Key Account Management

The Sales Science of gaining, developing and keeping Key Strategic Customers with multiple projects.

With sales changing so rabidly for all sellers of products and services post GFC, Key Account Management is the one area that has seen major shifts in the buyer behaviour model and the skills needed to respond through sales effectively.

Unfortunately for most sales organisations this is one of the most organically developed, poorly skilled and resourced areas of a sales teams. Most organisations key customers have grown via an organic simple sales approach into large high value business using the same simple sales approach.

This is a problem, a big problem in 2012.

If these customers supply a large part of the organisations revenue and we still treat them as ‘simple’ customers who we simply call on more often, wine and dine sometimes, and keep via price/margin shrinkage, we will inevitably loose them. Ask these questions of your sales team:

‘Is sales getting easier or harder?’

‘Are we being treated in sales as a commodity more today than before?’

‘Are customers demanding more support, technical expertise, knowledge and time of our sales people?’

The answers, nearly without fail are yes, yes and yes. 

But hang on a minute. They want commoditisation and yet more ‘consultative’ support? Surely this is an impossible position for a business to fund with the massive cost of running a sales team? 

Of course it is, however that is the reality due to many reasons and the real reason it is essential for sales groups to build their Key Account Management Expertise.

At Banjar Group we take a unique approach to developing the skills of Sales Teams when it comes to Key Account Management.

Science + Experience + Skills + Strategic + Planning = KAM

Science – With Sales so often devoid of any ‘science’ we must bring a level of science to improve the effectiveness of KAM within organisations. The science may involve:

• Consumer behaviour modelling
• Use of DISC, MBTI and or TMS profiling behavioural tools
• KAM Competency Modelling
• Innovation
• Key person analysis

Experience – The collective global wisdom of Banjar Group combined with its 180+ years of selling experience mean one thing, we know what it takes to win big business. We have:

• Run customer ‘war room’ scenarios
• Planned and been successful in winning major accounts of up to $50 million in value
• Lead, coached and participated in large scale key account management at both B2B and B2C levels
• An understanding of the culture and skills required to win big and keep big
• The knowledge to communicate this wisdom and create effective learning beyond just ‘ego’

Skills – What are the skills needed to create great sales behaviours, techniques and outcomes at the KAM level? They are over and above the simple sales training matrix. They may include:

• Coverage modelling
• Team selling
• ‘War’ room principles
• Strategic Business Meetings - SBM
• Question techniques for high level selling
• Negotiation skills
• Call structure for KAM phases
• Follow up matrix
• Account planning
• Problem solving at KAM level
• ‘Octopus’ selling in layers
• A pure consulting model – the art of sales consulting

Strategic – What are the strategic foundations of why we must develop this business? The essential reason for selling. Does it affect the critical success factors of our business? This may include:

• Sales Strategy – Vision, philosophy, story, principles, product, resource
• Coverage
• Product portfolio analysis – what fits?
• Forecasting
• Justifying resource
• Short term v long term
• Value proposition
• Revenue, cost, risk
• Business cases for profitability

Planning – If we have all the above checked and taught, then implementation is required. For this the best KAM planning skills will lead to the most effective sales results. High-powered planning is key to KAM success, fact! The areas covered here are:

• Planning as a culture for sales
• Tools – 1 page plan and beyond
• Project planning
• Follow up
• Activity at sales levels
• 3 Tier plans
• Short term v long term
• Decision process
• Forecasting Goal, Budget and Target
• Phases of activity
• Change force fields

Boiler.