Recently I was at a training session with an account team. Ten people, all busy. Very busy. One of them proudly told me how he had solved a billing problem that morning. Another had just spent an hour arranging for the right employee to arrive at the right location. A third had managed to calm down an angry customer.
Then I asked: when was the last time you spoke with a decision-maker about their expectations for next year?
Silence.
From partner to price fighter
Solving problems feels good. Your customer calls, you jump into action, you fix it. The customer is happy; you feel useful.
But every minute you spend on billing problems or logistical mistakes is a minute you are not spending on the conversation that really matters. The conversation about the future. About what the customer wants to achieve. About whether you still have a role to play.
I experienced it myself. At a large university of applied sciences in the north of the country, we had an operations manager who was a familiar face. Everyone was happy with him. Customer satisfaction scores were excellent.
Until we conducted customer research and the CIO said: “I’m very satisfied. And if you have the lowest price again next time, I’ll consider extending the contract.”
The lowest price again. The value element had completely disappeared. Price had become the only decision criterion, and with it our negotiating position had vanished. Why? Because every conversation was about operational matters. Not expectations. Not the future. There were no relationships at levels beyond operations.
Why the structure fails
This was not an incident. It was the logical result of how the organization was structured.
When there are no good billing processes, who solves it? The account manager. When operations does not communicate with sales, who sits in between? The account manager. The account manager becomes a firefighter—not by choice, but because of a lack of structure.
At that same employer, I saw how operational managers kept their own piece tidy, but nobody looked at what else was possible. Why not? Because the structure rewarded caution, not initiative. Proposing new services could only cause problems.
Internally, we were mainly busy covering each other’s backs. We talked about the customer, but not with the customer.
What a value orchestrator does differently
An account manager should not be a firefighter. An account manager should be a value orchestrator.
What does that mean in practice? A value orchestrator does not spend three quarters of an hour in the quarterly business review discussing operational figures. A value orchestrator sits at the table with decision-makers and asks which business goals they are pursuing. At least once a year, have that conversation. At least twice a year, have a conversation about expectations.
But that is only possible if the organization gives the account manager room to do it. If processes absorb operational problems. If it is clear who conducts which conversations.
Ask yourself these questions:
Who is responsible for strategic conversations with decision-makers? Is that responsibility clearly assigned?
How often do your people speak with decision-makers, not just users?
What happens when a problem escalates? Does the account manager jump into operations, or is someone else responsible for handling it?
The choice you make as an organization
You organize for success, or you correct for failure. That choice is yours as an organization.
Look at your account team. What are they spending their time on? Are they with customers, or solving internal problems? Are they having strategic conversations, or putting out fires?
And if you do not like the answer, do not ask what is wrong with your people. Ask what is wrong with your structure.
Do you recognize this? Get in touch for a conversation about how to organize customer retention structurally.
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