Strategic Key Account Management - Richardson Management Pty Ltd

Strategic Key Account Management

Increased competition for business has created a great need for specialized management of key account relationships. These key accounts are without question amongst a firm's most crucial assets. It is therefore critical that a firm successfully identifies, manages and develops these key accounts. These actions could spell the difference between a successful, profit-generating firm and a loss-making one.

Many organizations have yet to deal with their key accounts in an effective manner. Instead, we still engage in a transactional relationship with our key accounts. Key Account Management is an area that can no longer be ignored in the modern organization. The increasingly competitive market has reinvented the traditional method of supply chain management. Your role as a supplier has to be taken now to a strategic level, where a high involvement relationship for mutual long term benefit has to be put into place with your key customers.

There are many opportunities available in a key account relationship, from both the supplier and the customer perspectives. The challenge for organizations is to harness these opportunities through proper management and co-operation with their key accounts.

The Challenge:

Larger, tougher customers with complex organisations;

Shifting supply chain costs back to you;

Introducing global policies and "rules" for suppliers;

Demanding higher service levels and more discounts and incentives;

Knowledgeable about technology, product specifications, the market, and your competitors;

Have high expectations and are lifting the bar on supplier selection;

Supplier complexity - multiple business units selling to the same customer;

Products and services alone no longer provide a source of competitive advantage - relationships are critical.

Our in house, customised programs include the following:

Defining Key Account Management (KAM) - beyond the traditional selling relationship

The emergence of Key Account Management;

What Key Account Management is 'not';

The importance and relevance of KAM to organizations – why KAM?

Strategic management of the key account as a long term investment.

Identifying Your Key Accounts from Your Customer Base

What is a key account in your business context?

How do you define your important customers?

The step by step process to identifying key accounts;

Segmentation and KAM identification.

Profiling the Key Account

Compiling all the information gathered;

Building a key account profile;

Elements to be included in key account profiling:

Organization;
Processes;
Strategies;
Internal Practices.

Researching the key account's line-of-business;

CRM systems for today’s KAM - making it easy to manage the information on each account customer.

Developing the Written Key Account Plan

Templates and Formats for account plans;

Running a performance analysis:

Sales;
The profitability of the account;
The Accounts trends and Opportunities;
Delivery of service to the key account;
Setting objectives and measures;
Developing action plans;
Setting deadlines and review measures.

Competitive Analysis

SWOT analysis;

Your strengths and vulnerabilities;

Strategies to take advantage of strengths and overcome competitive vulnerabilities.

Meeting the account customer's needs – beyond benefits

Going beyond benefits to a total business solution;

Analyzing the potential for customer satisfaction in the supply chain relationship;

Finding areas where value-added services or products can be leveraged;

Maximizing the potential value in a key-account relationship - The Value Chain;

Becoming the preferred supplier by adding value and creating a value monopoly.

Managing the Relationship

The KAM relationship model;

Identifying the decision maker in the key account and those with influence;

What is the flow of power in the organization?

Gate keepers and the necessity of their co-operation;

The contact matrix;

Review meetings;

Investment for long term commitment to the key account relationship;

Measurement of effectiveness of key account relationship and benefits;

Setting controls to effectively monitor the key account relationship and the manager;

Finding areas for improvement on both sides of the key account relationship.

The Ideal Key Account Manager

Profiling the key account manager;

The role of the key account manager;

The different hats that a key account manager wears;

Beyond sales: Key skills and traits of a successful key account manager;

Portfolio of accounts: Debating the optimum level of accounts to manage.

Internal Buy-In of the Key Account Strategy

Key Account Management as an organisational wide initiative;

Facing internal blocks to key account management;

Accountability of managing the key account;

Stakeholders and their roles in successful key account management.

Executing the Strategy

How to translate the plan into action;

Sales and support programs;

Reviews and meeting with account customers;

90 day review;

Revisiting the plan;

Leadership, communication and influencing skills to put plan into action.