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Key Account Management Presentation

KAM (Key Account Management) involves developing long-term relationships with strategic customers and understanding their needs in depth in order to develop special offers that provide a differential advantage over competitors. A good KAM identifies and solves customers' past, current, and future problems to keep them feeling positive about the relationship. They also work to understand what constitutes a strategic customer for their company and develop appropriate strategies for targeting different customer types based on available resources.

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Sanjay Kadel
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721 views

Key Account Management Presentation

KAM (Key Account Management) involves developing long-term relationships with strategic customers and understanding their needs in depth in order to develop special offers that provide a differential advantage over competitors. A good KAM identifies and solves customers' past, current, and future problems to keep them feeling positive about the relationship. They also work to understand what constitutes a strategic customer for their company and develop appropriate strategies for targeting different customer types based on available resources.

Uploaded by

Sanjay Kadel
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Developing major/key accounts.

Presentation by Sanjay Kadel


What is Key Account Management (KAM) ?

KAM is an approach which includes developing


long term relationships with strategic customers whose
needs you understand in depth, and for whom you
develop a special offer with a differential advantage over
the offers of competitors.

Quote taken from McDonald, Millman, Rogers 1996


Who creates the need for KAM ?

• Market Conditions – downturns typically result in less new


customers and a need to offset the reductions through existing
customers => Strategic / Key relationships

• Customers – the size and nature of a customer may require the


allocation of a KAM to manage them to ensure satisfaction.

• Switched on management – customers have cycles – both in terms


of business and employees – KAM reduces the likelihood of a solution
being removed by a competitor at a later date.
Developing customer relationships

• A companies greatest assets are its


customers. Without customers there is no
company !

• The future behaviour of a customer


depends largely on consequences of past
and present behaviour.

• The rewarded customer buys, multiplies and


comes back for more.

• The most important goal of any salesperson


is to create and keep customers by rewarding
them for their behaviour.
What is the reward ?

Customers will only exchange their money for two rewards;

1) The ‘good feeling’ they get from the


purchase.

2) A ‘solution’ to a problem they had, have or


will have.

In an ideal sale both conditions will be met !


Developing & maintaining the ‘good feeling’

The ‘good feeling’


- People are ruled by emotions which they back up with logic
- Cognitive dissonance vs. cognitive consonance – pre and post sale
- ‘Good feeling’ only exists with a state of cognitive consonance.
- Four basic emotions – Glad, Sad, Mad and Scared
- Customers spend money most easily when they are glad.

The goal of any Key Account Manager is to keep customers feeling


‘glad’ about their relationship including any purchase(s) by ensuring
that a state of cognitive consonance dominates.
The ‘problem solving’ approach to KAM

- Problems are good ! Problems require solutions.


- Solutions require software and services = money !
- Problems give us the chance to re-enforce cognitive consonance.
- Problems allow us to take them from Sad, Mad or Scared back to ‘Glad’.
- Customers will spend money to get back to ‘Glad’.
- Solved problems invite confirmation of the strategic relationships worth.

The goal of any Key Account Manager is to


keep customers feeling ‘glad’ about their
relationship including any purchase(s) by
identifying and solving past, current and
future problems.
What constitutes a ‘strategic customer’ ?

Growth
- It could be a prospect targeted in a high level company plan.
- It could be a prospect in a market where a vendor has not yet
penetrated.
- Customer prospect type that is particularly suited to the a vendors
solution.
Protection
- It could be an existing customer that spends a lot of money year on
year.
- It could be an existing customer whose ‘reference’ is of particular
value even though they don’t spend much.

The goal of any Key Account Manager is to develop a KAM strategy


that reflects the different types of strategic customer that exist,
agreeing which to target and how - based on time, resources and
money available to target each type.
Needs of a strategic customer ?

- Needs are based on the type of strategic customer being targeted.


- Classic sales applies: known needs, unknown needs, competitive
driven needs, personal needs etc.
- Vertical and/or industry knowledge is a must.
- Competitive knowledge can highlight deficiencies in existing solutions
- Good understanding of metrics that present value to the customer.

The goal of any Key Account Manager is to develop an understanding


of the needs of the strategic customer being targeted, and develop an
ongoing rolling strategy to acquire an expertise that demonstrates this.
What is the special offer ?

- Each strategic customer is likely to consider ‘offers’ differently.


- The ‘special offer’ can only be something the customer values.
- The ‘special offer’ may generate revenue – or not e.g. 24/7 support.
- The ‘special offer’ needs continual re-assessment to determine its
continued value to the strategic customer. Pavlov effect.
- The special offer can be both specific to an individual or generic to
the organisation.
-There may be multiple ‘special offers’ that are
applied to any one strategic account to meet
multiple objectives – subject to time, resource
and money available.

The goal of any Key Account Manager is to


understand and develop a ‘special offer’ that
appeals to the strategic customer.
What is the differential advantage ?

- You can’t differentiate unless you understand your competition.


- You can’t differentiate unless you understand the customers vertical
or market and associated challenges.
- An advantage is only a differential one if the strategic customer
perceives and accepts it to be such.
- Existing references or repeated solutions are often the easiest way
to differentiate a solution from the competition.
- Good Key Account Management can be a differential advantage.

- The goal of any Key Account Manager is to learn, understand and


exploit the differential advantages at the beginning of a sales cycle as
well as re-enforcing them post sale .
What is a good KAM ?

- Someone who is interested in more than a short term sale.


- Someone who sees the customer as strategic to their own success
as well as the companies.
- A good problem solver who is able to bring a customer always back
to a state of ‘glad’ regardless of the issue.
- Someone who can think outside of the immediate environment and
project issues the customer is likely to have before they have them
and provide solutions to the same.
- A person who is willing to input time and effort without immediate
financial compensation.
Any questions ?

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