SaaS Account Management: A 10-Rule Playbook

In this post: What SaaS account management is, what account managers actually do, and 10 rules that kept an enterprise sales team from falling apart.

I wrote this list early in my career for a SaaS enterprise account management team that was young and still learning the ropes. Deadlines were getting missed, clients were confused, and people were pointing fingers instead of fixing problems. Sales opportunities kept slipping through the cracks.

The list was meant to set expectations for new account managers selling enterprise software, but the principles apply well beyond SaaS.

Most of these will seem obvious. That is sort of the point. What is obvious to you is not always obvious to the person sitting next to you. And there is a bad habit in professional settings where people assume “they should already know this” without ever saying what “this” is.

One of the fastest ways to lose credibility is expecting people to read your mind. Share your expectations early. That way you can prevent problems instead of reacting to them.

First, some basics:

What is SaaS account management?

SaaS account management is the work of keeping a paying software customer successful after the sale: renewing them, growing them, and making sure they get real value from the product. SaaS stands for software as a service, so the customer is not buying a one-time license. They pay on a subscription, month after month, which means the relationship never really ends. The account manager owns that relationship.

Day to day, that usually means:

• Running the account: renewals, upsells, and contract changes
• Keeping the customer active in the product, and stepping in when usage drops
• Troubleshooting issues, or routing them to the team that can fix them
• Tracking how the account is doing so nothing slips

What does a SaaS account manager do?

A SaaS account manager owns the customer relationship after the contract is signed. The salesperson lands the deal. The account manager keeps it, grows it, and makes sure the customer stays happy enough to renew.

In practice, the role covers:

• Being the customer's main point of contact
• Coordinating the internal team (sales, support, product, customer success) around the account
• Spotting renewal and expansion opportunities early
• Catching risk before it becomes a cancellation, when a customer goes quiet or usage slips

In a SaaS company the account manager is one of the people who shapes the future of the business, because renewals and expansion drive a large share of the revenue (net revenue retention is the metric teams track for exactly this reason). If you want tactical ways to get ahead of an account, I wrote about the one question that closes more deals and five unconventional sales enablement tools.

Where does account management end in SaaS?

Account management ends where the renewal is safe and the account has nowhere left to grow, which in practice is almost never. The cleaner way to think about it is by handoffs.

Sales owns the account until the contract is signed. Account management takes over from there and owns the commercial relationship: renewals, expansions, and the executive relationship. Customer success, at companies that have a separate CS function, owns adoption and day-to-day support: onboarding, training, and making sure the product gets used.

My rule: if it touches the contract or the money, it is account management. If it touches the product and the daily user, it is customer success. When one person does both, which is common on smaller teams, they still need to know which hat they are wearing in the room.

The 10 guidelines, explained

1. Is a trusted advisor
   1. Note 1: When conducting a meeting, reviewing a new product, presenting a deck, and so on, always share your point of view (POV) with the client. Share your thoughts with them.
   2. Note 2: You are an expert. The client is paying for your knowledge as well as the software. Share your knowledge with them to guide them.
   3. Note 3: “It is up to you” is not a phrase that exists when talking to a client, if they are asking you what they should do.
2. Is ready to support as needed
   1. Note 1: We are all a team and are here to support one another.
   2. Note 2: Be proactive and reactive.
   3. Note 3: “This is not my job” is not a phrase that exists.
3. Is responsible for notes/meeting minutes
   1. Note 1: If you are in a meeting, take notes or ensure a colleague is taking notes. If you are not present at a meeting you are responsible for, please assign someone to take and share notes.
4. Always ensures notes are shared via Sales CRM (CRM)
   1. Note 1: All notes should be in CRM with action items for each person involved. Please ensure people are tagged as needed.
      
      
5. Does not ever assume something is happening
   1. Note 1: Just because you asked for XYZ to be completed by X, it does not mean that it is getting done. Please follow-up and establish checkpoints to ensure work is being worked on.
      
   2. Note 2: Do not assume a client knows something. Explain to them as many times as needed, in as many ways as needed.
6. Always follows up with people (internal/external)
   1. Note 1: Related to #3. Follow-up as needed with clients and colleagues.
7. Ensures internal teams are ready for meetings
   1. Note 1: If you have colleagues in a meeting, ensure they understand the agenda and the roles they play in meetings and what they are responsible for. This can be as granular as defining who is taking care of the introductions.
8. Does not argue with colleagues in front of a client
   1. Note 1: We are a team. We need to be a unified force. If one person fails or looks bad, we all look bad.
      
   2. Note 2: You are always encouraged to speak your mind, share ideas and help make things the very best they can be, even if that means a little friction. This pertains to how something is said and handled, not what is said.
   3. Note 3: If you disagree with a colleague or a point being made is offbase, please speak up but be sure not to argue or go on with an aggressive debate, handle it offline: regroup, agree and share one POV with the client.
9. Does not embarrass colleagues in front of a client
   1. Note 1: Related to #6
      
      
10. Is proactive; does not wait to be asked
    1. Note 1: If you see something that needs to get done internally or externally, do not wait to be asked. Jump on the task.
    2. Note 2: If unsure, inform others; you do not want to lose any time.

This list is only part of any puzzle, this list should be supplemented with further training, explanation, context and so on. Number eight (Does not argue with colleagues in front of a client) is one that you will particularly need to spend more time explaining and showing examples because it can be vague and you don’t want people to shut down.

Through the years I’ve added to and refined this list and adapted it for different situations. Of course, it can always get better.

What would you add to this list?

These rules set the floor. Getting a team to actually run this way, week after week, is the harder part. That is the kind of thing I help sales and account teams build. See how I work with teams.