Somehow, the New Year is “Account Planning Season.” Possibly, last quarter, you were asked to develop your account plan, but certainly in the next month or so, you will be asked to develop and present your account plan.
Usually, we pull out last year’s presentation. We blow off the digital dust, update it with what we did last year, we add the new numbers for this year, identify enough initiatives to keep management off our backs. Then we put it away for next year’s exercise and get on with our work.
The first problem with account planning is we treat it as an annual event. But effective account plans are action plans for what we would like to accomplish with the account. The results of the plan should be to identify actions and next steps, “What will we be doing, for what outcome, with who, by what date?” These action steps happen immediately, this week, next week, this month, next month….. And as we execute those plans, they generate new actions and next steps.
The account plan is dynamic, it’s something we continually update and should constantly be reviewing–at least once a quarter.
The second problem with account planning is it is all about us and what we want to inflict do to the account. We want to retain all the business we currently have, we want to expand the relationship, cross-sell, upsell. We want to displace competition, winning the business they had.
In doing this, we neglect to understand the account itself. We don’t understand their goals, strategies, priorities, challenges. We don’t understand what is happening in their markets, with their competition. We don’t understand what they are focused on and trying to achieve. We cannot “connect the dots,” understanding how the priorities of top management impact the functions and departments we work with .
And as a result, we miss huge opportunities with the account! We miss the opportunity to align with their priorities, to help them more effectively achieve their goals and address their challenges. We miss the opportunity to work with them, co-creating value meaningful to both them and us.
The most effective account planning processes begin with a deep understanding of the account itself, what they are trying to achieve and how they get work done. We do this independent of what we sell them, rather focusing on the account and people working at the account.
Once we understand what they are trying to achieve, the challenges in doing this, and how it impacts people we might work with; then we can put together a plan for how we help them achieve their goals, how we can help them have the most impact in what they need to get done. We create greater value helping them achieve what they need to achieve, rather than focusing solely on what we want to achieve. And through this, not surprisingly, we achieve far more than what we might achieve.
The account plan never starts with our plan. It always starts with a deep understanding of the customer (enterprise) and what they are trying to achieve.
This year, do these two things: Start with understanding the account and what they are trying to achieve. Then, as you figure out how you might help accelerate this process, create an action plan that you update on an ongoing basis. You’d be amazed at how much you improve both the value you create with the account and the results you produce!
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