Ground-Rules For Implementing Key Account Management

Key Account Management (KAM): Can I send Salil, my Sales executive, age 23 years for the Key Account Management programs? said Jagdish,,Sales Manager of an engineering company. I had to tell him the following aspects which determines the ground rules for implementing Key Account Management (KAM)

Needs a Different Mindset: Successful Companies who have implemented KAM look at it as a Strategic way of doing business and not a sales activity. You need to have commitment to work with priority customers differently. For example Supply Chain management can be an integral part of KAM
Commitment from Top Management: It cannot happen at the Sales Manager's level. The buy-in has to be at the CEO, CMO, VP-Sales level. The sr. people should sponsor at least 1-2 such accounts and interact/visit them regularly.
Select the Right Person: Maturity is the most important attribute while selecting the Key Account Manager. It is not necessary that your top-performing salesman can become a good Key account Manager. He has to be more of a generalist with good understanding of finance, inventory, planning, influencing skills and the ability to see the big picture. A typical salesperson who is desperate to close order may be a misfit. One key competency is to understand the customer's business beyond his immediate requirement.
Identify Key Accounts Carefully: Lynette Ryalls in a HBR article says the number of accounts should be within 5-25. Even a company like Xerox does not have more than 100 customers as Key Accounts.
Appoint and Train the KAM: The communication and influencing skills of the Key Account Manager has to be exceptionally good. He should be able to talk technicality at lower levels as well the macroeconomic environment, the interest rate with CFO and CEO comfortably.
Put the right Metrics: He should not be judged on top-line results. In case of rate contracts with low margins when the cost of servicing a key account is high, the consequences can be disastrous. Performance should be judged more by the margins or net contribution. Another yardstick can be the lifetime value of the customer.
Rework on the KAM cases every six months: All major accounts need not be key accounts. There are some unique parameters on which you should decide which customer remains in the Key account basket and those who need to be taken away.
For more details on Key Account control Workshops in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai you can go through our website: www.paradigm-info.com

For more information Contact:Rajan Parulekar,

Contact no:9880236793.Email: rajan@paradigm-info.com

Paradigm Trainers Provides Training and Consulting Solutions to help your sales team sell more with higher margins. Since 1995 more than 25,000 managers and executives from 1000+ organizations in India, SAARC, Gulf region and Malaysia have benefitted by our programs.

Rajan Parulekar,
Paradigm trainers Pvt Ltd,
no: 20, 1st Cross, Ganesha Block,
Nandini Layout,
Banglore-56096.
rajan@paradigm-info.com
http://www.paradigm-info.com

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