Key Account Management (KAM) – Start small, Be strategic

June 20, 2025|Accountants, Kim's Blog, Lawyers, Management Skills, Marketing, Psychology, Relationship Management, Strategy|

What were the key themes arising at the recent PM Forum – PM Forum workshop on “Towards KAM and ABM: Helping fee-earners with client relationship management”?. 14 delegates from across the UK joined us – mostly from law firms. Some delegates were looking at establishing their first KAM programme whilst others were reigniting or refining the KAM programmes in their firms. Some delegates were looking at things from the firm-wide perspective and others had responsibility for supporting key accounts (e.g. one MBD professional was responsible for three insurance clients). Key Account Management (KAM) – Start small, Be strategic and Provide support

Start small with KAM

Many of the delegates said their firms had identified a lot of potential key accounts. Far too many in some cases. It became clear that it was better to start with a small number of key clients. Otherwise both MBD and fee-earners became overwhelmed with too much to do in the limited time available. One delegate observed: “Most success seems to come from focusing on a smaller number of clients, and doing that really well”

Selecting just a few key accounts allows people (both fee-earners and MBD professionals) time to explore client needs thoroughly with data collection, research and collaborative discussions. And to align organisational capabilities (e.g. databases, client listening programmes, incentives etc) to develop the necessary processes.

An early discussion considered some of the downsides of and barriers to KAM programmes:

Resourcing – it takes quite a few people and significant time to do it properly
Getting consensus on client selection criteria
Accessing meaningful client data – cant set goals or demonstrate success without base line data (some delegates were poorly served by their firm’s CRM or KAM/ABM systems)
Some try to work with too many key accounts
May detract from new business development activities
Tends to happen when things are quiet and become forgotten when things are busy (i.e. inconsistent effort due to resource constraints)
Takes time and effort to educate everyone and align teams
Lack of clarity on who is responsible for doing what and by when
Lack of accountability of who is supposed to be doing what and by when

Be strategic with KAM

KAM programmes need clear objectives. Yet many delegates were not aware of the objectives for their KAM programme – whether for the firm overall or for specific key clients. A delegate commented: “Be really clear on goals to start. And it’s ok to start very small with a handful of clients first”.

Short term and long term objectives are required for a strong business case at the outset. If the desired outcomes are clear, people are more likely to commit the necessary time and resources to achieving them. Objectives are critical for senior level support and firm-wide buy in. It was noted that the benefits and results of a KAM programme can take time to emerge – so motivation and momentum may wane.

Objectives allow progress and results to be monitored and measured. And will help maintain momentum once the programme is established. As one delegate commented “Revenue targets and cross selling aims are common. Another goal (not necessarily primary objective) is to use KAP as the test case for better account management firm wide – if practitioners see it working they will naturally want if for their own accounts”

Focusing on major clients is a strategy to support numerous firm-wide aims: grow revenue, raise profits, increase loyalty, promote cross-selling, enhance client satisfaction, tailor services and enhance collaboration. One delegate observed: “Use KAM to model best practice in managing all client relationships to have a fundamental impact on relationship management and service delivery generally”.

Aims and strategies need to be established for individual key clients as well as for the firm’s overall programme.

Provide support for KAM

One delegate commented: “Fee earner time, engagement and accountability will be something our programme will need to focus on”.

Discussion revealed a real diversity of ‘maturity’ of KAM programmes – “Some have long established programmes, some are relatively new and others are still exploring beginning a programme. Some have lots of accounts, some only a handful. No real single ‘best practice approach’ emerged”.

Support needs to be considered through three perspectives or lenses:

The firm’s overall goals and processes
Client needs
Fee-earner needs

MBD support varies across those levels. For example:

establish the KAM programme and support KAM processes across the firm
encourage fee-earners to consider each client’s needs
support fee-earners managing each key client

Support for the firm wide KAM programme

KAM programme support will initially involve understanding the role of KAM in the firm’s overall business aims and strategies. Working with the Board to scope and structure the programme. Internal communication and education will also be a key role to ensure engagement and buy in.

Then help shape the KAM infrastructure, information and processes. To do this, MBD will need to collaborate closely with IT and finance teams. MBD will also need to work with Human Resources (HR) to support the necessary training and incentives.

There was much debate about the various KAM processes. For example:

Criteria for selecting key clients:
- Size – in terms of client revenue and profit contribution to the firm
- Strategic importance – fit with the firm’s strategy and/or sector strength
- Geography – aligned with firm’s network of offices
- Prestige – household names, market leaders, reference sites etc
- Loyalty – length of relationships, NPD score
- Referrals – clients who are on your side and provide case studies, directories contributions and testimonials
- Potential – Opportunities for growth (within sector and client organisation) and cross selling

KAM processes:
- Gather quality information from account managers/fee earners
- Integration within CRM
- Research resources
- Client listening programmes
- Establish steering business group
- Set up and train client teams
- Communication and buy in
- Leveraging influence of champions and sponsors
- Research
- Contracting, financial/billing and monitoring systems
- Ongoing support and coaching for key client teams

Delegates observed:

“Process can be either relationship manager driven (very good for achieving buy-in) or BD/marketing driven (good for understanding the bigger picture)”
“Processes are varied and one size doesn’t necessarily fit all”
“Need for integrated data is key and isn’t widely available – onboarding teams have a big role to play in making sure data is accurate from the start of a relationship”

We talked about “Tools not rules” – providing resources (whether data, research, templates or anything else) that fee-earners can use if they choose. But not as a prescriptive or restrictive practice.

With all processes use KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). Delegates commented

“Fee-earners are primarily focused on keeping clients happy and increasing fees. So any KAM programme needs to be aligned to their perspective”
“Simplicity is successful. Keep all processes simple and clear and avoid over-complicating things as this is likely to deter fee-earners”
“One key takeaway is the importance of viewing things from the fee earners perspective, and understanding their priorities and challenges”

Support for KAM teams

MBD professionals need a strong set of skills and deep knowledge to support KAM teams. Discussion points included:

Knowledge of the firm, market, sector, team and client
Empathy – treat the CRP/fee earners as the internal ‘client’ and approach things from their perspective
Analytical skills
Strategy and consulting skills
Sales training
Communication, relationship building and persuasion
Organisation and project management
Time management and prioritisation

The choice of Relationship Partner (RP) was considered critical. And the training, support and motivation for them to succeed. There were few examples where the role and responsibilities or job description of the RP were clear. One firm lets the client choose who they would like as RP – to avoid internal politics and ensure good chemistry.

Amongst Relationship Partner attributes, a key role was the ability to step back or up to see the big picture – and serve the client – rather than from the perspective of a particular practice group. RPs need to visualise the life-cycle of their client. One delegate commented “It takes a special kind of partner with the right attitude and skill sets”.

RP’s analytical skills are sometimes overlooked: “Systematically analysing data and know-how to really improve client intimacy and improve client satisfaction”. Yet they also need strong people skills such as communication and persuasion.

MBD may need to help establish key client teams. Some teams will require significantly more support than others. Early priorities will be around:

Obtain data on the key client
Establish aims and strategies for the key client
Co-ordinate across practice and sector groups and offices
Demonstrate the difference between technical legal skills and softer relationship management skills
Nominate an account manager to support the Relationship Partner
Provide training and coaching for key client partners and other members of the team
Produce an effective plan of activities

Once established, MBD can help by organising brainstorms. Collate the data, share insights and pose the questions. Brainstorms raise the interest and energy of the team, pool insights and ideas and motivate action.

MBD will also play a role in maintaining a client focus. Supporting the RP to ensure that there is a constant focus on how the firm adds value to the client. This will span activities such as managing mailing programmes, organising events and promoting the clients’ interests across the firm. Collaboration and co-creation may support new service development.

Coaching support is often needed for client teams and the individuals. It’s important here to help break things down into simple tasks that might be completed each week or month.

Teams will also need help with reporting progress for their key client. And MBD will need to support reporting for the firm across all key client teams. Some of the reporting issues identified by delegates:

Ensure the data is available and accurate
Schedule and record team meetings and activities
Monitor activity across each key client
Track the “good” relationship partners
Use tech platforms to understand who has the key relationships with decision makers
Collate billing and financial information – including targets and forecasts
reporting, volume of activity, success analysis, value add to show commitment, cross service delivery, why us – what are we doing better than others, subjective feedback – we are listening to you

There is a constant requirement to maintain momentum and motivation. This includes sharing client feedback and communication: “Success stories and case studies to show it is worth everyone’s time”. And extends to linking targets to progression, remuneration or other rewards.

If we see the fee-earners as our clients, we can model the KAM process with them so they can mirror the approach with their clients.

KAM and ABM information updates

Some of the research shared at the session was seen as particularly valuable by delegates – for example:

Thomson Reuters highlights account management in the legal sector is emerging as a crucial driver for BD, with firms implementing these strategies seeing a notable increase in client retention and revenue growth

McKinsey (2020) highlights organisations with a client-centric approach see a 60% increase in profitability

Deloitte (2020) emphasises the importance of real-time data monitoring for driving business agility and improving decision-making

Client Experience Maturity Benchmark (Bertie Heppel, Meridian West) Reaching new heights in client listening PM Magazine January 2024

Accenture’s approach – outlined in a September 2024 PM Magazine article Client-centric marketing – How to make ABM work in professional services

Bird & Bird’s One Firm Client Programme (described in the May 2025 PM Magazine article by Rex Bautista) Cultivating a sales culture

Bev Burgess’s article Account-Based Marketing : The definitive guide for B2B marketers PM Magazine May 2025 outlines her seven top tips for ABM in professional services firms

Prove ABM’s worth by targeting new opportunities in existing clients
Get close to the client’s procurement team
Become an expert at collaboration in Strategic ABM
Be nimble: Focus on driving outcomes in a specific scenario
Think of Segment ABM as a multi-client pursuit
Consider the three Ps of Pursuit Marketing (Pace, Partnership and Project-Based working)
Embrace AI or get left behind

Thanks to Morag Campbell for her technical support. And to all the delegates for their enthusiastic participation – here is a small selection of messages from the end:

Thank you for the great session Kim and Morag!
Thank you so much – really insightful session!
Thank you very much for the session!
Thanks so much – really helpful!
Great session, good to meet others
Thanks so much, really useful!
Thank you!

Delegate views and poll results

Delegate aims

Keep up with best practice developments
Understand what other firms are doing
Start a KAM program for one of my practice areas
Learn efficient processes/techniques for KAM
Apply other learnings and capture different perspectives to help gain buy in from partnership
Reignite our key client programme
Refresh to ensure we are keeping up with best practice
Start a KAM programme
Understand what others are doing in KAM and how I can start a KAM program with my business group
Start new programme for large amount of key accounts
Establish a firmwide KAM programme (tied in somewhat to a client listening programme)
Tips, guides on best practice for KAP on specific clients – for a firm still developing its KAP programme
Interested to hear what other firms are doing
Refresh as we move to next phase of our KAM programme
How to manage more effectively
Learn the best practice skills for managing clients
Want to learn more about how you can stay consistent with processes

Delegate takeaways

Need to set objectives
Be selective on clients to start with
Establish a reporting structure
Start small – don’t be too ambitious at the beginning.
Don’t be over ambitious with number of key clients – do a small number well
Look into reducing the amount of key accounts across the firm
Diversify the selection criteria for qualifying key accounts
Listening sessions – feedback sessions have to be prioritised
Small gains and be strategic in terms of opportunity costs
Combining the M&BD perspective with the CRP’s perspective
Review the job description for relationship managers
Importance of training and showing success on the journey
Coach fee earners on being more client centric and asking curious questions to gain better client insights
Share success stories to get buy in internally
Speak to the firm about how KAM should be built into fee earner assessment / reward to show that the firm takes this seriously