SAMA community members all share at least one common objective: to become more strategic to your most important customers. From the insights gained through a rich history of engagement with SAMA’s ... read more

SAMA community members all share at least one common objective: to become more strategic to your most important customers. From the insights gained through a rich history of engagement with SAMA’s best-in-class organizations, PMI has designed and developed a practical and scalable methodology for implementing and sustaining strategic account planning and management best practices: The Keys to Effective Strategic Account Planning. This webinar will unpack the core components of effective account planning and management and examine how the most successful SAMs and KAMs ensure they’ve established a strong foundation for driving account growth. Participants will be provided “how to” insights and takeaways to help you: • Navigate the four impact zones of contemporary account planning • Benchmark and assess your account • Engage and align your cross-functional account team • Assess and develop trust-based customer relationships Participant Takeaways: • The Keys to Effective Strategic Account Planning (2nd Edition) eBook • Account Benchmark Tool • Customer Relationship Assessment Tool read less

Strategic Account Managers must have a diverse set of skills, including strong financial acumen. The ability to translate, communicate and position financial value throughout the customer buying j... read more

Strategic Account Managers must have a diverse set of skills, including strong financial acumen. The ability to translate, communicate and position financial value throughout the customer buying journey is a key success factor. This webinar will highlight how to improve SAMs financial acumen and start the journey to better confidence in dealing with financial levers. Key topics include: • How to analyze & identify points of mutual financial value using internal and external financial levers • What is driving the customer’s success • Ways to improve your confidence to have financially focused conversations as a SAM • Tailoring, communicating and positioning financial value throughout the customer buying journey read less

Uncertain times require new ways of thinking about, anticipating, and responding to customer needs. Each industry has specific challenges and key business drivers. Build and strengthen your relatio... read more

Uncertain times require new ways of thinking about, anticipating, and responding to customer needs. Each industry has specific challenges and key business drivers. Build and strengthen your relationship with your customers by learning an actionable, repeatable, industry-specific analysis and approach to help navigate the impacts of these uncertain times. In this webinar we’ll take a look at the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry. Specifically, participants are provided insights into: • The types of solution investments CPG customers will be making during uncertain times and thereafter • Identifying a customer’s goals and strategies, the business units that are aligned and their related initiatives – examples are provided for CPG • Assessing financial performance and focusing on areas that are most important for CPG • Aligning your solutions with a customer’s goals, strategies, initiatives, and financial performance • Quantifying the value of your solutions Participant Takeaways • A financial performance assessment for one of your customers, the FinListics Executive Summary Report. The report identifies key trends, top areas of opportunity, potential buyers, and cash flow benefits from improvement to business functions. • Complimentary access to FinListics Financial Acumen eLearning – this course explores basic financial statements to help you use insights gained to think more like an executive and identify areas of opportunity. read less

The current COVID-19 crisis and associated economic dislocation raise the stakes in many of our negotiations, confronting us with new challenges, and just maybe, offering opportunities if we are ab... read more

The current COVID-19 crisis and associated economic dislocation raise the stakes in many of our negotiations, confronting us with new challenges, and just maybe, offering opportunities if we are able to spot them. Many of our strategic customers are experiencing significant operational and financial stress. This may have a negative effect on the way they negotiate with us, and create a high-stress environment that undermines creative problem-solving and strategic thinking just when it is most needed. We hope you join us as we explore negotiation strategies to navigate risks and uncertainty, using a blend of case studies and recent benchmark data comparing buy-side and sell-side negotiation priorities and approaches. read less

When you’re not meeting face-to-face, your presence is reduced to a thumbnail on a web conference. And your sales deck—the one designed to be the backdrop for an in-person conversation—becomes th... read more

When you’re not meeting face-to-face, your presence is reduced to a thumbnail on a web conference. And your sales deck—the one designed to be the backdrop for an in-person conversation—becomes the focus of attention. To make matters worse, you’re competing with a highly distracting on-screen environment. To cut through the noise and win, your presentation visuals need to hook your audience, keep them engaged, and deliver a highly memorable message that inspires decisive action. Is your PowerPoint up to the task? Don’t miss this webinar with Corporate Visions’ Tim Riesterer and Dr. Carmen Simon. Using brain science and research-backed design, you’ll learn how to: • Grab and hold your buyers' attention with dynamic visual storytelling • Prime their brain and spike attention with high-impact imagery • Control the most important message you want your buyers to remember • Involve your audience in a way that will help them retell your story long after the call Remote selling is vital to your success. Make sure your sales deck is built to win. read less

In this webinar, SAMA’s very own Harvey Dunham, Managing Director, Strategy and Marketing, provides a framework for Collaborative Account Planning with your most valued customers. read more

In this webinar, SAMA’s very own Harvey Dunham, Managing Director, Strategy and Marketing, provides a framework for Collaborative Account Planning with your most valued customers. read less

The Covid-19 crisis has caused the business world to pause… and stop. While this crisis is severe and has global implications, past times of uncertainty also created economic, political, technolog... read more

The Covid-19 crisis has caused the business world to pause… and stop. While this crisis is severe and has global implications, past times of uncertainty also created economic, political, technological, and financial stress on multiple industries around the globe. Join in the SAMA Expert Panel Discussion, presented by FinListics, and understand how executive and sales leaders from leading global firms focused their sales forces during similar times of uncertainty such as Y2K, the Internet bubble, 9/11, and the financial crisis of 2007/08. read less

Our lives have changed forever! For many of us we have a daily diet of fact-based questions; How many steps do you have, look it up, you available now, and is that right – to name just a few? No my... read more

Our lives have changed forever! For many of us we have a daily diet of fact-based questions; How many steps do you have, look it up, you available now, and is that right – to name just a few? No mystery our maybe simpler, less strenuous world has now become driven by a constant stream of bite sized chunks of information (facts and messages) coming to us by the second – influencing our current daily state versus our goals for the day. How did we ever survive without a cell phone and the internet? This webinar will explore how the right SAM facts should be an integral part of the SAM (Strategic Account Management) profession; a profession that more than ever needs immediate bite sized chunks of guiding intelligence. We call these bite sized chunks metrics; metrics that may well determine if your SAM program will be a success for you, your organization and your customer. This brief yet example rich session will focus on metrics that could well determine: • Customer retention, churn and growth • Relationship / opportunity pipeline development • Existence and appreciation of mutual value Customers have become larger, supplier organizations more resource challenged and expectations even greater. Artificial intelligence is becoming mainstream – analyzing facts to provide often unknown insights read less

Even with your best-performing accounts, you face daily challenges. Along with so many other competing priorities, strategic account managers can become complacent by not insulating accounts from i... read more

Even with your best-performing accounts, you face daily challenges. Along with so many other competing priorities, strategic account managers can become complacent by not insulating accounts from inevitable customer role changes and even restructuring. This webinar will highlight ways to protect and expand your customer spend through an easy-to-follow, proven process called Lateral and Vertical Relationship Strategies. Best-selling author and leading sales trainer Ed Wallace will help you connect your 2020 goals to an intuitive relationship-expansion process by creating strategies and action plans for key customers, most likely successors, influential peers and executives. Participants will learn: • How to identify risk within strategic accounts • 5 steps to advance new relationships from acquaintances to respected advisor • Lateral and vertical relationship strategies that can be put to use immediately • Ways to defend and keep long-standing relationships fresh • How to use the RQ® Assessment to determine relationship strength read less

Need to create or improve your company’s SAM program? In this webinar attendees will learn the key pillars for facilitating a strategic environment that increases the probability of a successful SA... read more

Need to create or improve your company’s SAM program? In this webinar attendees will learn the key pillars for facilitating a strategic environment that increases the probability of a successful SAM program. Attendees will also be exposed to the program benefits and experiences that resonate with Fortune 100 customers as well as real customer examples of how to implement and capture value from some of today’s world-renowned brands. Like all successful systems, your new or revamped SAM program will involve thorough and strategic planning. To help ensure your program’s effectiveness, this webinar will cover the five most critical elements for program success and how to apply them to your organization These include key lessons learned on: ● Executive sponsorship: Leadership’s all-in approach garnered program success with a willingness to invest in organizational structure, be positive agents of change and pave new customer relationships. ● Exclusive financial benefits: Loyalty incentive rebates sparked the interest and, ultimately, new business from a Fortune 50 financial services organization. ● Meaningful experiences with peers: All-access, peer-to-peer networking strengthened a relationship that paid dividends with a leading accounting firm. ● Business intelligence: Measuring the relationship and new value together with customers, as well as automation for the path forward, was critical. Account qualification and selection methodology: Developing benchmark tools to grade the probability of success and conducting year-to-year evaluations were imperative to both company and customers. read less

Agile is a buzzword across teams, organizations and industries, and the research shows top performers are naturally agile. In fact, organizations that embrace agile selling see, on average, a 22% i... read more

Agile is a buzzword across teams, organizations and industries, and the research shows top performers are naturally agile. In fact, organizations that embrace agile selling see, on average, a 22% increase in win rate. However, even if you believe in the research and want to help your team become agile, it is difficult to know where to start. Dr. Leff Bonney, of Florida State University Sales Institute, led a three-year research project that identified the importance of agile selling. When he presented the findings, the question then became, “How do we implement this?” Dr. Bonney couldn’t find a training company teaching agile selling, so he had to look elsewhere. This webinar will share what he has learned from the military, healthcare and sports industries about how to become situationally fluent and how organizations can translate those findings into implementing an agile strategy. Participants will learn: • How organizations can identify their unique situations • What types of insight your organization needs • How to train and reinforce situational fluency read less

Account planning is an essential part of any high-performing sales organization. It’s about finding and maximizing revenue opportunities in your existing and target key accounts to drive revenue gr... read more

Account planning is an essential part of any high-performing sales organization. It’s about finding and maximizing revenue opportunities in your existing and target key accounts to drive revenue growth. Imagine the potential impact on revenue if every salesperson was actively unlocking new revenue opportunities in customer accounts. During this webinar, you will learn how GE Healthcare: • Gains a better understanding of customers and their challenges • Involves customers in the account-planning process • Defines and measures success Additional takeaways will include: • How to establish an effective cadence for account-planning exercises • The importance of cross-functional collaboration • Tips for balancing short-term pressures with long-term vision • Identifying pockets of success to improve adoption read less

Nearly two decades into the 21st century, there's no denying that the internet has had a tremendous effect on most aspects of life, including B2B purchasing. As buyers increasingly access product a... read more

Nearly two decades into the 21st century, there's no denying that the internet has had a tremendous effect on most aspects of life, including B2B purchasing. As buyers increasingly access product and service information, peer reviews and analysts’ ratings on the web, it has reduced buyers' dependence on receiving information from sales professionals. That means SAMs must adapt to remain relevant. One proven way is for SAMs to increase their LinkedIn skills to help uncover new contacts and opportunities and increase win rates on large deals. Attendees will learn: • How to grow your LinkedIn network to expand business in accounts • How sharing content on LinkedIn will keep you top-of-mind • How video messaging can increase your communication success read less

This webinar first shows that in business influence flows through interpersonal trust relationships. Then it assists SAMs in developing the right skill set and operating plan to implement a structu... read more

This webinar first shows that in business influence flows through interpersonal trust relationships. Then it assists SAMs in developing the right skill set and operating plan to implement a structured systematic relationship mapping process. At the end of the webinar SAMs will have the opportunity to enrich their Key Account Planning process with the Graduated who-knows-whom Relationship Matrix and the PowerScope graphic representation of their account structure, in replacement of the difficult to use and to update traditional org. chart. Key Learnings: - Professional Networking key practices applied to account management - The “handling” relationship: characteristics and graduation. - The graduated “who knows whom” relationship matrix. - Hunting in packs. Relationship sharing governance. - Keys to establish an efficient influence Strategy - Insight in analyzing clients power issues, identify and quickly gain access and influence with decision makers and key influencers - A lever to increase the power of your personal networks to open new avenues of access to the targeted markets. - Detection of more opportunities, and earlier in the sales cycle - The ability to manage strategic relationships – key decision makers, influencers and stakeholders – as company assets read less

This webinar is for all directors and senior executives who are unsure about how to develop financially quantified value propositions that capture the attention of their customers. According to Mc... read more

This webinar is for all directors and senior executives who are unsure about how to develop financially quantified value propositions that capture the attention of their customers. According to McKinsey and our own research, everyone talks about value propositions, but only 5% of organizations have them and even those that do have them don’t always quantify them financially Any supplier who can quantify financially how they can help their customers grow their profits will always succeed, no matter how difficult the market conditions A lot of what constitutes value from a supplier is about helping the customer to avoid disadvantage, but, much more importantly, those suppliers who can demonstrate that they will create advantage for them will be respected and there will be fewer conversations about price. read less

Why do executives test and screen strategic account managers? How can SAMs circumvent that process and develop trusted advisor level relationships with those executives? Based on 10 years of empir... read more

Why do executives test and screen strategic account managers? How can SAMs circumvent that process and develop trusted advisor level relationships with those executives? Based on 10 years of empirical research with more than 500 global CXO-level executives who were asked about their relationships with account managers, this webinar will reveal why some account managers gain trusted advisor status while others get the ejector seat. In this presentation, you will learn how you can become trusted advisors of C-Suite executives and how you can… Circumvent the inevitable roadblocks, using proven techniques Establish credibility with C-Suite executives, thereby obtaining continued access to them Become a trusted advisor to the relevant executive for the sales opportunity On this webinar we will also explore what senior executives told us about their relationships with account managers, including how they should align with the relevant executive to win those critical key deals. read less

"CHANGE AHEAD! Adrian Davis, President, Whetstone Inc. Adrian uses his personal journey as a window into buyer psychology. He helps suppliers go beyond showing up and selling solutions to bec... read more

"CHANGE AHEAD! Adrian Davis, President, Whetstone Inc. Adrian uses his personal journey as a window into buyer psychology. He helps suppliers go beyond showing up and selling solutions to becoming a trusted and vital resource to buyers on their personal journey. He demonstrates the power of storytelling firsthand and shows suppliers how to harness the power of story. His approach to getting suppliers to arrive at the understanding needed to elevate engagement has been described as electrifying, provocative and transformational. RELEVANCE: MATTER MORE Phil Styrlund, CEO, The Summit Group Across the globe, the forces of commoditization are at play. Everything is, or soon becomes, a commodity. Not just products, but people as well! How, then, do you distinguish yourself in this commoditized culture so that you can matter more not only to others but, more importantly, for others?Relevance trumps intelligence. Intelligence is readily available, yet relevance is what matters. How does what you know and do have an impact on what others care about? That is the question. The great news is that you have never mattered more. How you show up in life and work is now as important, or more important, as what you sell or do. "How" is the new "What." Phil combines his wide-ranging global experience in sales and marketing with his hard-won wisdom to provide a framework for influencing customers, colleagues and loved ones. He shares his insights, hindsights and foresights about how to become truly relevant to others." read less

"It often seems as if procurement organizations exist to thwart the aspirations of SAMs. Strategic account management aims to deliver differentiated solutions and innovation to customers through cl... read more

"It often seems as if procurement organizations exist to thwart the aspirations of SAMs. Strategic account management aims to deliver differentiated solutions and innovation to customers through closer collaboration. Meanwhile, the typical procurement organization seeks to keep suppliers at arm's length and focuses on reducing costs by increasing competition among suppliers and commoditizing their solutions. As a result, SAMs often feel caught between a rock and a hard place: either risk the wrath of procurement by seeking to work around them, or accept procurement rules that undermine the foundational principles of strategic account management. During this session, Jonathan will share insights from a multiyear benchmarking study of hundreds of procurement organizations, along with case studies from more than 20 years working with procurement. Key topics will include: What makes procurement tick: understanding their goals, metrics and incentives Why and how to profile procurement within each of your accounts How to speak the language of procurement Procurement hot buttons and how to avoid pushing them Aligning SAM with supplier relationship management programs at customers" read less

From healthcare to industrial goods to finance, companies are facing new digital challengers encroaching on their most strategic customers. Many industry leaders who specialized in physical product... read more

From healthcare to industrial goods to finance, companies are facing new digital challengers encroaching on their most strategic customers. Many industry leaders who specialized in physical products have responded by investing in new digital innovations. Whether artificial intelligence algorithms, proprietary data, new software solutions or preventive maintenance using IoT, these new offers can be the future of the company. Turning them from features to substantial new revenue streams requires a major change in the way product companies price and sell. John Pineda from Boston Consulting Group will share a framework, best practices and examples of how leaders in making physical products can also become digital market leaders. read less