Account Plans Built In Salesforce

There are four core sections to focus on in a good account plan:

• Business Overview
• Objectives & goals
• Relationship Mapping
• White Space (Expansion)

Business Overview

Strategic account planning needs a comprehensive account overview. What are the main challenges of the business? How does the company go to market? Who are their competitors? What sort of resources are available to deploy your tool or service? Answering these key questions will give your team a good foundation to work on. We also see teams do a SWOT, which can function as a condensed competitive analysis and expose areas of risk at your biggest customers. Sales professionals will struggle to win and retain larger accounts if there isn’t a clear overview of the account.

Goals and Objectives

This is where you want to identify the key business initiatives that the account has, the ways they are measured, and what the goals at a team and company level look like. Account planning efforts should also cover the specific KPIs that your product or service is meant to move the most. Understanding these objectives puts your team in a position to drive the most value and success for your customers. Account managers will play a major role in driving quick wins and a good experience. Don’t skip this part of the account template.

Relationship Mapping

It’s very difficult to retain and grow key accounts if you don’t understand “who is who” within your clients. Key account planning drives the sales and support teams to document the stakeholders you will be working with. It drives accountability for reps to build relationships and multi-thread into other business units. This exercise also helps reduce the risk of an account discontinuing business if your main contact or two leave the company. Using software helps sales professionals understand who has influence, support, and the overall engagement and breadth of activity within the account.

White Space

It’If your company sells multiple products or services, properly documenting, reporting on, and acting on that expansion potential is paramount. Acquiring new business has become more challenging and expensive, so growing your current customers is an efficient way to hit your number. Once you’ve documented the key players in an organization you can begin to prospect and market to other business units. Use the business overview to communicate the challenges and goals that other teams have and how you can help them. This is a critical aspect of a strategic account plan, but the exercise is only necessary if you have opportunities to grow the account.

Creating a key account plan is a great first step, but how effective is it if no one acts on the plan? Key account plans must be actionable with the team being accountable for certain milestones and tasks. Doing so helps the team work toward accomplishing the client’s goals.