{"id":26511,"date":"2022-06-02T13:28:41","date_gmt":"2022-06-02T17:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xceedesolutions.com\/?p=26511"},"modified":"2022-09-23T13:47:38","modified_gmt":"2022-09-23T17:47:38","slug":"account-management-salesforce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xceedesolutions.com\/account-management-salesforce\/","title":{"rendered":"Next Generation Account Management with Salesforce"},"content":{"rendered":"
According to Gartner<\/a>, 62.3% of Chief Sales Officers rate improving account management and account-based strategies as a top priority for 2022.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

For almost every company, existing customers represent a significant share of revenue. However, traditional approaches designed to retain existing customers do not necessarily translate into developing growth opportunities within the account base.<\/p>\n

The challenge of growing existing accounts<\/h2>\n

Understanding the challenge begins with grasping the nature of the Account Manager position. At its core, the problem revolves around the following fact: the Account Manager must identify growth opportunities in order for the existing account growth engine to function.<\/strong> As such, the growth of existing accounts rests squarely on the Account Manager’s shoulders.<\/p>\n

Adrian Davis<\/a>, author of Human-to-Human Selling<\/a>, <\/em>points out<\/a> that recruiters have been leveraging two mental models to guide hiring: they seek hunters to fill Sales positions and farmers to fill Account Manager positions.<\/p>\n

These models come from psychotherapist Thom Hartmann’s work, who first identified them. Per Davis:<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Thom Hartmann<\/p>\n

The hunter mindset, based on nomadic societies, suffered from a short attention span, but had hyper-focus for short bursts of time. The farmer, based on agrarian societies, was patient and worked steadily with the understanding that he would enjoy the fruits of his labor in the future.<\/p>\n

Traditionally, hunters in the Sales position focused on customer acquisition, while farmers in the Account Manager position focused on customer retention. As a result, the hunter mindset focuses too much on the short term, which leads to missing larger opportunities. On the other hand, the farmer mindset focuses too much on the long term, is too patient and leads to too much agreeableness towards client demands. These attributes ultimately get in the way of developing a healthy partnership and growth-oriented account management.<\/p>\n

\"Hunting<\/span><\/p>\n

It becomes obvious that identifying growth opportunities takes a back seat for the Account Manager, who handles a breadth of responsibilities. Among them:<\/p>\n