How to Become an Account Manager
One of the exciting things about becoming an account manager is the variety of fields from which to choose. Any industry which offers goods and/or services must have educated, skilled, personable account managers to stimulate and maintain the company’s growth. Becoming an account manager requires you to develop interpersonal skills as well as acquire knowledge in the particular product or service you will represent. Account managers tackle a hybrid job description because to succeed, one must be both a salesperson and a public relations ambassador. As an account manager, you will be the confluence between the manufacturer or producer of your product, and its clients, customers and consumers of the product.
Step One to Becoming an Account Manager: Become Comfortable and Adept at Sales
The ability to sell your goods and services is tantamount to becoming a sought-after account manager. Not everyone, however, is comfortable with the idea of “selling” something to someone. Yet those very individuals will still be successful account managers given the right mindset and approach. To master the sales aspect of account management, you must strive to know more about your product or service than anyone else in the field. Granted, it’s a tall order! But the point is, you must strive daily to be an expert in the product or service which your employer is engaged in providing for the public.
When Your Product is Tangible
If you are aspiring to be an account manager within an industry which provides material, fungible items, become familiar with the production process and whatever unique variances your manufacturer has over the competition. For example, if you are an account manager for a company selling coffee, find out in-depth the growing process of the beans, what the optimal environment is and how your employer does a superior job in either growing or acquiring the beans. Then learn all there is to know about the roasting process. Learn the trade vernacular well enough to express knowledge in those terms and be able to use them when dealing with sophisticated clientele, or even to teach the trade to newcomers to the industry. Find out how the manufacturing process for your particular product is conducted, and whenever possible tour the plants or warehouses involved in production. Whether wood for building houses or tomato sauce, find out the nature and nuances of all the ingredients which go into creating your product. Once you have acquired a concise and masterful grasp on these product points, you must begin to practice presenting what you know to your established and prospective clients. You will be amazed how the extensive and well-researched knowledge of your product will pave the way for persuading and inspiring your clientele to purchase your product over that of the competitor’s. Most individuals strive to survive within their respective account management jobs, but you can be on the leading edge of your company by continuing to educate yourself and by keeping abreast of changes and developments within your industry, as well the output of your competitors.
When Your Product is a Service
Becoming a successful account manager for a service will involve speaking with the ground-level providers of those services. In other words, you must go to the roots and core of what your employer is offering, while getting to know each specific step of how the service is supplied. For example, if you represent a cleaning company, take the time to accompany a worker to a job site and observe the practical details involved on any given day. Take note of the products being used and rehearse how this can be instrumental in explaining to your consumers or prospective customers why your service is valuable and superior to others in the industry. Get to know your competition as well. Literally quantify the data by a “comparing and contrasting” approach to the service you represent via a thorough study of the competition. Strive to not only know all there is to know about your service but strive also to have a firm grip on what is being offered competitively, in the free market.
Get Experience
While all careers involve a theoretical basis, the rubber meets the road in account management when you have experience-based knowledge. Even if for a short period, apply for a direct sales job for a product or service in the industry to which you aspire. This experience will be your rock as an account manager because it will teach you everything you need to know to conquer the sales dimension of this career.
Step Two: Learn How to Be an Ambassador for Your Brand
The second prong to becoming a successful account manager is learning how to be a superior intermediary between your company and its consumers by figuring out how to present the product in such a way as to maximize its potential market share. You will be representing your employer to established accounts and prospective customers, as well as the reverse; you will be simultaneously representing your established accounts to your superiors within the company. In order to straddle that challenge and become the best account manager possible, you must become an excellent communicator and polished people-person. Some are born with these skills and talents, others are not. Either way, to become an account manager you must be sure you are adept at carrying on personable conversations, able to set conversational goals, able to incorporate persuasive techniques within conversations, be capable of assessing the needs and wants of clients on-the-fly, become a master by having an intuitive ear for the subtleties which arise in the course of communication both with your employer and your accounts, just to name a few.
Step Three: Sell What You Love and Love What You Sell
One of the most important considerations on the journey to becoming an account manager is choosing an industry which interests you. When you are fully engaged with the nature of your product or service, managing your accounts and the individuals involved will be a fulfilling and stimulating experience. The most successful people in business attribute their exceptional achievements to the fact that they thoroughly embraced and had a genuine love for the goods or services provided.
Becoming a successful account manager involves developing a level of self-knowledge which serves as a launchpad for taking the three steps mentioned above. Decide what industry will inspire you to thrive. Learn how to become a skilled salesperson. Become a master communicator and diplomat. Mastering these steps will surely find you one day, at the top of your field!
