Customer Focused Measurement of Key Account Management Processes

Work-in-Progress Paper Sales organizations develop account management processes so that key account managers can provide a component of total value to their customers. Quality of account management is but one component of the total requirements of the industrial customer. There are clear benefits of good customer management from the points of view of both the customer and the supplier. While the criticality of relationship management might vary by customer and by industry, a model and method of determining the priority and required investment level in relationship management would be useful in contributing to the understanding the role and nature of relationships. In a recent literature review, Holt(1999) concluded that “from an extensive review of the literature, it is clear that there is a lack of research which focuses on (a) relationship management roles as a component of the total product/service offering in relation to customer – perceived value and (b) how the roles and behaviour of relationship managers can enable or inhibit customer perceived value