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The essence of KAM: differentiation and key account selection

Differentiation is a cornerstone of KAM, yet some companies seem to believe they are operating KAM without giving key accounts anything significantly different from other customers. Suppliers standardise to lower costs, gain efficiencies and avoid making mistakes, but this isn’t enough for key accounts to spend their valuable time with you. This report of AKAM’s…

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Papers and articles

Joining the dots: from KAM to bidding

Bidding and bid management are an important part of KAM. Some companies try to separate them, contrary to what Jeremy Brim and AKAM believe – that business growth comes from generating sustained, focused momentum, driven by Key Account Managers. Key account managers are a superpower when bidding, bringing a great level of insight and connectivity…

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Papers and articles

When KAM corrupts

This article summarises a longer paper on ‘Boundary spanner corruption: a potential dark side of multi-level trust in marketing relationships’ (also available in Member Resources here). These aren’t familiar terms to practitioners, but perhaps they should be – boundary spanner corruption is becoming an increasing threat in relationships between key account managers and their counterparts!…

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Papers and articles

The QBR Delusion (abridged)

With the dramatic decline in face-to-face meetings post-pandemic, Quarterly (or regular monthly/annual) Business Reviews (QBRs) now represent the biggest opportunity for suppliers to demonstrate value and innovation, share insights and expertise, and create demand for additional services. These are the most visible and widely recognised representations of your organisation within your customers. So what do…

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Member Resources

Boundary spanner corruption: a potential dark side of multi-level trust in marketing relationships

What do you know about the ‘dark side’ of KAM relationships? For many years the authors of this research investigated and advocated the importance of trust in key supplier/customer relationships. But it’s not quite as simple as that. They define corruption as the ‘voluntary collaborative behaviour between individuals representing different organisations that violates their organisations’…

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Member Resources

The QBR Delusion (full report)

With the dramatic decline in face-to-face meetings post pandemic, Quarterly (or regular monthly/annual) Business Reviews (QBRs) now represent the biggest opportunity for suppliers to demonstrate value and innovation, share insights and expertise, and create demand for additional services. These are the most visible and widely recognised representations of your organisation within your customers. So what…

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Papers and articles

What do strategic customers want?

Former Travis Perkins Fleet Director (‘everything and anything with wheels!’) Graham Bellman, shares his views on supplier management, good KAM and strategic partnerships. Relationships are important but it’s what comes out of them that really matters: trust, performance, support when needed and practical innovations. Contrary to what a lot of key account managers think, price…

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Papers and articles

Don’t talk to Procurement!

But not talking to Procurement is a big mistake. They have been given a job their company wants them to do: protecting their company, its resources, stakeholders, and customers. So they cannot just suppliers as much as they would like to. In this article Jens Hentschel tells you exactly why each of nine common ‘sales…

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Papers and articles

A buyer’s view of KAM

How well you understand your customer’s buyer, sitting across the desk. Do you appreciate the importance of their role internally and what they need from you be able to fulfil that role? Becky Barnes has some clear messages for key account managers, like ‘Trust is more important than personality’ and ‘Honour your customer’s time: it’s…

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Papers and articles

A case in collaboration: KAM EMCOR UK

When EMCOR UK’s Facilities Management division decided its future lay in longer contracts with larger clients, it reckoned that collaboration would be the USP to capture it. Collaboration isn’t just a mindset, it’s a process as well, and collaboration and KAM have to be more than ‘skin deep’, says Steve Dolan, EMCOR UK’s Operations Director…

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