Key Account Management Course

Sales and customer service. Make happy customers.

COVID-19 update: arrangement of our courses

We are now delivering courses online and in-person. Please check the delivery format of each class before enrolling.

Please note that course materials (excluding prescribed texts) are shared electronically within 48 hours of course commencement. Printing is not available.

In this one-day key account management course, you’ll learn how to generate reoccurring and new business from existing customers – boosting your company’s revenue.

Many sales people follow their company’s sales process: prospect, diagnose, present, close the business and move on to the next opportunity. ‘Closing the deal’ isn’t the last step of the process but really just the beginning of the journey and the relationship. You may have discovered an opportunity to do business with this customer and sold them a product or service, but there are probably more opportunities that you’re not even aware of.

So how do you manage the account once you’ve done all the hard work to bring them on board? What are the techniques and skills to capitalise on the ‘life-time value’ of a customer? This one-day course will show you how.

You will learn how to grow the account that you have worked so hard to get, how to delve deeper into what the customer needs and provide value and service to more departments, teams and people. You will learn how to ‘future proof’ the account so that if your initial contact leaves, the relationship with the account doesn’t suffer.

Once you attend this course, you will be able to return to work, categorise your accounts and immediately start to apply your new skills. Whether you are a beginner or experienced sales person this will provide the skills to take your account relationships to the next level.

Aims

The aim of this course is to increase your chances of obtaining more sales and greater revenue success from the customers that you already have.

Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• accurately categorise your accounts into A, B, C and D
• initiate sales conversations with your existing customers rather than just react
• align to your customer’s business goals
• create and maintain long-term partnerships
• apply the 80/20 principle to your accounts
• ask for referrals and work with them
• plan with your customers three, six and twelve months ahead.

Content

Categorise your accounts

Not all customers are equal and should not necessarily be treated the same way. Key Account Managers need to be able to prioritise customers and respond to their demands accordingly. While some customers are crucially important to the survival of your business, others are not. Some can drain your time and energy and never purchase, while others require very little attention and regularly return to purchase. Time spent with one customer is time not spent with another. You will learn what criteria to use and how to allocate your time accordingly.

Initiate conversations with customers

Key Account Managers do not wait for the phone to ring or the email to arrive. They are proactive rather than reactive. This course will teach you how to initiate a conversation, who to talk to, what to talk about and how. You will learn how to interact with the ‘gate-keepers’, ‘end-users’ and ‘decision-makers’ and understand what each is motivated by.

Align to your customers' needs and time frames

The successful Key Account Manager is able to align to their customer’s plans and goals. They can ascertain what their customer’s short, medium and long-term goals are, what their needs are and how they can support them on this journey. This course will provide meeting templates and questions to ask to help with this process.

Asking for referrals

The best testimonial is a satisfied and impressed customer who can vouch for our products and service. The Key Account Manager is able to leverage their on-going relationships into new relationships and businesses. This course will show you how and who to ask for referrals, how to approach the person who is recommended and how to handle the early stages of the process.

Intended audience

Anyone in sales looking to boost their key account management techniques.

Prerequisites

A minimum of 3 to 6 months sales experience.

Delivery style

Delivery options:

• presenter-taught workshop on University premises
• online workshop via the platform Zoom.