Take a peek at the job boards and you will see listings for Director of Development, Sales Executive, and Account Executive. Look at the scope of the role and you more than likely will note that the directive is to secure new clients, often with little or no accountability for servicing and maintaining relationships with existing clients.

The Secret Lives of Sales Bees
So while your hunter bees are scouring the landscape for that next ripe flower to put in the sales pipeline, that next request for quotation, that next sealed bid opportunity or that next contract negotiation who is supporting the building and nurturing of the existing hive? Who is guarding your existing honey?

Many organizations have moved away from face to face account management and are relying on internal customer service representatives in a call center to work with the existing clients. In some industries that may work. In other industries where so much depends on physical inspection of a clients facility to assess the level of the quality of service is this method really feasible or desirable? In some instances you really do need that F2F on site client time.

Client Retention
Growth comes from not only securing new business but also in ensuring account retention and profitability within your existing client portfolio. Perhaps the best way to do this is to add another bee to the colony with the responsibility of developing proactive collaborative partnerships with your existing clients. They become the ambassador bee or the account management bee - the face of the company, the solution provider, the negotiator, the go to person, the one who meets with and engages the client on their turf, the one who ensures that both you and your clients are in alignment in achieving service goals, the one who the client views as a partner rather than a vendor, the one person who may make a difference in whether your client contacts a competitor or chooses to work through a service issue with your company.

We can never forget or diminish the importance of the front line worker bees and team lead bees. They are the heart beat of the hive and keep it functioning day in and day out. Often the ambassador bee will also direct the efforts of the workers bees to meet the challenges of changing client needs.

It is easy to calculate the ROI of the hunter bee, but not necessarily so easy to calculate the ROI of the ambassador - the account manager bee. In a business organization the contribution of value is so often judged on the ability of one to either increase revenue or decrease cost.  Perhaps this is why so many companies are focused on the sales department. There are some companies however that have made the commitment to also take a proactive approach in retaining, and increasing profitability and revenue within their existing client base through the implementation of account management.

If you do not truly support your existing clients, you may find that a killer bee from a competing hive will swoop down and take your honey. Your honey is a precious commodity. Did you know that a bee must visit 4000 flowers to make just one tablespoon of honey? If that isn't incentive to hold on to your current honey pot I don't know what is.



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