The Account Manager tale

John woke up late that morning. The alarm clock didn’t go off…he missed the memo about his job role: developing and maintaining #customerrelationship that promote #satisfaction and #retention.

It didn’t bother him so much dough. He put on his suit, he packed his laptop and he looked at himself in the mirror…how hard can it be, he told himself with a smirk hint on his lips! And…off he went into the business world!

After all the market was blooming and opportunities were flourishing. The company he represented was the undisputed market leader and he really didn’t need to apply much effort on acquiring or maintaining his Accounts.

Every morning he wore his suit, picked up his laptop, looked at himself in the mirror “how hard can it be...Not at all!” he added that crisp spring morning. He perfected his smirk and reassured himself again “Not so hard at all”, who cares about the memo!

Until…one cold winter morning, the world he knew started to fade away in front of his eyes.

An urgent gathering was set up from the Company, another important memo was distributed.

The memo highlighted that, to navigate the rocky waters ahead, it was paramount to provide the utmost support to each #account.

John had the important task to keep the Customer #happy and #satisfied to achieve #retention. No longer an easy task, considering the market instability and the fierce competition that started to emerge.

It was “show time” for all the Account Managers including John! Flexibility and problem-solving, were the tools to use.

Once again John woke up late that morning. The alarm clock didn’t go off and he once again, missed the memo.

“Not a problem” he reassured himself…It’s just another memo! He added and off he went, inattentive of what was happening around him.

In the meanwhile, the Company had to retrench a big part of its supporting staff. The roadmap was brought to a halt. Turnover was at its higher peak ever and…service level plummeted. Account managers were considered the sentinel to hold the “fortress” called Revenue. Needless to say, the importance of their role during this time.

That year, John ignored many of his Accounts complaints, “cry for help”, and request for support or resolution. His default response was: “It’s the market”, “it’s our Policy” and “No can’t do!”. Day after day the dissatisfaction grew and the distress started to create cracks in those, once upon a time, stable and satisfied relationships.

At first that fracture was barely visible, however, it started to run deep as months passed. So deep that, even a potential heal would have left a visible ugly scar. In fact, there never was a healing.

Fast forwarding one year later…the market settled and as far as the story goes, many of John’s Accounts moved away. The competitive advantage of the Company was gone, and damaged relationships were by then…unrepairable.

The Company eventually blamed John; however, truth to be told, the loss of Accounts was not only John’s fault.

Supervision to make sure that the memo was properly understood and carried out as intended, was not in place. Check points to take the pulse of the situation, were absent.

Above all, the biggest oversight that was highlighted after an internal Audit was conducted, was that nobody thought to follow up when, one by one, the Accounts started to drop. Nobody took action to understand the root cause of the customers leaving. As consequence, nobody took the appropriate corrective actions.

The Audit highlighted that the motto “it takes a team to win an Account” also applies in reverse and “it takes a team to lose it too”, it's almost never just one man's fault. However the tendency is to blame the weaker link.

John vowed himself to not make the same mistake going forward, he understood his naivety and realized that Father Time exposes strengths and weaknesses, talents…or the lack thereof, care and opportunism.

Above all, it exposes how things evolve and change when we are busy to…not look!