Brief Summary

How to manage the gross margin demand....

If a ‘boxes’ obsession is a symptom of short-term selling, then a negotiation session centered on gross margin is an indication that the parties are a long way from partnership.

Optimising Loyalty Card Value

 As an expert on both brand and customer, the KAM is in a unique position to release the combined synergies of the brand’s consumer and the customer’s customer, in the aisle.

Maintaining Customer Asset Value

 As manager of the long term health of the customer business unit, the KAM is in a unique position both to determine and help in the achievement of optimum value of the customer to the business.

Surviving a Price War....

The latest battle in the continuing price war is causing suppliers and retailers to reassess the relevance of national level customer management versus a store level approach.

Life-Cycling the Customer

Appropriate customer management is increasingly about strategic classification in terms of introduction, growth, maturity and decline.

How to Manage the Global Account Locally

Assuming the company has the normal Global Account Management toolkit in place (?), then the key role of the local KAM is to help ensure that the process works.

Effective Use of Retail News in Managing Major Customers....

Confronted by a customer news item, the focused NAM applies the filtering sequence of ‘What is it about, how does it affect me, what do I do about it, and how?’

How to Manage the Store-level Compromise....

Essentially, in managing the brand/store at local level, the KAM has to help shift the emphasis of both national account management and chain management from head office interaction, to practical execution in the aisle.

Pro-active Recession Account Management….

With an impending slowdown in demand, pro-active KAMs can enhance their competitive edge by performing realistic ‘what if’ scenarios on existing Maintain and Invest customers within their portfolios.

RPM-making the most of small customers......

With the abolition of RPM, it is crucial that suppliers apply strict criteria in selecting appropriate trade partners in the new environment.

How to Build Business via Existing Users

Capitalising upon their knowledge of existing consumers can help suppliers maintain growth in market saturation. A well-focused KAM can amplify the effect.....