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A Key Account might also imply a very different sales relationship for the salesperson managing it. Typically, a Key Account requires the salesperson to act much more as a co-ordinator of all of the client and own organisation resources in order to achieve the stated objectives and broaden the contact base and relationships, thereby helping to build barriers to competitive entry. Contact Matrix A contact matrix is a sub set of a Key Account Plan but it can have benefit to almost any larger account where there are multiple contact points, decision makers and influencers to manage. The objective of it is to plan how you engage with each contact point and to ensure that each engagement has a purpose and moves the account or a specific opportunity within it forward. Critical here in larger accounts is the need to recognise that the salesperson on their own may not be the best person to make all of the contact engagements. It may be appropriate for a finance director, sales director, technical expert or even managing director to engage with someone within the client organisation. This increases touch points, can be used to move higher in the organisation and match specialists with other specialists. In this way, the salesperson moves into the role of conductor of the orchestra they do not do everything that is required but they co-ordinate all of the efforts. So, what does a contact matrix look like?
Us Client
Finance Director
Technical Specialist
Managing director
Main Buyer
IT Manager
IT Specialists
Operations Director
Sales Director
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The Matrix A contact matrix starts with a list of your own team members (resources that can be utilised to assist you in the management of the account) and a list of contacts that you have (or want to have) within your client organisation. Together, this will provide a number of possible contact points as indicated by the boxes in the Contact Matrix above. Each of these boxes represents a possible contact point. It is unlikely that all of them will need to be filled with meetings or other activities - but a number of them will. The boxes within the matrix Once you have the basic matrix, you populate the relevant boxes with the key objectives of the activity and the timescale. Your role as a salesperson is to populate the matrix and then manage the resources (of both your organisation and that of the client) to ensure that the activities (meetings, reports, etc) happen. You identify and co-ordinate the needs. Here are some possible examples using the above matrix. Example 1 Who? Our organisation Their organisation Activity Required Goal Deadline
Dave Michaels Account Manager Tony Wills Main Buyer (Procurement) Meet to understand their key contract issues/requirements Clarity around the terms to prepare for meeting with our FD 12th October 2009
Example 2 Who? Our organisation Their organisation Activity Required Goal Deadline
Bill Morton Finance Director Tony Wills Main Buyer (Procurement) Meeting to discuss financial terms Agree on the financial terms as part of the contract 29th October 2009
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Example 3 Who? Our organisation Their organisation Activity Required Goal Deadline Example 4 Who? Our organisation Their organisation Activity Required Goal Deadline Example 5 Who? Our organisation Their organisation Activity Required Goal Deadline Example 6 Who? Our organisation Their organisation Activity Required Goal Deadline
Ben Salmon Technical Specialist Deborah Woods IT Manager Telephone call to agree plan for up-skilling their specialists Establish the technical relationship and agree a detailed plan 12th November 2009
Ben Salmon Technical Specialist Ted Wombat & Sarah Scarlett IT Specialists Meet to introduce ourselves and give overview of system Have established a relationship, all parties clear on system and rollout plan, establish a method of communicating 4th December 2009
Martin Levy Managing Director Edward Brook Operations Director Meeting to establish a high-level relationship Edward to understand the strategic importance of the system and agree to PR activity, us to understand their priorities 12th October 2009
Dave Michaels Account Manager Barbara Green Sales Director Meeting to plan training of the sales people on the system Have an agreed plan and dates in the diary for the training 4th December 2009
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Further resources For those of you interested in reading more about Account and Key Account Management and Planning here are a couple of book recommendations: Key Account Management A complete action kit Peter Cheverton, ISBN-10: 0-7494-4169-0 Published by Kogan Page Key Customers How to manage them profitably Malcolm McDonald, Beth Rogers, Diana Woodburn. ISBN: 0-7506-4615-2 Published by Butterworth Heineman
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