A close relationship with key customers is the ultimate competitive advantage a company can achieve. It is much more robust than competition based on products and services, which can easily become ´commodities´. Research shows that, in the long-term, strategic key account management can increase profits by up to 25 %. To succeed in strategic key account management, companies need a consistent approach and they have to align their organization and processes for effective execution.
Understand strategic key account management as a long-term approach to boost the customer's success and your own profits.
- Analyze your customer base and select the most attractive key account candidates
- Prepare your organization to serve key accounts
- Develop key account plans
- Implement the key account plans and measure the ROI for the account and for your company
- Why Strategic Key Account Management?
- Benefits for the customer
- Benefits for your organization
- Avoiding common pitfalls
- How to quantify the customer value delivered
- Success factors in Strategic Key Account Management
- Role of the Strategic Account Manager and organizational requirements
- Analyzing the current situation
- Who has key account status?
- Which current and potential customers are key account candidates?
- Selecting key accounts based on a list of criteria
- Developing key account plans
- Analyzing the account´s situation
- Needs analysis
- Buying analysis
- Competitor analysis
- Analyzing your own situation with the key account
- Historical performance
- Relationship assessment
- Resource availability
- Formulating the key account strategy
- Performance objectives
- Positioning
- Action programs
- Budgets and forecasts
- Controlling
- Analyzing the account´s situation
