Key account manager: develop the strategic relationship and create value with key customers

eric pinard Published by Eric Pinard – 27 October 2021

Setting up a Key Account Management program is a no-brainer in a world where innovative companies with a compelling story to tell need to evolve to stay ahead of the game. Especially given the shift to online procurement processes, brutal upheaval in clients’ markets, the concentration of the economy in market sectors, and increasingly complex investment and development models.

Every day, the number of B2B sellers continues to fall at companies across the world, in stark contrast with the rapid rise of “value sales” roles such as KAM, SAM and GAM. It’s a trend that’s boosting growth, profit and customer satisfaction, which, in turn, improves resilience. But it also raises issues and challenges that companies need to address.

This book, which draws inspiration from the top-performing key account programs, offers insights into the underlying reasons for this marked shift and the conditions for success. It gives you the keys to aligning your program with your company’s strategy and all the components you need to scale, build or strengthen your own program. It’s both a tool for analyzing your B2B sales performance and a comprehensive practical guide to KAM and the processes and tools used by KAM program managers.

You will start by gaining an understanding of how disruptive changes to the B2B model are affecting your own model, and how to calibrate your business. The book then teaches you how to design your own “strategic accounts” program. It covers every single step, from aligning the program with the company’s objectives to linking it with other programs, scaling it correctly, calculating profitability, selecting the right people, and bringing management into the fold.

Finally, the book will enable you to understand and implement KAM tools, teaching you how to build an account strategy based on detailed analysis of the challenges in your client’s market, and how to secure the resources needed to drive growth through alignment processes. You will learn techniques for quantifying the value co-created with clients via a cooperative approach, how the C-level needs to be involved day-to-day, and how to deliver a high-impact customer pitch that leverages KAM to elevate your status from supplier to strategic supplier with a part in your client’s performance.

Bibliography Key Account Manager - Développer la relation stratégique et créer de la valeur avec les clients clés - Frédéric Vendeuvre & Eric Pinard

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