A Strategic Account Lead is a professional who is responsible for managing and nurturing key customer accounts for a company. They understand the customer's business objectives, develop account management plans, and identify areas where their company's products or services can add value. In this blog post we describe the primary responsibilities and the most in-demand hard and soft skills for Strategic Account Leads.

Get market insights and compare skills for other jobs here.

Main Responsibilities of Strategic Account Lead

The following list describes the typical responsibilities of a Strategic Account Lead:

Most In-demand Hard Skills

The following list describes the most required technical skills of a Strategic Account Lead:

Address

Address specific needs as they arise working in cooperation with internal and external colleagues.

Apply

Apply Compliance Policies and Procedures (CPP) in unstructured and fluid situations.

Approve

Approve project scope, business rules, and overall project release.

Build

Build out an account penetration model that encourages multi-angle access into key accounts.

Consult

Consult with other team members to be sure mutual objectives are met.

Coordinate

• Coordinate internal resources for identified account needs and opportunities.

• Coordinate with business partners to create improvements to program data / reports where needed.

Cultivate

Cultivate future projects and qualify new opportunities with the Strategic Account team.

Determine

Determine and develop approach to solutions.

Develop

• Develop account management plans and measure progress towards client goals and objectives.

• Develop and communicate account-specific goals and targets.

• Develop and coordinates regular communication updates / briefings with internal team members.

• Develop and deliver proactive sales proposals.

• Develop and manage detailed account plans.

• Develop and present customer profiles and related financial summaries to SWAT analysis team.

• Develop in-depth knowledge of consumer needs, key trends, and competitive landscape.

• Develop relationships with customers and offers program expansion solutions where appropriate.

Drive

Drive improvements to program data / reports where needed.

Ensure

• Ensure client sign-off is obtained on business requirements.

• Ensure that schedules and budgets are met according to contractual agreements.

• Ensure that the customer is satisfied with company projects and services.

• Ensure timely and accurate delivery of reports and data feeds according to program SLA's.

• Ensure timely delivery of reports according to program SLA s.

Establish

Establish that schedules and budgets are met according to contractual agreements.

Identify

Identify and quantify needs from internal GSK matrix partners.

Influence

Influence Vendor Selection based on customer financial and operational objectives.

Interact with

Interact with all internal departments to assist as needed in providing business understanding.

Led

Led teams of account managers.

Maintain

• Maintain an opportunity pipeline that is 3-5x's the current year's revenue target.

• Maintain project plans and tracking logs as appropriate.

• Maintain updated budget for customer reflecting actual costs & projections for the program year.

• Maintain updated budget for customers, reflecting actual costs & projections for the program year.

Manage

• Manage account relationships, pipeline, and forecast in Salesforce CRM.

• Manage client expectation regarding the delivery of services.

• Manage communication and operational direction to client vendors / partners as required.

• Manage conflict resolution to ensure successful outcomes.

• Manage conflict resolution to ensure successful / productive project to program operation.

• Manage program changes and associated change request process.

• Manage scope and sizing on new client initiatives and delivers pricing to customer.

• Manage the change request process within the team.

Meet

Meet and exceed quarterly and annual sales objectives.

Monitor

• Monitor program performance against established SLA's.

• Monitor program profitability and revenue according to plan on an ongoing basis.

• Monitor team tracking on customer projects.

Negotiate

Negotiate and communicate revised service levels as required.

Plan

Plan and coordinate key strategic management reviews for clients and internal support teams.

Provide

• Provide dedicated support to the team, ensuring the program is fully operational.

• Provide direction and coordinates activities among supporting teams as needed.

• Provide mentoring to junior level account leads and assists with training of new team members.

• Provide opportunity assessments to senior management.

• Provide proactive thought leadership to target accounts.

• Provide status reports to ensure senior level management visibility to program operation.

Research

Research, develop and communicate corrective actions needed to resolve problems.

Review

Review and approve all program details prior to production release.

Verify

Verify reasonability of data before client release.

Work with

Work with MPRS Vendor Managers to resolve service or pricing concerns.

Most In-demand Hard Skills

The following list describes the most required technical skills  of a Strategic Account Lead:

1. Project Management

2. Marketing

3. Account Management

4. Budget Modeling

5. Forecasting

6. Profitability Analysis

7. Sales

8. Strategic Partnerships

Most In-demand Soft Skills

The following list describes the most required soft skills of a Strategic Account Lead:

1. Written and oral communication skills

2. Negotiation

3. Connect to people at all levels

4. Collaborative

5. Presentation

6. Problem management

7. Accountable

8. Build strong relationships

9. Communicate challenges and opportunities

10. Creativity in developing and implementing solutions

11. Decision making