The Client Director-Account Management is responsible for the full end-to-end customer engagement model from relationship development through ongoing delivery. He/She is responsible for securing long-term account growth, sales and revenue while maintaining agreed profitability, and expanding client relationships, buyer access and securing long-term customer success. He/She balances and prioritizes strategic and tactical aspects of account management, and demonstrates mastery in building key relationships and networks across the customer base. The Client Director-Account Management provides leadership, planning, coordination and management of all sales and delivery activities to achieve the regional/territory direct channel sales and revenue targets. He/She is also responsible for developing partner relationships and overseeing competitor intelligence research and reporting, and manages customer satisfaction and growth of the business relationship. The Client Director-Account Management is involved in all steps of the sales process for their assigned account(s), often including core, growth and strategic customers. He/She often works with a Business Development Executive on specific opportunities.
Key responsibilities include: Customer Centricity
- Has an intimate understanding of assigned accounts business and strategic direction, and partners with customer leaders to develop long-term business and IT strategy
- Provides strategic value to customer by utilizing integrated vision and helping to create and navigate a roadmap
- Develops and maintains high-trust relationships within an account, within Avanade and partner companies, and generates additional revenue
- Works with customers to identify new opportunities, and ensures cross-selling and upselling of Avanade services
- Qualifies and negotiates complex deals
- Manages customer expectations to align with estimates, pricing, and contracts in place
- Ensures and maintains high-level customer satisfaction, monitors the Customer Satisfaction Survey process, and acts on results
Sales to Delivery
- Quickly prioritizes account opportunities to deliver the highest percentage of wins, accurately qualifying opportunities that have true potential
- Coordinates Avanade interactions with customers across service lines and geographies (global accounts)
- Creates and actively manages the global standard account plan document and associated team engagement
- Accountable for successful delivery of sold work, and serves as the highest escalation point for delivery-related issues
- Forms and manages an account team
- Sets and manages contract service level agreements, acting as a delivery escalation point for client priorities and issues
- Facilitates account financial management, such as account P&L, invoicing, profitability, forecasting, and reporting
- Provides leadership, planning, coordination and management of the sales process within an account
- Constructs and implements the accounts overall communication strategy
- Applies and leverages Sales Process (DEEPR), Solution Selling and Account Management practices
- Drives customer-to-customer or external references at account
Qualifications Years of Experience: 7+ years of project or program management expertise and experience with complex engagements; customer management and/or sales experience in service sales organization; proven ability to lead a multidisciplinary team to execute on project deliverables
Management Experience: 5+ years
Education: Bachelors degree in business, sales or engineering recommended; advanced degree preferred
Other Skills/Knowledge:
- Extensive customer management and/or sales experience in a service sales organization
- Advanced commercial, delivery and project management skills
- Comfortable with C suite executives and develops business relationships
- Skillfully navigates through challenging sales and delivery situations
- Good track record delivering complex, large scale systems integration programs
- Strong relationship selling skills and experience
- Solid understanding of enterprise service solutions and Microsoft technologies
- Experience in managed services preferred
