Proper alignment between sales and account management teams is crucial for driving revenue growth. If they aren’t aligned with handoffs and customer information exchange, it’s likely that churn will be a constant problem.

While sales teams focus on acquiring new logos, account managers play a vital role in nurturing and expanding relationships with existing clients. By aligning their efforts and collaborating effectively, the teams can achieve better results and drive sustainable growth. 

One important thing is aligning sales and account management teams around shared goals and objectives. This could include revenue targets, customer retention rates, and upsell opportunities. By working towards common objectives, both teams are motivated to collaborate and support each other’s efforts.

It’s also essential to foster open and transparent communication between sales and account management teams by encouraging regular meetings, brainstorming sessions, and joint planning to ensure alignment and share insights.

The customer handoff process is where a lot of problems begin. You must implement a structured customer handoff process from sales to account management teams to ensure that all relevant information about the customer’s needs, preferences, and history is shared to facilitate a seamless transition and enhance the customer experience.

Collaborative Account Planning is also key. It’s important to engage sales and account management teams in collaborative account planning sessions. This allows both teams to share their insights, identify growth opportunities, and develop tailored strategies to maximize customer value. You also need to provide ongoing training and development opportunities for both teams. This ensures that they are equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to effectively collaborate and drive results.

Additionally, your tech stack needs to be leveraged by both teams, and ideally only share a single source of truth for data. Implement CRM systems, communication tools, and data analytics platforms that enable teams to share information and collaborate in real time.

You can then use this data to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of collaboration between sales and account management teams and provide regular feedback and recognition for team members who demonstrate alignment and collaboration.

Finally, everyone must adopt a customer-centric approach during all interactions with clients. Both sales and account management teams should prioritize customer needs and work together to deliver personalized solutions that drive value and ROI. Sales teams must be accountable for the deals they bring in, and AM’s must execute on the value initially communicated to the client!