Key Account Management

Joël Le Bon is a marketing professor at the Universityof Houston C.T. Bauer College of Business where he also
serves as Director of Executive Education for the Sales Excellence
Institute. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Management
Science, a Master of Science in Marketing and
Strategy, and a PhD in Marketing from the University of
Paris Dauphine. His research has received numerous awards
and distinctions and has been published in leading academic
journals. He is also the rst international professor
awarded the AMA's Prentice Hall Solomon-Marshall-Stuart
Teaching Award for Innovative Excellence in Marketing
Education.

Now more than ever, companies are faced with a critical and challenging truth. Today's customer is demanding more attention, superior service, and the expertise of a dedicated sales team. Suppliers must make dif cult choices to determine how to allocate limited resources, including which customers receive the highest level of service. Increasingly, supply side organizations are working to design and implement key account programs to meet or exceed these expectations. Key account management is a specific business strategy that involves complex sales processes, large-scale negotiations, and the alignment of multiple internal and external stakeholders. This multi-pronged process is anything but straightforward, and the business world is filled with examples of key account programs that have not achieved the expected results. This book addresses the strategic challenges facing top executives and sales leaders as they build strategies to better manage their key accounts. By leveraging up-to-date research, testimonials drawn from interviews with experienced practitioners, best practices of successful companies, along with straightforward practical guide-
lines for executives and sales leaders, this book can serve as an instruction manual and toolbox for organizations working to achieve success through their key account strategies to meet the demand of their key customers.