Where Value Lives – Reader Resources

Where Value Lives Companion Resources

Welcome to the companion resource hub for Where Value Lives: Strategic Account Management inside the customer’s mind.

This page brings together the support resources for each chapter of the book. Each chapter companion page includes reflections, practical exercises, memorable quotes, challenges, further reading prompts and access to the wider reader community.

The book is built around one central idea:

The five inches between the customer’s ears is the only place where quality, value and competitive advantage become real.

Use this hub to move through the companion pages as you read the book, revisit ideas after each chapter, or return to specific tools and reflections when working on your own strategic accounts.

Part I — Where Value Lives

• Chapter 1 — Where Value Lives
• Chapter 2 — Quality Only Exists When the Customer Recognises It
• Chapter 3 — Strategic Account Management is not Sales
• Chapter 4 — The Scarcest Resource in Business.

Part II — Service, Attention and Value

• Chapter 5 — Service Quality for All, Attention for the Few
• Chapter 6 — The Customer Attention Portfolio
• Chapter 7 — The Economics of Attention
• Chapter 8 — The Politics of Attention

Part III — Becoming Truly Strategic

• Chapter 9 — What Makes an Account Strategic?
• Chapter 10 — The Strategic Account Manager as Value Orchestrator
• Chapter 11 — Executive Sponsorship Explained
• Chapter 12 — Trust Before Transactions
• Chapter 13 — Innovation Lives in Relationships

Part IV — Understanding the Customer’s World

• Chapter 14 — Inside the Buying Centre
• Chapter 15 — The Psychology of Value
• Chapter 16 — Competing Inside the Customer’s Mind
• Chapter 17 — Creating Value Propositions That Matter

Part V — Leading Strategic Account Management

• Chapter 18 — Building a Strategic Account Management Culture
• Chapter 19 — Leadership and Executive Commitment
• Chapter 20 — Measuring What Matters
• Chapter 21 — Technology, AI and Human Attention

Part VI — The Future

• Chapter 22 — The Future of Strategic Account Management
• Chapter 23 — The GROWTH Framework
• Chapter 24 — Where Competitive Advantage Lives
• Chapter 25 — The Five Inches Between the Customer’s Ears

Final Word

• Final Word — 30 Years to Travel 5 Inches

How to Use These Resources

You can use these companion pages in three simple ways.

1. As you read: scan the QR code at the end of each chapter and use the matching page to reflect on the ideas.
2. With your team: use the chapter challenges and toolkit prompts in account reviews, leadership discussions or SAM workshops.
3. For your own practice: return to specific chapters when you are working on account selection, trust, buying centres, value propositions, executive sponsorship or customer attention.

The pages are deliberately practical. They are not intended to repeat the book. They are intended to help you apply it.

Start Here

If you are reading the book in order, begin with Chapter 1.

Join the Where Value Lives Reader Community

If you would like access to the wider Where Value Lives resource library, including practical tools, worksheets, prompts, updates, webinars and future companion material, you can join the reader community below.

You do not need to sign up separately for every chapter. Once you are part of the community, you will be able to access the growing collection of book resources as they are released.

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You can also explore other business resources, templates and downloads from Mills Consultancy.