Main Responsibilities and Required Skills for Strategic Account Manager
A Strategic Account Manager is a sales professional who develops account strategies that drive revenue. They plan milestones and track progress from lead generation to closure and prospect for new sales opportunities. In this blog post we describe the primary responsibilities and the most in-demand hard and soft skills for Strategic Account Managers.
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Main Responsibilities of Strategic Account Manager
The following list describes the typical responsibilities of a Strategic Account Manager:
Achieve
Achieve / exceed sales quota.
Adhere to
Adhere to all requirements detailed within the Strategic Account Manager Minimum standards document.
Analyze
Analyze impact of market trends and factors and competitor activities on customers.
Assist
Assist in successful implementation of Client initiatives.
Assist in the annual budgeting process as requested.
Assist with Business Reviews.
Assist with reconciling open issues and open A / R and keeping DSO within terms.
Assist with the development of new sales tools and presentations.
Assist with the sales operations of assigned accounts.
Attain
Attain personal quarterly and annual quotas.
Attend
Attend key stakeholder meetings on a regular basis.
Build
Build and lead internal cross functional selling team to execute sales strategies.
Build and maintain market share and competitive positioning analyses.
Build and maintain a monthly product forecast.
Build and maintain successful lasting professional relationships with internal support teams.
Build, cultivate and share Market Data contacts at our large clients.
Build focused account plans that ensure new business development and maintain account growth.
Build stronger relationships and increase communication.
Build strong new relationships and create a business partnership.
Build tactical and strategic plans with specific measurable time frames to penetrate an account.
Build team of ATM resources to best execute complex sales strategy.
Call
Call on both existing and new accounts to develop opportunities.
Clear
Clear path to promotion with accelerated leadership development programs.
Close
Close sales opportunities and negotiate commercial terms and conditions.
Collaborate with
Collaborate with Marketing to create promotions minimum 6 months in advance.
Collaborate with the SDR team to build new contacts lists and drive strategic prospecting beyond.
Communicate
Communicate activities, strategies and progress with management and key personnel.
Conduct
Conduct business review meetings with decision makers of identified major end users.
Construct
Construct and convey plausible financial plans, and provide accurate forecasting data.
Control
Control mindset with an understanding of risk and building effective finance controls.
Control pricing for managed and shared Strategic Account Models.
Coordinate
Coordinate all activities in support of the strategic account.
Coordinate and ensure the timely delivery and successful.
Coordinate the audit process and practices with our third party audit firms.
Coordinate with Customer Success team to get customer feedback on product improvements.
Create
Create added value for the customers.
Create and execute a comprehensive annual strategic sales plan.
Create and uses analytics and insights to enhance decision-making and tactical execution.
Create new account leads and opportunities within your sales network and local market.
Define
Define business objectives by identifying products and pricing that meet customer needs.
Develop
Develop account strategies that incorporate significant account knowledge.
Develop a deep understanding of Client's business needs, buying cycles, and key decision makers.
Develop and manage effective channel partner relationships.
Develop an effective associate strategy for product penetration, pull-through and / or growth.
Develop a simple yet innovative plan to achieve your financial goals.
Develop a strategic plan for the management and success of the account relationship.
Develop customer centric solutions and deliver sales proposals on product features and benefits.
Develop effective communication plans - newsletters, executive summaries, business reviews,etc..
Develop local provider payer advocates to support corporate and / or brand initiatives.
Develop ongoing business relationships and networks with clients and industry related groups.
Develop strategic account specific marketing materials.
Develop strategic territory business plan.
Document
Document and maintain an Account Plan in SPC CRM that includes.
Document initial notification and communicates status appropriately to management.
Drive
Drive adoption of company programs among assigned accounts.
Drive the client account experience by fostering customer loyalty and creating die-hard fans.
Engage
Engage and target high volume or potential buyers.
Engage in accurate forecasting and sales pipeline management activities.
Ensure
Ensure billing information is passed to the Contract Analysts to be reflected on their invoices.
Ensure client sign-off is obtained on business requirements (initial and ongoing change requests).
Ensure effective communication between our Service Desk, Professional Services and client base.
Ensure Pilot clients sign off Exhibit A changes each quarter.
Ensure that you work with, and record all data where necessary on Sales Force / CRM as required.
Ensure timely delivery of reports according to program / client requirements.
Ensure timely delivery of reports according to program SLA s.
Establish
Establish and execute a business development plan.
Establish professional and deep relationships with key personnel in assigned customer accounts.
Evaluate
Evaluate and implement internal controls to ensure data integrity.
Exceed
Exceed an annual sales quota.
Exceed individual sales target.
Execute
Execute generic defense strategy.
Expand
Expand (cross-sell / up-sell) and retain revenue streams with existing clients.
Focus
Focus on customer experience and become your customers' advisor.
Focus on upsell opportunities and renewal of existing customers.
Follow
Follow all laws, regulations and policies that govern the conduct of all activities.
Grow
Grow our existing accounts.
Handle
Handle / Manage special projects based on customer key initiatives.
Handle new account qualification / onboarding process.
Help
Help generate leads and book appointments for external sales managers.
Identify
Identify and communicate business opportunities and competitive trends.
Identify and communicate opportunities and competitive trends.
Identify and present savings opportunities to the customer.
Identify and prioritize opportunities in assigned accounts for additional products.
Identify and communicate to Senior Account Manager new revenue opportunities within the Key Account.
Identify and develop new business opportunities.
Identify and support needs of regional specific goals and direction.
Identify operational and systematic shortcomings.
Improve
Improve customer experience and provide consultancy with sales accent.
Improve close rate and reduces sales cycle time.
Increase
Increase the number of opportunities in the pipeline.
Interact
Interact effectively with all levels of a Client organization up to C-Level executives.
Introduce
Introduce a Strategic Account Plan to all customers and ensure progress is maintained and captured.
Introduce domain product and service experts / specialists while maintaining account oversight.
Lead
Lead and attend customer visits.
Lead discussions and provide direction on financial results, forecasts, budgets and trends.
Lead the development and implementation of effective strategic business plans encompassing.
Leverage
Leverage account management tools to maintain existing business.
Leverage portfolio and pricing program offerings to maintain existing business.
Leverage strong customer relationships and regular communication in pursuing customer opportunities.
Listen
Listen carefully to each other and to our customers.
Maintain
Maintain accurate client information in SalesForce.
Maintain all sales databases necessary to report sales activity and customer information.
Maintain CRM per company policy.
Maintain customer profitability and / or performance.
Maintain high customer satisfaction ratings that meet company standards.
Maintain high levels of customer retention.
Maintain project plans and tracking logs as appropriate or as requested by the client.
Maintain regular pipeline forecasts and provide business health checks to senior sales management.
Maintain support delivery plans that sales can use in future for renewals.
Manage
Manage client expectations regarding the delivery of services and program performance.
Manage and co-manage opportunities within assigned accounts.
Manage conflict resolution to ensure successful / productive project.
Manage key stakeholders within the practices during the sales process, negotiations and on-boarding.
Manage price files and be sure Philips adheres to all contract requirements.
Manage relationships with key decision makers and influencers within designated accounts.
Manage strategic client relationships.
Manage / submit required documentation and reporting using Excel and other WCA formats.
Manage the existing contracts and oversee numerous RFP's and RFI's simultaneously.
Manage the feature backlog and prioritize requests based on changing requirements.
Meet
Meet and exceed all quarterly and annual sales quotas.
Meet assigned targets for sales volume and performance objectives in assigned partner accounts.
Meet growth objectives both overall and for key products via new account penetration.
Meet or exceed weekly goal expectations.
Meet quota objectives both overall and for key products.
Monitor
Monitor quantitative progress measures and act quickly on deviations from plan.
Negotiate
Negotiate pricing and rebate structure within each customer.
Onboard
Onboard merchants and highlight resources available to a new customer.
Open
Open new markets and drive growth.
Own
Own account relationships and drive overall customer success for these assigned accounts.
Own and develop the Account Management Business Plan.
Own the sales cycle - from lead generation to closure.
Participate
Participate in our rotating on-call roster.
Perform
Perform on-site and remote quarterly customer business reviews.
Perform other duties as assigned by management.
Plan
Plan milestones and track progress.
Plan with accelerating commissions and tremendous upside earnings potential that has no cap.
Prioritize
Prioritize work assignments and follow-up responses to client inquiries and proposals.
Propose
Propose and implement penetration into new markets.
Prospect
Prospect for new sales opportunities within assigned accounts.
Provide
Provide equipment forecasts to assist Industry Market Managers (IMMs) with inventory management.
Provide outline for strategic planning around customer needs and service enhancements.
Provide quotes, maintain GPO rosters and resolve contract issues.
Provide strategic leadership.
Provide support for mentoring new technical specialists and technical account managers.
Provide user support training (Lunch and Learn sessions).
Reduce
Reduce the number of reported Service Desk tickets year-over year.
Represent
Represent stakeholder interests as required to ensure that requirements and objectives are being met.
Research
Research and prepare variance analysis and explanations.
Research and provide competitive insights to the product strategy team.
Research financial and operational trends.
Reside
Reside in territory geography or be willing to relocate.
Run
Run and manage external sales focused weekly, monthly and quarterly meetings.
Support
Support European sales opportunities as required, both on-site and remotely.
Support the annual account plan & support objectives.
Tailor
Tailor solutions to meet changing needs and requests of the customer.
Track
Track and deliver multiple projects at a time.
Track record of outstanding achievement in major account sales, ideally B2B SaaS.
Track record selling Enterprise software solutions.
Track this budget both at sales and expense level and include comments in monthly report.
Travel
Travel 25-35% to meet with your customer base to foster business relationships and close deals.
Travel to meet customers, prospects and to MSC meetings, as required.
Understand
Understand and articulate clinical and journal articles in all relevant disease.
Understand customers' needs and identify sales opportunities.
Understand national and local reimbursement policies for the assigned region.
Update
Update database information including item usage and new item additions.
Use
Use the CRM to record current accurate and complete account activity.
Utilize
Utilize CRM (Salesforce.com) , to update / track activities and manage sales cycle.
Verify
Verify reasonability of data before submission to client and / or HUB partner.
Work
Work closely with product team to drive roadmap and new customer opportunities.
Work cohesively with sales peers.
Work collaboratively with team to grow existing account base.
Work well as a member of a group.
Work with clients to obtain audit revenue where required.
Work with consulting group to uncover new sales opportunities.
Work with Contract Director and Contract Lead to support projects team and in driving sales growth.
Work with executive team to develop strategies that drive revenue.
Work with our technology group to develop a click through agreement on a new Portal.
Most In-demand Hard Skills
The following list describes the most required technical skills of a Strategic Account Manager:
Business Acumen
Business
Enterprise Sales
Business Development
Selling To The C-Suite
Selling Enterprise Software Solutions
Comprehending
Solution Selling
Customer Success
Most In-demand Soft Skills
The following list describes the most required soft skills of a Strategic Account Manager:
Written and oral communication skills
Organizational capacity
Attention to detail
Analytical ability
Presentation
Problem-solving attitude
Self-starter
Interpersonal skills
Time-management
Integrity
Leadership
Priorities that drive decisions from the c-level
Negotiation
Priority management
Collaborative
Creative
Planning
Self-motivated
Relationship building
Team player
