A good account manager

Asked recently about what makes a good account manager Mark Shane, sales manager at ICON explained,

“ICON is a value added distributor and we differentiate ourselves by bundling a range of support services with each solution we sell.  This is not a business model which is difficult to copy.  Anyone can come up with a package of services to add value to a resellers business and any account manager can present these to the reseller.  That’s the easy part.  The difficult part is translating the business ethos of this model into actions which have real street value for the reseller.  This is how the account manager adds real value.  He brings the VAD business model to life for the reseller. 

The account manager builds the relationship with the reseller. That means understanding their needs, proposing solutions, and doing the commercial work of order taking, order processing and, if problems arise, order chasing.  This calls for a mixed bag of skills; technical skills to understand the product, business skills to spot the opportunities and of course the basic sales and relationship skills.  These are skills which every account manager needs.  But they are not the skills which add unique value to the reseller’s business. 

To add real value you need an account manager who can establish himself as a key part of the resellers business.  This is more than building good relationships.  Its about establishing a genuine understanding with the reseller so that he knows you will be there for his business 24/7, its about being his first port of call when there is a problem, its about being seen as the problem solve not the order taker.  It is in effect becoming a remote member of his team.  

The account manager is the key to building an added value relationship.  But the account manager cannot do this by himself.  The whole business must live and breathe reseller added value and support the account manager.  If you get this model right, as ICON has done, then when it works it works well.  For example ICON’s Northern Account Manager has been able to increase turnover for ICON’s Northern resellers from its product line by on average more than 16 times.



Richard Salvage,
ICONs Northern Account Manager



How this works in practice is exemplified by the work of ICON’s northern account manager who learnt the hard way about adding value.  Previously working as a sales manager he realised that he was selling more of one PBX than any other simply because of the level of help and support he was getting from that vendors account manager. 

When he joined ICON he used this experience to help build business for his resellers with such success that often his support has been key to winning business for the reseller. 

For example when working with one reseller who had no previous experience of ICON’s solutions he led the sales pitch, advised on the proposal, and helped up sell the prospect to convert them from a hosted to a CPE PBX solution.”