11 Winning Ways to Successful Key Account Management

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By Mr. Simon Lawson

Introduction
If you have recognised that a small number of customers are responsible for a large volume of your business (and this does apply to most businesses!), then you should be focusing on ‘locking them in’. The world’s leading companies have already learned eleven winning ways to make it as hard as possible for their competitors to take even a tiny share of business away from their most important customers. Now you can learn their winning ways too! This high-impact, 1-day programme will help you to focus the right activities on those customers that are by far the most important to the short and long-term future of your business.

The programme will be presented by Simon Lawson, who, having worked as a successful key account manager himself, has worked for the past twenty years on key account management training projects with prestigious ‘blue chip’ clients such as Unilever, Microsoft, Coca Cola, Grundfos and ABB.

Programme Topics
The content of the programme is designed not only to stimulate your thinking about where and how to concentrate your efforts, but also to give you concrete tools to use straight back at work.

Morning

1. Choosing your ‘dream’ key accounts

You can’t lock ‘em all in! Experience confirms that the most successful companies identify customers that can, or will, match up to a ‘dream profile’. In addition to large actual and potential turnover, ‘dream’ key accounts might be growing fast and also thirsty for new ideas. You will find out how to build a dream profile and how to use it effectively.

2. Assess how well you are performing with them
Some of the accounts close to the ‘dream profile’ will also think that you are wonderful. They think that working with you makes a real difference to their business. Others haven’t got there yet – especially if we are not yet supplying them. You will learn how to build a picture of your key account portfolio to show where all your accounts are in terms of closeness to ‘dream’ and closeness to ‘think we’re wonderful’. You will discover how to use your analysis to take and to justify really tough resource investment decisions around the winners and losers.

3. Make sure everybody knows who your key accounts are
It’s no good just you understanding the implications of this analysis – everybody else in the business needs to know it too. Once you and your colleagues have decided on the shortlist of real investment key accounts, you will find out about what to do next to ensure that everybody else in the business knows how they can support you.

4. Work out what it is worth to your key accounts and tell them
All the extra resources you are putting into your key accounts cost money and should provide extra value to them. You will find out how to work out what it is worth to them and then how to communicate it regularly so that the accounts just don’t take it all for granted!

5. Identify business relationship stages
It’s a long journey from, ‘We don’t know anything about you’ to ‘you’re wonderful’. You will learn how to identify the steps on the way and then assess how far you’ve got with your investment accounts. This will show you how much work still needs to be done (and there’s no end – after ‘wonderful’, there’s ‘even more wonderful’ or ‘wonderful again’)

6. Select the right linking mechanisms to bind your two businesses closely together
To achieve ‘lock in’, you’ll have to do lots of things rather than only a few (or nothing!). You will learn how to identify the linking activities that can bring you closer to your key accounts in the future. You will discover that particularly-powerful activities should be saved for later relationship stages where the investment can make the biggest difference.

Afternoon Session
7. Prepare detailed key account plans
This is potentially the most powerful yet under-used tool that account managers have available. Good key account plans keep you focused. You can also share them with all the people who can help you to meet your objectives. You will learn the do’s’ and ‘don’t’s’ of account planning, how to compile them and how to ensure that they become a critical success driver for your business.

8. Lobby all stakeholders
A plan is not a magic wand – putting someone’s name or department into a plan does not guarantee that they will help you. You will gain an understanding of the importance of talking to and influencing those of your colleagues whose help and support that you need. You will learn the importance of expressing the right amount of interest in their plans – after all, the success of their plans could have a big impact on your own!

9. Mirror, mirror on the wall
A real ‘lock in’ focus area has to be ease of use. You will realise the importance of assessing how easy it is for your investment key accounts to use you (perhaps by asking them!). You will learn how to act on the results in ways that can bring your two businesses even closer together.

10. Build the right key account teams and promote their importance
Unless you employ ‘Superman’ or ‘Woman’, all of the above is way beyond one person. Your plan will show what needs to be done – you will learn how to select the right team profile to deliver it and to concentrate on getting the people mix as right as the skills. You will be able to identify what is required for team empowerment and the highest levels of team motivation.

11. Promote the benefits of being a really good key account
Perhaps the biggest winning way of all! Where you have been able to achieve a high degree of ‘lock in’, you will learn how and what to concentrate on to persuade the account to become a better customer. For example, you may not get enough lead time to respond creatively – ask for more! Your day-to-day dealings with the account may be with a number of contacts. See if the account is willing to appoint a ‘supplier account manager’ – one person who will work with you most of the time. You will learn how much this impresses your colleagues outside the key accounts function. They may even think that better-behaved customers are the biggest benefit from your key account management approach!

Faculty
Mr. Simon Lawson
Key Accounts, Sales and Negotiation Trainer from UK
• Simon has had 20 years of experience as a management trainer, consultant and coach.
• Before this, he had line management experience as a sales manager, marketing executive and strategic account manager with a number of leading UK financial and communications companies.
• Simon’s first degree was in Psychology and he has always been interested and involved in human and management communications issues.
• Simon has been able to utilise a number of psychological, communications and behavioural profiling instruments into his training projects.
• Simon has a particular interest in both the management of major sales and major customers. Increasingly, he is training account managers to manage customers successfully on a global basis
• As an experienced trainer, Simon is able to communicate complex ideas to an audience enthusiastically and with humour. His training style is both challenging and provocative, whilst encouraging the maximum participation from his audiences.
• He has identified training needs and conducted training courses to various global blue-chip companies in the UK and in Europe including-ABB, Akzo Nobel, Basell Polyolefins, Ciba Speciality Chemicals, Coca-Cola, Hoganas, Huntsman Polyurethanes, Microsoft, Nokia, Nordea Bank, Novo Nordisk, Novozymes, Nynas, Roche Vitamins, Sabic, Toyota and Unilever.
• Simon has been regularly contributing to a number of articles and publications.

Timings: 9:30 am – 5:00 pm , Registration begins at 9:00 am

How to Register:
• Fees: Rs. 7,900/-
+12.36 % service tax per person
• Please write to register@princetonacademy.in / Call -022 66976892
• Mention the name of participant, company, contact details .
• Cheque favouring Princeton Academy Mumbai II Pvt. Ltd. payable at Mumbai.
• Fees includes lunch, tea, course material etc.