Jermaine Edwards breaks down five conversations key account managers should have regularly with customers: expectation-based, team-based, reality-based, future-based, and results-based. He gives example questions for each and recommends monthly or quarterly check-ins to deepen relationships and uncover growth opportunities.
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Hey, it's Jermaine Edwards, your customer growth guide. And if you're new, welcome. If you're old, welcome back to the fold. In this video, we're gonna talk about the 5 conversations every key account manager needs to have with their customers. So hey, we're gonna talk about the 5 conversations every key account manager needs to have with their customers, starting with number 1, expectation. Now, one of the biggest mistakes that we make is assuming that expectations remain the same throughout the course of our relationship with our customers. That is just false. In our own relationships, we know that our expectations change based on context, scenario, and the kinds of people we work with, because we're always looking to mitigate risk and elevate our ability to— in confidence and particular decision-making areas. And so for you and with your customers, on a monthly recurring basis, we need to check in and ensure that our expectations are not just being met, but we're understanding the changing landscape of expectations based on the pressures and different circumstances that your customers might be under. Let's just take an example that at the beginning of your relationship, your particular contact has the role of a VP of, of sales or VP of marketing, or all of a sudden the following year, now they become the Chief Marketing Officer. Now you might think, hey, that's great, they're promoted, we have more access, we have more influence. But guess what? Under that particular role, there are new pressures for that person. There are new kinds of expectations put on them. And guess what? It means now you have different expectations put on you as the partner. We always need to be in step and thinking about expectation. Number 2, we need team conversations. So how you and your customer works together is really, really important, and it won't just be you, it will be executives in your company, it will be team members, it will be finance, operations. As the person who's owning the relationship, it is your job to make sure that the other relationships in the team are focused on what matters most, and that we are providing an experience that all of you could be proud of, and the customer wants to be and participate in. They want to be part of it. They want to participate in that relationship. That is really, really important. So that's number 2, team-based conversations. The third conversation needs to take place is a reality-based conversation. Now, what we don't want to do with our customer relationships is ignore things that because we're afraid to approach them, afraid to deal with them. We need to have reality conversations that say, "Hey, we're in a period right now where it sucks. It's not good," or "It is good," whatever those things are. State the reality. You'll kick out the elephant in the room and ensure that you're having honest conversations so that your customer isn't playing scenarios in their mind about what you are doing or not doing about a particular circumstance. Completely eliminate the story and narrative in your customer's mind and provide a certain narrative that is about you talking about the reality of what's happening. Really important. That's number 3. Number 4, future-based conversations. Now, every week you're pretty much talking about the future. You're talking about an end result with and for the customer, but I want you to focus just a little bit past that particular juncture, that particular outcome that your customer is looking for. Now, it might be coming a month from now, a year from now, even 2 years from now, but I need you to think even beyond that. So in a future-based conversation, you're going to hear me say this quite a bit, we need to sow seeds for future opportunities. And so in your future-based conversations, what we need to talk about are things that matter past the result. So for example, here I'll be asking a question like, Mr. Customer, we're really excited to help you get that particular outcome. What do we believe this outcome will contribute to in the overall picture of the business? What will this outcome contribute to in the overall picture of the business? Now, once we get a much broader, more expansive view of the actual overall goal for this organisation. Maybe it's become a $10 billion organisation, whatever that thing is. We need to extend the conversation to say, okay, great. So we want to be part of helping you become that kind of company. And right now we want to start sowing the seeds or thinking about that with you. So as we approach this particular outcome, we have conversations already begun to how we can deliver value or even more value to you and your stakeholders and your shareholders. It's actually a conversation that is quite unique. It's not often talked about because we're so focused on the projects that we're in. But actually, sometimes your customer needs the opportunity with you to think beyond the outcome. Think beyond the outcome so they see the bigger picture for themselves, and you can see the bigger picture of where you and your customer could work together. So future-based conversations are really important. Number 5, results-based conversations. So we should never assume that just because we've achieved a particular result with the customer, that those results have been disseminated and communicated to other parts of the business. That's almost never the case, unless it's something really, really big. It's usually the contact, the department, the head of department, maybe somebody a little bit more senior than that, depending on the thing that you're working on. But even if it is something big, doesn't mean that other people care and want to know or really see the benefit or value to them. So it's our job to begin to help them see that more clearly. So when you're having a results-based conversation, we need to talk about case studies, ways in which they are communicating that for themselves so they can raise their own status and prestige and advocacy in their own business. But also, we need to look for specific mini case studies. So how has The result of this impacted other departments. And hey, can we create some communication around the impact to other departments as well? Maybe communicate with marketing, say, hey, marketing, we love to put together with you some cases on how the business is really succeeding with these particular areas or these particular things within the business so that everybody gets to share in those successes. There are numerous ways in which you can be creative in thinking about results-based conversations that allow you and your results and the things that you've done with and for your customers to be elevated and scaled across your customer's business. So those are the 5, 5 big things, conversations you need to have with your customers. Expectation— really, really, really important. Expectation-based conversations, team-based conversations, reality-based conversations, and future-based conversations, and result-based conversations. If you can have all 5 of these conversations intermittently throughout the month, every single quarter, You'll be sure to have a much broader, a much clearer and transparent view with your customers, and they'll have much more engagement with you that is more rich and much more meaningful. And I've got a PDF for you to help you navigate and think about those conversations that you can have starting from today. Now, don't forget to like and subscribe. And if you're getting value from videos like this, just actually tell people about it, right? So they can get value too. And I'll see you on the next video.
