Key Account Management

Key Account Management

Category: Strategy, Sales & Marketing

Course Introduction

Customers are important, but they are not Equally important.  Customers have a dizzying array of different needs and are often faced with an overwhelming choice of similar suppliers.  Conversely, organisations have very finite resources with which to serve and service these customers.  Finding the correct strategy for each and aligning strategy, tactics and resources accordingly is at the heart of Key Account Management.  We will give delegates a robust, proven and Qualitative approach to classifying customers and then developing appropriate strategies for each.

This training course will explore best practices and help delegates highlight where their skills and practices must be developed. In this Key Account Management: Best Practices training course you will develop essential key account management skills, learning how to effectively manage your most valuable existing accounts, leading to improved customer satisfaction and increased customer loyalty.

This highly engaging and practical Key Account Management training course will prepare all delegates to manage key accounts effectively. Business is evolving rapidly, buyers are getting more sophisticated and technology is being deployed more than ever, creating additional buying channels and great opportunities for the modern Key Account Manager who wishes to maximise revenues and profits. Developments in technology, shifting markets and increasing pressure on costs are changing the way organisations buy.

This seminar will highlight how to:

  • Objectively segment and select customers
  • Develop and deliver an effective key account plan
  • Blocking the competition to secure the account
  • Consultative selling and establishing trusted advisor status, maintaining a perception of real strategic value
  • Understanding your key accounts, their business strategies, people and buying methods
  • Utilising all the required organisational resources to support the key account

Course Objectives

At the end of this seminar, you will learn to:

  • Implement the total process of key account management
  • Classify all customers according to a proven, qualitative approach and develop strategies and tactics appropriate to all.
  • Focus resources, time and attention effectively in the development of key accounts
  • Demonstrate ability and confidence in managing key accounts
  • Demonstrate how to develop an Account pipeline for future growth
  • Communicate more effectively with key customers
  • Develop long-term mutually beneficial relationships

Training Methodology

The subjects and topics are transferred by means of short focused presentations which are followed by experiential learning sessions. In these sessions, the knowledge gained is applied to real-world examples and case studies. Rapid learning of the methods and techniques is achieved by means of group work, individual work, participant discussion, facilitator interaction and constructive feedback.

Organisational Impact

With delegates attending this  training course, the organisation will benefit by:

  • A clear strategy for consolidating current business and future growth
  • A clear, reasoned approach to resourcing “how to back the right horses”
  • More effective key account managers
  • An improved corporate wide understanding of customers and better long-term relationships
  • Improved strategic partner status
  • Increased forecast accuracy and certainty of outcomes
  • Ability to anticipate and counter the efforts of competitors

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Personal Impact

As a delegate attending this training course, you will:

  • Understand the scope and competencies of the key account management role
  • Be able to develop a key account plan
  • Recognise the stages of a key account relationship
  • Identify and develop potential in your key accounts
  • Build and develop internal teams to help service key accounts
  • Utilise internal resources in a virtual team environment

Who Should Attend?

This essential Key Account Management training course is recommended for all those responsible for managing face-to-face relationships with customers that have a significant impact on achieving the organisation’s business objectives. Even a small improvement in performance will justify attending the training many times over.  It is invaluable for leaders concerned with managing sales and marketing budgets and other resources (e.g. salesperson deployment)

This course is suitable to a wide range of professionals but will greatly benefit:

  • Marketing Directors and Marketing Managers
  • Sales Directors and Sales Managers
  • New Business Development Professionals
  • Key account managers, global account managers, strategic account managers, and major account managers
  • All those on the key account support team
  • Senior sales staff and account managers with an interest in Key Account Management
  • Sales managers and directors intending to implement a key account management strategy within their organisation
  • Others who regularly participate in key accounts including line managers, bid team members, marketing and technical staff

Seminar Outline 

Day One

What is Key Account Management (KAM)? 

  • Explaining Key Account Strategy
  • Developing a KAM Strategy
  • Why do it?
  • What is involved?
  • Who is involved?
  • How do we execute a KAM strategy?
  • Pitfalls and traps to avoid

Day Two

Selecting Key Accounts

This day takes attendees through a proven, objective process for analyzing all customers and classifying the.  Then we shall develop strategies and tactics for how to service and resource each customer type in great detail.  Delegates will be given an Excel tool that will enable them to analyse and classify all their customers, determine in an entirely objective way, which ones are Key and which ones are not, and then develop strategies for them all.

This will result in clear and unambiguous resourcing decisions for management.

  • They are not all Key Accounts
  • What do we do about all the others?
  • How many Key Accounts should we have?
  • It is not about who is the Key Account, it is about do they believe you are a Key Supplier?
  • Classifying our Accounts Process
  • Classifying our Accounts Exercise

Day Three

Understanding our Key Accounts, how they work and what they reallywant

  • Account Segmentation
  • Understanding the customer’s Decision making process
  • Understand what drives the customer
  • How to build compelling value propositions for each type
  • Understanding the customer’s internal politics and how to harness them
  • Understanding the macro-environment and how it affects each customer
  • How to be persuasive
  • How to develop compelling customer propositions

Day Four

Leading a KAM team and implementing your KAM strategy

  • The competencies and characteristics of great Key Account Managers
  • The skills required to manage Key and Global Accounts
  • Recruiting great Key Account Managers
  • Personality types of great Key Account Managers
  • Coaching and Mentoring Key Account Managers
  • Communication and persuasion skills for Key Accounts
  • Consultative Selling Skills & Building Trust
  • Using Social Media within your KAM Plan
  • Putting your KAM plan together