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Cross-function account
team working
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Core to account management is the
virtual account team - the bringing together of cross-territory or functional
people to meet the needs of individual key customers. Although cross boundary
working is essential in effective account management it often seems impossible
to achieve in practice.
RM3 overcomes this problem because it enables cross-boundary account team
working to be truly virtual.
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There are two
barriers to cross boundary account team working:
1. Freedom to operate as a virtual account team
2. Motivation to work as an account team
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Freedom to operate
as a virtual account team
The theory of virtual account team working is straightforward; people are only
part of an account team when they are actively doing something for the account.
Reality is rather less simplistic for although an Account Manager may easily be
able to prioritize her time across her accounts, others in her organization may
have different priorities. A particular account for example may be very
important to a Global Account Manager, but insignificant to a local National
Account Manager or Country Manager.
This problem with competing priorities is often apparent when an Account
Manager tries to involve the virtual team in building an account plan or
reviewing a course of action. Difficult enough with a national account, taking
people away from their function for half a day or so, but close to impossible
and very expensive in the case of a global account. Yet, our research shows
that business significantly increases when such teams get together to share
ideas and solve problems. But does it justify the cost and disruption?
With RM3 each account has a Virtual Account Room accessed through a browser.
Team members can enter the room to update information whenever they wish, join
account planning sessions, send urgent messages to other members. They can work
together live on an account situation or plan, or work sequentially in their
own time. They can do all this without leaving their desk or home. This is true
virtual account working. Working as an account team in this way is not time
consuming, but something that is done as and when required, in minutes rather
than hours. No longer is account planning an intermittent action that occurs
just before a review, but part of a continuous activity, taking rarely more
than a few minutes at a time. RM3 enables planning to become part of the
day-to-day
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Motivation to work as an account team
Training people to operate as cross-functional account teams to prioritize and
adapt to specific customer requirements will succeed only to a point. People
need to be motivated to do so. One of the best ways to motivate is to help
people feel involved and valued. In account management this means ensuring that
people feel their contribution to the decisions made about the account and its
success, is recognized and valued. The constraint to involving all the people
who could add value to the success of an account is time and logistics.
With RM3 time and logistics are not constraints. All can participate, all can
contribute and all will recognize the value they bring to the party. |
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