When I was eleven or twelve years old, my parents bought me a BMX bicycle as a Christmas gift. The bike was a source of many fun childhood memories growing up in Nigeria. A few weeks ago, while vacationing in South Carolina, I rented a bike and took it for a spin on the beach as part of my morning workout.
As I peddled to the sounds of the waves crashing on the rocks, it dawned on me that my role as an account manager shares two distinct similarities to that moment:
1. Knowing the basics of how to ride a bicycle makes the risk manageable and exciting
2. Spending my time wisely and being decisive on a pathway allows me to arrive safely to my destination
Knowing the basics of how to ride a bicycle makes the risk manageable and exciting
The basics of riding a bicycle are skills that, once mastered, rarely go away. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Lagos or New York, the motions are the same. I can still vividly remember weaving my BMX bike through the dusty streets of Avu in Owerri West (see actual footage of my village in the video below), my hands gripping the handles tightly, as my friends and cousins cheered me on.
Their voices filled the sky with:
“Na you biko!”
“Abeg na me get next oh!”
“Don’t fall, oh!”
The excitement I felt many years ago in my village came rushing in as strangers on the beach in South Carolina cheered me on.
In account management, my customers expect me to have a baseline understanding of the problems they’re trying to solve. Once we set this baseline, they are more willing to collaborate to find a path towards a solution. The route is not always straightforward, which makes the quest for a solution exciting.
One of the frameworks I use to quickly build a foundation for a solution hypothesis is to ask myself: “Is this a People, Process, or Product challenge?” The answer could be one, a combination of two, or all three forces. In my experience, I’ve found that there is often one force pulling ahead of the others.
Following this mental exercise, I consult my internal and external stakeholders to help refine and improve the hypothesis. With each new data point, I’ll reduce the risk and move closer to a solution aligned to my customer’s outcomes.
Interestingly, customers don’t always expect me to have all the answers; instead, they expect me to have an informed point of view which first requires an understanding of the issue at hand.
Spending my time wisely and being decisive on a pathway allows me to arrive safely to my destination
Distractions and distracted people crowd most beaches. There were many moments on the beach in South Carolina when I almost crashed into something or someone. What saved me was the kind stranger who pointed out my blind spot, allowing me to swerve to safety at the very last second.
One of the early mistakes I made as an account manager was feeling like I needed to have a relationship with everyone.
That was exhausting!
The reality is that while someone may have a big title, to you, they may be a big distraction.
I later realized I only needed to develop and nurture the right relationships with the right people. Trying to create a genuine and mutually beneficial relationship with key executives is not easy and takes time. It also requires a great deal of thinking and giving without expecting anything in return.
In a previous post, I talked about how executives are people. And like everyone else, they have dreams and aspirations, good days and bad days, triumphs and failures, healthy and sick family members.
I’ve learned to be patient with them and, more importantly, be patient with myself. I’m constantly striving to find new and exciting ways to be a giver, practice self-care, and improve myself.
In accounts where I invested the time and effort required to nurture key executives into champions, these executives pointed out blind spots and distractions that saved everyone time and unnecessary emotional bruises.
Even better, these executives helped me be decisive on the right opportunities to pursue at the right time.
Action Steps
- Experiment with the “people, process, or product” framework when looking at an existing or new problem.
- Cultivate the right executive relationships so they can help you win the right opportunities at the right time.
- Rent a bicycle, take it for a spin on a beach, and write about the experience
Godspeed selling!