Account Plans are Not Optional | Sales Tips

A few weeks ago, I was at a client sales management meeting and we were discussing Account Management because many were concerned that they were starting to lose some of their accounts.  There was a lot of resistance from the sales managers that said their teams won’t do account plans because they don’t want to go to the rigor of documenting what they’re going to do as clients are often unpredictable.

So I challenged them.  I said, “That’s fine.  You have to create account plans or proper account management practices for all your accounts or just the ones you want to keep.” There was silence in the room.  All joking aside, it is true -- you don’t need to create an account plan for every single account.

You do need to keep them for the ones you want to keep because you need to plan for their success.

However, if you have an account plan, you can work your way through these accounts in a methodical fashion. So here are three things that have to be on the account plan for your clients.

First, you need an organizational chart. Your number one job with account planning for your most important accounts is to be constantly building out your network of internal buyers.  Who are the people who are both wide and deep inside the organization that you should be in contact with?

Second, what are the compelling reasons why they want to buy?  When you talk to your buyers, why do they buy from you and why do they stay both from an intangible and a tangible perspective? What tangible and intangible values are you bringing to the table?

Finally, what strategic initiatives do they have coming up over the year that you can help them with?

These are the three basic parts of any successful account plan. I’m sure your business, being unique, has other things you need to add but if you document that and manage these three parts, you will lose fewer accounts which will help you grow your business faster.

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