The Macquarie Marketing Group's detailed work with major suppliers and their key accounts indicates that the following pitfalls are surprisingly common:

• Inadequate knowledge of key customers decisionmakers, business challenges, needs or supplier expectations. Without this knowledge, suppliers ability to differentiate is extremely limited
• Not segmenting customers and markets to understand differences in needs, drivers and options for servicing them
• Applying the same customer management/ key account processes to all customer types. This not only wastes resources, it means that no one customer segment is fully satisfied

• Not identifying and leveraging internal 'best practice' processes already in place. MMG see many excellent innovations at an account or branch level that do not get out into the wider supplier organisation, because of politics or the 'not invented here' factor
• Inappropriate selection of account executives - essential characteristics are honesty, commitment, energy, industry knowledge and credibility
• Too much focus on products without considering other areas that 'add value' to the customer (e.g. briefings on technology, process reviews, market insights)
• Poor integration of business development activities and account maintenance and development (operate like two separate sales teams and confuse customers)
• Lack of visible senior management support and involvement
• Too frequent changes in structure and personnel. Customers don't like change - particularly if they have put time into 'training' your people on their business

• Overreliance on 'one to one' relationships (when your account manager leaves, dies or is promoted - or the same happens to your main customer contact - where are you left?
• Lack of understanding of roles in managing customers throughout the supplier organisation (sales, marketing, commercial, operations, senior management)
• Customer management systems and tools based on a 'one size fits all' view of customer relationship management