Home » Member Resources » Papers and articles

Papers and articles

Search by topic, author, keywords and more. Filter your results by content type by pressing the black settings button.

This category can only be viewed by members.

Papers and articles

Embracing the silos for KAM

Dr Hajo Rapp, Head of Strategic Account Management and Sales Excellence at TÜV SÜD AG, presents an unconventional view of organisational silos, traditionally seen as detrimental to effective KAM. While acknowledging their drawbacks, Dr Rapp identifies hidden strengths of silo structures, including specialisation, accountability, and operational agility. Instead of dismantling silos, he advocates for strategically…

To access this post, you must be a member. Please login or sign up.

Papers and articles

How ‘time congruity’ impacts KAM: Research update

Are you a ‘one thing at a time’ person? Are you happy with long-term thinking? How does this fit with your role as a key account manager? Professor Christophe Fournier from the University of Montpellier introduces the concept of “time congruity,” the alignment between an individual’s time personality and the time-defined demands of their role.…

To access this post, you must be a member. Please login or sign up.

Papers and articles

Supply-side views of QBRs

In this exploration of Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs), Clientshare interviewed 100 stakeholders for their insights from the supply side of key account relationships. The authors identify the frequent pitfalls, such as overemphasis on operational detail and insufficient strategic dialogue, and propose separating innovation-focused discussions from routine operational reviews. Emphasising a proactive, customer-centric mindset, they argue…

To access this post, you must be a member. Please login or sign up.

Papers and articles

Building towers on sand

AKAM would be the first to say that KAM is not a cure-all, and Olivier Rivière picks out two organisational capabilities that must underpin any KAM initiative: Complex Sales and Account Management. Companies often don’t recognise that deficiencies in these areas are contributing to their underperforming KAM programme. Complex Sales focuses on generating and closing…

To access this post, you must be a member. Please login or sign up.

Papers and articles

Unlocking the SAM journey

Dominique Côté underscores the importance of KSAM in responding to the disruptive, fast-changing landscape She identifies three essential elements for success:Creating a Center of Excellence (COE) Securing Executive Sponsorship Integrating Account-Based Marketing (ABM)She explains what they mean and why they matter so much. Each of them plays a vital role in enhancing KSAM practices, building…

To access this post, you must be a member. Please login or sign up.

Papers and articles

Key Account Managers talking KAM

Gwenola Ducamp of Vetropack and Matt Sankary of ShipMoney are key account managers in very different sectors – manufacturing and financial services – yet they share a lot of the same challenges. In this conversation they share their current issues, how they are approaching them and look at the future, especially the role of technology,…

To access this post, you must be a member. Please login or sign up.

Papers and articles

Exercising your heart and mind for KAM

Janti Masani looks at the personal characteristics of successful key account managers in this Bulletin article. Yes, you need structure to cope with the dynamic situations and relationships in KAM, but there’s new emphasis on authenticity and collaboration. It’s no longer sufficient to have a strong tendency to one or the other – it’s got…

To access this post, you must be a member. Please login or sign up.

Papers and articles

Alliance Management and KAM: mirror images

Supplier alliance management and key account management have converged over the last 20 years and are now closely connected. Mike Nevin’s case studies demonstrate the very substantial value that can come from working with the ecosystem – beyond traditional, two-party buyer-seller pairings. His 52 best practices in strategic alliances is a great checklist that applies…

To access this post, you must be a member. Please login or sign up.

Papers and articles

KAM-wrecking key customer picks

In this Bulletin article AKAM Chair Diana Woodburn lays bare all the ways that companies get this wrong – and why getting it right matters so much! Including poor performers in the key account portfolio can bring down the whole KAM initiative. But still there are suppliers with a feeble process for selection – or…

To access this post, you must be a member. Please login or sign up.

Papers and articles

Segmenting key accounts

Account segmentation is as fundamental to KAM as the differentiation that has to go with it. This report of the Programme Directors Forum complements the report on differentiation and digs into what segments are generally applied, and the well-established process for allocating customers to each. Segmentation is just the beginning: it leads to questions like…

To access this post, you must be a member. Please login or sign up.