Publisher Description

Malcolm McDonald on Key Account Management explores the challenges of winning, retaining and developing key accounts. Key accounts are customers who help their suppliers grow, and consequently, they wield significant power. Although they are the key to market share and revenue growth, the costs of serving key accounts can erode profitability unless they are thoroughly understood and managed.Malcolm McDonald on Key Account Management takes a step-by-step approach to presenting best practice in key account management. Whether your business is starting up or well-established, there is always more to discover about improving the way value is created between you and your most important customers. Malcolm McDonald and Beth Rogers have spent over twenty years researching, teaching and consulting on key account management, and have condensed their knowledge into this book, focusing on making it clear, concise and easy to use.

Author Biography

Professor Malcolm McDonald was formerly a Professor of Marketing and Deputy Director at Cranfield University School of Management and is now an Emeritus Professor. Based in the UK, he is also an Honorary Professor at Warwick Business School and the author of Malcolm MacDonald on Marketing Planning, also published by Kogan Page.Dr Beth Rogers was formerly a Business Development Manager at Portsmouth Business School and chaired project board developing National Occupational Standards for UK professional sales. Based in the UK, she is now the Director of two organisations and writes articles for business publications.

Table of Contents

Section - 01: Introducing key account management;Section - 02: The role of key accounts in achieving business growth;Section - 03: Selecting the right key accounts;Section - 04: Understanding buying decisions;Section - 05: Key account plans;Section - 06: Understanding account-based marketing;Section - 07: People and skills for key account management;Section - 08: Going global with key accounts;Section - 09: The risks of key account management;Section - 10: The future of key account management;Section - Appendix 1: The McDonald and Rogers 10 guidelines for profitable key account management;Section - Appendix 2: A quiz for key account managers;Section - Appendix 3: Important research articles on key account management;

Review

"Soundly based on accepted theory, this book represents an inestimable practical guide to key account management. As a rare collection of wisdom and insight into KAM, it has great value for practitioners and students, and is highly recommended for those aiming for the AKAM Diploma. Malcolm McDonald and Beth Rogers were among the very first in the UK to acknowledge and research KAM, making important contributions to this professional discipline which is still poorly understood by most companies." * Dr Diana Woodburn, Chairman of the Association for Key Account Management *
"This book is an up-to-date and comprehensive piece of knowledge on key account management. The solid frameworks and practical insights it contains, together with the expertise and passion of the authors, offer the reader an engaging learning tool for successful KAM." * Dr Rodrigo Guesalaga, Director of the KAM Best Practice Research Club, Cranfield University *
"I found this book to be integrating and interesting as it offers some new insights into Key Account Management. I believe that this book is a 'must read' for anyone who is working as a Key Account Manager or who is planning to introduce KAM into their organisation." * Dr Kenneth Le Meunier-FitzHugh, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, University of East Anglia *
"Key account management has become increasingly critical to business success. A great combination of key account theory and practice, this book is a must-read for all business leaders." * Nick Porter, Chairman of the Association of Professional Sales *

Review Text

"Soundly based on accepted theory, this book represents an inestimable practical guide to key account management. As a rare collection of wisdom and insight into KAM, it has great value for practitioners and students, and is highly recommended for those aiming for the AKAM Diploma. Malcolm McDonald and Beth Rogers were among the very first in the UK to acknowledge and research KAM, making important contributions to this professional discipline which is still poorly understood by most companies."

Review Quote

"This book is an up-to-date and comprehensive piece of knowledge on key account management. The solid frameworks and practical insights it contains, together with the expertise and passion of the authors, offer the reader an engaging learning tool for successful KAM."

Promotional "Headline"

Understand the balance between achieving growth through the development of key accounts and serving key accounts, without letting costs become prohibitive

Feature

* Understand the balance between achieving growth through the development of key accounts and serving key accounts, without letting costs become prohibitive; * Implement best practice in key account management in a confident and successful manner through a highly practical, step-by-step approach; * Benefit from rich learning features, including mini-cases, narratives, examples, diagrams, and visually represented models; * Online resources: include a bonus chapter, case studies, self-test questions, figures and tables, a template for creating your own KAM plan and suggested further reading; * Written by authors with over 20 years experience researching, teaching and consulting on key account management

Details