“An account is an entity, institution or network in which the decision-making about registration, listing, reimbursement, purchasing, usage, or recommendation of a product or service involves a number of people.” (source: KAM in Pharma 3.0, December 2014, available at the your bookstore of choice)
The individuals inside an account you call “stakeholders” or DMU-Members
(Decision Making Unit).
These people are not “customers”. This would be a wrong word, misleading thoughts and derailing your strategic approaches, because you will be “selling” again. They will try to
sell their product to individuals
who do not buy! A number of
those stakeholders will even be embarrassed when being addressed as “customer”. Be assured: “buying into a concept” will never justify the word customer in the context with a
healthcare-provider.
Definition of “Customer”: (see any dictionary or Wikipedia)
A customer is an individual who bought a product or service.
Consequence:
The word "customer" usually is erroneously used in pharma.
It is fully inappropriate to apply this word to physicians.
A Key Account Manager establishes, forms, and MANAGES the internal team necessary to meet the requirements and needs of those stakeholders inside the KEY ACCOUNT.