Sell SIde perspective
STATE OF FLUX
2014 GLOBAL SRM RESEARCH REPORT
96
This is how SAMA defines strategic account management:
According to SAMA, SAM is saving and repairing key customer relationships. 69% of respondents could cite instances where a customer relationship had been repaired or saved through SAM.
STRATEGIC ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT (SAM) 1
A company-wide initiative in complex, highly-matrixed organisations which focuses on building strong and mutually beneficial relationships with a company's most important customers and partners.
So what is the common objective?
What sits at the core of both philosophies? The common objectives and philosophy at the core of both SAM and SRM, are value and mutual benefit. SAM seeks to develop and grow strategic accounts by creating more value for the customer. SRM seeks to develop stronger and more enduring supplier relationships with key suppliers to create more value. Both seek mutual benefits. The realisation that there are real synergies between SAM and SRM, unlocks the potential for strategic alignment and collaboration. To quote SAMA: It may be through the increased efforts of both suppliers and customers to optimise their natural synergies that breakthrough future profitable growth can be created, captured and realised. 3
Sound familiar?
SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (SRM) 2
A discipline for working collaboratively with those suppliers that are vital to the success of the organisation, to build trust and maximise the mutual value of those relationships. SAM has been on a similar journey to that of strategic procurement and SRM, both culminating in a profession and discipline that looks very different from where it started. The executive summary of the SAMA report refers to the challenges of implementing a customer-centric corporate strategy at enterprise level and across a matrixed organisation. This is a challenge that will resonate with SRM professionals, as they too navigate the
complexities of creating enterprise category and supplier strategies.
1 From www.strategicaccounts.org October 2104. 2 From 2014 Global SRM Research Report – The Journey to Customer of Choice © 2014 State of Flux Limited. 3 From 2014 Report on Current Trends & Practices in Strategic Account Management © 2014 Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA). Reprinted with permission.
Other similarities emerge, as SAM needs to align itself to the business drivers that have the highest correlation with positive growth. So too must SRM align to the company’s business drivers to have the maximum impact on company performance. While initially it may appear that SAM and SRM objectives are incompatible, when you look at the objectives of a strategic account manager, you may reconsider this.
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