They Won’t Help? Here’s How to Build Influence at Work & Get Things Done

Ever feel like your biggest battle isn't with your clients or the people in your own company? I mean, you're trying to deliver for your customers. But wait, you know finance won't approve the discount without three more meetings. You're chasing ops for the fourth time this week for an update, and legal is still reviewing that contract that you needed signed yesterday. Meanwhile, the client's waiting. Your inbox is a disaster. And you're wondering if the real job description for key account manager is professional nag. So what do you do? You beg, you borrow, you steal. And maybe you have a quiet cry in an empty conference room. Why is it so hard? Well, we are not doing that anymore. Today's the day I'm going to show you how to get your colleagues to actually do their job so you can do yours. No authority, no problem. It doesn't matter if they don't report to you, because by the end of this video, we'll have a game plan to make things happen without the struggle, no matter whose help you need. So let's go. Well, welcome back, Campfam. I'm Warwick Brown, your favorite camp coach. And if you want to grow client revenue, retain more customers, and build a successful career in key account management, you are in the right place. Now, if you feel like you're spending more time managing internal roadblocks than actually helping your clients. So you. Your imagination. Key account managers don't just sell externally. We have to sell internally every single day. But here's where it gets tricky. We have all the responsibility, but none of the authority. You're expected to drive results for your customers, but the people who hold the keys, you know, people like finance, operations, legal, product marketing, they don't report to you. And they have their own priorities, which, you know, it's fair enough, but you can't compel them to do something for you. So when you're asking for help, you're not the boss, you're not the customer. You're just another request in a long list of competing priorities. And let's. Let's be honest, you're probably at the bottom of that pile. So that is why every email, every follow up, every meeting feels like an uphill battle. You need something done, but you just can't make it happen. And this is where so many camps get stuck. But there's good news. There's light at the end of the tunnel, right? There's a better way. And it starts with understanding one simple truth. People don't ignore you because they're bad at their jobs. They Ignore you because you haven't made it matter to them. And that's exactly what we're going to fix. So why does this keep happening? Why is getting internal support so painful? Well, like I said, it's not because your colleagues are lazy or bad at their jobs. It's because of these three things. Number one, lack of direct authority. You don't manage these people, they don't answer to you. And unless your CEO put out a company wide memo saying drop everything for Warwick, your requests are just that, requests. Which means unless you make it worth their while, you're not going to be their priority. Number two is conflicting priorities. Now, every team is juggling their own deadlines, targets and crises. Finance is focused on controlling costs. Operations are stretched, just keeping things running smoothly. Legal is knee deep in compliance and contract reviews. And your leaders, their calendars are jam packed. Client meetings, budget appro, shareholder updates, hiring, firing. And then you show up, you know, with an urgent request that's not urgent to them. You might be trying to save a client from walking, but all they see is another task they didn't plan for. And the third reason is the silo effect. Now, most companies are not built for collaboration, right? Every department has its own Systems, its own KPIs and its own definition of success. You care about the entire client experience, right? You're the key account manager. You want everything to work from end to end, from start to finish. For finance, don't you care about margin operations, care about efficiency. Legal cares about risk and so on and so on. So unless you connect the dots for them, just not going to see how helping you helps them. So what now? I want you to assume they have the best intentions. They're not ignoring you because they don't care, but because your ask just doesn't align with their goals or they don't understand why it should. If you want people to actually do their job so you can do yours, you need to influence them to care. And that doesn't happen by chasing them, by escalating too soon, or just, you know, fingers crossed, hoping for the best. It happens when you change the way you ask. So here is my four step influence framework that I use and I promise you, you it works. Step one, speak their language. If you want somebody to help, you, make it matter to them. It's kind of that simple. Because let's be real, people don't. People don't wake up thinking, how can I make Warwick's life easier today? I wish they did. They don't. They wake up thinking about Their targets, their deadlines, their stress. So instead of saying, for example, I need this discount approved for my client, try. If we approve this discount, it secures the client for three years, which improves our forecasting and cash flow, which finance actually care about. Instead of saying, I need operations to fast track this order pronto, try. Listen. There's some potential supply disruptions on the horizon. So if we fulfill it early, we can avoid a backlog later, which will save you time and it's going to keep everything running smoothly. You see the difference? Instead of sort of barking out what you want, you're not just asking or demanding, you're showing why it's in their best interest. Step two of my framework, influence framework is to build your internal networks. Now, keycap management isn't just about managing your clients. You've also got to manage your internal relationships. If you only talk to people when you need them, when you want something, don't be surprised if they ignore you. Right? You need allies inside your company, people who know you, who trust you and who want to help you. So how do you do it? First, invest in these relationships before you need them. Don't wait till you want something. Start early, ask questions, show interest in their work, understand their pressures. You know what they're working on and find win wins. You know, ask yourself, how can I make their life easier? That's where I always start. Now, I used to work remotely with our corporate headquarters, which was in London, so I almost never went to the customer service center in Manchester, you know, hardly ever went to the office, period. I liked working from home. And I remember my boss saying, you know, you need to spend more time with the team up north. And I thought, well, why? I don't have clients there, I don't have meetings there. That's two and a half hours each way, which to me is a waste of time. 5 hours round trip when I could be doing something else. But look, I did it anyway because the boss asked and the results actually were promising, in fact, instant. Instead of rushing in and out of meetings, I stayed overnight. I spent time with the teams. I got to know more people. They stopped dreading my emails because I was no longer, you know, just that, that annoying guy asking for something yesterday. And I learned why some mistakes keep happening, what pressures they were under, what really made their jobs harder. And suddenly my requests got handled faster. Not because I was louder, but because I was part of their world, not just an outsider making demands. So how can you do this? Well, instead of sitting with your team next time you're in the office, how about you sit with a different department instead of only meeting on Zoom, make a trip to a different site. Show your face. Simple stuff. It works because when people know you and respect you, then your requests don't feel like work, right? It feels like collaboration. The third step in my four step influence framework is to frame your requests effectively. Because people don't just listen to what you ask, they listen to how you ask. And if you use framing techniques to keep conversations open, not defensive, there are things that you can do, like softening, right? I'm curious. Help me understand why this isn't possible. When somebody says they can't mismatch, you can say things like listen if you don't agree with me. I appreciate that, but I would certainly love your take on it. Or that could work, but another option might be this. Invite ideas. I love this. Instead of saying, I need this by Friday, say here's what I need to get done. What's the best way to make this happen? And is Friday possible? These small little shifts keep the conversation moving forward instead of shutting it down. And you will make so many more friends by framing your messages and asking for things in that way. The last step is to create accountability without conflict. This is the key to getting people to actually follow through these little micro commitments. So instead of saying, can you send that over? Which is vague and it's forgettable, try, can I count on this by Friday? Now, that's a very specific commitment and they're the ones agreeing to it, right? You're not enforcing that. Instead of saying, hey, did you get a chance to look at this? Which gives them an easy out to say, no, try, hey, I'm just checking in. Are we still on track for Friday? Because you're assuming they've taken action already, not excuses. So they're not going to come up and say, oops, they're going to just madly try and catch up. And if they don't deliver, start privately, let them know you're disappointed, remind them of the agreement, ask them if they need support, and then get a new commitment. And if it keeps happening, well, you kind of increase the firmness in dial. You know, increase the dial, right? Be direct. We need to find a way to make you reliably make these commitments. Offer a solution. Let me know if we should bring somebody else into this conversation. Would it be helpful if I bring your manager in to help you figure out how best to support you? We're not doing these passive aggressive escalations. No ccing their boss behind their back, calling them out in meetings. The goal isn't to shame them, it's to raise the standard. Okay, so let's bring it all together. Step one is to speak their language, make your requests matter to them. Step two is to build your internal network right relationships before you start asking for stuff. Number three is to frame your requests effectively, keep the conversations open. And step four is to create accountability without conflict by making those commitments stick. This is how you get people to do their job without begging, without chasing and without escalating. And I promise you, once you start applying this, you're going to see a massive difference. Now let's talk about building influence by sharing knowledge, by keeping people in the loop gives you power. Because here's something a lot of key account managers get wrong. They hoard knowledge. Not on purpose, but when they're juggling client calls, firefighting issues and chasing internal teams. It's so easy to stay in your bubble and forget that no one else sees the full picture like you do. If people don't know what's happening, they can't help you. People can't support what they don't understand. So if you want teams to work with you, keep them informed. So here are a few ways to share knowledge without spamming everybody, without cloning inboxes and adding to the noise. Host a monthly check in a quick sync where you highlight key client updates and what's coming down the pipeline. Think of it as like a 30 minute internal webinar. Short, sharp and valuable. Create an internal newsletter now with tools like ChatGPT and Claude and Gemini, this is easier than ever. You can send a short email or a Slack update titled what's happening with our Clients to key teams that work with your accounts or need to stay informed. Keep it short though you know under 250 words, nobody wants to read walls of text. I'd say send it weekly if you've got lots going on and monthly if things are more stable. Set up a knowledge base. Instead of sending emails every time somebody needs information, create a central source of truth for everything related to your accounts. A Slack or Teams channel is a great place to start where you can save key client updates, insights and documents and drop them in real time. Now before you go off and try these strategies, I know you're chomping at the bit, but let's make sure you don't shoot yourself in the foot. Here are five of the biggest mistakes key account managers make when trying to influence internal teams. The first is being the lone wolf. You know I'll just handle it myself. It's faster and easier. The reality is, though, the more that you take on, the more people assume you don't need their help. Plus, the more you cover up resource issues, the less likely they'll ever get resolved. If nobody knows something is broken, well, why would they fix it? So to resolve this, stop firefighting alone, call people in early and make them part of the solution. Mistake number two is to escalate too soon. You know that. Fine. I'll just go to your boss then. The reality is, if your first move is to escalate, you are burning bridges and fast. So before escalating, ask what's blocking this. Give them a chance to solve it first or help them solve it. I've had people say to me, look, I'd love to work, but my boss told me that I have to do this first. So instead of escalating, I've just said, hey, leave your boss to me, right? I will make sure it's okay. Sometimes your job isn't to push, it's to clear a path. And number three of the top five mistakes is that assuming people will read your mind, it should be obvious. This is our number one client, you know, they should know why this is important. Well, the reality is, if you don't spell out why something matters, people are going to prioritize something else. Or worse, they'll forget that you even ask. We're all busy and we're all guilty of forgetting things. So use this for step influence framework that we went through earlier. Be clear, specific about what you need and translate your ask into something that aligns with their priorities. The fourth mistake that I see is making everything urgent. Everything's marked asap. I want this today, I want this yesterday. Fast, fast, faster, faster. If everything is urgent, nothing is urgent, right? You're going to be the boy that cried wolf. And then when something really is critical, no one's going to take you seriously. You might want it now, but do they really need to drop everything? Can you push back on the client? Can you get some of it now, some of it later? I mean, part of our job is setting expectations with clients, internal teams, and of course, ourselves. So be reasonable. The fifth and final mistake is not following up things like saying to yourself, you know, they know what to do. I don't need to chase them, or I shouldn't have to chase them. It's not my job. The reality is that just because you asked for something doesn't mean it's happening. Some people don't work the way you do. They don't live by structured deadlines or obsess over follow ups like you might. For example, if you need help from customer service. But you know they're in a call center where the average time wait time is supposed to be 20 seconds, but it's actually two minutes. Well, they might genuinely forget your request because they're under enormous pressure. So understanding how different teams work helps you adjust your approach. I recommend that you just set a reminder, right? It's no big deal. Set a reminder to check in as the deadline approaches. Just send a clear, polite summary of what was agreed. Make sure they're on track and if they need anything else, let you know. So there you have it. How to get people to do their job so you can do yours. So here's what I want you to do next. Pick one strategy from today's video. Whether it's how you frame your requests differently, how you build your internal networks, or how you keep teams in the loop. And then try it this week and see how it changes the way people respond. And if you want to take your key account management skills to the next level, don't stop here. Check out my video 10 key account management best practices that will make you the MVP. I break down 10 game changing strategies to transform your client relationships, whether you're just getting started or looking to step up your game. So click here to watch it now. Thank you for spending time with me today and I'm going to see you in the next video real soon. Bye for now.