Small business owners are required to wear multiple hats and juggle various responsibilities. In addition to delivering the work, you’re the head of accounts, HR, sales and marketing.
As your business grows, you can delegate these roles to your employees. One position to consider early on should be a dedicated account manager.
The role of an account manager can often be overlooked, as their duties don’t always directly relate to sales. However, this important function can increase efficiency and make your business more profitable.
Here are five ways an account manager can help you as a small business owner:
One: Streamline Communication
A dedicated account manager can significantly reduce the number of general emails and phone calls flowing into your business. An account manager can serve as a client’s primary point of contact, handling enquiries, addressing concerns, and liaising between clients, internal departments and other suppliers. This gives you more time to focus on actually getting the work done.
Two: Build better relationships
As a dedicated client-facing resource, account managers can build strong relationships with clients and help tailor your services to their needs. This level of attention enhances customer satisfaction and builds loyalty, which can significantly improve customer retention and reduce your cost of sales.
Learn more about the importance of customer loyalty and how it can set your business apart from the competition, drive growth and increase profitability in our Mastering Customer Loyalty article.
Three: Focus on delivery
An account management role can help you separate product delivery from client liaison. This separation can reduce distractions and unnecessary interference and allow you and other team members to focus on what you do best – the actual work. This will greatly improve your overall business efficiency and productivity.
Top tip: While it’s not always possible to directly measure the return on investment of an account management role, you should ensure you factor this resource into your pricing. A good account manager should allow you to increase production, bring in new work, or reduce client turnover. Learn more about mastering business delivery, measuring delivery performance, pricing services appropriately and improving delivery efficiency in our Mastering Business Delivery article.
Four: Real-world feedback
With account managers working directly with clients, they provide a rich insight into their challenges and needs. Understanding your clients can help you proactively develop new products and services, which, in turn, can help you win more business from similar customers in that market.
In addition, their in-depth knowledge of clients’ accounts also allows them to address challenges swiftly, maintaining high service levels, minimising disruptions and reducing the risk of clients using your competitors.
Five: Upselling and Cross-Selling Opportunities
Account managers are ideally placed to identify upselling and cross-selling opportunities. Their deep understanding of your clients allows them to present relevant products or services and block out competition.
A good relationship between the client and your account managers can also provide the opportunity to develop strategic account plans that align with your business objectives. This partnership can result in mutual gain – as their business grows, so does the need for your products or services.
How ETC can help
If you need help streamlining your business operations through account management and improving your return on investment, please get in touch.
If you are new to ETC, why not contact us for a free new business review? We’ll spend two hours with you, giving you professional coaching and will leave you with actions for immediate implementation.