Account manager: who is he and what does he do?

Business success depends a lot on your ability to attract and retain customers. This will not only make the business stable, but also significantly expand it. You can work with clients in different ways. You can, for example, create a customer service in the form of a call center in an enterprise. But issues requiring personal or in-depth communication cannot be fully resolved through outsourcers.

Therefore, in most enterprises, in the face of a significantly increasing number of customers, in order to maintain constant contact with them and improve service, the position of a customer service manager is introduced into the staff.

At first glance, the two positions — sales manager and account manager — are not much different. However, the functionality of the client manager is much broader: from the search, attraction and long-term retention of new clients to the process of full support of contractual relations during the transaction and after the fulfillment of contractual obligations. The professional performance of this specialist is critical to the profitability and image of the company.

A customer service manager begins to contact interested customers, when they are not yet real counterparties, advises them on all positions and purchase conditions of interest, product features. It happens that a client is interested in only one item from the product line, but in the process of communication, he can be interested in other items of the assortment.The client manager professionally identifies the client's needs and guides him towards purchasing those options that can solve the problem more successfully. It is very important to be able to form a partner's need for the services of his company. The client's repeated contact to the company indicates that the account manager is successfully coping with his professional duties.

In the modern market, it is important for manufacturers to attract and retain corporate clients who use bulk purchases in their activities, which guarantees cost-effective long-term cooperation, which will bring a significant part of the profit to the supplier's balance for many years or even decades.

Recently, the position of a manager for work with key clients has become very significant - large consumers of the offered products, capable of providing the supplier with the greatest income. It is with their requests that key partners are able to induce suppliers of goods and services to change the direction of their business development in market conditions, apply innovations and always remain relevant and in demand in their market niche. It is the key account managers who bring their home firm considerable income and, as a result, overfulfillment of profit indicators.

An employee of this qualification influences the formation of prices according to special conditions, the system of discounts and offered bonuses in partnership with clients, and develops provisions in contracts. It is this specialist who does everything possible to find and apply an individual approach to each partner. Building such an approach and taking into account all the wishes of the client is an important component of high-quality service, which provides a sustainable competitive advantage and a guarantee of long-term partnership.

Career growth is always guaranteed for an effective key account manager. Subsequently, he will be able to take the position of the head of the sales department, director of development or commercial director. The new position is determined by the number of successful and repeat transactions. The professional activity of a client manager involves the defense of mutual commercial interests. In addition, the client manager remembers all the nuances of partner interaction.

The list of functions of the client manager is determined by the job description. The main of all functional duties is full support of clients.

Standard responsibilities:

• mail and document flow;
• interaction with contractors and partners;
• receiving incoming calls and messages by e-mail;
• multi-channel informing partners about new products and promotions;
• ensuring a high level of service provided services.

The key features are:

• search for clients, meetings with them and negotiations;
• consulting on contractual issues;
• receiving and processing orders and tracking the timeliness of their implementation;
• conclusion of contracts and execution of all accompanying documents to them.

The work cycle of a specialist consists of stages.

• Formation of a customer base in the databank, updating information and regularly making changes to the information system. Of particular importance for this are the accumulated personal connections with potential clients from the target audience of competitive companies. An updated customer base in addition to the existing ready-made one can give a quick stimulating effect to the development of the customer acquisition process.Among the methods for attracting potential partners and increasing interest, the manager uses calls, meetings, advertising campaigns, presentations and then, processing the incoming stream, receives and processes customer orders.
• Appointment by phone.
• Preparation for the meeting and further negotiations according to the proposals that interested the clients and accepted the offer.
• Establishing contact: the manager proves to the client that his proposal is mutually beneficial, discusses the draft agreement, coordinates disagreements.
• Identifying needs:
  • introduces the entire product line;
  • coordinates orders if there is an assortment.
• Presentation of goods or services - invites clients to exhibitions, fairs, presentations of new products.
• Work with objections. Using the feedback, the manager establishes all cases of customer dissatisfaction, their claims, and takes measures to eliminate them.
• Closing the deal. Prepares meetings at which contracts are concluded.
• Post-contractual support of the transaction:
  • carries out all the necessary actions to support the execution of the contract;
  • ensures the completeness of the provision of goods or services;
  • monitors the observance of the rights of partners by the divisions of the enterprise.
• Taking a recommendation using recommendation marketing techniques as a key promotion strategy. Formation of a positive reputation of the company among clients to create a steady stream of them and stimulate repeated calls.

In order to be optimistic about the development and prosperity of their business, companies strive to strengthen relationships with existing customers and acquire connections with new stable partners. Creating new relationships to get an even larger target segment, genuinely interested in interaction, is entrusted to the account manager. He searches for them, using all kinds of channels and platforms to attract new acquaintances and friendly contacts.

The most effective way to develop, allowing you to solve a wide range of tasks to strengthen the image, increase sales and identify the circle of consumers interested in business partnerships is participation in exhibitions, fairs and presentations... They provide an opportunity to meet with all existing and new clients, establish personal contact with hundreds of domestic and even foreign partners, allow you to seize attention, set a course and demonstrate the potential of your business. It is a proven methodology that has not failed for many years in strengthening existing strong relationships and acquiring new customers.

Besides, the job functions of this specialist also consist in forecasting the prospects for cooperation, business reputation and reliability of attracted potential customers. Each problematic potential client has a number of signs that give him away even before the start of cooperation.

The position of a client manager implies that he is simply obliged to study the entire range of manufactured goods and perfectly know the full range of services offered, be able to demonstrate their strengths at presentations, skillfully drawing attention to a competitive advantage in order to interest potential customers in cooperation. Excellent knowledge of the product being sold is a significant advantage for product promotion.

To ensure the financial prosperity and well-being of the enterprise, the first and very important step of an effective strategy should be taken - analyze the buyers' market using traditional or innovative methods. Segmenting the market and identifying promising groups of potential consumers for the types of products provided by the company will allow you to determine your target audience with its needs and requests.

The results of the analysis can show which measures to attract the attention of clients to the activities of the company will be effective and how they can be applied. The account manager makes the development of methods for finding potential customers and develops communication schemes coordinated with the results of the analysis.

To build an effective competitive strategy, the account manager monitors competitors, to understand the goals of their companies:

• makes an analysis in order to identify their weak and strong points;
• identifies opportunities and takes into account hazards;
• studies all aspects of their business activities.

The manager maintains constant communication and ensures interaction with existing customers, with small retail chain stores and large retailers through interactive dialogue by fax, e-mail, chat or using traditional mail. Drawing up monthly reports, analyzing the results of his professional activities, he must bring in his most effective practices to motivate clients to cooperate in accordance with the sales promotion programs approved by the company.

To ensure uninterrupted work, client managers in matters of their competence interact with all main and auxiliary divisions of the company. An experienced client manager is often entrusted with issues of quality control of customer service from related departments.

Everything related to the rights and responsibilities of the account manager is included in the job description:

• have all confidential information that contributes to the solution of professional tasks;
• to propose to the management the ways and methods of increasing the efficiency of their work, growth and development of the enterprise;
• demand from the management to create optimal conditions for the performance of their duties;
• make decisions and take actions within their competence.

This employee is largely responsible for the image, business reputation of the company, contributing to long-term partnership. It happens that the company loses its customers due to the unfair performance or non-performance by the client-manager of his job functional duties for customer service.

That's why he is responsible for all cases of violation of his duties, non-compliance with the requirements imposed on him by the employer in local regulations, negligence and delinquency. This entails the measures established by labor law. For committed offenses, the manager is held accountable within the framework established by the Administrative or Criminal Code.

The job description describes all the qualifications or, in other words, the requirements for the position of this specialist. He must know all the provisions of the current legislation concerning the conduct and implementation of entrepreneurial activities, as well as the theory of economic and business processes and management decisions, financial analytics of modern companies.

Each client manager must have an understanding of the basic modern principles, methods and elements of marketing and advertising. In addition, the specifics of the activities of their enterprise, the range and quality characteristics of the products. Employers strive to find a smart and active employee who can make sure that all issues are resolved on time, and even VIP clients feel that there is a person who cares about solving problems with their needs. In addition, they are primarily looking for a person. with a high level of sociability, who himself knows how to see problems and find a solution for them.

The professional standard of a manager assumes the ratio of a certain level of qualifications to the education that a specialist has, and also determines specific requests for the practical experience of a candidate for a position. The professional standard describes the labor functions of this employee.

Work tasks:

• control;
• control;
• reporting.

An important professional skill is the ability to make the right decisions in ambiguous and controversial situations. The manager should be sociable and follow the rules of ethical behavior. He must be able to work autonomously and in a team.

In addition to professional and communication skills, the client manager must be able to properly design a loyalty program. A successful employee in this area must be able to establish all contractual and accompanying processes in the office and control the work of sales-related departments.

Therefore, it is desirable to have:

• experience in organizing business negotiations;
• possession of the rules of business etiquette.

In practice, employers, when hiring a specialist, present him with the following requirements:

• higher education;
• computer literacy;
• correct speech;
• sales experience.

And from the personality traits:

• activity;
• positivity;
• focus on results.

Sometimes you need a good knowledge of a foreign language, a license to drive a car and the presence of your own transport. The list of personal character traits that will help fulfill the requirements in the relevant position: organizational skills, conscientiousness, punctuality, independence, patience and flexibility.

The professional standard determines that the education of the applicant must be higher professional in the specialty "Management" or secondary specialized, but necessarily supplemented by retraining courses in management. High career lability today is becoming an increasingly popular tactic of professional development. Many specialists change careers, retraining and discovering new areas for themselves. At the same time, there are more and more opportunities for education and self-education. Therefore, higher professional economic, legal or psychological education is allowed. An alternative to a second higher education, which will take several years, could be additional training in management theory.

It is very important for business development if client managers periodically improve their skills at various training events, courses, trainings and online courses. To build a successful career, to become a senior or senior manager and even take a leadership position as head of customer service, a specialist needs to strive to increase his professional level.

Professional growth implies knowledge of the theory of sales, products and services offered by the company. To be noticed by the management, it is necessary to strive to become competitive in comparison with specialists of this level in other companies. Focus on tasks, responsiveness, attention to detail, and a good memory are essential. And in order to have the necessary skills for quality work, a specialist has the right to count on periodic training at the expense of the employer.