Strategic accounts are your firm's lifeblood; they play a critical role in its success or failure. The Seven Keys to Managing Strategic Accounts is filled with best practices and examples of how to intelligently manage key interactions and relationships with these vital accounts -- for greater loyalty, higher profitability, and consistent competitive advantage. Book jacket.

Sam Reese is president and CEO of Miller Heiman.

Preface	p. xiii
Why This Book?	p. xiii
What Qualifies Us to Address This Topic?	p. xiii
Who Will Benefit from Reading This Book?	p. xv
What Is a Strategic Account?	p. xv
S4 Consulting Acknowledgments	p. xvi
Miller Heiman Inc. Acknowledgments	p. xvii
For the Reader Thinking, "I Can't Read the Whole Book. Which Chapters Would Help Me Most?"	p. xvii
Introduction: What Is Strategic Account Management?	p. 1
What Is Strategic Account Management?	p. 1
How Does Strategic Account Management Differ From Key Account Selling?	p. 2
Key Account Selling Programs and Strategic Account Management Programs: A Comparison	p. 3
Reynolds & Reynolds--Southeast Toyota: An Example of Alignment	p. 10
The Benefits to Southeast Toyota	p. 12
The Benefits to Reynolds & Reynolds	p. 14
The Future of the Reynolds & Reynolds SET Relationship	p. 14
Getting Everyone Headed in Roughly the Same Direction: What Didn't Work
Key 1: Define Strategic Account Management as a Business Rather Than a Sales Initiative	p. 19
Create Cross-Functional Executive Leadership	p. 20
Understand and Align Around Accounts' Business Challenges	p. 21
Start Strategic Account Management Programs as Business Initiatives: Honeywell Industrial Automation and Control Solutions	p. 23
The Minnesota Power Story	p. 28
Drivers for Minnesota Power's Strategic Account Realignment	p. 28
What Key Players Did to Strategically Realign Minnesota Power	p. 29
Initial Successes in Minnesota Power's Strategic Realignment	p. 31
Minnesota Power Realigns Around Critical Customers	p. 33
Why Minnesota Power Succeeded at Strategic Realignment	p. 34
Define Strategic Account Management as a Business Rather Than a Sales Initiative	p. 36
Key 2: Create Firm Alignment and Commitment to Meet Strategic Accounts' Needs and Expectations	p. 37
What Is Organizational Alignment?--Three Critical Elements	p. 38
What Are the Benefits of Alignment?	p. 41
What Makes Alignment So Difficult?	p. 44
How Can a Firm Create Organizational Alignment?	p. 46
How Account Aligned Is Your Firm?	p. 46
Knauf Fiberglass Case--Video Focus Groups and Employee SWAT Teams	p. 52
Marriott International's Alliance Account Directors and Their "Volunteer Army"	p. 55
Create Firm Alignment	p. 60
Key 3: Start with the Right Number of the Right Strategic Accounts	p. 61
Ways to Examine Strategic Accounts	p. 62
How to Conduct a High-Level Portfolio Analysis: The Six-Question Meeting	p. 66
The GfK Custom Research Inc. Story: How One Firm Cut 66 Percent of Its Customers, Doubled Its Revenues, Tripled Its Margins, and Won the Baldrige Award	p. 71
Using Strategic Account Selection Criteria	p. 76
Start with the Right Number of the Right Strategic Accounts	p. 78
Tactical Issues in Strategic Account Management ... Ironbolt Steel and Executive Visits: What Didn't Work
Key 4: Create Human Resources Support for Strategic Account Managers	p. 83
How Do We Select Strategic Account Managers?	p. 86
The H. R. Chally Strategic Account Manager Competency Model	p. 87
The S4 Consulting Strategic Account Manager Competency Model Categories	p. 93
How Do We Develop Strategic Account Managers?	p. 95
Strategic Account Manager Training: The Motorola LMPS Story	p. 95
How Do We Assign Strategic Account Managers?	p. 101
How Do We Pay Strategic Account Managers?	p. 105
The IBM Global Story	p. 108
Create Human Resources Support for Strategic Account Managers	p. 111
Key 5: Create Firmwide Relationships at Multiple Levels of Relationships between the Firm and Its Most Critical Accounts	p. 113
Relationship Map Checklist	p. 117
The Strategic Account Loss Cycle	p. 119
Preventing the Strategic Account Loss Cycle	p. 123
The U.S. West/Dayton Hudson Story	p. 124
The 3M/IBM Storage Story	p. 127
Create Firmwide Relationships	p. 128
Key 6: Regularly Quantify and Communicate the Value Received from and Delivered to Strategic Accounts	p. 131
Quantify the Value Strategic Accounts Provide	p. 132
Boise Office Solutions	p. 138
Quantify the Value Delivered to Strategic Accounts	p. 143
The Holland Hitch story	p. 144
The National Office Supplies Story	p. 146
Regularly Quantify and Communicate the Value Received from and Delivered to Strategic Accounts	p. 150
Key 7: Use Technology Judiciously	p. 153
A High-Level Overview of CRM Systems Challenges	p. 154
Seven Steps to Successful Systems Implementation for Strategic Account Management Programs	p. 157
The UPS Story: The Development of the LINK System	p. 163
Use Technology Judiciously	p. 167
From Analysis to Action ... Ticonderoga Chemical and Strategic Account Management: The Payoff
Conclusion: From Analysis to Action: Moving the Game Forward	p. 173
Benefit Number One: Strategic Account Management's Sustainable Competitive Advantage	p. 175
Benefit Number Two: Strategic Account Management's Greater Account Loyalty	p. 177
Benefit Number Three: Strategic Account Management's Greater Account Profitability	p. 179
The Marriott-Deloitte & Touche Story	p. 180
The Value Delivered to Deloitte & Touche	p. 181
The Value Delivered to Marriott International	p. 182
A Game Plan for Moving Forward	p. 183
The Getting-Started Actions	p. 183
Results	p. 186
References	p. 189
Index	p. 191
Table of Contents provided by Rittenhouse. All Rights Reserved.

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