Key Account Management unlocks profits

19 Nov 2015

Litha Communications presents Key Account Management, taking place in Johannesburg on 2-3 December 2015, led by Ian Rheeder, a former marketing & sales director of YKK, the global fastening giant, a coach and a certified Chartered Marketer. The Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) has used him monthly, since 2007 for its corporate programmes.

A skilled key account manager plays one of the most important roles in protecting a business's prosperity. There are fewer customers than ever before, so it is of paramount importance, as key account management drives the profitability of business-to-business marketing.

"Key Account Management is one of the most important changes in selling that has emerged during the past two decades," says Rheeder. "It is a core function, used by business-to-business suppliers to manage their relationships with strategically important customers. It is about changing the way people work, not just a sales technique."

Course outline

KAM is one of the fastest ways to increase profitability dramatically. Managing key or major accounts and maximising their potential requires a different set of skills to selling. This two-day outcome-based programme has been developed to create a company's sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) through twelve practical strategic maps.

Definition and characteristics of a key account
Role of key account manager
Implications of account manager, account and company
Understanding decision-making units
Identifying individual levels of influence and allegiance
Aligning to objectives, setting tangible tactics to maximise strengths and minimise weaknesses
Maximising resources
Understanding individuals' behaviour
Modifying selling and managing behaviour to complement customers and build key relationships within accounts
Buyer motivations
Creating a win/win approach to negotiations
Understanding relationship between concern for objectives versus concern for relationships
Developing value propositions
Planning around needs, wants and desires
Planning for negotiations within key accounts
Setting three-year objectives in line with your KA's objectives
Mapping out your KA's Key Buying Factors and Blue Ocean Strategy
Creating Practical Strategic-Maps to sustain competitive advantage

The two-day course costs R7,399 + VAT and places can be reserved by calling Kevin Cloete at +27 (0) 21 782 0508 or Debbie Last at +27 (0) 11 484 7663.