3DAM™

Account Management Training

Retain and grow all your accounts, from the smallest to the largest.

Effective account management can increase the value of customers and channel partners by up to 50% (Source: Imparta; Gallup). Your best account managers may well meet this standard. But what about the rest?

3DAM™ Overview

How many of your account managers actively sell your full range of products and services? Break out of their comfort zone to sell into adjacent buying centres? Generate insight when planning, rather than just information?

Our research shows that most Account Managers, and even Strategic Account Managers:

Don’t focus on the key questions they must answer in order to grow and retain business.

Behave as ‘Friendly Helpers’, rather than bringing insight, influencing behaviour and building trust.

Don’t maintain the Plan-Do-Review cadence needed to drive results.

Imparta's Account Management training programme is designed to build the full set of analytical and interpersonal skills and behaviours needed to retain and grow account revenue and margin. It equips account managers to map the wider account, identify threats and opportunities, build competitive strengths, manage the team (even without authority over them) and forecast accurately.

This highly interactive training course builds sustainable skills through application and real-life exercises, tools that can be integrated into your CRM, and reinforcement through Imparta’s continuous improvement ecosystem.

Course Overview

This programme establishes a focused, efficient process for account management, key account management and strategic account management.

Key training topics include:

Developing a 3D Advantage® (Insight, Influence and Trust).
Mapping accounts to identify opportunities to increase share of wallet and access new buying centres, as well as any threats.
Assessing the appropriate level of partnership within a given account, and assessing customer health.
Estimating and improving account-level profitability.
Mapping and managing stakeholders; building trust and influencing decisions.
Identifying the forces acting on an account and finding new opportunities based on unmet current and future objectives.
Prioritising account initiatives, influencing without authority and fostering collaboration across the wider account team.
Making accurate B2B revenue forecasts.
Establishing a regular review and re-planning process, internally and with the customer, to improve account performance.

Impact

Many account management methodologies result in formulaic account plans that take a long time to create but end up on the (digital) shelf. In contrast, the 3D Account Management™ course equips account managers to customise their approach to the specific issues and opportunities in their account, saving time and unlocking growth in all your accounts, from the smallest to the largest.

The training will increase:

Account penetration and share of wallet.
Account profitability.
Recurring revenue, customer longevity, entanglement and lifetime value.
The accuracy of revenue forecasts.
Secondary benefits include:
Creating references and case studies that can be leveraged to generate further leads.
Improved business and financial acumen.
Differentiation as a Trusted Advisor.

Strategy Gameboard

The 3D Account Management™ programme draws on a clear, effective definition of account strategy that can be applied – in different levels of detail – to your smallest accounts and your very largest. The example animation below explains more.

3DAM™

Who is it for?

This account management programme can be adapted for Account Managers, Channel/Partner Managers, Key Account Managers, Strategic Account Managers, and for people who manage those roles.

It can also be used to transition salespeople and sales reps into an account management role.

Formats and Duration

The programme is part of Imparta’s modular curriculum.

It is available as:

eLearning (full modules, plus individual assets that you and your teams can embed into playlists).
A 2- or 3-day instructor-led face-to-face workshop, during which teams work on live accounts.
Modules that can be combined with other courses.

The programme also includes competency definitions, application tools, measurement, and reinforcement tools including nudge questions and manager coaching guides to make the new skills stick.

Application Tools

Application tools (Canvases) are available in print, editable PDF and Excel versions. They are also available as native Salesforce tools and standalone tools within our platform.

The Canvases help attendees to embed their new skills, and to apply them to winning business and improving account profitability.

3D Sales Agility Foundation

Assess

Read the buying situation accurately. Map where the customer is in their nonlinear Buying Cycle and identify the key factors driving their decision.

3D Sales Agility Foundation

Choose

Select the optimal sales strategy for the current situation. Understand which of the four approaches gives the highest probability of winning.

3D Sales Agility Foundation

Execute

Balance Insight, Influence and Trust to create, differentiate, protect, capture and expand value at every stage of the Buying Cycle.

3D Sales Agility Foundation

Mindset

Develop Responsibility, Resilience and Rigor — the three mindset qualities that research shows separate top performers from the rest.

Mastering Virtual Presence Support

Mastering the Tools

Master the technical setup and tools for effective virtual meetings, from lighting and audio to screen sharing and collaboration platforms.

Mastering Virtual Presence Support

The Virtual Mindset

Develop the specific mindset required for virtual selling — higher energy, deliberate engagement, and the discipline to prepare differently.

Mastering Virtual Presence Support

The Science of Virtual Engagement

Understand the science behind attention, engagement and memory in virtual settings. Apply techniques to keep participants focused.

Mastering Virtual Presence Support

The Psychology of Virtual Influence

Apply the principles of Insight, Influence and Trust in a virtual environment where building rapport and reading signals is harder.

Prospecting Core

Define Target Profiles

Define the type of individual you would like to connect with using the five Ws of targeting (Who, Where, When, What and Why).

Prospecting Core

Inbound

Build an effective presence where your targets spend time, online and in person. Create and share the right content to attract inbound interest.

Prospecting Core

Outbound

Find individuals who meet your target profile. Connect using Insight, Influence and Trust to shape a compelling initial approach.

Prospecting Core

Selling the Meeting

Sell the value of an in-depth discussion with a Centre of Receptivity. Make the perceived benefits of a conversation outweigh the costs.

Creating Client Value Core

3D Advantage

Leverage Insight, Influence and Trust to add value and achieve desired outcomes at each stage of the Buying Cycle.

Creating Client Value Core

3D Mindset

Develop Rigor, Resilience and Responsibility. Recognise and influence your own mindset and behaviour, including the use of pattern interrupts.

Creating Client Value Core

Product/Market Knowledge

Build deep knowledge of your products, markets and competitors to fuel insight-led conversations with customers.

Creating Client Value Core

Identifying Opportunities

Explore the customer's objectives, challenges and goals. Map your capabilities onto these objectives to identify potential opportunities.

Creating Client Value Core

Account Entry

Take a strategic approach to account entry. Use social, digital and behavioural skills to find, connect with and engage Centres of Receptivity.

Creating Client Value Core

Establishing Needs

Create explicit needs by validating objectives, uncovering barriers and root causes, and identifying which of your capabilities could address them.

Creating Client Value Core

Building Momentum

Use Pain and Gain questions to shed light on the impact of not acting. Influence urgency through loss aversion and contrast bias.

Creating Client Value Core

Proving Value

Create a compelling Value Proposal to quantify impact in the customer's own terms — Strategic, Tactical, Political and Individual value.

Creating Client Value Core

Qualifying/Reframing

Qualify and prioritise opportunities based on attractiveness and achievability. Reframe the decision back to Need where appropriate.

Creating Client Value Core

Creating a Pitch Strategy

Bring insight into decision criteria. Understand perceptions against each criterion relative to competitors. Develop strategies to improve both.

Creating Client Value Core

Perfect Pitch

Combine deep insights with behavioural science and your pitch strategy, together with brilliant execution, to deliver the perfect pitch.

Creating Client Value Core

Managing Stakeholders

Map key stakeholders in terms of influence and alignment. Develop strategies to improve political support for your solution.

Creating Client Value Core

Alleviating Risk

Anticipate, uncover and alleviate risks at four levels: Strategic, Tactical, Political, and Individual.

Design Thinking for Sales Advanced

Design Thinking for Sales

Use the iDEATE process to identify problems, define them, explore solutions, agree and test them, and execute and evaluate.

Design Thinking for Sales Advanced

Identify Problems

Explore the customer's unmet objectives and empathise with key stakeholders to uncover their human needs.

Design Thinking for Sales Advanced

Define the Problem

Define and redefine problems clearly using problem statements, 'how might we' questions, and root cause analysis.

Design Thinking for Sales Advanced

Explore Solutions

Use insight and creativity to explore possible solutions, uncovering options with different levels of risk and reward.

Design Thinking for Sales Advanced

Agree the Solution

Understand how customers assess costs and benefits. Use the cost/benefit grid to help them agree the right solution.

Design Thinking for Sales Advanced

Test and Prototype

Select the most appropriate prototyping approach to provide a low-cost, low-risk and rapid way to iterate on solutions.

Design Thinking for Sales Advanced

Execute and Evaluate

Design implementation and adoption plans that minimise Time to First Value and create 'wow' moments for the customer.

Negotiating Client Value Core

WIN-win Negotiation

Understand the Zone of Potential Agreement. Combine principled (insight-based) and positional (influence-based) negotiation approaches.

Negotiating Client Value Core

3D Advantage in Negotiation

Apply Insight, Influence and Trust specifically in negotiation contexts to create and protect value.

Negotiating Client Value Core

3D Mindset in Negotiation

Develop the mindset for effective negotiation — managing emotions, maintaining composure, and staying focused on outcomes.

Negotiating Client Value Core

Identifying and Improving Your BATNA

Identify and improve your Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement in both perception and reality.

Negotiating Client Value Core

Profiling Your Counterparts

Identify your negotiation counterparts, know your own style, and profile theirs to adapt your approach effectively.

Negotiating Client Value Core

Anchoring & Framing

Influence perceptions through positive and negative framing, selective use of the decoy effect, and anchoring techniques.

Negotiating Client Value Core

Uncovering Interests

Understand each party's interests to make value-creating trade-offs. Generate a wide range of possible Gives and Gets.

Negotiating Client Value Core

Trading Gives and Gets

Create value by proactively suggesting trades. Respond to customer demands using a robust and scientific approach.

Negotiating Client Value Core

Managing Stakeholders

Map key stakeholders in terms of influence and alignment. Develop strategies to improve political support for your solution.

Negotiating Client Value Core

Defending Value

Defend against tricks used by aggressive or well-trained negotiators, maintaining composure and focusing on mutual value.