Account planning and effective account management strategies are about much, much more than your key accounts. That said, any account manager worth their salt has a strategy for their key accounts. For this reason, key account management specifically should almost always look different from strategies focused on smaller accounts.

There are many reasons for this. While all your accounts are important, key accounts are where most organizations receive their greatest revenue. Attracting them is an entire process. Keeping them happy and retaining them as customers is another challenge.

No matter how you slice and dice it, however, one thing remains true: putting the relationship first – while critical in any sales interaction – is of unparalleled importance when managing key accounts.

In this guide, we will dive into some of the differences between key accounts, as well as look into some effective strategies leading sellers are using to manage them.