Strategic planning for key accounts
This latter point is obviously related to the issue of preparing strategic plans for key accounts. The authors were recently running a key account management (KAM) workshop for a blue-chip supplier of expensive equipment for hospitals. On being told that one hospital had a multimillion pound budget for such equipment, we asked about the supplier’s strategic plan for this hospital. Alarmingly, we were told that there was only a one-year forecast and budget. We were reminded of the famous saying that the good thing about not having a strategy is that failure comes as a complete surprise and is not preceded by a long period of worry and depression! Having strategic plans covering a period of at least three years, agreed with the customer, is a major fac- tor in successful and profitable relationships, yet even today little exists beyond supplier-centric forecasts and budgets.