Managing and Developing Key Accounts

This practical two-day workshop focuses on maximizing the potential of key accounts that are critical to an organisation’s success or failure.

This workshop covers the key skills required to maximise and maintain your key accounts, including relationship to partnership selling, networking and strategic planning. Self-appraisal and practical exercises will ensure maximum participation and learning.

By the end of this course you will be able to:

• Accurately identify those high return on investment opportunities that require and deserve special attention.
• Apply a systematic approach to producing sustainable, long term uplift with selected accounts.
• Create intimacy and move up to trusted advisor status through an understanding of the client’s business and marketplace.
• Build joint development plans and strategies with senior stakeholders.
• Improve the depth and breadth of contacts at all levels within the client, manage and control those relationships.
• More effectively motivate and influence other departments within your own company in order to deliver on ambitious growth targets with your accounts.
• Create and communicate SMART plans to ensure short, medium and long term targets are delivered.

What will it cover?

Defining the role

• Selling and account management - the difference.
• Roles and responsibilities of a KAM.
• Knowledge, skills and attitudes required to be an effective KAM.

Defining a “Key Account.”

• Creating objective criteria and supporting metrics for defining both existing and potential key accounts in your business.
• Investment versus return – getting your priorities right.
• Being clear about the potential from your account.

Research and Analysis

• Understanding what you need to know in order to maximise business with that account.
• How to access vital customer and market intelligence.
• Assessing your strengths, weaknesses and unique advantages.
• Assessing the customer – SWOT analysis.

Stakeholder Mapping

• Understanding the organisational structure of your account.
• Identifying all the influencers and decision makers.
• Influencing and negotiating with all the stakeholders.

Strategy

• Developing Product, Market, Contact, Review and Competitor Strategies for your Key Account
• Long-term planning and forecasting of the Key Account
• Longer buying cycles and their impact on your sales strategy
• Recognising threats and dealing with them
• Setting specific goals and objectives for each meeting
• Developing and maintaining key accounts in tough market conditions
• Creating SMART plans.

From Relationship to Partnership

• Client-centred selling - focusing on the client’s real needs
• How and when to adapt your style
• Productive meetings and how to achieve them
• Strengthening the relationship through regular contact: how to conclude business with the wide range of contacts you will meet
• Creating flexibility in your approach using different communication styles
• Alliances across an organisation to maintain preferred supplier status
• Understanding buyers' needs and objectives

Developing a Personal Development Plan

• Assessing your actions for future development

This two-day programme has been designed for sales people who are moving towards a more strategic approach to business development, taking on responsibility for expanding business with high potential accounts as well as further developing and securing important long-term partnerships .

This course focuses on a planned, systematic approach to account management building upon and extending the required soft skills and rapport building techniques needed to maximise business. This is an account management course which assumes that sales skills are already in place.