5 Reasons Your Company Needs to Invest in Key Account Management

Acquiring new customers is the most obvious way for healthcare organizations to drive growth, but it is not the only way. More and more healthcare consulting firms are offering key account management training, an innovative new approach to account management that teaches professionals to focus their efforts on a few key accounts in their portfolio. Here are a few of the benefits of investing in this type of training for your firm’s account managers.

1. Retain Existing Customers  

Keeping the customers you have is always easier than finding new ones. Existing customers know what you have to offer and have found your services satisfactory over the months or years they have been working with you. 

Key account management training can help you build on that existing trust to forge iron-clad relationships that benefit both parties. When customers know that you will go above and beyond for them, you can win their loyalty for a lifetime.  

2. Grow Existing Accounts 

It is easy to think that the goal of customer retention is to maintain consistent income from that account over time. This is not true. Your existing customers may actually have much more interest in purchasing additional solutions from you than either of you realizes.  

A well-trained account manager understands that key accounts in their roster have untapped potential. They should always be looking for opportunities to show their clients some new product or service your organization offers that will meet their clients’ needs, even before those needs have been expressed. Doing this will allow them to capture more revenue from these accounts and easily achieve sustainable growth. 

3. Develop Your Understanding of Your Target Customers 

When you know your current customers like the back of your hand, you also gain knowledge about what future customers will respond to. Products or services that are popular with several accounts will probably be appreciated by similar organizations and may merit greater investment from your firm.  

Key account management training teaches your staff to observe trends in their customers’ needs and apply them to later sales opportunities. This tactic is especially effective when excellent account management skills are paired with additional information from pharmaceutical market research companies and other sources of real-world customer data.  

4. Secure Long-Term Revenue 

No firm can rely on project-to-project income forever. Every organization must build long-term sources of revenue to continue to grow and expand.  

Key account management training gives your staff the tools they need to deliver outstanding service on a consistent basis. This keeps customers satisfied and happy to keep giving you their business for many years to come.  

5. Drive Word-of-Mouth Marketing 

When your customers know they can depend on your organization for innovative solutions and excellent service, they will happily recommend you to other organizations in the industry. This allows you to build momentum based on your past successes and organically grow your customer base. 

Key account management training helps your staff further develop their skillsets to meet the needs of even the most discerning customers. With this knowledge to guide them, they will have no trouble delivering the high-quality service that will get you those coveted recommendations.  

Get Key Account Management Training from a Top Training Organization 

Healthcare is a highly competitive field, and your firm needs every advantage it can get to stay on top. Key account management training can help your staff master the advanced customer service skills they need to make your biggest accounts even more lucrative.

The Brooks Group provides a full curriculum of training programs for account managers in the healthcare industry, including employee onboarding training and strategic account management training. Contact us today to learn more about how you can enroll your workforce in these programs and set your company up for success. 

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2022/02/5-reasons-to-invest-in-key-account-management/

Account Managers: Conduct Winning Meetings Starting Today!

Account managers regularly conduct meetings with some of the busiest professionals in the healthcare industry. These meetings offer a critical opportunity to exchange thoughts with clients, receive feedback, and explore new pathways to grow the account. However, it is just as easy for these events to go awry.  

As an account manager, you owe your clients the courtesy of proper preparation. Here are five easy steps you can follow to plan winning meetings that will deepen your client relationships and secure new business for your firm.  

1. Take Time to Prepare 

Every successful meeting begins with thorough preparation.  

First, decide who will attend. Keep meetings as small as possible. If possible, find out how many people the client is bringing and make sure to include relevant people from your own organization.

If you do not know some of the people in your client's party, be sure to check their LinkedIn page to learn more about them before you meet them in person.

Make sure that everyone who is set to attend the meeting knows when and where it will take place. If the meeting is online, make sure that everyone has access to the right software and has received any links or account access they need to participate.  

Finally, figure out how long it will take you to get to the venue on the day of the meeting, then add an extra half-hour or so to account for detours, delays, and last-minute preparations. This ensures that you will have more than enough time to arrive before the client and set up the room.

2. Sort Out Your Logistics 

Once you know how you want your meeting to go, think about what you will need to have ready to make things go smoothly.  

Do you have backups of all the files you need for your presentation? Is the conference room's equipment working properly? If there is an online component to the meeting, is the office's internet connection stable? Are there enough chairs for everyone? If you will be serving coffee and snacks, how will you get them to the conference room? Will someone be taking notes, and if so, who? 

Planning for all of these factors minimizes the number of interruptions you will experience during your meeting and makes you and your company look like consummate professionals.

3. Establish a Framework 

Before the meeting begins, ensure that everyone is on the same page by quickly reviewing your goals for the day and how much time you have allotted for the event. It may also be helpful for you to use your strategic account management training to create a brief elevator pitch for any products or services you are planning to bring to the client’s attention.

Laying these details out in advance gives your meeting some direction and a clear endpoint that respects everyone's time. Setting these guidelines in advance reassures your clients of your professionalism and makes it easy for you to keep the meeting focused and productive. 

4. Account for Different Communication Styles 

The way you present information in a meeting can have a significant impact on that meeting's outcomes. Some people enjoy some social chitchat up-front to break the ice, while others prefer to get straight to business matters. Know your audience’s communication style and adapt your presentation style to suit them. This will keep your clients engaged and reinforce their confidence in your skills.

However, remember what you learned about your company culture during your employee onboarding training; many organizations frown on taking too casual an approach, and your communications choices should remain consistent with internal expectations. 

5. Listen

Account managers typically come to the meetings with a lot of reports, presentations, and information that they want to share with the client. In their eagerness to offload all that information, sometimes they forget to allow time to listen and let the client share their most pressing concerns or ideas. Sometimes the reports you want to share are not as important as the new ideas the client might be thinking about, as it might uncover new opportunities for your growth together. So, make sure to ask the clients some open-ended questions and then listen!

6. Follow Up Afterwards 

Good follow-up after a meeting is critical for reinforcing the customer experience. 

Thank each attendee for their time and include a short summary of the key points covered during your time together. Doing this demonstrates that you are committed to understanding your customers' needs and are making the most of every learning opportunity. It also shows the kind of initiative and leadership That are hallmarks of good customer service.

Master Meetings for Account Management Success 

When your next meeting comes up, put these tips into action and witness the difference they make. With the right approach, you and your clients will all leave feeling focused and confident that you are on the right track.

Interested in further development? The Brooks Group is a leader among America's pharmaceutical market research companies and healthcare consulting firms. We provide training programs that help account managers sharpen the skills they need to succeed. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help you develop your sales skills, market knowledge, and customer relationships.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2022/02/conduct-winning-meetings-starting-today/

Cut Costs and Save Time on New Employee Onboarding With A Smart Investment

Effective onboarding training does much more than merely ease a new employee into their role, it also imparts a sense of purpose and belonging. With the right approach, it can serve as a powerful tool for increasing productivity and retention in your ranks. 

A quality digital employee onboarding training program can save your organization significant amounts of time and money without losing any of the benefits of in-person instruction.  

  

Increase Employee Retention When It Matters Most  

Today’s workers are more mobile than ever before. All types of organizations are having difficulty attracting and retaining the talent they need to thrive – and the more highly skilled a role is, the harder it is to find a replacement.  

Providing in-depth, engaging onboarding training is one way your organization can combat this problem. Onboarding training helps your employees better understand their new work environment and their place within it. This forges a sense of loyalty among your team and has been shown to generate a 50% increase in employee retention.  

  

Choose Digital Training to Save Time and Improve Productivity  

New employees need time and instruction to rise to the same level of performance as your existing workforce. Delivering this instruction manually, however, slows the process down considerably. Not only do some staff members have to take time out of their day for training duties, but new employees may find themselves waiting idly for someone to fit the training into their busy schedule.  

With self-guided digital onboarding training, new hires can quickly get themselves up to speed on your company culture, relevant rules and regulations, and what is expected of them in their new role. Digital training programs also ensure consistency, making sure that all new hires receive the same vital information. Your new hires can get to work more quickly and your existing workers can stay on task. 

  

Create Custom Content for Your Present and Future Workforce 

Even with strong retention initiatives in place, your workforce is sure to shift and expand as the company grows. All new future hires will need onboarding training, and some employees who are promoted to higher roles may benefit from an additional round of training to help them settle into their new position.  

In contrast to the ever-mounting costs of traditional onboarding, investing in custom digital onboarding training modules is a one-time expense. These training tools are extremely scalable and can be used to instruct as many new hires as needed in the coming years. They can also be easily updated to reflect any needed changes in the curriculum.

Avalability of digital tools also allows you to generate more engagement among the trainees by utilizing 3D modeling and simulations, video content, gamification etc. This kind of learning experience based onboarding improves knowledge retention while shortening learning spans.

Streamline Your Onboarding Training Today 

Building a digital onboarding training program for your organization will help you trim your expenses and your staff's workload. The Brooks Group provides customized employee training programs for healthcare executives, including strategic account management training, and onboarding training. Contact us today to discuss your digital training needs and let us help you establish a more efficient and consistent onboarding process for both you and your workforce.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2022/01/cut-costs-and-save-time-on-new-employee-onboarding-with-a-smart-investment/

Do Your Account Managers Have the Pulse of Your Customers?

One of the most important goals of strategic account management training is to help your account managers forge a better understanding of your customers' current and evolving needs. If your account managers become too complacent, you risk losing some of your valuable accounts.  

Fortunately, you have ready access to the best source of information on customer needs: your customers themselves. Have your account managers ask them the following five questions to get a better idea of what they need now and what they would like to see from your organization going forward. 

5 Questions to Ask Your Customers  

1. How can we better serve your needs? 

Even the best healthcare organizations and their account managers have areas in which they could improve. Ask your customers about what you could be doing better, as well as which products or services they would like to see you provide in the future.  

Answers to this question can help you develop a framework for future improvements within your organization. If you chart your growth according to stated customer preferences, you should have no difficulty retaining the customers you have and adding new ones to your account managers’ rosters.  

2. How satisfied are you with our services? 

Your customers might not be outwardly complaining about your services, but that does not necessarily mean they are fully satisfied with them. Ask them directly to confirm that your services are meeting their expectations.  

An even better way to do this is to ask them whether they would readily recommend your services to another organization. If they would not or are not sure, ask them what would need to happen for them to change their mind. These questions demonstrate how much your organization values customer success and give you some concrete steps to take to solidify your relationship with your client base.  

3. What aspects of our services do you find most valuable?  

There are a multitude of different ways to approach account management in the healthcare industry. Ask your customers which parts of your approach they value the most to find out what it is you do best.

Perhaps your account managers always make a point of presenting the data that supports the solutions they represent. Maybe they are exceptionally compassionate and good at making those they work with feel comfortable around them. Maybe they always seem to know what the customer will need before that need is ever expressed. Whatever the strengths of your workforce may be, you will want to emphasize and capitalize on those attributes. 

4. What are your biggest challenges? 

Your account managers’ role is to help your customers achieve their goals, so it is important to know exactly what those goals are. Asking your customers about the challenges they are facing allows your account managers to translate those challenges into meaningful service improvements. 

For instance, a customer whose patients consistently request the latest treatments might appreciate being shown some of the newest drugs on the market. Matching your account managers' services to your customers' expressed needs will win your organization a lot of goodwill from existing accounts and the market as a whole. 

5. Why did you choose us over our competitors? 

Both you and your customers know that there are many other healthcare companies with similar solutions to those your organization provides. Asking them why they ultimately chose you (or why they stayed with you instead of switching) will help you determine what your customers see as your organization's main selling point.  

Their responses might highlight the things you intentionally emphasize in your services, but they may also surprise you with new useful insights. For instance, you may think of your firm as a provider of established healthcare solutions, but perhaps your customers are more excited to access the small roster of cutting-edge solutions you have recently invested in.  

Get a Better Grasp of Your Customers 

You can acquire more valuable customer insights like these with help from The Brooks Group. In addition to our healthcare market research services, we deliver healthcare executive coaching and new employee onboarding training programs to biotechnology companies, pharmaceutical companies, and other healthcare organizations. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you better understand the needs of your most discerning customers.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2022/01/do-your-account-managers-have-the-pulse-of-your-customers/

4 Keys to Driving Sales with Existing Accounts

Effective account management requires a careful balance of maintenance and growth. You must not only do everything in your power to retain the accounts you already have but also seek out new revenue opportunities to help your company expand. 

Both of these tasks require a significant amount of energy and focus from an AM, and the two priorities often compete with each other to the detriment of both. But what if you could serve both functions at the same time? The following four key concepts outline how you can shift your focus away from lead acquisition to make better use of the revenue potential of your existing accounts.

1. Shift Away from the ‘Anti-Shrinkage’ Model

For many years, the main goal of account management has been to avoid losing the customers with whom the firm is already doing business.

While it is always better to keep a customer than lose one, simply maintaining your existing accounts will never produce the growth you need. To do that, you need to add new business to your portfolio.

The most obvious way to do this is to secure brand-new clients you have never served before. However, it might be a better idea to look for new opportunities to upsell to the customers you already have. 

2. Customer Service is for Retention, not Growth

Many account managers assume that providing good customer service will automatically lead to growth opportunities. This is not always an accurate assessment. 

While customer service is extremely important in account management, it does not help AMs secure new business. Instead, its role is to keep existing customers happy with the services they are currently receiving.

A happy customer might be more inclined to purchase services from you instead of a competitor. The trouble is that if your company had something to offer that customer that they knew they wanted, they would already have purchased it. Unless something changes, that customer is unlikely to decide to become a greater source of revenue. Therefore, deliberate and effective upselling is important in order to generate more revenue from happy customers.

3. Leverage the Power of Customer Improvement

Instead of focusing on customer service, it is more useful to shift your attention to a different target: customer improvement. 

This model turns the idea of customer retention on its head by turning existing customers into new sources of revenue. Under a customer improvement strategy, your task is to suggest ways that the customer might grow or improve their business and let them know how your company can help them do it. As an example, for healthcare accounts, this might involve promoting a new and promising drug or therapy. 

If it is done tactfully and founded on solid evidence, customer improvement can benefit both you and your customers. You will secure the additional business you need, and they will gain access to a new tool that they can use to propel their organization's growth as well.

4. Improve Your Account Management Skills and Supports

To successfully implement customer improvement strategies, you will need in-depth knowledge of both your customers’ needs and the latest developments in the field. Pharmaceutical market research companies or other healthcare research groups can help you acquire the information you need to identify the products and services that are most likely to interest your accounts.

Further, it never hurts to have additional sales or customer service training during a significant undertaking like this. An extra round of strategic account management training can sharpen your skills and give you the confidence you need to make the most of this new approach. 

Bringing Effective Customer Improvement Strategies to Life

Customer improvement and similar upselling strategies are the cornerstones of predictable sales growth. Capitalize on your existing sales relationships first and you will quickly see how powerful established trust can be.

Healthcare consulting firms like The Brooks Group work with organizations to provide employee onboarding training, refresher training, and more. Contact us today to hear more about our account management training options and how we can help you better serve your existing clientele in the healthcare industry.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2021/10/4-keys-to-driving-sales-with-existing-accounts/

How a DISC Assessment Helps you Understand Yourself and Build Better Teams

 

Effective team-building is a critical part of every organization's success; no single employee can do everything on their own. However, promoting collaboration is not always an easy task. Some team members may have difficulty integrating into your team dynamics and making meaningful contributions to your shared efforts. 

A DISC assessment can give you some insight into this matter. This model describes how individuals behave in group settings, making it very useful for organizing teams in the workplace. Knowing your DISC style will provide insight into how your actions are perceived by others and will give you the opportunity to tailor your communication to suit each member of your team. 

The Origins of the DISC Model

The DISC model was invented in the 1920s by psychologist William Marston as a result of his observations on how individuals’ emotions impacted their behavior. 

According to the DISC model, each person has a primary behavioral style. This style dictates how they are the most comfortable behaving. While they can behave in other ways if it is necessary to do so, the change does not come naturally to them and may hinder their abilities or morale. 

Many companies use DISC assessments as part of their employee onboarding training, finding it helpful to set expectations regarding workplace interactions. Others only offer these assessments to key personnel like managers and executives.

The Four DISC Styles

The following four DISC styles are currently accepted within the model’s framework. A person's primary style may combine two of these types to create a more nuanced profile of behavior. 

• D (Dominance): D-types are results-oriented people. Direct and to-the-point, they value competency over almost everything else. They excel at achieving goals, but they may struggle with interpersonal interactions.

• I (Influence): I-types are energetic, outgoing, and eager to speak their minds. They are good at building relationships with the people around them, making them excellent at rallying their peers and increasing motivation. However, they may lose track of time while socializing and sometimes need reminders to stay on task. 

• S (Steadiness): S-types are patient and thorough, always ready to hear everyone out. They strive to maintain stability, but this sometimes makes them hesitant to speak their minds. They also shy away from conflict, even when it is necessary for the good of the project. 

• C (Conscientiousness): C-types emphasize accuracy and detail, making them superior analysts and fact-checkers. However, they also tend to overanalyze certain tasks and situations due to their perfectionist streak. They enjoy having control of their work and may struggle to hand off tasks to others. 

Building Better Communication Among Teams

DISC styles reveal the strengths and weaknesses in a person's behavior, making this model an invaluable tool for managers and executives. Leadership roles require you to interface with many different types of people, and not all of them will be equally receptive to your default behavioral style.  

If you know your own DISC style and understand how this model works, you can approach various team members in the way that works best for them. For instance, if you are a D-type speaking to an I-type, you know to allocate a little extra time to let that person speak freely before they get to their point. Conversely, if you are an I-type and need to speak to a D-type, you may want to take that extra time to distill your points into key takeaways instead. 

This type of deliberate DISC-related consideration leads to more effective communication, happier employees, and better overall productivity in the workplace. In fact, some account management training courses are dedicated to teaching leaders how to do this, proving the utility of the skill.

Bring DISC to Your Organization Today

Empowering leadership with better communication tools is one of the most effective things you can do to improve productivity and raise employee morale. Consider offering in-depth assessments and training for your company’s leadership through a certified DISC partner like The Brooks Group. This additional interpersonal knowledge could be the key to unlocking higher productivity and helping your team achieve its true potential.

This blog is originally posted in https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2021/07/how-a-disc-assessment-helps-you-understand-yourself-and-build-better-teams/