Strategic negotiation is a fundamental competence for key account managers. Many key account managers still struggle to move away from negotiations where price becomes the focus to negotiations based on a value focus. We have identified a number of different sources of value and looked at how we can present these effectively to the customer or client in order to create joint value.

For organisations looking to implement key account management, Mark Davies, visiting fellow at Cranfield School of Management, explains the three different perspectives which need to be covered in your approach.

As a result of progressive globalisation and industry consolidation, International Key Account Management (IKAM) has become an increasingly significant topic for many organisations and managing international and pan-geography key accounts where the customer and/or the supplier may be operating in a number of different countries is a challenge for many companies. The international dimension brings some further complexities to the management of already large and complex customers and adds a ...

As the late great Sir John Harvey Jones said:

“Planning is an unnatural process; it is much more fun to do something. And the nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression”.

Creating customer value is the core mission of marketing and sales organisations. To ensure your sales strategy creates sustainable customer value, ensure your strategy is underpinned by the following value co-creation principles.