How does it work?

How the Academy Works Series

Success as a company demands success with your most important customers – your key or strategic accounts which bring you the majority of your sales, profit and growth.

Success in account management means generating long term profitable growth with these customers which means that traditional selling and discounting models are unlikely to be effective.

Success in account management means giving your account managers high levels of ongoing support and development. This won’t be achieved in a two-day training course each year - but this can be expensive in terms of time and money.

The online Key Account Academy provides you with a flexible, cost-effective solution to ongoing account management development.

The material is based on the highly successful two –year Elite Managers’ Program. It is modular so you can select the content most relevant to you.

With just one hour per week of personal study (plus time for group discussion and personal coaching) the Account Manager can learn all of the important concepts.

You can run the entire program in-house using your own team or you can bring in local external trainers and coaches as you require.

The program blends self-study with group working and group exercises and 1-1 coaching to create a comprehensive long term skills development program.

The material is modular and each module starts with a definition of High Performance – in other words this is what we expect to see from a high performing Account Manager. The Account Manager and company can use this High Performance definition to measure the current state and to define the desired future state.

 

The development approach uses five steps to support the account manager:

Step 1

Self-study – learn what to do using the online skills modules – video and Personal Work Book. The modular material is divided into bite-sized Units so ease of study. The Personal Work Book can be downloaded and provides the manager with a permanent record. The Manager completes exercises and work relevant to the Module.

Step 2

Self-reflection, coaching and planning – knowing what to do, the Manager now considers how best to do it given the Manager’s unique situation. This thinking process is supported with self-reflection exercises, self-coaching and preparing a draft Action Plan.

Step 3

Group working and practice – group working is an essential part of development because it enables the Account Managers to practice the skills and discuss the issues in a safe environment before implementing with the customer. The group session is the ideal place to rehearse and prepare as well as practice. The Manager meets colleagues either face to face or online and, using the recommended session agenda in the Module Work Book, discusses the issues, addresses questions, practises skills and shares knowledge and experience. The Manager also presents his or her draft Action Plan for comment and input from the group. The group session can be self-managed, overseen by an internal company manager or by an external coach – you can choose your preferred route. 

Step 4

Implementation with the customer – the Manager revises the Action Plan based on the group feedback and implements the Plan with the customer. 

Step 5

One to one Coaching – the Manager reviews progress so far along with opportunities using 1-1 coaching (we recommend the GROW format). The 1-1 coaching can be conducted internally by a manager or you can use a local external coach as you prefer.

 

Once the Module is complete and the Manager is satisfied with progress, the Manager moves onto the next Module in the series. 

The Academy uses a simple cost-effective subscription model. Most companies will choose to subscribe their Managers for 12 months at the equivalent cost of $50/month per Manager.

If you run the program in-house then this is your only cost. 

If you choose to bring in external Coaches then you simply agree the payment directly with the local Coach.

The Academy is developing a list of preferred external independent Coaches each of whom will have at least three personal recommendations and will be able to support you to implement the program.

Any questions – just let us know at info@KeyAccountAcademy.org