Revenue reveals only part of a customer’s potential

The market is larger than our revenue

The decisive question is not simply how much business we generate with a customer today. It is how well we understand the market behind the account—and whether we actively develop our position within it.

An RFQ is usually the result of decisions that have already been made. Requirements have been defined, the technical direction may already be set and competitors may already be involved. If the work of the Key Account Manager starts only when the RFQ arrives, much of the strategic opportunity has already passed.

Most Key Account Managers know their own revenue with a customer very well. Fewer know the full volume the customer sources externally in the relevant product or technology area. This distinction matters: our revenue is the result of past decisions; the addressable external market is where future growth can come from.

Understanding that market does not require a perfect spreadsheet. It requires better questions:

• Which products and technologies does the customer actually buy?
• What is produced internally, and what is sourced from external partners?
• Which suppliers are already established—and why?
• Where do our capabilities genuinely fit?
• Which parts of the market are realistically addressable for us?

Share of wallet turns knowledge into ambition

Without this perspective, account planning can easily become a review of our own activities. With it, the conversation shifts towards the customer's business and the opportunities that have not yet been formalised.

Revenue tells us what we have achieved. Share of wallet asks a different question: What proportion of the customer's relevant external spend do we currently represent—and where could we credibly go next?

This is more than a financial metric. It changes the quality of account planning. Instead of focusing only on the next project, we can ask:

• Which relevant product groups are still missing from our relationship?
• Where could a second source be strategically valuable to the customer?
• Where are existing supplier positions vulnerable?
• Where can we contribute earlier, before specifications and suppliers are fixed?

Opportunities begin before the RFQ

Not every account should be expanded in every possible direction. Strategic focus means identifying the few areas where customer need, our capabilities and a credible reason to choose us come together.

Many opportunities are triggered by change: a new product platform, an acquisition, capacity constraints, quality issues, supplier problems, regulatory requirements or changes in the customer's cost structure and strategic priorities.

These triggers rarely arrive as clearly labelled sales opportunities. They may first appear in a customer conversation, a company announcement, a market signal or an observation from Engineering, Quality or Operations.

This is why I believe opportunities do not begin in the CRM. They begin with attention, curiosity and market understanding.

The CRM can then help structure the signal, connect it with the account strategy and make the next action visible. But a system cannot compensate for an organisation that looks only at the current quotation cycle.

Turning market understanding into action

Strategic Key Account Management is not the responsibility of Sales alone. Marketing can identify market and competitive signals, sharpen account-specific positioning and translate technical capabilities into relevant customer value. Through direct customer dialogue, Sales and Engineering can recognise new requirements, product developments or changes in sourcing strategy at an early stage. Quality and Regulatory can identify additional requirements that may decisively influence the course of a project. Such signals are often present long before they result in an RFQ or a concrete development project.

The role of the Key Account Manager is to connect these perspectives, assess their relevance to the account and translate them into concrete action.

CRM should support this by making a few essential things visible: the addressable market, current and desired share of wallet, competitive position, strategic priorities and the next meaningful action.

The objective is not more administration. It is better decisions: What has changed? Why does it matter? Where could it create an opportunity? Who needs to act next?

This is where market understanding becomes commercial execution.

Beyond managing existing business

For me, strategic Key Account Management is about much more than managing relationships, quotations and existing revenue. A strong Key Account Manager understands the customer's wider business, recognises relevant changes early and develops a clear view of where the relationship can realistically grow.

The RFQ remains important. It is simply no longer the starting point.

Sustainable growth begins earlier: with a clear view of the market, a realistic ambition for share of wallet and the discipline to turn relevant signals into action.