S22 Business Account Management

Agree with the business how the account relationship will work, including the main contacts on both sides, how often you will be in touch and what the business can expect from the service

Build relationships across the business, not only with the owner or chief executive, while respecting who makes decisions

Develop an in-depth understanding of the business's strategy, performance, ambitions, challenges and decision makers

Prepare and keep up to date an account plan with the business, setting out its priorities, the support planned, who is involved and how progress will be reviewed

Use data and intelligence from client records, management information, published sources and conversations to understand each account and anticipate its needs

Coordinate colleagues, partners and specialists as one team around the business, making clear who leads, who does what and how information is shared

Make sure the business experiences joined-up support, without repeated requests for the same information or conflicting advice

Put the business's interests first when deciding what support to offer, including when this does not suit programme targets or your organisation's own services

Prioritise your time and effort across a portfolio of accounts according to need, potential and agreed service levels

Identify opportunities and risks for the business early, and raise them with the business and the right colleagues

Review the value of the relationship with the business regularly, and act on its feedback

Record account activity, contacts and outcomes accurately, so that colleagues can pick up the relationship, in line with data protection requirements

Plan for changes in the relationship, including handover to another account manager and the planned end of account management

The principles of account management and how they apply in business support, including how account management differs from managing a caseload

Account planning tools and techniques, including mapping relationships and stakeholders within a business

How businesses make decisions, and the roles and influence of owners, directors, managers and their advisers

Sources of data and intelligence about businesses (for example client relationship management records, company information, financial data and sector intelligence), and how to analyse them for insight into an account

How to use client relationship management systems to record, share and review account activity

How to coordinate support across teams and organisations, including referral agreements, information sharing and consent

Methods of segmenting and prioritising a portfolio of accounts

How to judge the health and value of an account relationship, including through client feedback and outcomes

How to manage conflicts between the business's interests, programme targets and your organisation's commercial interests

The data protection requirements for holding and sharing information about businesses and the people in them