race help us understand each other and ourselves better to maximise the relationships with key customers?
I’d like to thank you for listening to this episode today and, in doing so, taking part in this important conversation. If you have something you’d like to share or throw into the conversation, pleasedo get in touch.
KILLER QUESTION SEGMENT
In each episode, we ask you, our listener, a killer question that is designed to get you reflecting on your business, your KAM Culture, and where changes in thinking and behaviour could lead to increased customer success.
In this episode I asked Sharon to give us her killer question which was:
“How much better would your account management be if you were to work intentionally on the
biases that might impact your decision making?”
And…how will you go about doing that? Wow. The challenge has been laid folks.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MY GUEST: SHARON AMESU
Sharon is an award-winning leadership consultant and professional speaker. After 16 years as a Criminal Barrister with a successful UK practice, today Sharon runs a consultancy business which supports organisations with leadership development, specialising in diversity and inclusion programmes. Sharon is invited to speak to national and international audiences around the world on Women in Leadership and Inclusive Leadership.
I find that this lack of clarity often comes from a place of assumption. Assumption that the key accounts are simply the largest ones. The accounts that make up the lion’s share of revenue or profit.
For me, the true definition of a key account is whatever is, or whatever will be, important to your business.
It’s so important to reach a focus and clarity of the defining characteristics of a key account in your business. Without that, a KAM programme runs the risk of becoming something we talk about rather than do.
(Listen to the episode to get the 5 reflective questions you need to ask yourself).
#2 The customer’s voice isn’t being heard
When was the last time you proactively sought feedback from your key contacts at your most important customers?
And did that feedback make its way back to the business, into your team discussions and shape the way you engage with that customer going forward?
We spend a lot of time making decisions that impact the customer and creating products and services that deliver an end value for the customer… and yet, all too often, we do this whilst sat around a boardroom table, without a customer in sight.
In the world of KAM, the customer’s perception becomes your reality…
#3 Your KAM strategy is shot down by friendly fire
We believe that key account management is a team sport. It’s not a job for lone heroes who go where nobody has gone before, in pursuit of commercial glory.
Key account management is, in many ways, part of everyone’s job within the company. Looking at it simply, maybe there are only two groups of people within an organisation?
There is a group of people who are (a) servicing the customer and there is another who are (b) providing an internal service to the group of people servicing the customer.
So, if we run with the notion that the quality of the service you deliver the customer is directly influenced by the quality of service you deliver each other, we see just how important teamwork is…
(Listen to the episode to hear more if this “speaks” to you!)
#4 Your Key Account Managers don’t have time
The trouble with time management is that it is not possible! Nobody ‘manages’ time, it’s a myth. Time moves by at the same pace for everyone - no amount of intent will slow it down or speed it up!
What we do manage, is our own priorities.
So, next time you hear ‘time’ being banded around as the excuse for lack of progress on key account activity – take a long look at the prioritisation and level of importance being put on different tasks.
Perhaps the team’s definition of ‘important’ is different to yours.
Are you going to let time be a reason why your KAM programme fails?
#5 You’ve prescribed the plan, but the team haven’t subscribed to the action
Like most business initiatives, a KAM Programme starts at the top, or it simply won’t start. The danger with board level sponsorship is that it takes the shape of an authoritative prescription.
The sort of messaging that suggests, ‘we’ve discussed this in the board meeting, and we think it’s the best for everyone’, communicated down the chain of command like a memo to ‘all staff’ detailing the new policy for key customers.
In our experience, prescriptions rarely work and instead we need people to subscribe to the changes and the ‘movement’. To do this, we must first demonstrate our buy-in and commitment at leadership level.
If it sounds like something you want people to do but don’t want to get involved in yourself, it’s likely to fall flat.
QUICK REF TO MENTIONED RESOURCES:
FREE – KAM Audit Template:
If you would like help with devising a KAM Audit for your business – If you would like help with devising a KAM Audit for your business – download your copy here from our resources area.
Book Recommendation: “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”
There are plenty of incredible books and resources on building high performing teams. In this episode David particularly recommends this book by Patrick Lencioni. Not only is it an enjoyable read, written as a fictional story, but it is packed with totally relatable reasons why teamwork falls down and projects and initiatives end up being killed off by our comrades who are supposed to be supporting us on the battlefield.
IN SUMMARY...
Do you think it’s a good time to think about your KAM programme? What stage are you at?
Do you already have a KAM programme in play within the business? How’s it going?
Is it a living, breathing KAM Culture that puts the customers voice at the heart of what you do?
Do you foster organisational-wide teamwork and collaboration?
Do you provide inspirational sponsorship to the movement?
Perhaps, you are new to building your KAM programme and are using this thinking to flag up the early warning signs for potential failures.
Of course, this list of five reasons is not an exhaustive one. There are plenty of other reasons why a programme may fail. What reasons have you experienced or seen elsewhere? And how did you overcome the barriers.
If you have a story to share, please do get in touch.
As always, our hope is that whenever you are listening to our episodes – you are remembering to hit the PAUSE BUTTON on your day to think about what you can do to take the ideas from the show and bring them to life in your business.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE:
When I was preparing for this conversation, I was conscious that for many, this is a burning topic and I was keen to get a deeper understanding of:
What the differences across generations really are
How those differences play out in the workplace, particularly in a virtual working environment
How communication styles, techniques and strategies will vary across the ages and where ‘clashes’ are likely to happen
How, as leaders, we can drive higher levels of engagement and motivation from our younger teams
Ultimately understanding how we can MIND THE GAP in generational diversity across our key accounts and sales teams.
I wasn’t disappointed!
When you listen to this episode – you’ll gain some really pragmatic and practical advice from Henry Rose Lee who helps us look through the intergenerational lens from a position of understanding.
ENGAGE THE MOTIVATIONAL NEEDS OF YOUNGER TALENT
I particularly liked Henry’s thoughts on engaging the motivational needs of younger talent on our teams.
With three quarters of Gen Z yearning to start their own business - I wonder if you have a team of entrepreneurial salespeople? And how you harness their enthusiasm and creativity within the remits of your organisational structure?
Do you build a COMMUNITY that your talent can feel part of?
What are the CAUSES that you, you teams and your business care about?
And what CAREER progression opportunities are available to your team to grow and develop in their role and bring higher levels of commitment, enthusiasm and contribution to your business?
CHECK "IN" RATHER THAN CHECK "UP"
I’m often amazed at the lack of trust between sales leaders and their teams. Henry gives us some great advice on how to build trust and I love the notion of checking IN, not checking UP.
She shares that you can do this by coaching your team with open questions like:
What have you experienced in the last week that’s good and bad?
Of those good and bad things, what do you think you’ve learned from that?
How are you going to use what you’ve learned going forward?
What do you need from me?
MONEY MATTERS
When it comes to young talent, I found it so important to recognise that money DOES matter – the youngest generations have the least money and the least savings. We need to find a way to pay them right and take the worry of financial pressures off the table.
Perhaps this will earn their focus, loyalty and commitment. For me, money really is a hygiene factor and too many sales organisations use it as a motivational tool, designed to encourage salespeople to ‘try harder’.
In my experience, money neither motivates the best people, or the best in people.
WHILE YOU LISTEN, ASK YOURSELF THESE QUESTIONS:
How do you feel about the way you are currently managing the generation gaps on your teams and with your most important clients?
Do you know which generation you fall in to?
Do the theories we talk about in this episode resonate with you? How do you feel about it?
What have you learned about yourself, and your teams?
Let me know how you will look at things differently after hearing Henry’s insights. What action will you take, which behaviours will you alter and how will you bring more understanding into the workplace?
FIND OUR MORE ABOUT MY GUEST: HENRY ROSE LEE
Henry Rose Lee is a speaker, author and consultant specialising in Intergenerational Diversity, an emerging science and management skill of maximising the engagement, collaboration and productivity within and across the five distinct generations in today’s workplace.
She is one of only a few sought-after intergenerational diversity experts in the world - helping organisations to improve the contribution and profitable performance of the youngest talent in the workplace today.
Henry worked for 15 years in business development and sales positions for brands like Filofax and Salter, where performance and results were essential. Since 2004 Henry has worked as a CIPD qualified HR consultant and Master ICF qualified Coach and specialised in researching and developing diagnostic tools on human motivation, and generational attitudes and behaviours at work.
She is passionate about busting the many myths people have about Millennials and Gen Z, and has written three books on maximising today’s young talent. She focusses her attention on providing business leaders with practical tactics for attracting, recruiting, engaging and retaining their youngest employees.
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