Exploring Role of Account Managers as Business Consultants - 27500 Words

Exploring the Role of Account Managers as Business Consultants: New Learning Implications in Global Services (Dissertation Sample) Content: Exploring the Role of Account Managers as Business Consultants: New Learning Implications in Global ServicesTABLE OF CONTENTSCHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................9 1.1 Background........................................9 1.2 Aims and Objectives............................10CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................12 2.1 Introduction..............................................122.2 Account Management Defined ...............................................................................122.3 Changing forces in the market environment are causing companies to respond with different levels of Strategic Account Managers...........................132.4 Account Planning Skills from the Perspective of the Customer, not the Supplier.................................................................................... ...................................232.4.1 Listening Skills.................242.4.2 Thought Leadership......................................242.4.3 Value Selling Skills..........262.4.4 Internal Selling/ Coordination Skills............................272.4.5 Use of Diagnostic/ Assessment Tools and Methodologies......................282.4.6 Negotiating...................................................292.5 Results of Consulting-Oriented Sales Force Programs...............292.6 The Contribution of this Dissertation to the Body of Literature....................30CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.................................................313.1 Introduction........................................................................................................313.2 Instrument Development.......................................................................................313.3 Questionnaire Design....................................................................................... ......32Sampling, Participants Recruitment and Data Collection.................................34Data Analysis Method...35Scale Creation and Reliability Analysis35Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)...36Scatterplots....36CHAPTER 4: RESULTS ...374.1 Introduction...374.2 Participant Data Collection...37 4.2.1 Skills to be an Effective Account Manager.39 4.2.2 Descriptive Statistics for Consulting Skills.............................................45 4.2.3 Scale Creation and Reliability Analysis..47 4.2.4 Correlation Analysis47 4.2.5 Scatter Plot..48CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION525.1 Introduction.525.2 Summary of Results....525.2.1 Implications and Recommendations for the Sales Industry a New Focus on Implementation Process and Methodologies......585.2.2 Implications and Recommendations for Corporate Talent Management/Learning Leaders.....................................................................59 5.2.3 Implications and Recommendations60 5.2.4 Implications and Recommendations for Account Managers....60 5.2.5 Limitations of this Study..63 5.2.6 Suggestions for Future Research..66 5.2.7 Concluding Remarks............................................................................67BIBLIOGRAPHY REFERENCES.........................................................................70APPENDIX A Interview Question: Account Manager GE Finance................................71 B Interview Question: Business Owner Bevan Marketing..74 C Interview Question: Business Relationship Manager Ongas.......75 D Interview Question: National Account Manager BOC........77 E Interview Question: Business Owner Group One........79 F Survey Instrument........82 G Analysis of Variance in Importance of 15 Consulting Skills .........90 H Analysis of Variance in Amount of Training Provided to AMs .............91 I Analysis of Variance in Consulting Skill Levels to AMs........ .....92LIST OF TABLESTable 1: The 15 Consulting Skills and 3 Questions asked for each of 15 Skills.............33Table 2: Descriptive Statistics For Consulting Skills..45Table 3: Suggestions for Developing and Demonstrating Nine Consulting Skill Areas without Formal Training....................61LIST OF FIGURESFigure 1: Future Sales Training Needs (Kerr Buryzynski 1998).16Figure 2: The Range of Marketing Relationships (Lambe and Spekman 1997).20Figure 3: Gender Information of Participants..37Figure 4: Number of Months/Years Work Experiences of Participants..37 Figure 5: Having a Deep Understanding of the Customers Industry..39Fig...