Customer - Supplier Partnerships. Perceptions of a Successful Key Account Management Program (KAM)

Résumé du document

Missions of the Key Account Manager are in a constant evolution. He has to control numerous skills for the success of the relationship with his customer. Key account management deals with the management of the customer relationships that are most important to a company. Key accounts are those held by customers who produce most profit for a company or have the potential to do so, or those who are of strategic importance. Development of these customer relations and customer retention is important to business success.

Particular importance is placed on analyzing which accounts are keys to a company at any one time, highlighting the needs of these particular customers, and implementing procedures to ensure that they receive premium customer service and to increase customer satisfaction.

Thus, it's important to understand what key elements are for a successful relationship between buyer and seller. Then we have to identify what are the different skills requested for a good Key Account Manager?

Extraits

[...] Customer - Supplier Partnerships. Perceptions of a Successful Key Account Management Program (KAM) Introduction Customer supplier relationship throughout KAM program II) KAM program key success factors III) A unique management for efficient results IV) References Introduction Missions of the Key Account Manager are in a constant evolution. He has to control numerous skills for the success of the relationship with his customer. Key account management deals with the management of the customer relationships that are most important to a company. [...]

[...] In the second part, we will list the key success factor with a KAM program. The third part deals with a unique view of a KAM program in order to have more efficient results. Finally, we will study the results of the case. Customer supplier relationship throughout KAM program The first approach about the relationship between suppliers and sellers, in the seventies, took place in Europe, but quickly the Americans did their own research. Although numerous theories exist, just a few of them have been verified by empirical studies. [...]

[...] Factor 2 enhances the most important key success factor to the KAM practice. Factor 3 highlights the significance of the suppliers ‘involvement to a KAM program Factor 4 points out the importance of a relationship of trust between the two actors Factor 5 shows how the KAM has to be apt in its function with the key account customer Factor 6 deals with the importance of trust in the relationship. Thanks to those elements, one of the most important key success factors is suppliers' integrity and competences within their key accounts. [...]

[...] This involves giving sufficient time and resources to establish and build the relationship and to properly train key account managers. Suppliers should also have an effective system to evaluate the key account program's strengths and to apply them in ways that deliver the greatest value to their customers. In order to achieve this, the supplier requests an effective process for understanding the key account customer's needs. Cross-functional project teams can help by allowing both parties to develop a ‘feel' for the value that each contributes to the relationship. [...]

[...] The results show that supplier's competences are a key element in order to understand its key account customers‘ needs to propose an adequate offer. The survey enhances the fact they have similar perception of the key success factors for their relationship except for some factors when the ranking is not the same. IV) References Logghe. B - "Strategic Account Management in Practice - common mistakes and critical success factors”; http://www.slideshare.net/Uroborus/bart-logghe- strategic-account-management-in-practice-common-mistakes-and-critical- success-factors Sharma. [...]