SAMA
The Global Leader in Strategic
Account Excellence

One of the biggest values from being a SAMA member is being part of a community of people who face similar challenges — people who you can engage and collaborate with to find solutions.

You don't have to do it alone. We've really relied on SAMA’s expertise and insights to advance our strategic account management program. We've tapped into the CSAM certification program and people we've met at the SAMA Annual Conference. We’ve connected with companies that have some very high, world-class strategic account programs. All of this is available to you at SAMA, meaning you will be accompanied throughout your journey.

SAMA is a unique blend of practitioner, consultant, and academic thought leaders that share a deep interest in how today’s account managers and salespeople can become more strategic to their most important customers. I have regarded this community of practice as a personal ‘learning lab’ for over 25 years, and it has never disappointed me. For those that are committed to strategic account management excellence, value co-creation, and driving proactive account growth, there’s no better place to gain insights and share best practices than SAMA.

Overall, the SAMA experience has taught me more about strategic account management, and the unique difference that it brings to our organization beyond traditional sales account management. Truly an end-to-end strategic account management approach is the recipe for success in the future. And I believe that even more now, having gone through the whole program. And I've taken a lot away that will help us improve our SAM program.

We've been using the SAMA framework to really create a common baseline across all of our professional sellers — to think more around the minimum to compete, the capabilities, and the skills, both for incumbent sellers as well as hiring and recruiting new professionals to join the team. SAMA has also challenged how we think as a leadership team and given us the dashboard and scorecard on ourselves to be better sponsors and much more zippered up with our sellers and our operations team such that the client is really seeing a difference. And that's our long-term plan —to use all of the SAMA toolkit.

There are multiple benefits of becoming a SAMA member. Connecting through the SAMA network brings a new mindset — and new technologies — about what is possible when we work with our strategic accounts. Plus, learning about what other industries are doing helps bring new perspectives on what we can do. I fully recommend becoming a SAMA member.

I think the big return on investment for me is that I have someone that will talk to me any day of the week to help me work through my issues because when you're absorbing all of this information, it's hard to do it alone. SAMA's customer service and the wealth of knowledge they bring speaks largely to the return on investment you receive when you have a sponsorship.

In the day-to-day when you're dealing with customers, there's certain topics that come up: the focus on price, the discounting your value, and the "how do we grow and succeed." You start to build this toolbox that allows you to engage in these kinds of unique, but consistent themes. You build confidence, and leverage what you're learning with SAMA.

Out of everything I've learned through SAMA, it's what I take personally that matters most. How can I be a better key account manager? But also, what can I take back to my organization? It's not only about me, but also about how I can share this in an effective way. How can I start building that story? Because it's not only selling to my customers, but it's selling the story internally so I can get those resources to help us as a team be more successful.

Honestly, SAMA membership is a no-brainer for us. We get so much out of it. The resources, the networking, the assessment tools we've used. I can't say enough about SAMA and the resources they have.

We have been SAMA corporate members for many years, and there's a lot of benefits. I would say one is the access to resources. If there's something you're encountering with your organization, whether it's trying to figure out your network of customers and how you might do some mapping, or training that you need for your team, the SAMA team is always there to help point you in the right direction. And that's really helpful because there are so many resources out there for strategic account management, but not all of them are good and not all of them are what you need. So having that resource is really helpful.