"This book is crammed with distilled, practical wisdom for key account managers and their directors. Organizations claiming to practise key account management should equip everyone involved with a copy, so they really understand what they are supposed to be doing. Anything less is just old-fashioned selling." Developing successful business-to-business relationships with more customers in highly competitive markets requires processes and skills that go beyond traditional selling activity. The very best state-of-the-art strategies are set out clearly in this book by intentionally known authors who have worked at the highest levels with more key and strategic account managers worldwide than probably any other leading advisors. Based on the hugely influential KEY CUSTOMERS it looks at: Why has account management become so critical to commercial success? What are the key challenges and how do successful companies respond? What part does key account management play in strategic planning? How do companies build profitable relationships with their customers? How does key account management actually work? What does a successful key account manager look like and what skills does he/she need? How should key account managers be evaluated and rewarded? How do companies achieve key account management? By addressing these key questions Woodburn and McDonald provide tools and processes for success honed by tough consultancy projects with the boards of some of the world's leading companies. The book stresses the elements that really matter - from developing a customer categorization system that really works and analyzing the needs of key accounts; to understanding the new skills required by key account managers and ensuring that key account plans are implemented. The 'real world' approach is backed by tested principles and the latest research from the renowned Cranfield School of Management. Key Account Management comes from authors who have taught leading companies how to approach their most powerful and demanding customers and still make money. It is essential reading for all senior management with strategic responsibility, for key or strategic account directors, and for marketing and sales executives. The clear and authoritative approach also makes it an outstanding text for the serious MBA and executive student as well as business-to-business company directors and key account managers.

Key account management is a natural development of customer focus and relationship marketing in business-to-business markets. It offers critical benefits and opportunities for profit enhancement to both sides of the seller/buyer dyad. Based on extensive and unique research by Cranfield School of Management, Key Account Management presents a new framework for understanding the development of key account relationships. It incorporates a comprehensive guide to the current practice of key account management, and comments on the challenges for the future of key account management practice. The research was based on in-depth interviews with key account managers, their managers and their main contacts in the customer organization. Addresses one of the key new areas in strategic marketing practice Ideal for practitioners and students Based on the unique expertise of the Cranfield Marketing Faculty

Implementing Key Account Management is a highly practical handbook that guides readers through the realities of rolling out a functional key account management programme. The book offers an integrated framework for key account management (KAM) that businesses can use to design or further develop strategic customer management programmes, enabling them to overcome the obstacles that organizations often face when rolling out their strategies. Bringing together the experiences of leading experts within this field, Implementing Key Account Management draws on two decades of research and best practice from Cranfield University School of Management, one of the foremost centres for researcher and thought leadership in KAM. Between them, the authors have designed and delivered programmes globally for clients such as Rolls-Royce, Unilever, Vodafone, The Economist and many more. Rigorously researched, well-grounded and practical, this book is - quite simply - the definitive, go-to resource for implementing key account management programmes.

Key Account Management Excellence in Pharma & Medtech is designed to help life sciences practitioners develop and execute innovative and effective key account management (KAM) strategies and capabilities. Pharmaceutical and medtech companies are increasingly pursuing KAM in response to the rapid rise of large, sophisticated and complex healthcare provider and payer systems and groups. Those that invest the time to get KAM right will protect their business and grow with these rising customers. This book is groundbreaking in both its scope and its tailoring of leading KAM practices specifically for life sciences. The central theme is that "key account management is an organization-wide business strategy, not just a role or a sales-specific initiative." KAM is a strategy focused on providing unique offerings and value through an orchestrated, cross-functional, go-to-market model designed specifically to address the needs and engagement preferences of a unique segment of customers. The insights and practices shared in this book are designed to be a valuable reference at every stage of the KAM journey. The book has been designed to facilitate a common language and deep understanding of KAM issues and leading practices organization-wide—particularly for life sciences leaders, account managers and cross-functional team members responsible for building, transforming and supporting their organization’s KAM strategies and capabilities.

Market-proven strategies to generate competitive advantage by identifying and always taking care of your best customers The Seven Keys to Managing Strategic Accounts provides decision makers with a proactive program for profitably managing their largest, most critical customers--their strategic accounts. Drawing on the expertise of S4 Consulting, Inc., a leading-edge provider of strategic account consulting, and Miller Heiman, a global sales training leader serving many Fortune 500companies, this how-to book shows how many of today's market leaders have learned to focus on their most profitable customers, avoiding or overcoming common errors before they become relationship-crippling disasters. Placing its total focus on the design and implementation of cost-effective strategic account management programs, this hands on book provides: A world-class competency model for strategic account managers Techniques for developing a program to manage and grow "co-destiny" relationships Examples and cases from Honeywell, 3M,and other leading corporations

With a free CD ROM containing key account selection software and planning tools. Any organization's key accounts are its lifeblood. This highly practical book puts forward a unique yet simple planning methodology for identifying, obtaining, retaining and developing key customers. Completely updated and revised with lots of new material to reflect the latest best practice, this edition will reinforce its standing as the premier book on the subject. This is one of very few books to take the long-term, team-selling strategic view of Key Account Management (KAM). Apart from finding great resonance with business practitioners all over the world, Key Account Management has established itself on many academic reading lists. Translated into five languages, it was also short-listed for Business Book of the Year in Sweden (2002). This new edition features: lots of new case studies; several new chapters; significant updates on Selecting Key Customers, Key Account plans and the use of IT; a new and updated CD ROM containing the Insight key account selection software and planning tools.

Master these top-performing sales skills to dominate the marketplace Critical Selling is a dynamic and powerful guide for transforming your sales approach and outperforming your competition. This book is based on Janek Performance Group's, an award winning sales performance company, most popular sales training program, Critical Selling®. Let authors Justin Zappulla and Nick Kane, Managing Partners at Janek, lead you through their flagship sales training methodology to provide you with the strategies, skills and best practices you need to accelerate the sales process and close more deals. From the initial contact to closing the deal, this book details the winning strategies and skills that have supercharged the sales force of program alumni like OptumHealth, Santander Bank, Daimler Trucks, California Casualty, and many more. Concrete, actionable steps show you how to plan a productive sales call, identify customer needs, differentiate yourself from the competition, and wrap up the sale. You'll also learn proven techniques for building rapport, overcoming objections, dealing with price pressures, and handling the million little things that can derail an otherwise positive sales interaction. Sales are the lifeblood of your company. Are they meeting your expectations? What if you could exceed projected sales figures and blow your competition out of the water? This book provides the research-based framework to ignite your sales team and excite your customer base, for sustainable success in today's market. Let Critical Selling® show you how to: Connect with customers on a deeper level to build trust Present a persuasive and value-based solution tailored to your customer’s needs Handle pricing pressure, doubt, and objections with confidence Utilize proven methodologies that help you close the sale Sales is about so much more than exchanging goods or services for cash. It's about relationships, it's about outperforming the competition, it's about demonstrating real value, and it's about understanding and solving people's problems. Critical Selling shows you how to bring it all together, using proven techniques based on real sales performance research.