Strategic Account Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Strategic Account Managers, Key Account Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-S-065

Before you join: Participants should have at least three years of business-to-business sales, account management, customer success or commercial leadership experience.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Strategic accounts often represent a disproportionate share of revenue, margin, renewal exposure and future growth. Yet many account teams still operate through reactive opportunity management, single-threaded relationships and generic sales messages. Senior customers expect suppliers to understand their commercial priorities, bring evidence-based value cases, coordinate internal specialists and manage commitments reliably. Digital channels add useful account intelligence and engagement options, but also increase noise, data-handling obligations and the risk of impersonal contact.

This course develops the disciplines required to grow and protect complex business-to-business accounts. Participants assess account attractiveness, map buying centres, build customer-specific value propositions and create strategic account plans tied to measurable objectives. They apply MEDDICC to complex opportunities, develop commercial negotiation positions, lead joint business reviews and organise cross-functional account teams. The course also covers CRM hygiene, digital account intelligence, virtual executive engagement, customer success measures, renewal planning and account performance scorecards.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with account cases, group analysis, negotiation simulations, stakeholder-mapping work and structured account-plan development. Participants work with realistic situations involving procurement pressure, renewal risk, competing suppliers, fragmented customer stakeholders and delivery issues. They leave with a completed strategic account plan structure, stakeholder map, value-case model, opportunity qualification approach and 90-day application plan that can be adapted to a live priority account.

The course is designed for experienced sales professionals and account leaders responsible for major customers, long-term contracts, multi-product portfolios or strategically important public and private sector relationships.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess strategic account attractiveness using profitability, growth, risk and relationship criteria
  • Map buying centres and build multithreaded stakeholder engagement plans
  • Construct quantified customer value cases using financial and operational evidence
  • Develop strategic account plans with objectives, growth plays, governance and milestones
  • Qualify complex opportunities using MEDDICC evidence and customer decision criteria
  • Prepare commercial negotiations using BATNA, reservation price and give-get matrices
  • Lead joint business reviews that convert performance data into agreed actions
  • Measure account performance through scorecards, leading indicators and 90-day action plans

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce credible strategic account plans for senior customer and internal review
  • Handle procurement pressure without conceding value or commercial control
  • Build executive-level relationships beyond day-to-day operational contacts
  • Improve forecast accuracy through evidence-based opportunity qualification
  • Demonstrate account leadership across sales, delivery, finance and product teams

For your organisation

  • Increase retention and expansion within high-value customer portfolios
  • Reduce revenue exposure from single-threaded customer relationships
  • Improve deal quality through disciplined qualification and value evidence
  • Protect margin through structured negotiation and concession management
  • Create consistent account governance across sales, service and leadership teams

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can select and prioritise accounts using commercial potential, relationship position and investment criteria.

  • Revenue concentration analysis using account profitability, growth potential, and strategic fit
  • Portfolio segmentation through the GE-McKinsey nine-box account matrix
  • White-space mapping of business units, needs, stakeholders, and buying centres
  • Account attractiveness scores calibrated against margin, risk, access, and investment
  • Tiering service models by account potential and relationship complexity
  • Digital signals distinguish transient demand from durable strategic opportunity
  • Account selection decisions documented with explicit opportunity-cost assumptions

Participants can identify influential stakeholders and create multithreaded engagement strategies.

  • Stakeholder maps identify economic buyers, technical buyers, users, and blockers
  • Power-interest grids prioritise engagement effort and executive sponsorship
  • Buying-centre roles tested through direct evidence rather than CRM labels
  • Relationship strength assessed using access, trust, influence, and reciprocity
  • Multithreaded contact plans reduce single-thread dependency and succession risk
  • Political mapping surfaces coalitions, hidden agendas, and internal champions
  • Mutual action plans assign stakeholder commitments, dates, and decision gates

Participants can develop quantified value propositions that address customer business priorities.

  • Customer economics translated into revenue growth, cost reduction, risk, and capital outcomes
  • Value Proposition Canvas links customer jobs, pains, gains, and offerings
  • Discovery questions quantify baseline performance, constraints, and value drivers
  • Business cases separate hard benefits, soft benefits, costs, and assumptions
  • Outcome-based value hypotheses tested with customer data and finance stakeholders
  • Value messages tailored for executives, operations leaders, and procurement teams
  • Proof plans specify evidence, pilot measures, references, and validation owners

Participants can build an actionable account plan that coordinates growth priorities and internal resources.

  • Strategic account plans connect customer priorities, objectives, initiatives, and governance
  • SMART objectives convert account ambition into measurable quarterly commitments
  • Growth plays ranked by value, feasibility, timing, and competitive position
  • Account roadmaps sequence renewals, expansion opportunities, and executive interventions
  • RACI matrices clarify sales, service, product, and leadership account responsibilities
  • 30-60-90-day actions establish ownership, milestones, and review cadence
  • Risk registers pair early-warning indicators with mitigation and escalation actions

Participants can use digital information and virtual engagement methods to strengthen account relevance.

  • CRM opportunity hygiene improves forecast credibility, handovers, and account visibility
  • Account intelligence combines earnings reports, procurement portals, and digital behaviour
  • LinkedIn Sales Navigator research supports trigger-event and stakeholder identification
  • Social listening distinguishes verified account signals from unsupported online commentary
  • Virtual executive briefings use agendas, pre-reads, and documented next steps
  • Digital engagement cadences balance relevance, consent, and contact frequency
  • Data privacy controls govern contact data, meeting records, and shared documents

Participants can qualify, advance and forecast complex opportunities using verifiable customer evidence.

  • MEDDICC qualification tests metrics, economic buyer, decision process, and competition
  • Opportunity plans map decision criteria, paper process, and mutual commitments
  • Pipeline stages reflect customer evidence rather than seller optimism
  • Deal reviews expose gaps in access, value proof, and consensus
  • Forecast categories anchored to exit criteria and dated customer actions
  • Win-loss analysis separates competitive, commercial, technical, and relationship causes
  • Deal momentum maintained through agreed milestones, dependencies, and escalation paths

Participants can negotiate commercial agreements while protecting value, margin and long-term account position.

  • Should-cost analysis prepares price discussions using cost-to-serve and margin data
  • BATNA and reservation price define negotiation boundaries before customer meetings
  • Give-get matrices exchange concessions for scope, term, volume, or access
  • Procurement tactics answered with value evidence, trade-offs, and disciplined silence
  • Contract terms assessed for liability, service levels, renewals, and change control
  • Multi-year agreements balance price protection, indexation, and performance commitments
  • Concession logs preserve approvals, rationale, and post-negotiation learning

Participants can establish governance routines that protect delivery performance and identify growth opportunities.

  • Joint business reviews align performance evidence, priorities, decisions, and actions
  • QBR agendas distinguish operational recovery from strategic growth discussions
  • Service recovery protocols protect trust after delivery failures or escalations
  • Customer success metrics monitor adoption, realised value, retention, and advocacy
  • Renewal plans begin with stakeholder alignment, usage evidence, and commercial timing
  • Cross-sell plays match verified needs to adjacent capabilities and partners
  • Executive sponsor programmes define purpose, preparation, conduct, and follow-through

Participants can organise internal specialists around clear customer commitments and account decisions.

  • Account teams align sales, delivery, finance, legal, and product expertise
  • Internal deal desks resolve commercial exceptions, capacity constraints, and risk
  • RACI governance prevents duplicated contact, conflicting promises, and stalled decisions
  • Executive sponsorship briefings focus leaders on specific customer decisions
  • Account review cadences combine pipeline, delivery health, relationships, and risks
  • Knowledge capture records customer context, commitments, objections, and learning
  • Succession plans protect continuity when account managers or sponsors change

Participants can track account health and establish a disciplined personal operating rhythm.

  • Leading indicators track stakeholder coverage, value validation, and mutual actions
  • Account scorecards combine revenue, margin, retention, risk, and relationship measures
  • Pipeline conversion analysis identifies bottlenecks by stage, segment, and owner
  • Customer feedback translated into corrective actions and account-plan revisions
  • Quarterly business reviews test progress against objectives, risks, and investment
  • Personal operating rhythms schedule preparation, follow-up, coaching, and escalation
  • 90-day application plans specify priorities, measures, sponsors, and review dates

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Strategic account plan template
  2. Buying-centre stakeholder map
  3. Customer value-case model
  4. MEDDICC opportunity qualification checklist
  5. Commercial negotiation give-get matrix
  6. 90-day account application plan

Who should attend

  • Strategic Account Managers — responsible for growth, retention and executive relationships within priority accounts
  • Key Account Managers — managing complex customers requiring structured account plans and governance
  • Enterprise Sales Managers — leading large, multi-stakeholder opportunities and account portfolios
  • Business Development Directors — pursuing expansion opportunities within existing strategic customers
  • Customer Success Leaders — improving adoption, renewal evidence and value realisation for major clients
  • Sales Directors — setting account disciplines, review cadences and cross-functional ownership

Skills and tools covered

Strategic account planningStakeholder mappingValue-based sellingComplex opportunity qualificationCommercial negotiationAccount governance

Tools and standards

Value Proposition Canvas, MEDDICC, RACI matrix, GE-McKinsey nine-box matrix

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce account-management methods, followed by realistic account cases, group analysis and facilitated peer review. Participants build stakeholder maps, value cases, account-plan components and negotiation positions using supplied templates. Simulations address executive meetings, procurement pressure, joint business reviews and internal account-team coordination. Digital account intelligence and CRM scenarios are examined through practical decision points rather than software demonstrations. Each participant completes an application plan for transferring selected methods to a priority account.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have at least three years of business-to-business sales, account management, customer success or commercial leadership experience. They should be familiar with sales pipelines, customer meetings, basic commercial terms and the internal functions involved in delivering customer commitments. Experience managing a named account portfolio, large opportunity or contract renewal is useful. No formal sales qualification, finance degree, CRM certification or prior knowledge of MEDDICC is required. The course does not assume expertise in data analytics, procurement law or digital marketing platforms.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should already have business-to-business sales, account management or customer success experience. The course is intended for professionals managing significant customers, renewals or complex opportunities rather than those new to sales.

Participants should bring a laptop and, where permitted, non-confidential information about one priority account or opportunity. Account names, customer data and commercially sensitive figures can be anonymised for classroom use.

It is best suited to strategic account managers, key account managers, enterprise sellers, sales leaders and customer success leaders. It is particularly relevant where accounts involve several stakeholders, long contracts or cross-functional delivery teams.

General sales courses usually focus on individual opportunities and selling conversations. This course addresses the longer-term management of priority accounts, including portfolio choices, stakeholder networks, governance, renewals, expansion and internal team coordination.

Participants can use the account-plan, stakeholder-map, value-case and opportunity-review templates with a live customer account. The 90-day application plan identifies priorities, internal sponsors, measures and review dates for practical follow-through.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between instructor input, account cases, group work, simulations, peer review and structured application planning across the ten modules.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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