The role of financial and marketing indicators in the function of ranking the key accounts

This paper describes the importance of developing key accounts as important business customers in organizations in Serbia. The paper presents the theoretical development of the emergence of the concept to key account in organizations that emerged due to dynamic changes in the market. Financial and marketing indicators are especially explained. A survey of 15 companies was realized within the sales department in the Serbian market. Respondents were employed at two levels: key account managers and sales managers. The results of the survey show the financial and marketing indicators in the key customer department that employees consider being the most important for business results. The most important are financial indicators: annual values of delivered goods, average value of delivered goods, profitability, and settlement of liabilities. Marketing indicators for ranking key customers include: market share, number of years of cooperation, growth potential and satisfaction with business relationships. The paper summarizes how the ranking of customers in several categories is important for the company and provides guidelines in creating a strategy for different key account groups.