Becoming an extraordinary account manager

Picture credit: StartupStockPhotos

Good day...

The title account manager or account management role is normally associated with sales and marketing work. Whether you are agree or not with the statement, I found that project manager role is closely related with account management work.

By definition, an account manager should maintain a close relationship with her customers, either to generate immediate sales or to secure more purchase orders in the future. As a project manager, program manager, or portfolio manager, the objective of applying a good account management skill is more specifically to ensure the  necessary support from your key stakeholders, including your project sponsor, internal customers, and business owners.

In my view, running the role as a project manager indirectly implies that you are selling your project to your sponsors while securing a mutually positive longer term relationship. In addition to that, as a portfolio manager, your role is very close to an account manager (see my other posting on account management). In most cases, within an organization the portfolio you are managing consists of a business or support functions, with the head and members of the particular function are your internal customers. When you are working for a consultant organization, your portfolio is normally the organization you are assigned to. In both situations, a strong account management skill is key to your success.

As with other management role, one key to be successful is close communication with your customers. In this case, a regular account meeting with your key customers (normally the business head and her direct reports) is a must. Once the account meeting is scheduled, you need to maximize the one or two hour session to build an interactive discussion, make the necessary commitments by both sides, share the longer term vision and initiatives of both sides. It is also very important that you use the account meeting to build the trust of your customers to your ability to deliver the project you are assigned to, as well as, to manage their initiatives portfolio.

A concise and informative dashboard should also be shared with your customers on regular basis. in a project, your customers would be interested to understand the progress of their projects on periodic basis, could be weekly, bi-weekly or monthly, depending on the project duration and what phase of the project you are currently on.

You might also want to maintain a strong personal and professional relationship with each (or at least majority) of your stakeholders. Consistent and prompt response to their queries through e-mails, phone calls, whatsapp chat, and other means is mandatory to achieve the strong relationship and a high degree of trust. Delivering your commitments and closely communicating the progress of the actions being previously agreed are also key in this realm.

Just a tip, you might want to take a sales or account management course to be more advanced in this role.

Edwin