MT453 Unit 10 Key Account Growth Plan Example

Serve First, Then Grow: An MT453 Unit 10 Account Plan for a Two-Plant Food Manufacturer

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

MT453: Professional Selling

Unit 10 Account Plan

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

Pellston Hygiene, Salado Creek Foods, every person and every figure are composite; the sources cited are real.

Account Snapshot

Salado Creek Foods, the composite dip producer followed since Unit 2, signed a thirty-six-month sanitation program with Pellston Hygiene covering both lines at its San Antonio plant, worth $129,600 a year. The contract began on August 1, 2026, after a sixty-day pilot on line 1. Since August, line 1 allergen changeovers have averaged 3 hours 54 minutes, against 5 hours 31 minutes before the pilot and a contract standard of 4 hours 15 minutes. First-pass swab results have held at 96.5 percent, above the 95 percent standard. The plant passed its third-party audit in November with no sanitation findings.

People have changed since the sale. Tomás Reyes, the sanitation supervisor who first raised the problem, has been promoted to sanitation manager for both plants. Nadia Ochoa, the quality manager, has moved from skeptic to supporter after the clean audit. Lorena Vega remains purchasing manager and now reports cost per changeover to finance each quarter.

Service Before Selling

The plan's order is deliberate. Pellston's right to propose anything new rests on delivering what it sold, so the first commitment of the coming year is to keep the contract's standards and report them. Quarterly reviews with the plant manager and quality manager will continue, and any changeover above the standard will be explained in writing within a week. Homburg et al. (2002) found that key account programs succeed when the supplier dedicates resources to the account and coordinates across its own functions, and for a supplier of Pellston's size that means the territory representative and the technician working as one team on this customer.

Exhibit One: The Whitespace Grid

The whitespace grid lists Pellston's offerings down the side: cleaning chemistry, foam and dosing equipment, crew training, swab verification, environmental monitoring and water treatment. Across the top are Salado Creek's sites and lines: San Antonio line 1, San Antonio line 2, the planned San Antonio line 3 and the Laredo plant's two lines. Each cell is marked sold, open or not applicable. San Antonio lines 1 and 2 are sold for the first four offerings. Environmental monitoring is open at both plants. Laredo is open for everything. Water treatment is marked not applicable, since the city supplies the plant and its quality has caused no problems.

Growth Ranked by Fit

Growth opportunities are ranked by how well each fits a problem Salado Creek has stated, not by revenue.

First, the Laredo plant. The owner, Ramón Treviño, raised it himself at the November review: Laredo's changeovers are running long since it began making the dairy-free line for the grocery contract. A program similar to San Antonio's would be worth about $86,400 a year. The plan proposes a timed observation in Laredo in February, as in San Antonio, before any proposal.

Second, an environmental monitoring program, prompted by Nadia Ochoa, who wants to sample floors, drains and overhead structures for pathogens on a schedule rather than only in response to problems. It would be worth about $24,000 a year across both plants.

Third, line 3 in San Antonio, which the warehouse expansion will make room for in 2027. Writing its sanitation procedures as it is installed, rather than adapting them afterward, would add about $14,000 a year.

Together these would take the account from $129,600 to about $254,000 a year within two years.

Every growth opportunity in the plan answers a problem someone at the customer has already named.

Exhibit Two: The Refreshed Relationship Map

The map from Unit 3 is redrawn. The sanitation manager is now a champion with authority over both plants. The quality manager is a supporter and the internal sponsor for environmental monitoring. The purchasing manager has moved from opposed to neutral since she began reporting cost per changeover. The Laredo plant manager, Arturo Leal, is new to the map; his stance is unknown and he has not been met. The controller remains unmet, which the plan treats as a gap, since she will review any expansion. Johnston and Bonoma (1981) found that larger and less routine purchases draw in more people, and the Laredo proposal will bring in a second plant's staff who have no history with Pellston.

Renewal Risks and Planned Moves

Four risks threaten renewal in 2029. The incumbent supplier is likely to return with a much lower price per gallon before renewal; the planned move is to keep cost per changeover in every quarterly report, so the comparison the plant uses is the one Pellston wins. The plant manager could leave; the planned move is to build relationships with the sanitation manager and the owner so the account does not rest on one person. Chemistry prices could rise faster than the contract's 3 percent cap; the planned move is a purchasing agreement with Pellston's suppliers that covers the term. And line 2's benefits are less visible than line 1's, since line 2 is not sold out; the planned move is to report its overtime savings alongside line 1's production gains.

Exhibit Three: The Twelve-Month Calendar

The calendar places each action in a month: quarterly reviews in January, April, July and October; the Laredo observation in February and a proposal in April; the environmental monitoring proposal in March, after the quality manager's sampling plan is drafted; a meeting with the controller in May; line 3 procedure planning from September; and a renewal strategy review in December.

Measuring the Plan

Success for this plan means four things: contract standards met every quarter, the Laredo observation completed by February, account revenue reaching $254,000 within two years and the relationship map showing no opposed contacts. Anderson and Narus (1998) argue that suppliers keep business customers by documenting the value they deliver, not by assuming it is remembered, and every measure here is designed to be shown to the customer.

Three Limits on Growth

Three limits apply. It will not propose anything at Laredo before the plant has been observed and its own people have named the problem, because the San Antonio sale was won by measuring first. It will not discount the existing contract to win the expansion, since a lower price on work already delivered would tell the customer that the original price was padded. And it will not go around the purchasing manager to the owner, even though the owner is warmer; the purchasing manager's move from opposed to neutral was hard won, and bypassing her would undo it.

References

Anderson, J. C., & Narus, J. A. (1998). Business marketing: Understand what customers value. Harvard Business Review, 76(6), 53-65.

Homburg, C., Workman, J. P., Jr., & Jensen, O. (2002). A configurational perspective on key account management. Journal of Marketing, 66(2), 38-60. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.66.2.38.18471

Johnston, W. J., & Bonoma, T. V. (1981). The buying center: Structure and interaction patterns. Journal of Marketing, 45(3), 143-156. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224298104500312