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When I look back on the biggest deals I’ve ever closed, they didn’t start with a pitch — they started with a relationship. As someone who’s managed corporate accounts at LinkedIn, CoachHub, and now as head of business development at Untap Your Sales Potential, I’ve seen firsthand how nurturing your top accounts can lead to exponential growth. And not just in revenue, but in trust, referrals, and long-term partnerships.

Key account management isn’t about checking in once a quarter. It’s about deeply understanding your clients’ evolving challenges, anticipating their needs, and showing up consistently with value. Some of our biggest wins came from investing in people, not pipelines.

In this piece, I’ll walk through the fundamentals of effective key account management, share mistakes I’ve made (and learned from), and give you a roadmap to turn your best accounts into your biggest advocates.

You can also download this to help you get your plan rolling.

Table of Contents

• What is key account management?
• Why implement key account management?
• What is a key account manager?
• Key Account Management Skills
• Key Account Manager Job Description
• Key Account Manager vs. Account Manager
• Key Account Manager vs. Sales
• The Key Account Management Process
• Key Account Management Strategy
• How to Identify Key Accounts
• Common Challenges of Key Account Management
• Is key account management the right strategy for your business?
• Key Account Management Best Practices

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What is key account management?

Key account management (KAM) is a business strategy in which an organization provides dedicated personnel and other resources to their most valuable clients. This helps organizations develop mutually beneficial relationships with their biggest customers, ultimately enabling them to sustain or even grow profits from these large accounts.

Businesses that use this strategy often enjoy greater sales volume and longer-lasting strategic relationships. Moreover, they also have more opportunities to grow revenue from these accounts through upselling and cross-selling.

This is backed up by the data. shows that key accounts are 60-70% more likely to close than new clients, and they spend 33% more than new customers.

Of course, key account programs do come at a cost. Offering customers more resources and better discounts isn’t free. So, this strategy can naturally reduce your margins in some cases. However, I’ve found that in the long term, key account management often pays off.

After all, a successful key account management strategy isn’t focused on boosting near-term profit margins — it’s focused on increasing the longevity of a company’s most valued clients.

This is a great example of the Pareto Principle, or the idea that 20% of the effort may bring in 80% of the benefits. The long-term profits you’ll make if you increase major clients’ tenure with your business are likely to more than make up for the discounts you offer and the additional resources you provide.

Why implement key account management?

I’ve seen firsthand how KAM transforms relationships — not just revenue.

Being in B2B sales for over 12 years, I’ve had the privilege of managing major client partnerships as an account director at Fortune Magazine, serving mid-market clients at CoachHub, and driving enterprise deals at Udemy as an enterprise account executive.

In each of these roles, success didn’t come from a pitch or aggressive closes (which certainly doesn’t work in 2025). It came from deep, strategic partnerships rooted in trust, value, and long-term thinking. Sometimes forgetting everything you know — and even what your company is teaching — helps you talk less about your products and services and be with the human in front of you.

Implementing key account management is a mindset shift. When you treat your most valuable clients as partners rather than transactions, you can:

• Uncover new opportunities.
• Increase retention.
• Enable mutual growth.

In my opinion, there isn’t anyone teaching how to do solid account management. A lot of what I learned came from personal experience. Sometimes, you learn the hard way that you aren’t doing it correctly when you find yourself scrambling to figure things out, or going through the trials and tribulations of failing and barely hitting your number.

The key is to lead with curiosity. Too often, sales reps are too focused on the short term, but sometimes you will have to add value without thinking about the numbers. But the more you serve, the more likely clients will reach out to you. When you take care of your clients, they are also more likely to give you referrals. Just remember to incorporate a process of asking for introductions, being curious, and asking about other important initiatives where you can assist.

What is a key account manager?

A key account manager, or KAM, serves as a representative of the business to its most valuable clients. KAMs manage key accounts by building strong relationships with them, identifying challenges and opportunities, and finding ways to keep the account successful.

Moreover, KAMs don’t just find ways to address their clients’ challenges and opportunities — they also create and present reports about each client’s progress to key stakeholders across the organization.

Importantly, while some companies simply assign existing sales reps to act as KAMs for one or two customers, I’ve found that this isn’t usually the best approach. Unless your team is so small that you can’t afford a dedicated KAM, it’s best to separate sales and account management, as these roles really require very different mindsets and skills. Specifically, a key account manager needs to be focused on becoming critical to their customer’s operations, not just on winning a deal.

This is not an easy job.

Key Account Management Skills

Here are some of the skills that I believe are the most important for a key account manager to be successful.

Strategic Thinking

Above all, you’ll need to be able to think strategically and outside the box. For instance, by leveraging the power of AI and digging into annual reports, you can learn a lot about a company. Your knowledge will then show them that you care and are interested in solving real business problems, versus just trying to pitch a widget or gadget.

Business Acumen

Another critical skill in key account management is business acumen. To help your customers succeed and to communicate relevant changes effectively, you have to develop a thorough understanding of how your clients make money — and who in the organization has the power and authority to make decisions and get things done.

Sometimes it feels like you are being a detective and figuring how to leverage relationships to get access to the people who call the shots.

Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

Your biggest accounts aren’t won or lost on product alone — they’re influenced by how well you read the room, anticipate objections, and build real trust.

At Fortune Magazine, my executive director and I would role-play and anticipate the questions and objections that would be top-of-mind for clients. We also leveraged an AI personality tool called Crystal to analyze their LinkedIn profiles and help us prepare.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Any long-term seller knows that in order to get the resources required to make the biggest deals happen you need to sell internally to determine which opportunities are deserving of our internal resources.

Don’t forget to add value and be curious — develop the relationships when you don’t need them. People can tell if it’s organic or you only reach out with an ask.

Key Account Manager Job Description

Ready to start the hiring process? Use this key account manager job description to find and attract the most qualified candidates:

Key Account Manager vs. Account Manager

While both key account managers and “regular” account managers serve clients by managing their accounts and building personal relationships with them, the big difference is that KAMs serve certain high-value, priority accounts that can make up a huge percentage of a company’s revenue.

I’ve found that key account managers provide a more coordinated approach between their company and a client company. It is helpful to provide customers with a central point of contact so they don’t get bombarded with messaging or redundant or irrelevant information.

The relationship between account managers and key account managers is not hierarchical — neither one reports to the other. While KAMs are generally more senior, both roles are usually found either on the same team or on adjacent teams.

When I worked at LinkedIn, the reps who were part of the LinkedIn Talent Solutions team were considered KAMs since they were primarily responsible for selling LinkedIn’s main revenue stream. We also had other product specialists for LinkedIn Sales Navigator, LinkedIn Learning, and LinkedIn Marketing Solutions who would serve as account managers for other clients.

In some organizations, the key account manager might only have a handful of accounts or, if the client is big enough, some might have just one account but that client can be spending north of $10M dollars a year. I recall one of our KAMs at SAP closed a deal that was worth $180 million over three years.

As you can imagine, these types of accounts are highly coveted and often attract high achievers who typically have been in the game for a while and are really good at what they do.

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• Key Business Initiatives
• Account Competitor Analysis
• Sales Opportunities, Targets & Risks
• And More!

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Key Account Management vs. Sales

Key account management and sales are also two very different jobs. The big difference to know here is that key account management is all about managing existing high-value accounts, whereas sales is about closing new accounts.

Key account managers think strategically about long-term plans and broader goals. Their tasks include collaborating with the customer on mutually beneficial projects, helping the customer meet their objectives, and making sure the customer is getting the necessary support.

Sales reps, on the other hand, are focused on short-term goals and zero in on specific opportunities. Sales focuses on promising outcomes you can deliver to clients while the KAM has to deliver on those promises. Their goal is to provide enough value to warrant the client renewing their contract.

Companies typically invest a lot of money and resources into getting clients — and the best ones spend just as much if not more resources, time, and energy into serving the client.

A word of warning here: Because most mature companies separate sales from key account management, there’s a danger of the customer experience feeling like a silo. Top companies have strong hand-off practices so that all of the information from sales conversations can be nicely transferred to the key account manager who will help the client reach the agreed upon goals and targets.

The Key Account Management Process

1. Build a framework.
2. Segment accounts.
3. Define roles and responsibilities.
4. Create a key account plan.
5. Dive into the details.
6. Iterate, iterate, iterate.
7. Communicate with all relevant stakeholders.
8. Create an opportunity planning framework.
9. Track your progress.

According to the COO and co-founder of the sales software provider DemandFarm, , there are to take when setting up a key account management process.

Below, I’ll walk through each step of this process, giving you the tools you need to get started on your own.

Step 1: Build a framework.

The first step is to build a key account management framework that will define how you move forward.

This part of the KAM process is all about identifying your goals, targets, and needs, as well as documenting a roadmap that includes your major milestones and objectives.

Step 2: Segment accounts.

Next, use the criteria above to start to segment your accounts into different buckets. I’ve learned that it’s essential to come up with a consistent approach to identifying which clients are really your key accounts — and which can safely be considered lower priority.

Step 3: Define roles and responsibilities.

While the specific organizational structure will vary depending on the unique needs of your organization, it’s important to identify all the stakeholders that may be involved.

To set yourself up for success, I’ve found that it’s critical to define each stakeholder’s role in the process, and to establish systems to ensure these teams and individuals can collaborate effectively with one another.

Step 4: Create a key account plan.

Now it’s time to put together a cohesive plan. This plan should include each account’s top priorities and needs, and it should also link to all relevant customer information.

Then, make sure to share the plan with all relevant internal and external stakeholders, so that everyone can get (and stay) on the same page.

Step 5: Dive into the details.

To start diving into the details and putting your high-level plan into action, ask yourself the following questions:

• What needs to be done?
• When does it need to be done by?
• Who will own the project, and who else needs to be involved?
• How will the outcome be measured and communicated?
• What happens if something goes wrong?

Then, use your answers to these questions to hone your plan.

Step 6: Iterate, iterate, iterate.

No effective plan can ever be set in stone, as accounts and relationships are always changing. Adapt. And make sure your KAM process does too.

Step 7: Communicate with all relevant stakeholders.

Communication is key. Make sure you map out all the internal and external stakeholders who must buy into your key account management plan.

Internally, identify all the team members who will have to be kept up to date on the status of your key accounts. You’ll also want to define all the external stakeholders who should be involved.

Then, once you’ve identified all of these stakeholders, make sure to communicate clearly and consistently to keep everyone aligned.

Step 8: Create an opportunity planning framework.

In addition to your key account management framework, it’s also important to develop a comprehensive framework for monitoring and taking advantage of new opportunities.

By mapping key stakeholders and identifying potential challenges and opportunities as they arise, you can track your progress and proactively stay ahead of any changes.

Step 9: Track your progress.

Finally, once you’ve completed this entire process, it’s important to continuously track your progress and identify ways to improve. Metrics you may want to consider include profits, revenues, the quality of your customer relationships, and whether your team has achieved the other key goals and objectives you’ve defined for yourself.

Key Account Management Strategy

Key account management strategy is about focus. It’s about identifying the right customers to invest in deeply because they have the potential to grow with you. Sometimes, reps just take the path of least resistance instead of actually planning what makes the most sense based on mutual goals.

Here are some questions I like to ask myself to get my strategy lined up.

Does this client align with our company’s vision, growth path, and offerings?

Some companies just make a lot more sense.

For example, while at CoachHub, we prioritized companies that were heavily investing in leadership development and cultural transformation. Why? Because we weren’t just selling coaching — we were enabling change at scale.

Whenever I sold a learning and development product, I found that pharma, financial services, banking, and tech companies moved much more quickly than, for instance, law, accounting, or even engineering.

So, knowing which companies and industries are better suited will save you a lot of time and energy instead of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Does this client have strong relationship potential?

You need more than budget: you need buy-in.

If there’s alignment with stakeholders across departments and signs that they’re open to collaboration (versus treating you as a commodity), that’s the key right there.

I often look for clients who aren’t afraid to bring in the right people. As an AE at LinkedIn, I remember the best deals were the ones with clients who weren’t afraid to involve many departments and leaders. The more, the merrier — because then you get buy-in from across the board.

Do I have a compelling POV that will attract their attention?

The more stakeholders you involve, the more you have to figure out what’s important to each leader. The upfront contract is very important, as is being able to have a compelling proof of value (POV). That just means you have a hypothesis that can radically change the way they are doing things. And that it piques their curiosity.

Your POV should show that you likely have an understanding of what’s keeping them up at night. By leveraging the hero’s journey storytelling framework, you demonstrate how you’ve done this before in a similar scenario with a client of the same title/company size/industry. Social proof is important here, as no one wants to be left behind. This is a great time to share case studies and testimonials you’ve gotten from clients.

Do I understand who my champions are (or who they would be)?

When I was an AE at LinkedIn, one of my clients had been with his company for 18 years. Roger was in charge of all of the onboarding, training, and technical training/leadership initiatives that helped groom the next generation. He often had to think about succession planning as the company was getting older. He didn’t necessarily have a VP or C-suite title, but you could tell he had a lot of information and knew who the right people were that we needed to get on board to get this across the finish line.

You will notice that there is always a decent amount of give and take with the best clients. You will learn to stop wasting your time on the ones who aren’t meeting you halfway.

Have I done my research?

Nowadays, there is so much information that you can easily access to get the background information you need to prep for a call and provide a compelling POV. Two of my favorite tools for this are AI like ChatGPT and LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Being able to find the information feels like detective work, but the amount of time I have saved researching compelling events and triggers is mind-blowing.

You can leverage LinkedIn Sales Navigator, in particular, to identify new executives who have joined the company. They are usually brought in for a specific purpose, or they are eager to make a mark, so they are typically more willing to listen to your pitch and make a change. In contrast, some of the older executives who have a vested interest in the incumbent investment will be wary of any changes and you’ll want to tread lightly.

How to Identify Key Accounts

While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to identifying your company’s key accounts, key accounts tend to demonstrate value in a few ways:

• They represent a disproportionate percentage of revenue.
• They refer new prospects to your company.
• They give your business credibility in their industry.

Beyond these high-level criteria, I’d suggest choosing some other key factors from the list below to use when determining which accounts are the most critical for your business:

• Product fit — or how closely your product matches the client’s needs and requirements.
• Average transaction size — the average amount of money the client spends with your business.
• Revenue potential — the amount of money the client could reasonably spend with your business in the future.
• Purchasing process — the process by which the client purchases your product. For example, is there a single stakeholder who can make a purchase decision, or does a larger group have to weigh in? How long does payment processing take?
• Partner history and potential — are they currently or were they formerly a partner of your company? Do they have the potential to become a partner in the future?
• Customer tenure — the amount of time the account has been a client of your business.
• Solvency — the client’s financial ability to pay their debts.
• Existing relationships — the relationships the client has with other businesses that could potentially also become your clients.
• Cultural fit — alignment between the way the client treats its customers and staff and how your organization treats its own customers and staff.
• Geographic alignment — if applicable, the physical proximity to your business’s headquarters or service centers.

Once you’ve decided which of these factors are most relevant in your unique business context, you’ll want to develop a formula that weighs each one based on its relative importance to your organization. Then, you can use that formula to calculate how much potential there is to expand each account.

If you’re not sure where to start, I suggest using a key account scoring matrix to identify your key accounts across these criteria: Simply evaluate each account based on the criteria you selected and assign each account a score from 1 to 10 in each category. The accounts with the highest scores will be your key accounts.

Importantly, while I know it can be tempting to label a large number of your customers as “key accounts” to make it look like your company is doing really well, it’s better to be more conservative. After all, you don’t want to overcommit yourself. Starting a KAM program requires organization-wide change, support from the C-suite, hiring and training employees, and implementing new processes. Starting small allows you to focus your efforts — and that focus is critical if you want to provide real, lasting value to your customers.

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• Key Business Initiatives
• Account Competitor Analysis
• Sales Opportunities, Targets & Risks
• And More!

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Common Challenges of Key Account Management (aka What Not To Do)

Key account management can be incredibly rewarding — but it’s not without its challenges.

Having worked with complex clients across Fortune Magazine, CoachHub, and Udemy, I’ve seen these patterns come up time and time again.

The good news? Awareness is half the battle.

Here are the most common hurdles key account managers face — and how to navigate them. When it’s going well you will have plenty of word of mouth and thousands of leads coming your way.

Only Reaching Out to Your Customer When You Need Something

When reaching out to your client, there has to be actual value that you are providing or else they will just see you as a transactional seller. And yes, sometimes it feels that you are giving more.

But going above and beyond also means the little things like caring about their personal lives as well. One of my most successful mentors who was the #1 rep at Microsoft Azure, ServiceNow, and Anaplan always told me that you know you are on the right path if you get invited to their daughter’s wedding or their company holiday parties.

Not Understanding What the “Big Rocks” Are With the C-Suite

Every department and level will have priorities that they will focus on. Very few people are able to understand what is needed at the highest level. This will require more research on your end.

Sometimes, the person you have direct access to doesn’t actually know what the picture is. From experience, you will know if this person has influence by whether they are looping in the right people.

Not Preparing Internal Stakeholders Enough

I’ve made the mistake of not preparing my internal executive stakeholder for meetings I’ve had with the CTO of a mid-sized bank. I cringe thinking about it now, but because I was just so junior and didn’t understand how to properly run a meeting there were a lot of awkward silences, and there wasn’t a clear agenda.

Ever since then, I have made it a priority to prep both sides. You can think of yourself as working for the client, not your company. The internal stakeholders are always thinking about which opportunities have the most upside, and they can remove roadblocks. The key is communication.

Only Having One Champion

We all know that people — especially influential people who are trying to make a name for themselves — will come and go. When a single champion leaves the company, and you haven’t built other relationships, your deal, and trust, can disappear overnight.

My solution? Always be multi-threading. Map the account and build at least 3-5 relationships at different levels of the org. This requires a level of proactiveness and curiosity that might seem overwhelming for account managers who have not come from an account executive background, but it’s a skill that can be learned.

Sometimes we label ourselves with statements like, “I’m a good relationship person, but I’m not a hunter.” While that might be somewhat true, over-identifying with certain attributes can prevent us from learning new skills that enable us to be effective.

Think of it as having tools in your toolbelt and being able to use the right tool for each occasion.

Pro tip: LinkedIn is a very valuable tool for connecting with others because it provides all of the data needed to find the right person.

Scope Creep Without Extra Budget

You start with a clear project, but suddenly the client wants more — without increasing spend. It’s easy to say yes to keep them happy, but it can hurt your margins and team bandwidth.

My advice: Set boundaries early. If they ask for more, offer solutions, but tie them to adjusted pricing or timelines. Budget can be created if you have the right people in the room. That’s why the purse holder is important to identity, even if it’s just for one meeting. It makes a world of difference.

Not Having Any Time to Reflect

Here’s my personal practice: On Friday, towards the end of the day, I take time to reflect on the activities that moved the needle — and the ones that didn’t. This helps me move forward into the next week and month ahead with the most data-driven approach. Intuitively, you’ll know as well. Trust your gut.

Is key account management the right strategy for your business?

While I think key account management has many benefits, it’s not the right model for every business. To decide if this is a good strategy for your organization, let’s go over some important factors to consider.

1. How Transactional Your Current Sales Process Is

First, take a look at your typical sales cycle. If it is relatively short and requires minimal interaction from sales reps, key account management probably isn’t a good fit. Key account management shines in sales cycles that are lengthy and consultative, and for products or services that require a long-term relationship between clients and your team.

2. Whether Your Product Has Upsell and Cross-sell Potential

What does your relationship with a customer look like after they sign? If it’s a one-and-done deal, there’s little point in having a dedicated KAM to serve them. Of course, you should always offer excellent customer service — but that’s not the same as key account management.

However, if there’s upsell and cross-sell potential, key account management makes more sense. Nowadays, many companies offer lots of different products, which opens opportunities to add value and gain more revenue from current clients. Another growing trend I’ve noticed is that acquisitions — like those at IBM or Salesforce — allow one company to offer various services through a central platform, saving clients the hassle of negotiating with multiple vendors.

3. Your Ability to “Land and Expand”

In my experience, there’s one exception to the upsell rule above. If you can’t upsell to your client directly but there’s potential to sell the same product to other departments in their company, key account management might be a good strategy. A KAM can nurture that initial relationship in order to expand their reach.

4. The Competitive Landscape

What does your competitive landscape look like? In some cases, a key account program can set you apart from the competition. If you can offer a KAM to valuable prospects and your competitors can’t, that might just be the clincher to help you win the deal. Or, on the other hand, if all your competitors provide KAMs, it might be a good idea to implement the strategy as well so you don’t fall behind.

5. Company Capacity and Resources

Lastly, you need to give your company capacity and resources a good look. Successful key account management requires a dedicated team, financial investment, and a company organization that supports it.

According to , co-founder and strategic advisor of RAIN Group, the between high-performing companies and everyone else is an effective account planning tool. Schultz argues that a key account plan helps you identify the most significant possibilities for growth, potential roadblocks, threats from the competition, and more.

Indeed, an from RAIN Group of more than 370 companies found that high-performing companies were almost three times less likely to struggle with maintaining an effective account planning tool.

Accordingly, I highly recommend your create a plan that considers your company’s capacity and resources by addressing the following four areas:

Relationships

First, since key account management is all about building and maintaining strong relationships with clients, an effective key account plan must map out customer stakeholders. Who is your point of contact? Who are the gatekeepers? Who are your internal advocates? Is there anyone who could potentially derail your plans?

I suggest noting each person’s title, role in the decision-making process, how much contact you’ve had with them, and how “friendly” they are. This will help you strengthen relationships within their org.

Customer’s Business

The next most important thing as a KAM is to know your customer’s business intimately. You will only be able to provide value to them and find mutually beneficial opportunities if you have a deep, sophisticated knowledge of what they do, where they are going, and how things are going for them. I recommend staying up to date on their key business goals, financial health, and current initiatives.

Account Goals

What are your goals for the account? This is where you track your history with each client and where you hope to direct them.

I like to include things like how much the account is currently worth, which opportunities I’ve lost and won with them, where I see potential revenue growth, and projected value for those opportunities. It should also outline your short-, mid-, and long-term goals, as well as the owner of each.

Account Strategy

Finally, your strategy — the most important part, in my opinion. You need to craft a plan that takes your account goals from above and breaks down the actions you need to take to reach them. I recommend using the same structure you used for your objectives: short-term, mid-term, and long-term.

In my experience, the more specific and actionable your goals are, the better. Working with multiple key accounts to meet the complex needs of another organization is no easy task. Without clear direction, mistakes are more likely to happen or opportunities to fall through the cracks.

I also recommend reviewing your goals and strategy periodically so you can update, pivot, and adapt to meet the changing needs of business and relationships.

Key Account Management Best Practices

1. Treat relationships like assets.

Clients can tell if you are treating them like a number. And in the world of AI and ongoing technological advances, it does feel even more transactional than ever. That’s why a handwritten card or even a small gesture such as singing them happy birthday on a voicemail/voice note is so impactful. It’s the little things that clients remember. It’s the old adage: People don’t remember what you said, but they remember how you made them feel.

Another great opportunity is to send your clients valuable insights, data, and anything timely and useful. I have a lot of YouTube videos that I send to clients, depending on the context of what we last spoke about. It doesn’t even always have to be business-related. I know they say we should keep business and personal separate, but my best accounts have invited me to their company holiday parties.

Speaking of events, when I host a networking happy hour or something similar, I always call clients and extend an invitation. Even if they don’t attend, they appreciate the gesture. Giving your clients opportunities to be on podcasts is also a good way to stay top of mind. Sometimes it’s being a super connector and making intros when it makes sense.

My point is that value looks different for so many people. If you think it’s a lot of work — well, it is. But I believe karma is a real thing, and if you do something like plan a connection hour that’s dedicated to making meaningful connections, that will come back to you one day.

2. Build multi-threaded connections.

Don’t put all your trust in one stakeholder. Build a relationship map across roles and departments within the company. Engage power users, champions, decision-makers, and influencers. When you see really active users who are engaging and are vocal, note that they can be great champions. Run pilots with other divisions. Ask them for feedback and don’t be afraid to have them sell internally.

Treat QBRs as an active discovery as well. Be curious, and if there is a new point of contact, don’t be afraid to ask the hard questions. Reestablish alignment, which might happen a few times during a contract.

3. Know when to say “No.”

Saying yes to everything can burn you out and break trust. If something’s out of scope or unrealistic, explain why — and offer alternatives.

My leadership principle on this? Boundaries are a form of respect. Your top clients will appreciate clarity over false promises.

If you show up with consistency, care, and a strategic mindset, you’ll not only grow the account, but you’ll grow your reputation as someone people want to work with.

Key account management is a long game. Play it well.

Key account management isn’t about short-term wins — it’s about long-term impact.

It’s about showing up consistently, listening deeply, asking the hard questions, and building partnerships rooted in trust, value, and mutual growth.

At the end of the day, you are more a customer of your client than you are a salesperson of your company. That mentality will help you do what’s best for your customer, and it will work out long term.

In my career — from Fortune Magazine to CoachHub to Udemy and now as the head of business development at Untap Your Sales Potential — I’ve seen that the best results come when we treat clients not as transactions, but as teammates.

Key accounts are more than revenue streams. They’re relationship capital. Invest in them with the care, curiosity, and commitment they deserve — and watch what happens.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in March 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Free Account Management Template

A strategic template for your account-based marketing, sales, and management.

• Key Business Initiatives
• Account Competitor Analysis
• Sales Opportunities, Targets & Risks
• And More!

Get Your Free Template

Download Free

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You're all set!

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