KEY ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING by NOEL CAPON

Author:NOEL CAPON
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: THE FREE PRESS
Published: 2001-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

• Manufacturing/operations management: Responsible for product and service quality, and (with logistics) for delivery speed and reliability;

• Applications engineering: Typically a mixture of pre-sales and post-sales activities. Applications engineers work with customers’ custom design engineers, production/process engineers, procurement specialists, and/or manufacturing and operations managers

• Development, design, and product engineering: Often called upon to develop special products for the key account, or for customers of the key account that incorporate the supplier firm’s products

• Finance: Responsible for financial arrangements such as contract management, leasing, datings and credit terms, and approvals

• Legal: May ensure legality, especially in pricing matters, and develops programs involving legal restraints such as product liability and licensing

• Control: Responsible for analyzing key account profitability

• Sales development: Producing sales tools including video tapes, samples, presentation aids, and the like

• Marketing research: For data gathering and analysis to monitor customer satisfaction levels

• Senior management: Available for meeting with parallel-level key account executives for reasons such as demonstrating supplier firm commitment and involvement in complex negotiations.

• Director of key accounts/key account policy group/marketing: Coordinates strategies and action programs across key accounts, and provides support to individual account teams on such matters as specific price and promotion decisions, and developing creative pricing approaches.

• The supplier firm’s suppliers: To solve specific problems, to investigate cost saving potential and/or to strengthen supply chain relationships; three-way meetings including the supplier firm’s supplier(s) may be important

The key account manager must secure commitments from the various support groups to provide the necessary resources, at the appropriate times. In some cases, the key account manager may know exactly what resources are required. In other cases, she may be able to specify an outcome but must work with her key account team to determine the exact nature of the required resources.

EXAMPLE: From extensive discussion with his customer, the Nortel key account manager for Coming’s Component Product business unit knew that a significant yet incremental technological innovation was required within two years. This knowledge became the basis for discussions with the technical development department to define the specific requirements and allocate resources to ensure a successful effort.

Regardless of who decides on the specific required resources, critical personnel should be identified by name and agreement obtained about their roles and responsibilities, regardless of whether the key account assignment is full-time or periodic. This element of the key account manager’s job is often fraught with controversy. It is difficult enough to secure resources in outward-oriented organizations truly focused on satisfying customer needs. It can be excruciatingly difficult in those more inward-oriented organizations where the central role of the customer has yet to be fully accepted.

In the international arena, when the key account is a foreign government, the supplier firm’s support system may extend far outside the organization into various arms of government. For example, in the first Clinton Administration, the Department of Commerce led by Secretary Ron Brown played an extremely active role in assisting U.S. corporations to secure major contracts abroad. In 1995, President Clinton helped Boeing conclude a $6 billion sale of sixty-one aircraft to Saudi Arabia.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.