Be a Student of Your Customer

MARCH 2024  

Selling value is tougher than it’s ever been. If we sell value, it’s not enough to just understand our customer’s needs, we have to have a much broader understanding. This is especially true today when Procurement is trying to commoditize everything we do. Although this skill can seem “basic”, there is almost nothing more important in the role of a SAM than having a “deep” understanding of our prospects and customers. The “right” knowledge can help us win more often while differentiating ourselves form competition.

Key learnings:

• How to clearly understand “what” broad areas of knowledge we need to learn to have a “deep” understanding of our customers
• How to identify our unique value by not only understanding our “solution fit” but also our compelling “business fit”
• How to quickly gather and analyze data research (the “public” perspective”)
• How to gain a true “insiders” perspective through high impact research meetings (interviews) that follow the “95-5” rule

Speaker: Dan Kosch, Co-CEO, IMPAX Sales Performance

From Beginning to Winning: Critical Building Blocks for Building and Sustaining a Strategic Accounts Program

FEBRUARY 2024     

This 60-minute session will outline elements necessary to launch and sustain an effective SAM program. Four critical building blocks will include: 

1. Why do you need a SAM program? 
2. What critical success factors should you consider in your program blueprint?
3. How do you build a program to address these critical success factors? 
4. How can you create value, so your customers feel the impact?

This highly interactive webinar will include a live discussion with Patrick Engkjer, Head of Strategic Accounts at Sanofi Vaccines and a thought leader on strategic account management. Participants will leave with specific action to take if you are starting a SAM program or if you have already started a program and are looking for ways to benchmark your progress.

Speakers: Todd Lenhart, Managing Partner, PMI; and Patrick Engkjer, Head of Strategic Accounts, Sanofi 

Presentation Skills for SAMs: Critical points to remember

January 2024      

SAMs are challenged both internally and externally to develop and deliver a message to each constituency that resonates and motivates as well as informs and educates. This webinar will go through six critical points that SAMs should remember and excel at when presenting. Even the most polished and successful SAM will benefit from these reminders and will be able to immediately employ things they may have forgotten to use in today’s fast-paced environment.

Join Bill Moore, President at Industrial Profit Strategies, LLC, as he discusses these critical-to-success items.

Speaker: Bill Moore, President, Industrial Profit Strategies, LLC

Preparing Your Accounts for Explosive Growth

December 2023       

How do we prepare our accounts for explosive future growth? Explosive growth is more than 2%-5% growth year over year. What steps do top-performing SAMs and their teams take to drive explosive growth in revenue, gross profit, and market share? Is there a framework that, if followed, has consistently driven explosive growth with our accounts? We invited Mark Allen Roberts to share the process he discovered to help teams drive explosive growth with their accounts. Mark is a past SAMA presenter, author of the book "Driving Explosive Growth" (ranked in the top 1% of new book sales in the summer of 2023), and a certified Scaling Up business coach with over 35 years of experience in helping drive explosive customer growth. Having been a SAM himself for accounts like Ford, Chrysler, Walmart, Target, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, Disney, Ingram, and Cummins, to name a few, he delivers practical, no-smoke-and-mirrors insights to prepare your accounts for explosive growth. Please join us on December 5th at 11 a.m. EST for this fast-moving presentation designed to help SAMA members hit the ground running in 2024.

Speaker: Mark Allen Roberts, CEO, OTB Solutions 

Build Story-Driven Messages 

November 2023       

Ineffective communication can hold SAMs back, while tight well-constructed messaging can set the tone of their customer relationships, inspire customer confidence, and ensure the SAM is seen as a trusted advisor.

Without productive communication, SAMs risk missed opportunities on deals, dwindling engagement and productivity, and diminished satisfaction – from both internal team members and valued customers.

Build powerful strategic messages that address communication challenges head-on by equipping SAMs with four essential messaging skills that help deepen customer-engagement and encourage productive communication:

1. UNDERSTAND the customer’s “care-abouts”

2. DISTILL large amounts of content & data using Mandel’s communication framework, SCI-PAB®

3. CRAFT concise and powerful story-driven messages

4. APPLY those messages in every customer interaction

Speaker: Michael Albert, Consultant, Vantage Partners  

Best-in-Class Practices to Engage Procurement

October 2023      

Of course, procurement cares about value, but only if you can communicate, demonstrate, and engage around real “value.” Numerous studies have shown that procurement organizations that buy on best value (not lowest price) are 35% more profitable than companies that do not. As SAMs, it is our job to do this at the right time, in the right way, to help our clients accomplish this.

In this webinar, Todd Snelgrove, a leading subject matter expert in the field of value, will share best practice examples from over 20 years of field experience in global value, strategic accounts negotiations, and 10 plus years working with and from a procurement perspective to understand, realize, and negotiate based on value. Todd will also share numerous real-life stories of what good SAMs do to help them buy on value. 

In this presentation you will learn: 

• Explaining value to procurement
• Procurement and the buying cycle, and how they think
• Dos and don'ts of pricing your value for procurement so they are able and willing to pay for it 

Todd has developed successful value programs with Global Fortune 1000 companies, in numerous industries, with focuses on products, software and services in all geographies of the world. He has led sessions on value at Executive MBA courses at Harvard University, the IMD Business School in Switzerland, and at other universities in the US and abroad. Todd directed and edited the bestselling Routledge book "Value First Then Price: Quantifying Value in Business Markets from the Perspectives of both the Buyers and Sellers" in 2022, and the forthcoming Chinese language Edition in 2024.

Speaker: Todd Snelgrove, Senior Managing Partner, Experts In Value 

How Do Executives Unlock Strategic Partnerships? How Do SAMs Unlock Executive Mindshare?

September 2023      

Today’s business executives face enormous challenges on how to develop successful collaborations. There are many considerations. The journey is complex, and the timelines can be long — all of which tests both partners on their will to remain in the game and on track.

In this session, Neil Wright, a healthcare executive from the largest hospital in the UK will share his experiences. As he defines true partnership, he will explain the importance of key drivers for partnering and the agreement on common values. This session will educate the SAM through the customer's lens and place them in the customer's shoes. A deep understanding of the customer's situation, their careabouts, and what they value is imperative in developing and sustaining strategic partnerships beyond product.

The session also features a live role play in which a SAM will demonstrate the use of structured thinking and design principles from The Summit Group to uncover customer careabouts and deeper understanding. Conversations that win mindshare ultimately win wallet share. Wining mindshare is about the story and will be the distinguisher.

Speakers: Janti Masani, Principal, The Summit Group; and Neil Wright, Commercial Director, Guys & St Thomas NHS Trust Hospital

“Customer First” Strategic Account Management

August 2023       

In today’s business environment of economic uncertainty, rapidly changing business models, dynamic customer demands, and intense competition, it is even more imperative to understand your customer’s financial and strategic priorities...and align your solutions and products with your customer’s financial outcomes.

Yet, research shows that executive buyers believe that almost 80 percent of enterprise sellers don’t understand their business.

This session begins with an overview of proprietary research conducted by SAMA and FinListics regarding current strategic account management trends and best practices...correlated with account management results, such as increased revenue. FinListics will then overview key elements and new insights for creating strategic, ‘customer first’ account management plans that are more relevant to customer executives. You will also receive a step-by-step template for applying these to your customers.

• How to conduct problem-minded discovery, not solution-minded, to improve problem agreement and solution alignment.
• How to create clear and differentiated contrast between the customer’s installed approach and any competitive alternatives.
• How to articulate your solution’s value in a way that protects your pricing while convincing executive buyers to make a decision.

Speakers: Dr. Stephen Timme, President and Founder, FinListics Solutions; Ben Cagle, Chief Customer Solutions Officer, FinListics

Executive Presence for Strategic Account Managers

JUNE 2023       

Strategic Account Managers are expected to collaborate effectively with customer contacts at all levels. One of the most critical stakeholders we work with are senior-level executives. C-suite executives have high expectations, and we must be at our best to meet and exceed them.

For us to confidently connect with these individuals, our executive presence must be strong. Our preparation, image, message delivery, and conduct all have an impact on the customer, for better or worse. This session will answer the question, “What is executive presence, and how do I develop it?” This webinar will provide usable ideas to help any Strategic Account Manager assess and strengthen their executive presence.

Speaker: Mark Shonka, Co-CEO, IMPAX Corporation

World Class SAM's: What to look for in candidates

April 2023       

Finding world class talent is more difficult than ever. Understanding abilities, skills and needs has become more challenging as the next wave of recruits hit your radar. How can you assess the best candidate, and what will you need to do to coach, teach or 'skill up' your SAM's for peak performance? Join us for this webinar to learn how to do just that!

Speaker: Bill Moore, President, Industrial Profit Strategies

Account Insights that Guide Team Construct and Account Planning: Insights from the ivory towers!

MARCH 2023      

Strategic accounts expect strategic suppliers to know, anticipate and even predict needs, market changes / shifts and possible ways to create competitive advantages. To effectively meet these account expectations, strategic suppliers need to have an even greater in-depth knowledge including fresh insights directly from their account – often from those they do not have frequent in-person interaction. Senior leaders of accounts expect a strategic supplier to understand their business, isolate opportunities for innovation, create economic value, while providing a high degree of probability of success through their solutions. This webinar will provide a case study example, directly from the strategic supplier themselves, of how utilizing direct from the account insights can create more effective and valuable account engagements; ultimately more mutually beneficial strategic relationships!

Key learning points include:

• Interpreting right insights from accounts that lead to a more effective SAM program and strategic account engagements
• Understand the process, methods, skills, and best practices to integrate Voice of the Account feedback into field-level conversations/planning
• How to transition Voice of the Account feedback into SAM-level collaborative action planning with accounts
• How to deliver on the promise once the Voice of the Account is heard

Speaker: Dennis Chapman, President, the Chapman Group

Sorry Shouldn't Be the Hardest Word: Master the Psychology of Effective Customer Apologies

FEBRUARY 2023     

No matter how you spin it, saying “I’m sorry” isn’t easy. Especially if you’ve been saying nothing but “I’m sorry” for the past two years.

Supply chain delays and staffing shortages, combined with rising inflation and continued economic uncertainty, have made service failures not only inevitable but increasingly intolerable. And while vendors can resolve most lapses eventually, repairing the damage to the relationship has proven more challenging—no matter how sincere the apology is.

The good news is, handling a customer crisis the right way can not only rescue the relationship but advance it to an even higher level. That’s a distinct advantage these days, when retaining and expanding customers is the best way to weather an uncertain business environment.

In this session with Tim Riesterer, Chief Strategy Officer at Corporate Visions, you’ll discover a science-backed message framework that you can use to build and deliver your apology—and positively influence even your most frustrated and bitterly disappointed customers. Specifically, you’ll see:

1. Results of an academic behavioral research study conducted with 500 B2B decision makers.
2. The precise message choreography you can use to recover from critical service failures.
3. Why a “just-the-facts” approach proves to be the least effective way to apologize.

Speaker: Tim Riesterer, Chief Strategy Officer, Corporate Visions

Modern Buying Behavior and Its Impact on the Future of Key Account Selling

JANUARY 2023     

The events over the last few years have led to a tremendous amount of change in the buying and selling processes, many of which seem to be permanent changes. Modern buyers are remote first and must deal with information overload, decision complexity, value opacity and implementation uncertainty.  For enterprise sellers and key account managers, these changes mean they have to deal with increased sales process complexity, more stakeholders and constantly changing buyer demands.

Join us in this webinar as we explore some of the latest market trends and best practices to adapt proven processes like account plans and opportunity plans to cater to the digital-first buyers.

Key takeaways will include:

• Learn about modern buyer and their preferences
• What should KAMs do differently today compared to 2-3 years ago, and why
• Role of digital-first transparency with buyers to build trust and relationships
• Champion enablement and its role in accelerating sales cycle
• Some tactics that you can adapt into your KAM motion today

Speakers: Shankar Ganapathy, Co-Founder, BuyerAssist.io and Shyam HN, Co-Founder, BuyerAssist.io

Sponsored by: BuyerAssist.io, Inc.

Watch now