IN THIS EPISODE...

Sales and Marketing is like stealing your neighbour’s cat…and in this episode, I talk to Bryony Thomas at Watertight Marketing to find out why.

Bryony is the creator of the Watertight Marketing methodology, captured in her best-selling book of the same name which acts as the hub to a suite of thinking tools that have been designed and refined over two decades and across over 2000 organisations.

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𝗕𝗥𝗬𝗢𝗡𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗠𝗔𝗦 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

Bryony is an award-winning speaker, author, marketing strategist and the creator of the proven Watertight Marketing Methodology. She stops people from wasting money on marketing.

In 2008, she left her corporate role as Director of Marketing for Experian, a FTSE100 company, and set up her own consultancy. She believes that small businesses are a real lever of meaningful and sustainable change in the world, and she has built a proven methodology to help them to do just that.

Through her 12-month marketing transformation programme, book and speaking she reaches audiences far and wide, and today also has a team of licensed Watertight Marketing Practitioners.

𝗗𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗗 𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗔 𝗕𝗜𝗢:

David is the principal KAM Consultant & Managing Director at Front¢re, a specialist Key Account Management training and consultancy business, based in the UK.

David is a Speaker, Author and Performance Coach with more than a decade of hands-on and consultative experience in sales and management roles in the leisure, entertainment and telecoms industries.

IN THIS EPISODE

Do you tell your clients that you work in partnership?

What evidence do you have to reassure them that the statement is, in fact, true?

What are the qualities of a good partnership?

Does your team possess the skills required to forge strong win:win relationships, built on trust, transparency, transparency, comfort with change and interdependence and a focus on the future?

In this episode, I invite Fred Copestake, a sales consultant and trainer specialising in complex B2b sales environments, to get into this topic with me. He has spent the last 22 years travelling around the world to develop salespeople, in over 200 companies, to move from the transactional selling styles of yesteryear, into the collaborative selling styles of today and shaping the ‘business partners’ of the future.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE:

As you will by now know, here at Front¢re we are big believers in fostering a ‘valued partner’ relationship with your most important customers/clients. Partnering with your clients should be more than just a statement, more than something you simply ‘say’ on your website. It should be lived in the values, attitudes, behaviours, and skills within your teams and consistently demonstrated in your most important customer relationships.

In my discussion with Fred, we dig into his concept of ‘PQ – Partnering intelligence’. (He has even written a book on it). We talk about what the concept is, and what qualities we should be developing and demonstrating in our key account relationships.

You will hear us talk through:

• The three biggest challenges that senior leaders will see when they look at their sales teams. As Fred describes - are your teams:

1. Displaying ‘busy busy busy’ behaviours where busyness is getting in the way of business?
2. Are they thinking in the ‘olde worlde’ ways and struggling to see new, and change, as a force for good and opportunity?
3. Do they have a ‘muddled mindset’ where the focus switches as we get closer to month-end and the targets take over?

• How we need to get comfortable with serving the customer whilst working together as equals - with mutual trust and respect.
• How do you feel about the notion that the customer isn’t, in fact, king (despite the old saying) and that we should see them as respected peers who are there to work with us to deliver mutually beneficial win:win growth?
• What the future of selling could look like in this fast-moving and ever-changing marketplace we work in.

KILLER QUESTIONS SEGMENT

In each episode we ask you, our listener, a killer question that is designed to get you reflecting on your business, your KAM Culture and where changes in thinking and behaviour could lead to increased customer success. In this episode we asked Fred to give us his killer question which was:

“Why would you NOT use partnering intelligence to build relationships with your most important

customers?”

There you have it. It's logical to just naturally want to build PQ into your sales skills toolkit – isn’t it?

Quick ref to a link we mention in our discussion:

Fred mentioned his PQ (Partnering Intelligence) Self Audit which you can take. Find out your Sales PQ now using this diagnostic tool.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MY GUEST: FRED COPESTAKE

Fred is the founder of Brindis, a sales training consultancy...

IN THIS EPISODE

How ‘in tune’ are you with the qualities, traits and characteristics that make up your personality?

How does your personality affect the results you have with your key account relationships?

If you are in tune with who YOU are, let me ask: how well can you read other people?

Do you use your knowledge and reflection to change the way you behave to better your chances of success? Or…do you act the same in every interaction you have with your customer contacts?

In this episode, we take a dive into an important topic in the world of building customer relationships: how well do you adapt your communication style with different customers?

I am going to challenge you to consider, for a moment, that rather than thinking of yourself as a classically labelled sales person… what if you were called a sales practitioner. In that vein…you could say: rather than being an account manager you were an account management practitioner.

How does that sit with you? Can you see how the change in language brings a change in focus?

To be a practitioner, you must continue to practice. To practice indicates that growth, development and improvement is always possible and we cannot sit back and assume that perfection has been attained.

Think of this episode as a moment to pause, reflect and decide how you will practice this imperative skill ofshaping your communications style and personality preferences to elevate your results with your most important customers.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE:

This is a full episode in 30mins of pure notable and actionable takeaways – so get your pen and pad out (and be sure to look at the full show notes on the website - as I couldn't put all the graphics in here for you).

To be an effective Key Account Manager in today’s world means more than simply being a well-trained salesperson, adept with the skills to win more business and sustain relationships.

Whether you are a ‘hunter’ or, as with many Key Account Managers, a ‘farmer’, the playing field has changed, and we now work in an environment where it is less about ‘how you sell’ and more about ‘why the customer buys’

Some of the topics I share and discuss my views on in this episode cover:

• Evolving old ABC to new ABC

Consider updating Glengarry Glen Ross’ ABC - Always Be Closing, to a more modern KAM- related ABC of:

Analyse how the customer thinks and works

Build a bridge to their world and

Communicate in their language not yours

• The impact your FILTERS have on your brain’s processing of information (Through our five senses, the human body sends 11 million bits of information per second to the brain for processing, yet the conscious mind seems to be able to process only 50 bits per second!
• An account manager’s true roles is to influence with integrity and support the customer to CHOOSE the right solution for them.
• Using a psychometric tool to help you to assess and analyse how you “show up” (consciously / unconsciously) – does not give you a ‘free pass’ to behave in ‘stereotype’. Rather, they are designed to help you to (honestly) assess yourself and design your own results through adaptation and flexibility. (I share more below about how we use the Lumina Spark Model we use with clients here at Front¢re –...

IN THIS EPISODE

Do you have LOYAL customers?

What does loyalty mean to you? Is it a destination where happy customers, who love what you do, gather to bathe in the success that your product or service has brought them? Or is it more than that…? Rather than a destination, is it an on-going journey of moments that inspire your loyal customers to commit to you, time and time again, whilst shouting from the rooftops to all who will hear their recommendation to work with you?

How often do you find yourself telling your clients that you are different?

And, when you are comparing your business to your competition, could you - hand on heart - say that you truly offer something that no one else does?

The likelihood is, as we’ve said so many times here on KAMCast, is that the real difference is in you, our team and the EXPERIENCE you provide your customers.

In a journey of moments, how well do you craft an experience that inspires your clients to commit data, time and eventually money before starting the whole cycle again?

Do you deliberately and intentionally inspire the emotions YOU need in your clients to motivate them to WANT the products and services you can offer?

In this episode, I am joined by Drew Davis, bestselling author and internationally acclaimed speaker. He was dialing in from across the pond, so you’ll have to forgive the odd connection glitch in the matrix on the recording!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE:

In our conversation, we look at how Key Account Managers need to be thinking more like marketeers in the way they inspire their key clients - constantly engineering what Drew calls ‘The Loyalty Loop’ for repeat business and account growth.

You’ll hear us talk about the 7 key drivers of the Loyalty Loop and how we can create a series of customer interactions/encounters that leave an impression. (Which ultimately grows the revenue with your key accounts.) Listen to the full episode to hear the detail.

The drivers are:

1. Raise anticipation
2. Maximise the honeymoon phase
3. Re-inspire them
4. Answering their trigger questions
5. Scale comradery (at KAMGuru we refer to this as KAM being a team sport)
6. Remove friction from the experience
7. Crucial concern (YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO THIS ONE)

Through our really interactive discussion we talk about:

• identifying moments of commitment
• engineering the emotions you need your customers to feel at the right moments in the customer journey (Drew suggests quite simply for you to attach the appropriate emoji to each interaction to gauge if you’re getting it right for the customer)
• how KAM, as a team sport, maximises the value of your brand-to-person relationships (getting the sales and marketing team to work with you on the customer's journey of moments)
• where to start to craft different experiences that see you really standing OUT from your competition

My reflections from this episode…

I really loved the 7 drivers of the loyalty loop. I feel like they help us focus our attention on deliberately engineering a seamless and ongoing journey of interactions the leave an impression, increase customer growth and retention and leave a legacy that you and the team can be proud of.

One of my big takeaways was a confirmation that if you create a great experience and concentrate on loyalty - you get more of the clients you want and charge more for what you do because the experience is different

Your reflections from this...

IN THIS EPISODE...

When was the last time you had a conversation about racism?

Perhaps, like so many, these conversations are triggered within your circles, by high-profile cases of injustice in the media or by your own personal experiences on the receiving end of overt or covert prejudice.

Or perhaps… like so many, you have NEVER had a conversation, within your circles, about racism. What about at work, in your business, with your team, or with your customers?

This episode is a conversation about race in KAM. And where KAM is all about effectiveness, I really wanted to explore this important subject that can consciously or unconsciously impair your ability to maximise the success and growth of your most important customers.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE...

With diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and anti-racism high on the agenda in the business world, I think it is so important that we have these conversations.

My wish is that, by listening to this episode, it will spark a conversation within your business, and with your team and that the learning, the growth, and the empathy continues.

We venture into a discussion that includes:

• talking about our own experiences of race in the workplace (including the privilege I acknowledge as a white male in business)
• exploring how bias may show up in the engagements with customers and business partners
• discussing the role of an ‘ally’ and how getting comfortable with the uncomfortable conversations can create truly empathetic relationships

What are your reflections after listing to our conversation?

How are you going to continue the conversation and who with? I wonder what your experiences have been, whether on the receiving end of prejudice or from a place of privilege.

Has race or racism ever impaired your effectiveness with your key accounts?

Understanding the context and communities we are sitting in, day to day, week to week, month to month is key to empowering our teams to maximise relationships

What is your organisational response against racism?

What awareness do you have of your own biases and how can you raise that awareness when interacting with others?

How much attention do you pay to the evolution of language and are you running the risk of using outdated terminology that could offend your contacts and peers?

With understanding being a key driver for KAM relationships - how does this conversation about race help us understand each other and ourselves better to maximise the relationships with key customers?

I’d like to thank you for listening to this episode today and, in doing so, taking part in this important conversation. If you have something you’d like to share or throw into the conversation, please do get in touch.

KILLER QUESTION SEGMENT

In each episode, we ask you, our listener, a killer question that is designed to get you reflecting on your business, your KAM Culture, and where changes in thinking and behaviour could lead to increased customer success.

In this episode I asked Sharon to give us her killer question which was:

“How much better would your account management be if you were to work intentionally on the

biases that might impact your decision...

IN THIS EPISODE:

Key account management is a beautifully simple business basic…one that isn’t that easy! If it was, we’d all be doing it brilliantly wouldn’t we?

Like most working practices in business, there are a handful of common, or typical reasons why a KAM culture struggles to get off the ground in an organisation. In this episode, I seek to shine a glaring light on the assassins of good KAM practice.

The intent for this episode is this: we’re big believers in shining a light on vulnerabilities in a business – it serves as a wonderful opportunity to mitigate risks, develop and create new ways of working and foster better ways of thinking.

In this episode, David shares the experiences we’ve had in working with clients. Some of these clients have called for our support as a result of experiencing the loss of a customer and realising their vulnerabilities way too late.

Others have started their respective KAM-Paigns to implement a KAM Culture and the momentum has dwindled and progress halted, caused by one or several of the reasons shared in this episode.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE:

We’d urge you to bookmark this episode and make sure that you listen to it properly – dig really deep and reflect. It could be the spur you need to make a long-term systemic change which could in turn could bring meaningful (and profitable) transformative change.

Here are the highlights that David walks you through on the 5 reasons your KAM programme is more than likely failing:

#1 Your Key Account criteria lacks focus & clarity

Do you and your team know who your key accounts are and why they are qualified as “key”? Yep, a simple one right? But so many businesses miss this.

I find that this lack of clarity often comes from a place of assumption. Assumption that the key accounts are simply the largest ones. The accounts that make up the lion’s share of revenue or profit.

For me, the true definition of a key account is whatever is, or whatever will be, important to your business.

It’s so important to reach a focus and clarity of the defining characteristics of a key account in your business. Without that, a KAM programme runs the risk of becoming something we talk about rather than do.

(Listen to the episode to get the 5 reflective questions you need to ask yourself).

#2 The customer’s voice isn’t being heard

When was the last time you proactively sought feedback from your key contacts at your most important customers?

And did that feedback make its way back to the business, into your team discussions and shape the way you engage with that customer going forward?

We spend a lot of time making decisions that impact the customer and creating products and services that deliver an end value for the customer… and yet, all too often, we do this whilst sat around a boardroom table, without a customer in sight.

In the world of KAM, the customer’s perception becomes your reality…

#3 Your KAM strategy is shot down by friendly fire

We believe that key account management is a team sport. It’s not a job for lone heroes who go where nobody has gone before, in pursuit of commercial glory.

Key account management is, in many ways, part of everyone’s job within the company. Looking at it simply, maybe there are only two groups of people within an organisation?

There is a group of people who are (a) servicing the customer and there is another who are (b) providing an internal service to the group of people servicing the...

IN THIS EPISODE…

Have you ever found yourself struggling to understand, or get along, with people who are older or younger than you?

Perhaps a clash in communications style, working preferences, belief systems, values or motivational needs?

Many of the business leaders that we talk to in our work at Front¢re® tell us how difficult they find driving higher levels of motivation and engagement from younger sales teams.

They say that age is just a number… except it isn’t, is it?

GENERATIONAL DIFFERENCES ARE REAL

The nuances of dealing with people across the generations can prove to be challenging, whether consciously or unconsciously, and the solution, as we’ve talked about so many times on KAMCast, is in the ability to raise your awareness, understand yourself, understand others and then choose if and how to adapt your behaviours to get the best out of your relationship interactions, whether it be with your teams or Key Customer contacts.

Whether you are working closely with the external customer base or whether you recognise your internal customers, on your team and colleagues across the business, you are likely to come up against the ‘generation gap’, highlighted by the notable differences across the different age groups.

In this episode of KAMCast, I talk to Henry Rose Lee - one of the few inter-generational diversity experts in the world.

Henry works with all generations in the workforce and particularly with Millennials and Gen Z - to help them become more productive and effective. As an author of three books on maximising today’s young talent, (consisting of Generation Z and the Millennial generation), Henry busts myths and provides business leaders with practical tactics for attracting, recruiting, engaging and retaining your youngest employees.

I hope you enjoy it – let me know what you think!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE:

When I was preparing for this conversation, I was conscious that for many, this is a burning topic and I was keen to get a deeper understanding of:

• What the differences across generations really are
• How those differences play out in the workplace, particularly in a virtual working environment
• How communication styles, techniques and strategies will vary across the ages and where ‘clashes’ are likely to happen
• How, as leaders, we can drive higher levels of engagement and motivation from our younger teams

Ultimately understanding how we can MIND THE GAP in generational diversity across our key accounts and sales teams.

I wasn’t disappointed!

When you listen to this episode – you’ll gain some really pragmatic and practical advice from Henry Rose Lee who helps us look through the intergenerational lens from a position of understanding.

ENGAGE THE MOTIVATIONAL NEEDS OF YOUNGER TALENT

I particularly liked Henry’s thoughts on engaging the motivational needs of younger talent on our teams.

With three quarters of Gen Z yearning to start their own business - I wonder if you have a team of entrepreneurial salespeople? And how you harness their enthusiasm and creativity within the remits of your organisational structure?

• Do you build a COMMUNITY that your talent can feel part of?
• What are the CAUSES that you, you teams and your business care about?
• And what CAREER progression opportunities are available to your team to grow and develop in their role and bring higher levels of commitment, enthusiasm and contribution to your business?

CHECK "IN" RATHER THAN CHECK "UP"

I’m often amazed at the lack of trust between sales leaders and their teams. Henry gives us some great advice on how to build trust and I love the notion of checking IN, not checking UP.

She shares that you...

IN THIS EPISODE:

Do you wish your team members were having more strategic conversations with your key accounts?

Do you have a clear understanding of what strategy is?

Does your team have a clear understanding of what strategy is?

It’s fair to say that the S word – strategy – gets bandied around a lot in business - we even talk about it as one of our guiding pillars for success in KAM.

And with words that get so heavily used, it’s common for the waters to get muddied and the definition to become overcomplicated, leading to overthinking activities and behaviours.

Do you let the words you use with your key accounts do the heavy lifting - rather than developing the skills to open up more curious, value-based conversations - looking at a longer-term vision and the actions that will get your there?

In this episode I take a look at the topic of strategy, with brand strategist Shelley Röstlund.

Shelley works with subject matter experts to clarify their brand purpose and value by leveraging a blend of brand archetypes, belief systems, customer insights & core product refining.

With Shelley having strategic conversations on a daily basis with her clients, I was keen to hear her thoughts and dig deep on this topic.

With our clients, at Front¢re®, we work heavily on developing teams to have more strategic conversations with their most important customers, ultimately forging the trusted partnerships they desire, and developing long term profitability.

With strategy being such an important component to understanding our customers, it’s so important that, as KAM Pros, we are able to get a firm grip on the strategic skillset, empowering us to truly Become the expert in the customer’s world.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE:

We really peel back a few layers of the strategic onion in this episode. Shelley and I dig into:

1. How to define strategy, in a business context
2. Why does it become so complicated?
3. The value of having strategic conversations with clients, and how to have them Shelley shares some top tips on how to set yourself up for a strategic conversation:
4. When is the right time to start a strategic, value-based conversation with your clients?
5. How to handle the entrepreneurial personality types when having focussed discussions?

With strategy being such an important component to understanding our customers, it’s so important that, as KAM professionals, we are able to get a firm grip on the strategic skillset - empowering us to truly become the expert in the customer’s world.

I love the way Shelley describes her definition of strategy as being “the path that links vision to action.” And the notion that the how and the what become clear when you know your why.

Let’s face it – we all like to get distracted with the shiny ball of the ‘how’. All too often I see businesses get sucked into the tactics when talking about strategy, when in reality the Strategy has to comes first.

Pulling from a well-known Stephen Covey principle: when you or your team are talking with clients on their strategic vision - do you listen with the intent to understand or with the intent to reply? You are, in essence, risking showering the client with an ill-timed pitch fest, and a ‘spray and pray’ sales approach.

Curiosity doesn’t kill the cat when it comes to trusted partnerships and it’s time to hone the skills to be curious with our clients. Remember that, as account managers, we don’t need to have all the answers – we just need the right questions and the enthusiasm to...