Choosing your strategic accounts is one of the most critical decisions in a strategic account management (SAM) programme. By definition, these are supposed to be the accounts that have the largest impact on the future profit stream of the business.   Good strategic account selection is a cornerstone to good strategic account management. Select the wrong accounts and all the downstream work will be affected. Getting this part right is also important because it is vital for the business to see it as an early win. Get it wrong and the rest of the SAM programme is threatened.