The Selection and Organization of National Accounts: A North American Perspective By: James Boles, Wesley Johnston, and Alston Gardner Boles, James S., Wesley Johnston and Alston Gardner, “The Selection and Organization of National Accounts: A North American Perspective.” Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing 14 (4, 1999), 264-276. https://doi.org/10.1108/08858629910279871 © 1999, MCB UP Limited. This author accepted manuscript is deposited under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC) license. This means that anyone may distribute, adapt, and build upon the work for non-commercial purposes, subject to full attribution. If you wish to use this manuscript for commercial purposes, please contact permissions@emerald.com. Abstract: Examines possible reasons behind the current rapid growth of national accounts. In particular, it examines how relationship marketing/selling has increased the need for national account programs. The article first provides a review of the national account management literature. Then, findings from the study of national accounts are presented. It provides details concerning how suppliers select customers for national account status. Results suggest that there is considerable overlap among firms in how they select and organize national account management teams. Implications for marketing management are provided and areas for future research are detailed. Keywords: business | key accounts | relationship marketing | marketing management | USA Article: The business‐to‐business sales environment of today is increasingly complex (e.g. Boles et al., 1997). Suppliers are being asked to do more for their customers and are often required to find new approaches to doing business (Wilson, 1995). One such approach involves using the salesforce to build relationships with customers, which furthers cooperation between the firms (Frey and Schlosser, 1993). Sales personnel are important The topic of inter‐firm relationships is one of the major business‐to‐business marketing issues currently being addressed by practitioners and academic researchers (e.g. Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Sengupta et al., 1997). A central component in the development and maintenance of buyer‐seller relationships is the salesforce (Boles et al., 1996; Crosby et al., 1990). Sales personnel are important at each stage of the relationship building process (Dwyer et al., 1987) with continued contact leading to increased customer trust and satisfaction with the supplier. Positive outcomes for both customer and supplier insure that the relationship will receive the attention it needs to be maintained and continue to grow (Doney and Cannon, 1997; Callahan, 1992).