Account Management Secrets

Growth stalls rarely announce themselves. It usually starts with hesitation, mixed signals, and decisions that keep getting pushed to the next quarter.   In How to Spot a Growth Stall Early, Alex Raymond sits down with Ellie Wu, Founder and Executive Advisor of CSuiteCX, to talk about what post-sales leaders are quietly dealing with right now. From her vantage point across entrepreneurship and bus...

Long-lasting client partnerships are built through disciplined fit, visible value, and the conviction to say no to the wrong work even when the revenue looks tempting.   Joel Sylvester, Chief Client Officer at Five Star Call Centers, shares a grounded perspective on client leadership that blends entrepreneurship, business discipline, and wellbeing. Rather than chasing every opportunity, Joel argue...

If your QBRs keep getting ghosted or quietly deprioritized, the problem is not the calendar invite but the way those meetings are framed and led.   Alex Raymond challenges the default way most account managers think about quarterly business reviews. In a market where portfolios are growing, resources are tighter, and customer attention is harder to earn, QBRs reveal how your customer truly sees yo...

Account management can drive renewals, reduce risk, and expand real career access when corporate partnerships are treated as long-term commitments rather than short-term transactions.   This conversation with Liz Jones of Genesis Works Chicago, reframes account management through a nonprofit lens and shows how the core principles still hold. She explains what changes when corporate partners are tr...

Most key account programs collapse because companies treat a strategic discipline like a standard sales motion, and this conversation reveals what it actually takes to build one that works.   Alex Raymond and Mark Davies examine why so many organizations invest in key account management yet struggle to see meaningful impact. Mark argues that KAM only succeeds when the company recognizes it as a di...

High performers don’t grow out of imposter syndrome. They just learn how to hide it better.   Executive coach and imposter syndrome specialist Dr. Tara Halliday joins the show to unpack why so many accomplished people still feel like they don’t belong and how that belief quietly shapes confidence, performance, and presence at work. She explains how the nervous system hijacks clear thinking in high...

The biggest threat to your revenue often isn’t churn, it’s the blind spots you never realized were there.   Alex sits down with Lisa Honaker, a seasoned account management leader who has coached teams across fast-moving entrepreneurship and high-stakes business environments. They get into why so many AMs misread early risk signals and how a narrow set of contacts can leave even strong accounts vul...

NRR has become the pressure test for every account management leader who wants to prove they can drive real, sustainable growth.   Alex Raymond is joined by Jennifer Pinter, a longtime operator and advisor who works closely with account management and CS leaders navigating today’s retention-driven market. Together they dig into why net revenue retention now sits at the center of every strategic co...

Most companies don’t have a revenue problem, they have a process problem hidden in plain sight.   Alex sits down with Eddie Reynolds, CEO of Union Square Consulting, to unpack why growth so often stalls even when sales are strong. Through the lens of entrepreneurship and business strategy, Eddie explains how broken go-to-market systems, unclear ownership, and neglected post-sales  processes quietl...

Mallory Lee proves that simplifying your systems can be the smartest growth strategy a company ever makes.   Alex Raymond sits down with Mallory Lee, VP of Revenue Operations at PhoneBurner, about how tearing out a decade of legacy systems and moving from Salesforce to HubSpot unlocked faster growth, cleaner data, and stronger alignment across the company. Guided by her “SEC” framework—simple, eff...

Ultra accounts demand a no-deck QBR playbook built on senior trust, steakhouse conversations, and concrete commitments.   Carl Lenocker, Senior Customer Success Executive at Splunk (now Cisco), joins Alex Raymond to talk about managing $10M+ enterprise accounts through clarity, preparation, and authentic relationship-building. He shares how the best account managers operate more like entrepreneurs...

What if the key to explosive growth isn’t chasing new customers but treating expansion as an act of service to the ones you already have?   Alex Raymond sits down with Amanda Edington, VP of Account Management at Payscale, to unpack how a mindset shift toward service transformed her team’s approach to growth and retention. Amanda shares how curiosity and trust drive meaningful expansion, why the b...

Satisfied customers leave, but loyal ones stay because great account managers turn every interaction into consistency, trust, and genuine partnership.   Alex Raymond sits down with customer experience expert and New York Times bestselling author Shep Hyken to explore how account managers can move beyond customer satisfaction and build true loyalty that lasts. Shep explains why “satisfied” is the m...

When contracts disappear and only value keeps customers loyal, the real work of account management begins.   Alex Raymond talks with Anthony DeShazor, the founder and chief architect of Protia Revenue Systems, about building customer relationships that last when “value is the contract.” Drawing from his experience leading customer success at Givelify, Anthony shares how operating without renewals...

Revenue is more concentrated than ever, with a handful of accounts driving the majority of growth. That reality makes account management both the biggest risk and the biggest lever in business today. In this episode, Frank Cespedes—senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and author of Sales Management That Works—joins Alex Raymond to talk about why most companies are still scandalously sloppy w...

Most account managers know how to follow up, but follow through is what separates someone who manages deals from someone who builds real partnerships.   Bill Senese, Senior Strategic Adoption Manager at Amazon Business and author of “The Book on That: B2B Account Management,” shares the skills that actually move the needle - listening that uncovers what clients aren’t saying out loud, curiosity th...

Customer success used to thrive on easy capital and organic expansion. But in today’s market, that model is running out of runway. If CS isn’t tied to revenue, it’s on borrowed time. In this episode, Justin Strackany - employee #1 at SecureLink who scaled the company to $50M ARR and three exits - makes the case for why post-sales must evolve into a true growth function. He and Alex Raymond discuss...

Negotiation doesn’t have to feel like a hostage scene. In this episode, Alex Raymond sits down with Todd Caponi, sales expert and author of the upcoming book “Four Levers Negotiating,” to reframe how account managers approach renewals and upsells. Introducing his “Four Levers” framework (volume, timing of cash, length of commitment, and deal predictability), Todd explains how anchoring conversatio...

Utilization numbers may look like the problem. But as Josh Abdulla, the Chief Customer Officer at Asana, points out, low usage is usually just the symptom, not the cause.    In this episode, Josh shares how he manages a global portfolio of 170,000 customers by combining data-driven rigor with clear-eyed coaching. He unpacks Asana’s Red Renewals System, a process that flags enterprise churn risk up...

Customer deals often stall not because the product is weak but because buyers doubt their own ability to make the right choice.   Alex Raymond is joined by Brent Adamson, the co-author of The Challenger Sale, The Challenger Customer, and The Framemaking Sale, and the co-founder of A to B Insight, to discuss why decision confidence drives stronger outcomes than product features or supplier claims....

Too many account management teams invest in software before they’re ready, and end up automating the wrong things.   Alex Raymond sits down with Jennifer Pinter, a seasoned expert in account management software, to talk about what separates successful tech stacks from the ones that never gain traction. Jennifer has helped dozens of companies implement tools for AM and CS teams, and she’s seen how...

Bad forecasts don’t just miss targets. They influence hiring plans, budgets, and boardroom confidence. Former Chief Revenue Officer Cliff Unger joins Alex Raymond to share how account managers can build the accuracy and credibility that drive both company growth and personal career impact.   Drawing from his journey from hardware account management to SaaS leadership, Cliff reveals how forecasting...

Most account managers get stuck in the middle, passing information back and forth, but the ones who rise are curators who build trust, shape strategy, and drive real business growth. Alex Raymond is joined by Carl Smith, the founder of The Bureau, to explore how the account management role has evolved from being a reactive liaison into one of the most strategic positions inside an agency. Carl sha...

Account managers who want a seat at the executive table need to master the art of growing revenue by owning client relationships, not just managing them. Alex Raymond and Mike Rapp, Chief Revenue Officer at IntelePeer, talk through what it takes to make that leap. Mike shares how his early career in project management shaped the way he builds trust with customers and why that perspective became a...

Kristy Devantier, the Managing Director at TaleWind Digital (formerly WorkerBee. TV), joins Alex Raymond for a conversation about what really changes when account managers have the right structure and clarity in their role. How do you move beyond check-the-box QBRs and start having client conversations that actually lead to growth? How do you build a team that isn’t just managing projects but acti...