Has your mind been pondering around these questions like – ‘What skills are the top account management companies looking for’? Are they even looking for account managers to hire? If yes, then probably you are one of the thousands of account managers out there who are stuck on the same stumbling block and seeking the right assistance. But, today’s your day. Let’s see how you can benefit from the best account manager training available online. 

As per Safe Guard’s Commercial Executive survey of 2016-2017- “The most successful account managers are relationship builders with a well-structured approach to managing their accounts.” 

But before we delve into digging some of the best account manager training online resources, let’s do some brush up. It is vital to know the basics about account management, who is an account manager and how to become one. Is it stressful or real easy-peasy and what are the skills set that one should carry. Let’s get started.

Who is a good Account Manager?

A good account manager is the one who takes the responsibility for managing the relationship with the prospects of the organization. He/she also bridges and fills the gap between the customer service and sales team. As an account manager who should be able to serve both your customers and your organization, unbiased, and rolling out benefits for both the parties.

Why is an account manager important?

In a way, an account manager plays a significant role in augmenting the revenue and sales of a company. Without a strong account manager in place, there is every chance to pull in more churn. He/she is the one who has the ability to generate massive leads for upselling and cross-sell opportunities. How big is the importance of an account manager, let us see:

• Removes accounts from risk: An account manager is the first person to know if an account is getting closer to churn. They have the power to pull back a nearly churned away client to a loyal advocate.
• Initiates upsell and cross-sell opportunities: He/she gives upsell and cross-sell campaigns a notch up. Further, he relies on utilization rates, targeting engagement on key decision-makers, and uptakes numbers within an account.
• Customizes account management process: A good account manager assesses your current account management process. Further, he guides you from doing the worse or at least saving you a fortune.
• Unearths account opportunities: One of the most crucial functions of an account manager is to generate leads for the company and bring in more account discoveries.

What skills do you need to be an account manager?

• Accountability Skills: Well, to begin with, you must inculcate the values of account management or accountability, as they say. This role demands of you to take care of the accounts, preferably within the SaaS industries.
• Communication/People Skills: As your work primarily constitutes of relation-building with your clients, it is vital for you to hear them out and understand their pain points.
• Management Skills: You need to have good management skills as you are the primary interface for the client with product management and technical support. Be it affixing technical issues, or escalation of critical product issues whenever required. 

You don’t need to think of the box to find a solution when it lies right in front of you. Right from the soft account management skills to data and from relationships to distribution. Here are the finest 5 account manager training online resources which will take your accounting skills to new heights. Be it entrepreneurial creativity, or leadership skills, these account management courses are going to take care of every minute thing. 

1. Richardson’s Prosperous Account Strategy Training Program 

Account management often has to be customer-centric and Richardson’s Prosperous Account Strategy Program hits the nail on its head. This program offers an approach that is more concerned about the client and how to deal with them. It talks about identifying the priority customers, capturing and analyzing important information from those accounts. 

The program also gives a detailed overview of developing a strategy to expand and grow existing customer relationships. This helps in propelling customer retention benefits. The training focuses on creating value and finding the exact way out so that the strategies can benefit both. The customer as well as the business.  

Richardson’s approach stands on the following parameters:  

• Momentum Methodology to assess a customer relationship, and develop and execute strategic account management best practices. 
• Analyze the account information and develop plans that improve profitability and align with customer’s goals. 
• Knowledge of supporting tools for grabbing better insights into the hidden details of the data obtained that is critical for sale. 

The training program is a comprehensive offering that utilizes digital learning platforms, online assessments, workshops, mastery tools, etc methods to deliver the best. 

To know more about this training program and its benefits in detail, find the brochure provided by Richardson. 

2. LAMP Account Management Training 

Account managers often need to develop long-term roadmaps for their most important clients. To facilitate this, Miller Heiman Group, a pioneer in the sales and services world, has created the Large Account Management Process (LAMP) Training Program.

Further, this program focuses primarily on the planning and management of customer relationships backed by flawless strategies. Also, the program trains the professionals and organizations on building actionable account management plans for customer success. 

• With a futuristic vision, the account management training program helps you create a long-term customer success plan. 
• The training focuses on identifying and segmenting overwhelming accounts into bundles of easy-to-handle accounts, thus improving the account organization and increasing clarity. 
• It enables the account manager training with tools and plans to protect the existing accounts and forecast any threats or customer churn and take decisions accordingly. 
• Strengthening customer relationships is an important part of account management for customer success. Moreover, the training helps you develop robust plans for strategic account management with increasing retention and growth.

This is an instructor-led training that is delivered by industry leaders with a hands-on approach for account management professionals and sales leaders. 

Around 88% of the account managers believe that providing above-and-beyond customer services is the surest way to drive growth, but it isn’t. 

3. Key Account Management Training by RAIN Group 

Account managers face a very common dilemma – choose between customer acquisition and customer retention. Here’s RAIN Group solving that for you. Also, the RAIN Group Key Account Management training helps you identify accounts with the greatest potential for revenue growth. Moreover, it assists you in protecting those customers from the churn. It explains you can ensure continuous sales from existing accounts and spend an adequate amount on customer acquisition as well.  

According to RAIN Group, the top performers in account management were not only able to drive annual revenue growth of 20% but also facilitate customer satisfaction. This leads to a two-way growth that a company would never deny to. Thus, the training program stresses on four parameters of account management: 

• People: Collaborate with different professionals and build processes. 
• Process: Develop initiatives and agendas that add value. 
• Plan: Rigorous plan backed by quality-thinking. 
• Execution: Accountability of action plans is testified when it delivers results. 

To understand their idea in detail, download their program overview. 

4. SAM Training by SAMA Academy 

The Strategic Accounts Management Academy is a leader in Strategic Account Management Training, as the name itself suggests. Moreover, they deliver a variety of skills, tools, and key strategies for account managers through their various certification programs, training options, and online account manager training.  

What’s unique about their approach is that they make the professional go through an Individual Competency Assessment, obtain the result and then use those insights to draft an individualized training program for the person. Thus, with SAMA’s training, you can: 

• Learn and apply the best practices to propel customer success. 
• Emphasize and work on your own competency gaps. 
• Gain knowledge about indispensable tools that can help in strategic account management. 
• Access top-notch training resources to elevate your learning. 
• Gain networking opportunities within and outside the industry. 

Apart from training, SAMA’s Strategic Account Manager Certification program tests a professional on the highest standards on account management. Further, it judges your professional capabilities and provides you with the skill set. And gives you the confidence to nourish a strong customer base for your organization. 

5. Account Management Training by Factor8 

In 2020, the account managers are expected to work on a wide array of customer aspects. This includes managing account growth, account retention, ensuring product/service penetration and driving profitability. Further, keeping all these responsibilities in mind, Factor8 has produced a three-level account management training program. This can help managers qualify their accounts quickly and propose better policies to revenue-producing clients.  

The Factor8 approach to account management training encompasses three levels: 

• First, Level 1: Investing adequate attention on the foundation of account management to leverage a pipeline full of new categories or products and services. 
• Second, Level 2: Instilling a sense of customer mindset to improve the close percentage, and accelerate pipeline velocity. 
• Third, Level 3: Enabling the trainee to visualize account growth and forecast customer lifetime, as well as reactivate the lost accounts.  

Factor8 boasts of interactive and real-time training sessions that can be accessed immediately. Check this training program out now! 

Final Thoughts

Further, apart from these above-mentioned programs, there are plenty of online courses and training on account management available on online learning platforms. Some of them include Udemy and Coursera.

Other worthwhile resources like The Association for Key Account Management, Powering, Louise Collins Associates, and PMI cater to various aspects of account management and can be very advantageous to use. 

So, spend your time wisely and assimilate the industry’s best accounting skills for your own good. 

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WRITTEN BYRohan Sheth

Rohan has over 11 years of experience in client services, marketing and hospitality field. Previously, he was head of digital marketing for a hi-tech mobile application. Rohan is driven by new challenges and the possibility of making an impact on individuals and businesses.

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