Good books on key account management are rare. One of the reasons for this lies in the past, in the way that key account management (KAM) has been defined and described. The past 40 years have been characterized by a view that KAM is mainly a selling task, albeit at a high level, and that the responsibility for its implementation rests almost entirely with the sales team. Yet all our research at Cranfield School of Management indicates that, above all else, it is this mentality that prevents the forging of mature, trustworthy and profitable relationships. Key account management is not a sales initiative, it is not something you.
