Global and Strategic Account Managers are more important to business success than you might think

High performing Account Management is vital to become a partner to your key customers. This is one of the conclusions from the latest Global Account Network meeting where we discussed how to become more strategic to major customers. Damian Göppert, heading up Strategic Relations in Sandvik Coromant, shared how they are creating alliances with their most important customers focusing on joint value building.

Value was also the concept that Bo-Inge Stensson, Chief Procurement Officer at Elekta talked about in his presentation. He is building an echo-system of strategic vendors that are measured not only on price and TCO , but also on Quality, Delivery, Innovation and Management. The latter is becoming increasingly important when it comes to evaluating vendors capability to deliver on their sustainable agenda. In reality.

You have to be able to judge if you are really relevant and strategic from the buyer's perspective. It´s not your view of yourself that counts, it´s the customer´s view of you. Most of the participants expressed a need for a more efficient and dynamic way of managing their customers, and mirroring changing behavior.

The question how to really build strategic relations and move from a transactional business model was discussed with the diverse group of participants from seventeen different companies. Their conclusion was that high performing Strategic and Global Account Manager will make a difference in creating a strategic relationship with key customers.

This is also underlined in a study from McKinsey, “How to unlock growth in the largest accounts”. From a large-buyer study they conclude that the sales experience matters more than people really think, when it comes to selecting vendors. Also the added value that companies can bring in terms of services and support, plays a significant larger role in decision that one may think. Something that both Damian and Bo-Inge also underlined from their experience.

The next logical question is then how you build a team of high-performing strategic account managers. And that is high on the list to become a topic in the next network meeting due in February 2020. Feel free to contact us if you wish to participate.