#017 Five Reasons your KAM Programme is Failing

KAMCast - Key Account Management Strategies for Business Leaders

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.

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 – 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.