What is Key Account Management and How Does it Drive Sales Results?

Strategic accounts are the key to your company’s success, which is why key account management use has been skyrocketing. When done properly, key account management is a launchpad to grow critical customer relationships and increase win rates.

But to make sure you implement key account management properly in your organization, let’s take a step back and understand exactly what it is and why key account management is important. 

We’ve got your top questions about key account management answered.

What is the definition of key account management? 

You’ve most likely heard the term Key Account Manager, or KAM, used as a title. But what exactly does a KAM do?

Key account management is the process of effectively building and maintaining customer relationships with key accounts in order to grow valuable relationships and drive more business. Therefore, KAMs are responsible for seeing these steps through and are an integral part of your company’s success. 

What’s the difference between account planning and key account management?

Account planning is more focused on how to choose the best accounts for your sales team to chase deals with. Strategic account planning is the process of evaluating existing customer accounts and strategically selecting major accounts that can yield the most potential revenue.

Account management, on the other hand, has to do with developing the relationships in those selected accounts. As stated above, key account management is the process of effectively growing strategic accounts, also referred to as key accounts, that meet the predetermined criteria.

 

How do I get started with key account management?

Start by identifying top accounts with the most potential to expand. For example, if one business unit within an enterprise company has purchased your product, this would be a great key account to chase. Having champions on the inside of an account to help promote your product’s strengths and capabilities is an extremely valuable and effective way to garner buy-in.

 

Why is key account management important?

With a key account management program, your sales team focuses their time and effort on accounts that are more likely to give you their business. This makes sales more productive and more likely to reach their goals.

Learn more about how key account management can help you with your sales goals.