Five Fundamental Principals Of Profitable Key Account Management

In an increasingly sophisticated and competitive environment, pharmaceutical companies now realise that it is not sufficient to treat clients with a uniform approach and that certain client accounts represent an increased level of importance. If a particular client is very dominant, has a high level of transactions or is otherwise strategically important, they should be treated specially. Key account management strategies must be created and then disseminated to sales and marketing people to enable relationships to be cemented.

Client management can be a complicated undertaking, involving public relations issues, politics and positioning just as much as it can be about the provision of services. While fundamentally the overall approach to client management must be decided at the executive level, implementation on a daily basis requires the effort of the sales and marketing team as the pharmaceutical consulting firm advises strategies and positions.

Success in the ultra-competitive business world requires attention to fine detail and a declaration of strategic importance for each account. The key accounts in turn will value the relationship with the pharmaceutical company more highly, especially if they are predisposed to a more interactive approach. The goal must be to facilitate the work of the key client and to ensure that the pharmaceutical company's products are more widely available, at competitive rates and the subject of enhanced information and education.

Key account management can be divided into five areas:

Firstly, all parties must fully understand the level of the agreement. The exact nature of the relationship must be communicated throughout the company structure, so that an integrated response is always applicable. While formal communication is always important, including planning, reviews, development and information exchange, the goal must always be to strengthen the bond between the two companies.

Key account management must also help to build trust and commitment in both directions. When the client is comfortable, it will relax funding and resources associated with program activities and enter a comfort zone with the pharmaceutical company. As such, a level of efficiency is achieved that in turn helps to build even more commitment. This interaction may appear complex and daunting, but pharmaceutical consultants are well versed in such strategies.

The sales and marketing team will be charged with the responsibility of fully understanding the customer account, its context, make-up and trends. In truly key accounts, the pharmaceutical company will help the client through the dissemination of important trends and industry data. These accounts are always dynamic and a sales and marketing team must be on the ball and trained well.

Few relationships of this kind run smoothly and without issues from time to time. While conflict should be avoided at all costs as it could disturb the two-way commitment to the program, it can also be constructive in certain situations, leading to new paths and the exploration of different options, potentially cementing a relationship still further.

Key account management requires a continuous review of satisfaction. Any stumbling blocks ahead may be revealed and challenges will invariably be simpler to resolve, once they appear.

These five concepts are fundamental to the pharma consulting approach.

Alan Gillies is the CEO of L2L Consulting, a cutting-edge pharma consultancy firm which specialises in optimising productivity and performance within international companies by applying tailored organisational strategies.