Macquarie Marketing Group's best practice work on business customer and key account management has confirmed a number of key principles. The following are provided as examples:

1. Dedicated and visible senior account managers responsible for all aspects of relationships between the supplier and its major customers
2. Maximum quality face to face time in front of customer decisionmakers and influencers (while the Internet and telecommunications provide many more means of providing value to customers, this contact remains the most powerful predictor of major customer loyalty)
3. Reliable processes in place to provide easy access for customers, responsiveness and speedy resolution of issues and requests
4. Development and sharing of account plans with the customer
5. Proactive application of 'value added' initiatives wherever possible, e.g. process reviews, briefings, joint business reviews, market data
6. Integration of supplier resources, utilising specialists with customers where required. Account managers can not credibly be the experts in all areas of interest to the customer
7. Proactive involvement by senior management with key accounts and the account management process (customer visits, participation in joint meetings, presentation of plans to Board, etc)
8. Supplier wide understanding of who major customers are and application of priority standards of communication and service
9. Joint development, monitoring and communicating to the customer of customer specific key performance indicators (KPIs). Customers do not generally appreciate generic indicators that don't relate directly to them
10. Effective customer management systems and tools (e.g. single point of access for customer profiles, pricing models, customer risk and value models, contact management)
11. Maintaining knowledge of 'global' best practices relevant to the customer's industry and demonstrating a desire to transfer this to customers wherever appropriate