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The future of Key Account Management

Customer-first organisation 02nd September 2020
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One thing is obvious, for the health and social care system there will be no switch back to the status quo of February 2020.

Local healthcare providers have adapted to provide services, and the current crisis has accelerated these developments – with clear implications for how pharmaceutical and biotech organisations engage with customers. 

This article provides insight into what key account management capabilities are now needed in light of these changes. Informed by our data and through distilling our 20 years of award-winning experience in key account management within pharma and biotech we will share our insights and a model for best engaging customers and key accounts in the wake of Covid-19 – we call this model the Account-first organisation.

The Account-first organisation, sees Key Account Excellence (KAE) already firmly established, and places focus on one, two or several of the 6 future-focused capabilities that we recognise as being crucial for the future of key account management in pharma and biotech.

To understand more about what these 6 future-focused capabilities are and how to build them, take a look at our suite of videos and accompanying guide below.

Capability 1: An account-first mindset

Actively applying account insight to drive team and organisational decision making (including brand planning) to realise both short and long term opportunities.

Capability 2: Operate strategically

Aligns and mobilises back and front office resource and expertise to unlock broad scale opportunities in business critical accounts.

Capability 3: Responsive planning

A more responsive approach, which sees a deliberate move away from the slow static ‘planning systems’ to a dynamic active and repeated evaluation of available information to generate flexible ‘living’ plans.

Capability 4: Create a shared vision

Leading on the formation of a compelling rationale with customer groups, create the collective conviction to act and address a shared problem.

Capability 5: Network mapping and design

Using organisational knowledge and relationships to identify connections and influence beyond the individual customer and account – managing multiple interactions with diverse stakeholders to motivate and influence decisions that create beneficial changes.

Capability 6: Orchestrate your resources and channels

The skill and confidence to match resources and channels to an account, based on customer preferences and current opportunities. Account managers act as a compass identifying the ‘best fit’ combinations based on their understanding of available options and account/customer/patient needs and wants.

Free guide

The Future of Key Account Management

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About our work in pharmaceuticals

Key Account Management

Want to future-proof your approach to Key Account Management?

We can help you build the skills, capabilities, mind-sets and behaviours that will enable your key accounts to flourish.