Home > 2010 > 07 > Phenomenal Ideas on Emphasising the Personal to Ensure Customer Loyalty
Failure to communicate effectively may be one of the principal reasons why relationships fail, even though actual value is being exchanged. The element of one-on-one contact is still the most important and must be handled very carefully. Key account management training may well call for many different individuals within the company to be intrinsically aware of a client’s needs. A multitude of individual communications may take place. However, there must still be a "point person," nominated by the pharmaceutical company, to deal with the most key individual within the key account. In the very early stages of development, this relationship must be categorically identified and must be cultivated, or problems will certainly arise.
If slower times roll around, customer service is often one of the first areas to be cut back, and while consolidation within key account management may be acceptable in certain circumstances, it should never affect the personal contact with the key client, specifically. It is also not sensible for the organisation to put all its eggs in one collective personality basket. Relationships, whether in personal or business situations, are often based on the convergence of personalities, but there is a danger in relying upon these alone. Key account management structures should build in a certain layer of redundancy and ensure that the relationship with the client could not completely collapse if one party departs the organisation.
These days, key account management training should never be cast in stone, or the subject of a repetitive, "proven" philosophy. The management team responsible for setting up the company structures should be "street smart," and well aware of what the particular client needs, as a consequence. They should not entrench themselves within the marketing office, but should go out and meet with the clients. They will then be able to modify the position of the company, act when needed and decisively if necessary and be able to patch up any breaks in interpersonal relationships, with confidence.
The road ahead is challenging for the pharmaceutical company, as even more legislation arrives and as a process of consolidation and acquisition is anticipated. As major patents expire and as more focus is put on "niche" solutions and products, pharma training must become more comprehensive and diversified.
Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of L2L Consulting, specialising in enabling pharmaceutical companies to achieve new heights of productivity and performance, throughout all levels of management and revenue generating activities.
Phenomenal Ideas on Emphasising the Personal to Ensure Customer Loyalty
If they are to survive and prosper, pharmaceutical companies have to understand how critically important key account management training really is to their ultimate future, as they gather as much of the latest, most pertinent marketing information, to allow them to both attract and then interact with these very important accounts. There may be a tendency to concentrate on the establishment of a "system," where a large number of individuals within key roles are all engaged in helping to ensure that the "big picture" is realised. It's certainly true to say that the key account requires many different individuals to come together and that a harmonic balance is essential. However, there may be a danger that the personal element of interaction is overlooked, to the company's peril, when an organisation’s marketing structure is designed.Failure to communicate effectively may be one of the principal reasons why relationships fail, even though actual value is being exchanged. The element of one-on-one contact is still the most important and must be handled very carefully. Key account management training may well call for many different individuals within the company to be intrinsically aware of a client’s needs. A multitude of individual communications may take place. However, there must still be a "point person," nominated by the pharmaceutical company, to deal with the most key individual within the key account. In the very early stages of development, this relationship must be categorically identified and must be cultivated, or problems will certainly arise.
If slower times roll around, customer service is often one of the first areas to be cut back, and while consolidation within key account management may be acceptable in certain circumstances, it should never affect the personal contact with the key client, specifically. It is also not sensible for the organisation to put all its eggs in one collective personality basket. Relationships, whether in personal or business situations, are often based on the convergence of personalities, but there is a danger in relying upon these alone. Key account management structures should build in a certain layer of redundancy and ensure that the relationship with the client could not completely collapse if one party departs the organisation.
These days, key account management training should never be cast in stone, or the subject of a repetitive, "proven" philosophy. The management team responsible for setting up the company structures should be "street smart," and well aware of what the particular client needs, as a consequence. They should not entrench themselves within the marketing office, but should go out and meet with the clients. They will then be able to modify the position of the company, act when needed and decisively if necessary and be able to patch up any breaks in interpersonal relationships, with confidence.
The road ahead is challenging for the pharmaceutical company, as even more legislation arrives and as a process of consolidation and acquisition is anticipated. As major patents expire and as more focus is put on "niche" solutions and products, pharma training must become more comprehensive and diversified.
Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of L2L Consulting, specialising in enabling pharmaceutical companies to achieve new heights of productivity and performance, throughout all levels of management and revenue generating activities.
