Key Accounts Specialist

Job Description

The Key Accounts Specialist is responsible for managing and growing a portfolio of key Merchants by fostering deep relationships, identifying pain points, and proactively recommending strategic solutions and products that enhance retention and long-term Merchant success. This role requires strong analytical skills, a consultative approach, and the ability to drive business growth by leveraging data-driven insights

Responsibilities

Portfolio & Relationship Management

• Serve as the primary point of contact for assigned Key Accounts, ensuring a proactive and strategic approach to Merchant engagement
• Develop deep understanding of the Merchant’s business, industry and challenges to provide tailored recommendations, building on long-term relationships and demonstrating world-class service
• Conduct regular business reviews and strategy sessions with Merchants to align goals and success metrics
• Act as the voice of the Merchant within the company, ensuring their needs are understood and addressed
• Build and maintain Merchant profiles and/or portfolios
• Manage incoming queries related to your portfolio, keeping tracking of query types and frequency thereof
• Manage escalations from Merchant Service Call Centre, Operations, Sales and the like
  
  

Retention and Growth Strategy

• Monitor Merchant Health and proactively address concerns or sudden changes
• Analyse Merchant behaviour, usage patterns, and potential risks to identify early churn indicators and create intervention plans where need be
• Handle Merchant objections and develop solutions that address pain points to drive continuous product adoption and usage
• Identify opportunities to increase product penetration and upsell or cross-sell solutions that add value and generate revenue
• Work closely with Sales, RMs, Operations and product teams to drive seamless Merchant experiences and optimize engagement
• Initiate fee reviews as per company policy as and when required and authorized to do so
  
  

Data Analysis and Insights Generation

• Utilize data from our CRM and other internal sources to track customer trends, pain points and any opportunities
• Generate reports and insights on Merchant Health, satisfaction, and engagement levels to drive strategic decision-making related to product enhancements, feature adoption etc
• Develop a predictive model/approach to assess retention risks and prioritize outreach efforts to your assigned portfolio
• Recommend improvements based on data analysis, helping refine Merchant success strategies
  
  

Process Optimization and continuous improvement

• Work closely with internal teams to improve inefficiencies in service delivery and product adoption
• Provide feedback on process bottlenecks, operational gaps, and areas that need automation or streamlining
• Assist in developing frameworks, playbooks, and best practices for managing Key Accounts effectively
• Build and maintain knowledge base for both internal and external stakeholders
  
  

Merchant advocacy and Pain Point Resolution

• Engage with high-touch Merchants through strategic discussions on a quarterly basis (or as required) rather than transactional interactions, ensuring long-term value creation
• Collaborate with the CSE Analyst, Operations and Product teams to address recurring Merchant issues and advocate for feature improvements
• Educate Merchants on best practices, self-help tools, new features, and optimization strategies to maximize product value
• Identify potential Merchant unhappiness before they reach out, and proactively address these internally as well we with the Merchant directly
• Ensure that all tickets are logged, assigned and managed according to protocols and turnaround times
• Understand, evaluate, and look to continuous improvement in supporting and resolving Merchant queries, working with the CSE Analyst and Leads to affect required change
• Any Ad hoc duties related to the role
  
  

Due to the fluid and dynamic environment within the business, new, additional or changed position responsibilities may occur

Successful demonstration of change orientation is an on-going responsibility in all positions

Qualifications

Minimum Requirements:

• Grade 12; a tertiary education in a related field of study would be advantageous
• Minimum 3-5 years’ experience in Key Accounts Management, Technical support, Portfolio Management or Business Consulting within FinTech of Payments
• Familiarity with various operating systems and network concepts
• Proficiency using support ticketing systems and CRM software
  
  

Skills Required To Perform The Job Successfully

• Excellent communication skills in English; proficiency in other South African languages would be advantageous
• Strong analytical ability, objection handling, negotiation and consultative selling
• Excellent relationship building skills
• Proven experience in proactive customer service, preferably in call/support centre environment
• Technical knowledge and experience with POS devices and payment processing systems is advantageous
• Strong problem-solving, strategic thinking ability and attention to detail
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Good organizational skills and the ability to multitask in a fast-paced environment
• Willingness to work shifts and flexible working hours, including weekends and public holidays, as well as standby shifts, if necessary
• Flexibility and adaptability to change in being a part of moulding and shaping the newly established department
• Proactive customer-first approach
• High degree of empathy and dedication to customer success