The KAM (Key Account Management) is over, long live the KEM (Key Ecosystem Management)!

We have been hearing about the “death” of the account manager for some time.

About 10 years ago Andy Preston published an article entitled “Death of Account Management”, and more recently Katie Wilson “THE ACCOUNT MANAGER IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE ACCOUNT MANAGER!” (August 19, 2020)

These authors talk essentially about the change in the missions assigned by companies to their account managers, KAM, and the skills associated with this role. Kate Wilson highlights the evolution towards younger and more dynamic PAs, but at the expense of the more 'stale' account managers' business ability of yesteryear.

It is a fact that the average age of account managers has decreased and KAM’s profession has become widespread. However, when we ask the clients themselves, we see that many of them deplore this move towards “young and brilliant” account managers. They would prefer KAM with more business sense, understanding and capable of helping in the development of their issues.

What has accelerated this evolution is of course the pandemic and the development of telework. Many companies have significantly and permanently reduced travel (50% reduction is a figure often cited).

The combination of rejuvenation and the development of the home office leads to a significant change. But when one adds to it the pressure of the objectives, which is constantly increasing, and the increase in the complexity of the decision-making circuits, with decision-making processes by “committee” in constant development and more and more multi-situations organization, we reach a level of complexity that can discourage the most persistent account managers.

How to improve the management of existing income and the creation of new income, how to take into account organisations and chain prosecutions, how to track key contacts moving from one company to another at an accelerated pace, how to make the difference through influence (because this is always the influence that separates the winner of the No. 2 on big deals), all of this having to be orchestrated by people who are increasingly young and brilliant but less and less experienced?

We need a real paradigm shift. Two “revolutions” make it possible to bring performance to the complex world today by less experienced salespeople:

From “descendant” to efflorescence

It’s about moving from the KAM sequence that we all know, descending:

target list > target company > organization > organization chart and functions of interest > identification of key people > “Push” to them from PPS strategic project leader > business opportunities,

…. in what we call an efflorescent approach:

Privileged contacts and relationships in the ecosystem > co-creation of value with them > co-influence by their networks > introduction to key contacts> “Pull” with them of strategic projects > opportunities

This requires a systemic approach to managing networking and influence, such as RIIM Relationship Intelligence and Influence Management(™).

The benefits of this approach are: speed, we manage to act in the change of organization at the customers and not after; simplification and flexibility because Powerscope graphs replace the flowcharts; Efficiency through focus on target contacts.

From traditional “account plan” and its reviews to Digital Virtual War Rooms

The pandemic has greatly accelerated a transition already underway in the “account plan review” process (history > account plan > commitment plan > execution, with support for Powerpoint, Excel and CRM, at “on-demand” web meetings in flexible subgroups with support for special digital tools that “natively speak” strategic sales, such as Powerscope(™) and other specific account management tools.