Reward key account managers

[arif]

Reward key account managers

Key account managers are not traditional salespeople, so their compensation and reward systems need to be different, otherwise you'll find yourself rewarding the wrong behaviors. Now, here's what I mean by that. Traditional salespeople typically earn a base salary plus a commission on sales generated by the account. Well, this approach works well because you want your salespeople focusing on the right activities to drive sales. But the long-term goal of a key account manager is customer retention, not sales.

You want the key account manager focusing on all the activities needed to keep the account forever. So, instead of paying them a commission on sales, it might make more sense to pay them a base salary, plus a year end bonus if the account continues to do business with your company. This approach will make sure the key account manager is focused on the right things as described in the key account management task. Let's dig a little deeper on that.

Recall that the key account management task addresses four questions.

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/key-account-management/reward-key-account-managers