Monday, February 19th, 2024

KAM in 2024

2024 is going to be challenging, so what are the significant issues for KAMs this year? We asked some respected commentators. What a decade it has been so far: a global pandemic, war in Europe and the Mediterranean, increasing geopolitical uncertainty and uncoupling of global supply chains, the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (for good and ill), recession in major… 


Thursday, April 20th, 2023

Research Review – edited by Jeremy Noad 9.2 2023

The research review aims to help readers keep up to date with recently published research on sales-related topics. The review highlights short abstracts of academically peer-reviewed research. This selection of published research is from a range of academic journals. In this edition, the abstracts include four themes that focus on sales performance, customer management, and behavioural studies. Sales performance Salesperson… 


Tuesday, February 14th, 2023

Research Review – edited by Jeremy Noad 9.1 2023

The research review aims to help readers keep up to date with recently published research on sales-related topics. The review highlights short abstracts of academically peer-reviewed research. This selection of published research is from a range of academic journals. In this edition, the abstracts include four themes that focus on sales performance, customer management, behavioural studies, and systems and tools…. 


Friday, September 30th, 2022

Cranfield KAM Forum (Reports from Q2 2022)

“Putting the customer at the heart” by Mark Bailey Rolls-Royce plc is a company that deals with power and propulsion and should not be confused with the motor-car company, which is entirely separate. Rolls-Royce plc provides power and propulsion systems for land, sea, and air, including nuclear submarines, military and civil aircraft, and major data centres. All of its systems… 


Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022

Cranfield KAM Forum online

Reports from Q1 2022 Sales tips from an advertising guy: Stephen Mangham Former Ogilvy Saatchi and Saatchi and Saatchi ad man Stephen Mangham shared his insightful views of the KAM market from the fresh perspective of someone who had a very successful career in advertising observing the companies that get things right and those that do not. Marketing is “the… 


Tuesday, January 11th, 2022

Cranfield KAM Forum online

Reports from the Q2 and Q3 sessions Getting inside the head of a buyer (or what techniques and tips can you adopt to improve your commercial strategic negotiations?) John Viner-Smith has a Master’s in International Purchasing, and has been a senior category manager at JP Morgan, Dixons Stores Group and BP. He is a Founding Partner at Amplius Partners and… 


Friday, November 26th, 2021

The Consultants

Mark Davies, Founder, Segment Pulse Limited, Visiting Fellow, Centre for Strategic Marketing and Sales, Cranfield School of Management, and The Advanced Services Group, Aston Business School; Dr Mark Hollyoake, Director, Customer Attuned and Associate Lecturer, University of the West of England; Tim Riesterer, Chief Strategy Officer, Corporate Visions; Dr Philip Squire, CEO, Consalia; Philip Styrlund, CEO, The Summit Group Q:… 


Friday, November 26th, 2021

The Academics

Dr Frank Cespedes, senior lecturer, Harvard Business School; Professor Mark Johnston, Professor of Marketing and Ethics, Rollins College; Professor Nick Lee, Warwick Business School; Dr Colin Mackenzie, specialist lecturer, Edinburgh Napier University; Dr Javier Marcos, Associate Professor, Strategic Sales Management and Negotiation, Cranfield School of Management; Dr Beth Rogers, Visiting Fellow, Cranfield School of Management Q: What will be the… 


Tuesday, September 28th, 2021

GADs: mindsets, methods and models

What makes a great global account director? What do we mean by great? Across both academia (Yip & Bink, 2007) and industry it is acknowledged that the main task of a GAD is to coordinate the sales and support of a company serving a customer that has negotiated global terms. Therefore, my definition of a great GAD is one who… 


Tuesday, July 27th, 2021

Five key topics for KAMs

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Cranfield Key Account Management Forum. Here’s what participants discussed in Q1. Key Account Management in a digital world Nico Smit, a Visiting Fellow from Cranfield University, discussed “Key Account Management in a Digital World”, focusing on how the increasing capability of digital systems can boost the value available to both suppliers and… 


Monday, April 26th, 2021

Open courses and events 7.2 2021

Sales Essentials for Success – Cranfield Executive Development 2-3 June 2021 Sales Essentials for Success gives you the tools to build and create a sales function that is strategically directed and controlled. You’ll gain a fundamental knowledge of the tactics that must be employed on a daily basis to succeed. £2,200 + VAT (concessions available) – execdev@cranfield.ac.uk +44 (0)1234 589292https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/som/open-executive-programmes/growing-businesses/sales-essentials-for-success… 


Friday, February 26th, 2021

Open courses and events 7.1 2021

Key Account Management Best Practice – Cranfield Executive Development 10, 12, 26 Mar 2021 – live online Joining an experienced group of fellow KAM practitioners, you will gain: State-of-the-art knowledge and tools for creating an effective key account management process. Strategic understanding on how to focus your time and attention appropriately in the development of key accounts. Improved collaboration skills… 


Friday, February 26th, 2021

Need to know for 2021

Q: What do you see as the “new sales normal” emerging post-Covid? What will be different from before over the longer term? Mark Davies: A few things, all of which were trends that were occurring anyway (the Covid-forced recession has just accelerated these trends). Firstly, the trend whereby customers buy via digital channels will intensify. This is because customers know… 


Tuesday, November 10th, 2020

Advice for KAMs during Covid

Reports from Cranfield Key Account Management Forum’s online series. Staying positive and focused in uncertain times Andy Bounds, a leading sales communications expert, advocates putting emphasis on creating “positivity and productivity”. Using the “Yes, if…” technique allows individuals and teams to focus on the key few outcomes that are needed to make an objective achievable and then ensure that those… 


Thursday, July 9th, 2020

What’s it like working in sales?

A career in selling can be vibrant, fast-paced, bold and exciting. It can also be demanding, challenging and subject to long hours in a busy, target-driven environment. But the sales function is the bedrock of any business so, if you’re committed to developing client relationships and providing valuable solutions, sales can be a highly rewarding, dynamic and fulfilling long-term career…. 


Thursday, May 28th, 2020

ABM and KAM in tandem

Account-based marketing is increasingly recognised as a highly effective approach to working with key accounts, so is of major interest to key account managers looking for new approaches. November’s KAMBP explored how to use ABM and KAM together. Bev Burgess, Senior Vice President & Practice Lead, and Dave Munn, President and CEO, introduced ITSMA (the Information Technology Services Marketing Association)… 


Thursday, May 28th, 2020

2020 Q1 Research Review – edited by Jeremy Noad

The research review aims to help readers keep up to date with recently published research on sales-related topics. The review highlights short abstracts of academically peer-reviewed research. This selection of published research is from a range of academic journals. In this edition, the abstracts include three themes that focus on sales performance, customer management, and sales behavioural studies. Sales Performance… 


Wednesday, September 11th, 2019

Co-creating value via Fujitsu HXD

Reporting from the Cranfield KAM Best Practice Forum 20 June 2019. Key account managers and purchasing professionals are increasingly recognising the importance of co-creating value and the key part that the latest technology can have in facilitating that. So, the most recent KAM Best Practice Forum at Cranfield University decided to focus on how Key Account Managers can embrace technology… 


Tuesday, September 10th, 2019

Growing together (part 2)

Following up on our previous article in last issue of IJST, we continue the discussion on how to best work with your strategic customers to help create joint solutions for growth. What do the best do differently to create joint solutions? Leading companies that excel at collaboratively creating value with their customers are not trying to do a thousand things… 


Wednesday, June 26th, 2019

Coaching the high-performing key account manager

Highly skilled, highly capable key account managers are essential for any organisation seeking to transform to a KAM culture. As more organisations realize that having a strong KAM capability is an absolute necessity to manage the customer base where most of their business resides, increasing focus is being placed on finding those key “few things” that guarantee success. Through research…