One Day
Account Management Masterclass
'Working with the NHS as a Key Account'
Thursday 25th November 2010 Venue TBA
Why attend?
In a recent interview with Peter Cheverton we asked him why Account Management is important and why pharmaceutical and healthcare employees should attend this course.
1. What in your opinion is Account Management?
Each application of Account Management is unique, which may not sound a helpful answer, but is in fact the all-important ‘golden rule’, particularly when we come to discuss and define Key Account Management.
The nature of your Account Management approach should begin with the nature of the customer and the opportunity, which inevitably implies a tailored or bespoke definition in each case.
There is a spectrum of account management practice from sales driven relationship management at one end – designed to drive volume across a large number of customers, through to cross-functional account teams working in close collaboration with a small number of customers – designed to develop tailored value propositions.
A rather generic definition, perhaps from somewhere in the middle of this spectrum, might go like this.
Account Management is:
• A long-term investment of resources into a customer that offers an exceptional return for that investment.
• The management of a cross-functional business team, with clearly defined goals, roles, and obligations.
• The desire to understand the customer’s business, and their challenges, better than the customer does themselves.
• The development of truly customer focused value propositions, designed to achieve Key Supplier Status.
2. How is Account Management different to traditional selling methods?
At one end of the spectrum described above – a sales driven focus on relationship management – not very much, but as we move towards more ambitious outcomes the differences become very apparent.
Perhaps the most obvious are:
• Account Managers are business managers first, sales professionals second.
• Time horizons are longer.
• Customer relationships go broader and deeper.
• The involvement of functions other than sales.
• The analysis of the customer’s business and market, in pursuit of focused value propositions.
• Responsibilities and accountabilities relate far more to profitability, and internal impact.
3. Can healthcare and pharma ever truly deploy Account Management?
Of course, because their definition will depend on the nature of their customer and opportunity. The mistake is in thinking we must mimic what happens in other industries – ours is a unique circumstance, and very much so when working with the NHS.
There are plenty of good examples of Account Management in pharma, and even more in the broader healthcare market. The challenge is to shake off many of the deeply established sales models – such as the focus on measuring call rates and other ‘inputs’ – without losing the obvious strengths and successes that those models have brought.
4. How well has the pharma industry adopted account management compared to other industries?
Pharma is relatively new to Account Management and at first it was tempted to copy what happened in retail and fast moving consumer goods industries – which led to plenty of mistakes and frustrations.
In more recent years some very distinct definitions and manifestations have appeared, suitable to the rather special circumstance that is the NHS.
Having said that, I struggle to identify anyone that could honestly and rightly claim to be fully satisfied with their account management approach – the best examples recognise that this is something that takes time, and patience, and a good deal of political savvy, both within the customer and the supplier. It is a journey.
5. What are the common barriers to success?
The most common is undoubtedly the existing sales structure and model, where it is has been developed to provide a traditional sales approach based on a wide customer base, efficient coverage of that customer base, and the communication of centrally developed and uniform value propositions. The internal silos need to be diffused before genuine cross-functional teams can be developed.
6. What are the common mistakes that companies make when deploying Account Management?
Trying it with too many customers all at once, and trying to make it absolutely uniform across all circumstances. Add to that, sales thinking they can do this alone!
7. Why should I attend this masterclass?
Because it will give you an opportunity to assess where on the spectrum of Account Management practice you wish to be, what that implies, and how to develop the processes and skills required.
In addition, it will motivate you and inspire you to make progress in what can sometimes be a difficult and frustrating task, while reminding you of the significant rewards that patience and persistence can bring.