CRM (customer relationship management) has become an essential business tool in the last decade. A recent statistics roundup from Tech.co found that:
- 91% of companies with more than 11 employees use a CRM system
- Overall CRM usage increased from 56% in 2018 to 74% in 2019
- CRM is expected to achieve over $80 billion in revenue by 2025
For anyone who has used a modern CRM platform, these numbers will come as no surprise. These versatile software toolsets can:
- Bolster productivity
- Increase operational efficiency
- Improve collaboration across teams and departments
- Drive customer acquisition, success, and retention
- Provide 360° visibility into your business
A great example of the way in which a CRM system can achieve this is through strategic account management.
Using the incredible visibility that a CRM provides, companies can identify their key accounts and empower their teams to serve them better, recommend products and services to suit their specific needs, and ensure their long-term success and growth.
In this article, we will provide tips for analyzing your key accounts and explain how a CRM can provide deeper, more actionable insights.
For even more strategies on managing your key accounts, check out our Key Account Management Playbook.
What is strategic account management?
Strategic account management is a business approach in which a company identifies and prioritizes its most important customers and then develops and implements a tailored strategy to effectively manage and grow the relationship with those customers.
Strategic account management involves a coordinated effort by different departments within a company, including sales, marketing, customer service, and product development, to align their efforts around the needs and goals of the key accounts.
Strategic account management aims to establish long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with key accounts that are critical to a company’s success.
This is typically accomplished by taking a more consultative and collaborative approach to sales and account management rather than a transactional or reactive one.
A strategic account management program may involve conducting in-depth account reviews and needs assessments, developing customized solutions, providing ongoing support and training, and collaborating closely with customers to ensure their needs are met.
Strategic account management is particularly important in industries where a small number of key accounts represent a significant portion of a company’s revenue or where the cost of acquiring a new customer is high.
By prioritizing these accounts and developing a tailored approach to managing them, companies can increase customer loyalty, reduce churn, and generate new business opportunities.
The 3 phases of strategic account management
Strategic account management can be broken up into 3 phases:
- Identifying key accounts
- Analyzing key accounts
- Optimizing key accounts
Breaking the process down into distinct phases provides a clear structure and roadmap for your account management team to follow. It also helps your team understand what success looks like.
Let’s take a closer look at phase 2 — analyzing your key accounts.
Analyzing your key accounts
Once you have identified the key accounts you want to target, it is time to analyze those accounts.
There are 3 steps to follow in this phase:
- Segment your key accounts- Start by segmenting your key accounts into categories such as geography, industry, or customer type.
This provides you with a better understanding of your customers and their needs and can help you identify common challenges and opportunities.
This also allows you to tailor your products, services, and account management approach to meet the specific needs of each segment during the optimization phase.
- Identify the decision makers- Identify the key decision-makers and influencers within the potential key accounts and determine their level of influence and decision-making power.
This step ensures you are talking to the right people and can help you tailor your messaging and approach.
- Develop a deeper understanding of your key accounts- Gather information about the account, including its industry, market position, and financial performance, as well as any potential challenges or opportunities that may impact the account.
CRM is the best tool for analyzing your key accounts
There is no toolset on the market better for analyzing your key accounts than CRM. A modern CRM platform can help you:
- Segment customers- A CRM system can segment customers based on various criteria, such as revenue, profitability, and buying behavior.
This makes step one of your key account analysis faster and easier.
Plus, CRM provides filter and search options that can help you identify commonalities between accounts that may not be obvious at first glance.
- Track engagement- A CRM system can track customer engagement and interaction across multiple touchpoints, such as emails, phone calls, and meetings.
This makes it easy to identify the real decision-makers and provides you with the insights you need to make sure your messaging lands.
FreeAgent CRM provides deeper insights and better collaboration for improved account management
FreeAgent CRM is designed for today’s world of work and our robust toolset is ideally suited to supporting the varied work processes of modern businesses. FreeAgent is:
- Easy to use: FreeAgent works like you expect modern apps to work, providing a user experience that feels fresh and familiar. Teams love working in FreeAgent, leading to high adoption and greater ROI.
- User-configurable: FreeAgent can be configured by you to work the way you do. This means you don’t need outside support to add a form field, adjust a CRM automated workflow, or try out a new process.
- Customizable: With FreeAgent, apps, forms, and configurations are all completely customizable, allowing you to capture and connect your data in any way you like.
To see FreeAgent in action, get a demo, and discover for yourself how FreeAgent can help you have workdays full of impact.
