I keep hearing about SaaS. How does it help with accounts? Account management isn’t new, but its role has evolved with the rise of Software as a Service (SaaS) companies. (We are particularly focusing on the software industry here.)
In the past, the account manager role had similarities to that of an account executive. The difference was that account managers simply look after the financial aspects that an account brings in, while everything else was handled by various teams or departments across the company.
But things have changed. Account management is more diverse and people in those roles require certain traits to succeed.
First, let’s look at why an account manager is so important to your business. Discover how account managers offer customers help to roll out your product and also have the knowledge to fully exploit your product features.
How does an Account Manager help you?
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Key responsibilities of a superb account manager:
Single point of contact
It is human nature to feel more comfortable talking about your requirements to one person. Repeating yourself to several people disrupts your workflow. Speaking to one person is smoother and less confusing, even if you have to wait on that person to get back to you.
Help build confidence and trust with your clients
Your account manager is the person who is the face of your company for the customer as you are rolling out software. A good account manager will help you build stronger relationships that increase customer loyalty.
Customizing customer workflows based on the internal processes
An account manager helps the customer roll out the software at their company. This process helps the customer shape the software to be compatible to their requirements. It also shares knowledge and helps the customer develop their business – a healthy step towards building a long lasting relationship.
Bringing internal staff up to best software practices
Delivering personalized training sessions can ensure the whole team uses the software to the greatest efficiency.
Really confident, well-equipped account managers are like your company’s negotiators. They weave through difficult demands, craft solutions to individual cases, and convince customers that are about to cancel back into the fold. The value of that, compounded across an entire team, brings immense value to a company.
The role of an account manager in a SaaS company
We’ve dropped the perception that an account manager is there to manage incoming finances from clients.
There is no longer one set of customer service skills that are applicable to customer support. Diverse characteristics and traits are needed to fulfill the many needs of support.
Formerly, a job for one person, account management involved working with a customer to understand their requirements and help them roll out software. But in today’s world of SaaS set-ups, every employee needs to think and function like an account manager.
Imagine you are a start-up and everyone on the team be they in sales, support, customer success or an engineer, knows your product inside out. So, when a new request comes up everyone has the ability to share knowledge on how best it can be achieved. Anyone can help the customer engage with the product, and everyone is an account manager.
You are not only increasing engagement for the customer but for your own teams as well.
What does it take to succeed as an account manager in a SaaS company?
To succeed as a SaaS account manager, the five qualities needed include:
1. An analytical and logical ability to understand the internal workflow of the customer and help them exploit your software.
This is significant for SaaS in order to demonstrate the software efficiently to the customer as there are many potential options. If you are unable to help the customer get full value out of the software, the chances of churn increase. The customer might not even know what he or she is missing. Using software such as Totango and Gainsight, you can run a health check of how your customers are using the product, and proactively help them get better at it.
2. A good understanding of Project Management is important. Managing the project efficiently sets the right expectations for the customer. With project management knowledge you know how the project can be adapted. Much will depend on the project management methodology used by your company. (Agile is the foremost today and can help to keep customers happy!)
3. You should be clear on the potential on the ROI you can bring from a customer. This will help you determine if you can go out of your way to bring in a feature for a particular customer or not. If you can align the value of the feature request against the actual value of bringing in a feature or fixing a bug, you can make the decision without doubt!
4. You need to know the product or software inside out. If you don’t, and still need to poke around for help internally, you may not be able to give the best support to the customer to use the product.
5. You should be technically sound too to be the link between the customer and the developers. You will want to be able to answer the customer with confidence and knowledge when questions are sent your way.
Account Management, the way you never knew it!
This is what you need to be a high-achieving account manager today. Here’s calling out to all account managers to keep rocking the role, and making it more sassy with each passing day.
Let us know your challenges and the rock and roll aspects of being an account manager!
