From the sales conversation to company leadership. Tailored development for teams and managers. Experience since 2001, multinational clients and a specialisation in pharmaceutical companies.
Developing key client relationships
Tailored Key Account Management
A new colleague takes over a strategic account. They know the revenue figures, but not who is involved in the client’s decision-making unit (DMU). They also lack a clear view of which areas the client wants to collaborate on, the client’s loyalty to your company and the potential for a long-term, professional partnership built on trust. Key Account Management helps the company retain this knowledge and build on it through its KAM strategies. At ED Development, we help salespeople and managers improve how they plan work with key clients and coordinate everyone involved in delivering it.
Customer insight, coordinated action
What is Key Account Management?
Key Account Management focuses on managing and developing relationships with key clients. It brings together commercial priorities, account development plans and team responsibilities.
In our business management programmes, we work with sales directors, sales managers and key account managers.
In projects for recruitment and staffing companies, Elena Demeková has worked on strategic key account management alongside sales and management development. We build on this experience to align account plans with leadership priorities and the responsibilities of the teams involved. Explore ED Development’s client projects for examples of this work.
Our work together
What our Key Account Management programmes cover
We help leaders decide which clients to focus resources on and help teams plan an approach they can put into practice together.
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Account selection
Key account selection and commercial priorities
We assess each client’s current value to your business, the potential to develop the relationship and your company’s position. We consider the demands of serving the account and the resources available. Key account selection should support your company’s strategy.
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Customer decision-making
Understanding how customers make decisions
We map the people who use the solution, influence its selection or approve the budget. We distinguish verified information from assumptions and identify what the account manager needs to find out in the next conversation.
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Account planning
Account plans that guide decisions
A key account development plan brings together objectives, opportunities, risks and specific actions. Each action needs a named owner, a deadline and a way to assess the outcome. We can also build on your existing company templates.
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Team coordination
Coordinating teams across the business
We align the responsibilities of sales, marketing and other departments involved. We link this work with product management so that proposals reflect the customer’s priorities, what you can deliver and the commitments your company has made.
Common key account challenges
When to rethink your key account management
Developing your KAM approach helps when a long-standing client relationship works well, but there is no shared plan for taking it forward.
- Clients are treated as key accounts mainly because they generated the most revenue last year.
- The account plan includes a sales target but does not define actions or responsibilities.
- Customer knowledge sits with one person and is lost when the account is handed over.
- The team knows the buyer but not who else influences the customer’s decision.
- Different departments promise the client solutions without first agreeing on shared priorities.
- Joint projects are postponed, and the team does not know why or what to do next.
- Account plans are not updated, even when the customer’s leadership or requirements change.
- Regular meetings focus on orders but do not move account development plans forward.
How we work
How your Key Account Management programme works
We tailor the programme to your client portfolio, sales model and the way your leadership team currently manages client relationships.
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Reviewing current account management
A training needs analysis examines how key accounts are selected, the plans currently in use and the team’s development needs. Depending on the brief, we also interview managers or observe how the team works with customers.
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Designing your tailored programme
With your leadership team, we define the changes KAM should bring to decision-making and collaboration across teams. We tailor the content to your existing methodology, participants’ competencies and company priorities. Project planning is also part of the development programme.
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Working with your own accounts
Participants work with their own account plans and real client situations. There are 3 to 5 weeks between modules to put new approaches into practice, supported by coaching or mentoring.
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Certification and evaluation
The programme concludes with certification based on projects that demonstrate participants’ skills. We evaluate how programme graduates apply Key Account Management and project planning tools when setting priorities, assigning responsibilities and deciding the next steps in developing client relationships.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- since1993Management experience
- 25+Years of business development
- 60+Multinational clients
Didn’t find your answer?Elena Demeková, CEO and Senior Consultant
How does KAM differ from day-to-day customer care?
Customer care includes handling customers’ immediate requests. Key Account Management goes further by defining how to develop relationships with clients of strategic importance to the business. It involves planning, building relationships with multiple stakeholders and coordinating the internal team. The aim is a shared approach to developing a long-term business relationship.
How should we select key accounts for KAM?
Assess each client’s value, potential and strategic fit, as well as the demands of the relationship. Consider your position within the account and the resources you can commit. Revenue alone does not give a complete picture. Key account selection should follow shared criteria that leadership and the sales team use in planning.
What should an account plan include?
An account plan sets out the customer’s situation, key stakeholders, relationship objectives, opportunities, risks and specific actions. For each activity, it specifies responsibilities, deadlines and how progress will be tracked. Salesforce Trailhead also explains how to link objectives to activities. The team should keep the plan up to date using verified information from customer discussions.
What is the difference between KAM and CRM?
KAM defines priorities and the approach to developing key client relationships. A CRM system helps store and share information about contacts, activities and sales opportunities. The two complement each other. Our programme focuses on using this information to manage accounts; it does not cover the technical implementation of CRM.
How does a key account manager develop client relationships?
They understand the client’s priorities, build relationships, prepare an account plan and coordinate its delivery within their own company. This means involving the people who shape the offer and deliver it. Together, they agree tasks, responsibilities and deadlines. The precise scope of a key account manager’s authority depends on how the company is organised.
Can you work with our corporate KAM methodology?
Yes. We build on your principles, segmentation and account plans. With your leadership team, we identify what needs to be applied locally and where the team needs support. SAMA also discusses the importance of connecting central strategy with local conditions. We agree the scope of any adjustments while respecting the requirements of your corporate methodology.
