From key account selling to key account management

Abstract

Recent interest in relationship marketing and customer retention has re-focused the attention of marketing academics and managers towards Key Account Management (KAM) systems as a means of operationalising long-term buyer/seller relationships. This paper examines the nature of KAM in industrial markets. It is structured around several strategic issues elicited from two main sources: first, empirical research in the area of industrial sales management and selling to major accounts; and second, observations from running a series of management development programmes for account managers. While different companies and industries are in different stages of KAM systems development, it is clear that many managers have found the shift from the relatively narrow focus of key account selling to the broader requirements of key account management problematic. Three interrelated conclusions have emerged from our work. First, most of the literature and debate on KAM has taken the seller's perspective. Second, there appears to be inadequate matching of the seller's total offering with the buyer's increasingly strategic and dynamic context. This is particularly evident in the short-term focus pervading some seller companies and in their failure to keep abreast of the kind of supply chain issues currently facing industrial buyers. Third, key account managers are often illprepared for the wider and more demanding roles which take them into areas of business development, industry/market analysis, benchmarking, relationship management and so on. KAM processes appear to be under-researched and, therefore, only partially understood. An agenda for empirical research is therefore proposed as a necessary precursor to any attempt to define KAM competencies, management development and best-practice. osa.

Key account planning: benefits, barriers and best practice

“…Earlier, Millman and Wilson (1994) had proposed a six-stage Key Account Relational Development model similar to that of Dwyer, Schurr and Oh (1987) that they used to analyse relationships and which could provide a base for key account managers for planning the development of closer co-operation. This model was adapted and mapped to Maslow's hierarchy of needs by McDonald and Woodburn (1999).…”

The Role of a Key Account Management' s Code of Conduct in Improving Learning Culture of the Account Managers : The Case of VICTORI Code of Conduct at TELKOM Indonesia

“…The change in the terminology reflects the vision of the idealistic relational model of KAM from the level of Partnership KAM toward Synergistic KAM that allows a seamless integration between TELKOM and key business customers in creating synergistic/joint value in the marketplace. Figure 2 illustrates the relational level of KAM [4]. Fig.…”

“…Key Account Management (KAM) is a term started as a way of improving selling techniques to a few key customers/major accounts [4,7]. It is more strategically oriented than sales-oriented or relationship-oriented because of the importance of the key customers.…”

“…Millman and Wilson [4] formulate stages of relational model of KAM as described in Table 1. Moving from pre-KAM to synergistic-KAM means more bonding with key contacts within the customer's organization and requires a move 'towards more relational and consultative approaches' (p. 16).…”

“…The implementation of Key Account Management (KAM), an approach aimed at building relationships with key business customers or key accounts, can maximize the benefit of long-term relationships in business to business marketing [1,2,3,4]. TELKOM Indonesia has developed key account management since the early 1990s.…”