7.1.1. Skills profile of a Key Account Manager

The necessary skills need to be compared with the qualifications of the potential candidates for the MTPRO Key Account Manager position. The competence net illustrates the eight most important skills. The ideal profile is marked by the outermost 100% line. However, such an ideal profile can rarely be found (Belz Christian/ Müllner Markus/ Zupancic Dirk, page 230). Figure 22 shows the desired profile (blue line) of a potential candidate for MTRPO. The emphasis is clearly on social, commercial, analytical and strategic skills. These skills shall be weighted as more important than, for instance, the technical expertise. Any skills that go beyond the desired profile level are an additional asset for a potential candidate. The preferred idea is to groom an existing territorial sales engineer to become a Key Account Manager. If no sales engineer can meet the desired profile an external recruitment process is necessary.

Account Manager (Source: On the basis of Belz Christian/ Müllner Markus/ Zupancic Dirk, Figure 80, page 231)" class="wp-image-9135 size-full" height="387" src="https://sgbs.ch/wp-content/uploads/Figure-22-Skills-profile-of-Key-Account-Manager.png" width="611"> Figure 22: Skills profile of Key Account Manager (Source: On the basis of Belz Christian/ Müllner Markus/ Zupancic Dirk, Figure 80, page 231)