The evolution of a key account manager, with Chris Ortolano

In this episode…

This is such an expansive topic, I really wanted to add some context and perspective to the subject here. So, I’m going to really open this discussion up for you with some background to get you in the right mindset to listen to this episode.

If you had to be truthful – what kind of salesperson would you say you are? What’s your natural selling style?

Do you deploy an intentional methodology to maximise the impact of your interactions? Or are you winging it along the way, relying on personality to build those relationships with key contacts?

The evolution of an account manager, over the decades, has taken us on a bit of a journey:

Let’s visit the 70s…

Where the gift of the gab was enough to see you into a meeting with a key decision maker – armed with a bag full of good stories and friendly chat. Your products could be sold on the dazzling features of the solution, peppered with light-hearted humour to entertain your prospect into submission.

By the 1980s…

The marketplace was seeing a new breed of sales representatives and sales executives who had polished up their presentation skills to become the informer, the educator and the ambassadors for their wares.

Their projection skills were on-point and their ability to bring products to life whilst selling the features, the advantages and the benefits were 2nd to none. The real issue boiled down to listening though. They were so good at waiting to speak that they forgot to pause and listen! When a client had the audacity to ‘interrupt’ them – they would quickly be shot down by a range of techniques and gimmicks inspired by books like ‘how to develop a killer instinct’ or ‘101 different ways to overcome and objection’.

The 80s sales arena really was the home of manipulation, coercion and persuasion and ‘selling’, for many, started to become a very dirty word.

Introducing the shift in the 1990s and 2000s…

In a bid to move away from the boiler room sales tactics of old and the greasy salespeople that were giving a legitimate profession a bad name, account managers began to focus on a primary ingredient of the relationship dynamic. If all businesses existed to solve a problem, then account managers needed to become problem solvers.

This shift saw a development of a much softer, more skillful consultative selling approach with an emphasis on problem-solving and a full understanding of the customer’s needs, concerns and aspirations through well-crafted open questions active listening and summarising skills.

Unlike their predecessors, problem solvers have shown a genuine interest in the customer’s business.

So, in essence, we can see that the gossiping entertainer (who liked talking about others) morphed into the boring informer (who liked talking about themself) and then evolved into the consultative problem solver who finally learned the value of talking to the customer about, well, the customer.

What role does today’s account manager play then?

How do the problem solvers of the 90s and noughties transition from the consultative selling world of the efficient supplier to the transformational space of the effective business partner?

A world where account managers are collaborative, not just competitive and more importantly they:

• understand the customer’s world
• focus on the front-end of the sales process not the backend (closing)
• talk about return on investment not products and services
• say relatively little (as the customer is doing most of the talking)
• position themselves as trusted advisors
• work with customers interests in mind as well as their own
• play it long – understanding that genuine relationships take time
• understand what customers’ expectations are
• follow-up and stay connected, even if they do not win the business

Today’s key account manager realises that they need to be in the customer’s heart, not in their face. To truly win in today’s world of KAM…it requires an intentional approach to the relationship. And to understand the nuances of operating in today’s modern marketplace and customer dynamics.

I’m sure you’ll agree that we need to reframe our thinking and challenge some of the norms. To quote my guest on this episode, Chris Ortolano: “we need to make SHIFT happen.”

Reflections from this episode:

Chris is a sales process consultant, and it was interesting to hear his views on:

• The role of a KAM in today’s world
• How we can understand and manage the different preferences of contacts in a meeting
• How to foster a collaborative problem-solving conversation with clients to become more of a facilitator in ‘round table’ discussions.

Once you’ve listened to the episode, here are some reflections & questions for you:

If KAM in today’s world is one-part Strategic Account Manager, one-part technical account manager, one part project manager: how are you managing the different hats that you wear and ensuring that you are showing up intentionally in your customer interactions?

If our credibility lies in bringing good ideas to the table and facilitating a conversation, then: what ideas do you have in your toolkit and what skills do you have when it comes to facilitating great conversations?

Give yourself some marks out of ten and then ask ‘how can I improve my score?’

I really like the idea Chris talks about in creating a ‘glossary of terms’

An agreed and globally understood glossary that helps us really understand each other’s definition of the language that we will use in our key account relationships. What better way to sanity check understanding and build rapport?

How would you rate your rapport-building skills? Is rapport building a natural thing for you or are you setting about it as an intentional objective with focus and rigour?

Think about your last customer meeting:

• How well did you ‘work the room’ to include all the different personalities that were present in the conversation?
• What are the ‘what if’ scenarios that you are using to invite customers into a collaborative space to explore new ideas and new thinking?

I’d really encourage you to think about how you can bring a conversation about unknowns into your customer meetings. Tee it up in advance and invite the customer to bring their ideas.

How well do you understand your clients’ priorities?

Next time you’re in a customer conversation, perhaps you want to try out the What, which, why technique –

• What are the 3 most important things with regards to X
• Which 1 of those things is most important?
• Why is that?

With problems being so complex – gone are the days with pre-defined slide decks to demonstrate our solution and now is the time to work with visual tools to bring solutions to life WITH the customer in a collaborative conversation.

Start thinking of a review meeting more like a workshop…that requires interaction.

Loads of ideas here to get you going on your quest to define the role of a KAM in today’s world and YOUR business.

Event for KAM Pros: KAMCon 2021

We mention this event in this episode, so here are all the details for you. We’re really excited to share that we will be recording some really special content for show, live at KAMCon London on September 9^th 2021.

We are partnering with the event hosts to bring you fresh conversations with innovative, expert KAM voices straight from KAMCon.  KAMCon is hosted by a friend of the show, Alex Raymond, and the team at KAPTA and gives KAM professionals the chance to hear from a line-up of expert speakers and industry voices who’ll be sharing innovative ideas, proven methodologies and personal experiences.

The intimate conference brings together leaders in account management from multiple industries to connect, learn, and grow. It’s going to be a great day and, as listeners of KAMCast, you have the option to get a 20% discount off the ticket price by using our discount code of KAMCAST2021

Just head over to the event page to book your ticket. This is an event all about Professional KAM for KAM professionals so don’t miss out. Come and say hello!

Find out more about my guest: Chris Ortolano

Chris is the founder of Outbound Edge, a sales process consultancy business, set up in 2017. He comes from a background working in companies in the Energy, Brand Communications and Lead Gen software sectors, where he held accounting and IT roles. Today he specialises in the sales process and solving complex problems by aligning processes with internal champions, engaging stakeholders and facilitating strategic decision-making.

He specifically focuses on the niche area of Product Tours, which he describes as interactive click-through demonstrations that strategic-minded KAMs can use to create a meticulous customer experience before, during and after meetings with their key contacts.

Chris is also the community manager and founder at SalesStack, an online community for emerging B2B SaaS leaders to exchange and test new ideas.

You can find out more about him on his website, connect with him on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter.