Everyone knows the famous Culture Club song Karma Chameleon. But here we are going to introduce the KAMA Chameleon, or in our world, the Key Account Manager (KAMgr). The KAMgr job has evolved over the last 20 years into a complex and multi-faceted role which is a very different role from that of traditional sales roles. The role stretches far beyond the sales function where it has traditionally been seen as residing and encompasses the whole organization and that of the customer.

Key account management (KAM) has evolved radically over the last five years or so. The traditional focus of managing a large customer relationship is still tacit, but today a more sophisticated business model is required. Customers and suppliers seek to co-create value – and KAM is the perfect way to achieve this.

As part of his executive development Rob attended Cranfield’s Sales Directors’ Programme, so we spent five minutes with him to discover his thoughts on the programme.

Ask organisations to list the essential ingredients of a Key Account implementation and Key Account Plans will always feature on the list as an imperative part of Key Account Management (KAM). 

Most organisations already have some of the elements of this framework, but it is rare to find a sales target system that features the entire framework in a holistic fashion. This framework comprises key practices that are required for ensuring that the performance measures used in the target setting process and the targets agreed are effective.

Sales targets are extensively used by sales organisations to help achieve a ‘desired’, ‘promised’, ‘minimum’, or ‘aspirational’ level of performance. Setting sales targets are mainly used for motivating specific behaviour, establishing expectation, evaluation and rewarding performance. At present, the use of performance targets seems to be ubiquitous; however, a high proposition of organisations have reported to be dissatisfied with their targets arguing that this management practice is...

Motivating your sales force is a critical component of sales force management, given its profound effect on people’s behaviour and sales performance. There are many motivation theories that are relevant to sales force compensation and management as well as rewarding strategies to optimise a sales force.

Sales organisation’s face many dilemmas when managing and measuring sales performance. Sales people may be doing the right thing and may be displaying the right, behaviour, but their results are not captured in the performance measurement systems of their organisations. Very often individuals find themselves trading off between behaviour-based and outcome-based measures.

Apple didn’t kill the music industry. They just invented ways of making life easier and more enjoyable for music consumers, ending the need to buy full-length albums. It wasn’t Netflix that killed Blockbusters; it was their focus on retail to the virtual exclusion of on-line convenience. It wasn’t UBER that adversely affected the taxi business; it was fare control and the difficulty of ordering a taxi. Amazon didn’t wipe out retailers. Bad customer service, limited stock, poor size ranging...