How Account Managers can overcome 3 common barriers to success

To that end, identify:

• All key players
• Their roles and buying influences
• Their core business concerns according to their roles

While there’s more than one way to map an account, Sales Navigator is one tool you can use. The Advanced Search feature offers a view into how companies are structured, allowing you to identify the key players within an account. Connecting with at least 6 stakeholders in each account is what we call taking a multi-threaded approach.

By establishing multiple relationships at an account (i.e., by multi-threading), you minimize the risk if one or more stakeholders move into new positions or leave the organization.

• Keep tabs on each stakeholder, such as by following them on LinkedIn
• Regularly conduct searches for news on them and their business division
• See what they’re posting and sharing on third-party sites, including LinkedIn

This sheds light on what each stakeholder cares about most—insights you canuse to engage with them in a meaningful way.

Devise a cadence for reaching out in a meaningful way on a regular basis, such as to say, “I saw the news about your new strategic initiative. I’ve noticed a few commonalities between others in your position who are succeeding with such projects. Let me know if you’d like to hear more.”

Using the Buyer Circle feature in Sales Navigator, you can save people in the Buying Circle as leads. That way you know when key people in your accounts change roles, move companies, and do something of note.

That way you become true partners in moving the account forward. Figure out who that new champion is and then work hard to make them your biggest advocate.

That new champion might be an existing stakeholder on the buying committee, or someone new who stepped into the key decision maker’s role.

When leaders are promoted, they’re more likely to make investments that equip their team to be more successful and productive. By engaging at the time of a job change—when a stakeholder has budget—you seize a major opportunity to be top of mind. Knowing who has been promoted is a valuable detail you can learn through Sales Navigator.

The results page in advanced search on Sales Navigator spotlights what to prioritize whenit comes to connecting with your account and provides ideas for getting in touch.

Plus, Sales Navigator notifies you about your contacts’ activities, providing a reminder and reason to reach out.

Your best approach is to assume that there are unmet needs in every account.
Finding and addressing the ones you can should be your priority—otherwise you
leave room for a competitor to move in.

That’s why it’s essential for you to track key announcements and activities within your accounts, such as mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations or new strategic endeavors. It’s also key that you stay aligned with your customers on their long-term strategic objectives and how you can help achieve them.

In addition to the Sales Navigator notifications noted above, you can take advantage of spotlights in Advanced Search to stay abreast of your accounts. You’ll know details such as whether a contact has changed jobs, whether a company has had a change in leadership, and other interesting trigger activities.

Being up to speed on all of these details positions you to serve as a credible and valuable resource for your accounts as they try to make sense of the big picture.

While there’s more than one way to enable your strategic account approach, here’s how you do it using Sales Navigator.

Your priority is satisfying your customer’s needs—whether that means helping them seize an opportunity or stepping back to let them focus on business at hand.

In other words, you need to strike the perfect balance of being proactive, persistent, and patient.

Unfortunately, most account managers try to move accounts from retention to growth by focusing on preventing loss. Instead, account managers should focus on activities most likely to increase growth. It’s what Gartner refers to as “customer improvement,” which gives customers an urgent reason to change what they’re doing.

Share content that speaks to your account’s business and challenges, and add your unique insights to help your connections understand how they can take action. Don’t be afraid to encourage your customers to step beyond their comfort zones—those opportunities often yield the biggest payback.

You can streamline the delivery of information packages to your customers using LinkedIn Smart Links. An evolution of our PointDrive feature, Smart Links allows you to quickly and easily package and share content within your Sales Navigator workflow, track viewing behavior, and gain insights into who is engaging with your content.