Pressures that have led to growth in customer power
As we have indicated in our introductory comments, while sales and marketing strategists have for some time been convinced that effective KAM leads to increased sales, heightened profitability and improved sales productivity, the characteristics and techniques of KAM were not extensively explored, apart from the need for a dedicated salesforce beyond the 1990s. The impetus behind this unprecedented interest in the dynamics and mechanics of KAM comes from an awakening to the need to address changes in both the context and constructs of marketing.
The marketplace today is a different world from that which we knew before and the rules of engagement have evolved significantly. Such rapid and radical transformation warrants attention. For example, most organi- zations assume that KAM is an approach for the private sector, but over the last five years the public sector has become involved, seeing KAM as an approach to achieving goals independent of commercial interests. Parts of government are key customers for private companies; public sector organizations are also suppliers to private companies; and KAM has been deployed to manage the relationships between entirely public sector orga- nizations too. Any organization, public or private, needs to respond to the constant changes in its environment, and KAM has become a popular and powerful response.
The characteristics and techniques of KAM were not extensively explored apart from the need for a dedicated salesforce beyond the 1990s.
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With hindsight, we can easily recognize those pressures in the business environment that have led to the ascendancy of KAM as a separate and significant discipline. These pressures were initially identified in a research report published by Cranfield and the Chartered Institute of Marketing entitled Marketing, the Challenge of Change (McDonald et al., 1994) and are described in the following sections (Sections 1.1.2–1.1.5).