Ever wondered why some companies never lose a client?
The answer lies in highly effective account managers.
Account managers are the proactive pillars of managing customer accounts ensuring business needs are met while maintaining client satisfaction. 61% of companies report an increase in revenue and profits due to strategic account management programs.
While customers mostly interact with account managers to seek day-to-day assistance, managers do a lot more than managing accounts. They build lasting customer relationships, forecast client needs, and encourage business growth.
In this blog, we will explore 6 key traits of efficient account managers that improve customer satisfaction and drive revenue.
You can use these traits in pre-employment testing as well to hire the right talent. Let’s get started!
6 Key Traits of Highly Effective Account Managers
Here are the 6 key traits of highly effective account managers:
1. Excellent Communication Skills
Communication is a non-negotiable skill that every account manager must have. The primary responsibility of an account manager is to communicate and solve issues customers experience.
This skill is a key factor in making or breaking customer relationships, ensuring customer preferences are understood and their needs are met.
The micro-skills required are:
- Active listening:
Pro account managers listen before replying. They focus on every word the client says while explaining their needs and challenges. This attentiveness is showcased by maintaining eye contact, nodding frequently, and not interrupting in between.
- Persuasive approach:
Account managers can’t be pushy, so they possess the ability to present the company’s products or services with a detailed explanation of their features and advantages. When clients understand the benefits and value proposition, the chances of their making a sale increases.
A persuasive approach uses data-driven insights and customer behavior analysis, allowing account managers to align solutions with customer needs and business goals.
- Clear and consistent messaging:
The ability to eliminate technical jargon and simplify complex features and offerings is an essential skill. Clients must understand the value proposition to make informed decisions.
This includes consistent delivery of project updates, campaign insights, and vital issues.
2. Prior experience and background
Effective account managers don’t straightaway start managing accounts, they spend years gaining experience in executing marketing campaigns, sales, and customer service. This hands-on experience builds an impressive track record that helps them to understand the real world challenges customers face.
But why is it so important?
- Background in operational roles:
Starting a career by working on the front lines builds perspective and credibility. A background in sales, marketing, and other business operations develops the ability to interpret the intricacies of project execution and address challenges faced by team members.
- Establish trust and credibility:
Only 40% of B2B customers who are satisfied with their account manager (AM) are fully engaged. This engagement is severely impacted by the credibility the AM holds. Clients and internal teams trust someone with a proven track record who can address issues with a practical approach. This builds strong relationships and influences account growth.
- Staying updated:
A prior experience in operational roles promotes constant learning and involvement in industry discussions. Experienced AMs participate in project meetings, brainstorming sessions, and problem-solving exercises. This helps them to give impactful advice and work closely with internal team members, and ultimately enhance employee performance. One simple but often overlooked way to keep everything running smoothly is by mapping out team bandwidth with weekly timesheet templates.
3. Avoiding generic approach
It is important to understand that every client is unique in terms of their preferences, objectives, and challenges. Using the same approach for every customer degrades account management and results in client dissatisfaction.
Account managers must follow a personalized approach to enhance client satisfaction and position themselves as a trusted advisor. Here are some ways to avoid a generic approach:
- Deep client knowledge:
Pro account managers are willing to invest time in understanding each client individually. This includes learning about their industry, business history, and needs. A deep understanding of the client helps identify opportunities and craft tailored strategies that drive better results.
- Campaign personalization:
Targeting every customer with the same campaign wastes resources. Instead, personalized campaigns align with the client’s unique goals, target audience, and messaging needs. By customizing campaigns for maximum relevance, account managers increase client satisfaction and achieve higher ROI.
- Leadership vs. Management:
Best account managers lead clients rather than just managing them. They play a vital role in guiding clients toward their goals by providing insights and practical advice. By employing leadership qualities, AMs establish trust, handle teams, and acknowledge clients. This approach positions AMs as credible advisors, fostering a collaborative relationship with the client.
4. Result-oriented mindset
Account managers must be proactive, not reactive.
This means they must proactively understand the client’s needs and deliver instant solutions. They shouldn’t wait for the customer to encounter obstacles; rather, they must identify the problem beforehand and address it.
Let’s understand this closely:
- “No excuses” mindset:
Top account managers don’t just manage accounts—they find opportunities to upsell and cross-sell by analyzing market trends and aligning them with client needs. Their focus is on driving results, taking responsibility, and doing whatever it takes to create value for both the company and the client.
- Understanding business goals:
Effective account managers have a clear understanding of both their company’s and their client’s goals. By aligning business strategies with client objectives and sales data, they ensure that their efforts lead to mutual success and long-term growth.
- Strategic planning:
A results-driven approach involves identifying key accounts, prioritizing business objectives, and developing strategic plans to enhance performance. By focusing on key performance metrics, account managers can improve client retention, drive upsells, and maximize revenue growth.
5. Problem-solving abilities
Amidst the chaos, an AM keeps a cool head and focuses on solving problems. They comprehend problems with creativity and resilience, seeing them as an opportunity for growth. This proactiveness promotes prompt problem-solving, resulting in customer satisfaction and loyalty. The key abilities required are:
- Anticipating challenges:
Account managers track client feedback, market trends, and daily business operations to identify areas requiring immediate attention. This helps them anticipate challenges, develop contingency plans, and eliminate potential risks.
- Creativity:
Creativity is the one thing that transforms challenges into opportunities. AMs think outside the box and collaborate with teams to formulate unconventional solutions. They transform problems into questions. For example:
- Problem—Recent marketing campaigns are not generating expected results.
- Question—How can we improve campaigns and align them with the target audience’s preferences to yield optimal results?
This creative approach delivers a unique service and improves client satisfaction.
- Resilience:
Experienced account managers remain resilient and adaptable in challenging situations.
They know when to seek help and leverage other departments to gain insights. AMs collaborate, strategize, and adjust operations to address problems with expertise, maintaining strong client relationships.
6. Business acumen
High-performing account managers are capable of accurate business judgments and interpreting market trends in favor of the company and their clients.
They rely on fact-based decision-making to identify opportunities, mitigate risks, and stay valuable in an ever-changing business landscape.
Some important aspects of business acumen include:
- Industry knowledge:
Experienced account managers stay updated on market trends, industry shifts, and competitor activities. By understanding the broader business landscape, they can anticipate client needs and proactively offer relevant solutions.
- Data-driven decision-making:
Account managers use data analytics to make informed decisions. They analyze client behavior, sales data, and market trends to identify opportunities and risks. This analysis ensures they remain responsive to evolving client preferences and market shifts.
- Balancing intuition with data:
Account managers balance fact-based considerations with their intuition and experience. They not only rely on intuition but also use industry evidence for good business judgment. Merging intuition and facts allows account managers to make fact-based, practical, and strategic decisions.
Effective account managers fuel growth
Acquiring new clients is costlier than retaining the existing ones. Existing clients contribute substantially to a company’s recurring revenue, so it is important to nurture them.
One of the key ways to maintain engagement with clients is by leveraging an email list to share updates, personalised recommendations, and exclusive offers. This ensures ongoing communication and strengthens customer relationships.
With the right traits, account managers can skyrocket business growth and improve client satisfaction.
Skilled account managers do more than oversee client accounts, they act as a bridge to fill the communication gap between the company and its clients. They master communication, think outside the box, personalize interactions, and build strong business acumen to foster long-term growth.
Start implementing the key traits mentioned in this blog today and employ the best account manager.
About the Author:
Joy D’Cruz – a content marketing specialist currently working with SaSHunt. Joy has a keen interest in researching topics related to B2B and SaaS. During weekends, he enjoys spending time watching YouTube.