Many organizations have introduced global, strategic or complex accounts management, sometimes even as a response to customer requests or\u00a0to focus on their relationship with their most important clients.<\/p>\n
Developing sales and delivering service remain essential, but building and maintaining relationships with these customers represents a major step up in complexity.<\/p>\n
In addition to their sales skills, global accounts people need to be able to manage this complexity to create value for our most important customers.<\/p>\n
Customers are not interested in the challenges you face in managing your own business complexity, but they do expect you to be able to cope with theirs.<\/p>\n
Global account managers have to manage the complexity of their customers, but also deal with the internal complexity of their own organizations to get things done.<\/p>\n
And often it\u2019s more challenging to overcome your own internal complexity.<\/p>\n
There are five common challenges that our clients experience in operating global accounts organizations and tea<\/p>\n
1.Managing the matrix<\/strong><\/p>\n A global account structure usually cuts across the traditional vertical silos of geography and function and sometimes across business units.<\/p>\n Global accounts managers need the skills to manage multiple reporting lines and competing priorities, as well as be able to align different parts of the matrix to deliver customer value.<\/p>\n They also need to understand and navigate this complexity within their customers to build the right networks to sell and deliver products or services around the world.<\/p>\n 2. Global or local<\/strong><\/p>\n Second is deciding where it adds value to be ‘global’ or and where to be ‘local’. Global account managers need to be able to drive selective decisions on the key areas where a global approach adds value, but not unnecessary cost – in the customer, as well as in their own, organization.<\/p>\n They need tools for structuring and making these decisions rationally and clearly, in a way that can be understood by all of their key stakeholders<\/p>\n 3. Working without \u2018traditional\u2019 authority<\/strong><\/p>\n Third is mobilizing resources without traditional authority. Global account managers need to constantly form virtual teams that cross organizational boundaries, including both customers and third party suppliers.<\/p>\n They need to get things done and solve problems on behalf of the customer, They need the skills to set up\u00a0 any virtual teams working across distance, cultures, time zones and through technology\u00a0 – and often\u00a0without traditional line authority.<\/p>\n