Key Account Management

Foreword Preface Preface to the second edition Acknowledgements And it was all going so very well... PART I DEFINING KEY ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT 1 What is a key account? So, what is the right answer? The key account 'investment' Why key 'account'? A justification 2 Managing the future The importance of balance Guessing the future - certainty or drift? How fast do we expect the future to arrive? What KAM is not 3 Assessing the opportunity PESTLE analysis Porter's analysis A secure future through competitive advantage? Understanding the market chain and where you sit The 'opportunity snail' Long-term competitive advantage? 4 Key account management - its purpose Sales and business objectives Sanity checks Implications of KAM So, what will KAM 'feel' like? Good practice? Is there a KAM process? 5 Developing the relationship The milk round The hunter The farmer From hunter to farmer The key account relationship development model Some pros and cons of each stage Some things to watch out for Avoiding frustration An update to the KAM process 6 The good, the bad, the sad and the ugly The bad story The sad story The ugly story The good story 7 KAM profitability The tale of the National Health Service Will KAM be profitable? PART II THE CUSTOMER'S PERSPECTIVE 8 Purchasing professionals Hold on a minute, why should they let you in? The purchasing 'revolution' Supply chain management Supply side management Spend intelligence Purchasing strategy 9 Supplier positioning - becoming a key supplier Supplier positioning models The risk/significance/spend model What relationships, what activities? So, who's the key supplier? Is there any escape for suppliers? 10 Measuring value Weakness of the spend model Measuring value The risk/significance/value model Open book trading 11 Measuring trust The risk/significance/trust model 12 Supply base optimization Reducing supplier numbers Developing suppliers' capabilities 13 Culture and values - becoming a strategic supplier What are they up against? Business strategy What to sell and where? The Ansoff matrix and risk What to sell and where? The Product Life Cycle Why will people buy? Porter and competitive advantage What makes your business hum? Treacy and Weirsema's business value drivers The cultural match PART III PREPARING FOR KEY ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT 14 What will it take? Goals and obstacles Goals Obstacles 152 15 What will it take? Skills Man or Superman? The team's skills and abilities Attitudes and behaviours 16 What will it take? Systems and processes Information systems Operational systems and processes Performance measurement systems Communication systems Knowledge management 17 What will it take? Organization and resources Organization Human resources 18 What will it take? Making it happen Alignment and managing the change The change equation Critical success factors (CSFs) PART IV IDENTIFYING KEY ACCOUNT 19 Segmentation The problem for support functions in an unsegmented business What is segmentation? Methods for segmentation Market mapping Who buys what, how, when and where? Making the cut Segmentation and KAM identification Benefits of segmentation for KAM A new type of marketing plan? KAM and relationship marketing 20 Identifying your key accounts An identification and selection process Is all this really necessary? The perfect investment portfolio? The selection factors and the selection process The selection process How much effort and how much detail? Key accounts and multiple business unit suppliers PART V ENTRY STRATEGIES 21 The customer's decision-making process Entry strategy The buying decision process 22 Selling to the organization - the DMU DMU - the decision-making unit Interests and influences - entry strategies The buyer's role Other interests and influences Levels of seniority Entry strategies The contact matrix Contacts over time Avecia - a live application PART VI MEETING THE CUSTOMER'S NEEDS 23 Meeting the business needs - beyond benefits Where are you with your customers? The customer's total business experience 24 Positive impact analysis (PIA) The value chain Some hints on using positive impact analysis 25 Key account management and the e-revolution Some useful terms Steps towards the revolution E-commerce and supplier positioning Some more terms... Getting into e-commerce... E-commerce, threat or solution? 26 Making the proposal Open to change? Proposal analysis 27 Selling to the individual Logic or emotion? Ensuring rapport PART VII KEEPING ON TRACK 28 Getting there - timetables and performance Timetables for implementation Training development tracks Regular health checks 29 Writing the key account plan The plan's purpose A key account template? Some 'must haves' A few tips A sample running order 30 Getting further help References and further reading Index