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8 best practices for successful strategic account management

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For most organizations, the old business adage rings true: 80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients. It would make sense, then, to treat these valuable assets with greater care. Yet, too often, companies don’t have a dedicated process to nurture those key business relationships.

The work isn’t done when the sale closes. Customers big and small can churn for many reasons. The best way to avoid a costly breakup with your most valuable customers is to implement a strategic account management program.

Read on to learn strategic account management best practices and how you can nurture key relationships for long-term success.

What is strategic account management?

Strategic account management (SAM) or key account management focuses on building long-term mutually beneficial partnerships with key customers.

Through in-depth research and assessment, strategic account managers find opportunities to drive value for their partners by identifying problems, offering creative solutions, and leveraging partnerships to move both organizations toward their strategic goals.  

A formal strategic account management program can:

• Foster customer loyalty.
• Stimulate growth.
• Increase profitability.
• Drive innovative and scalable service solutions.

Sales vs. strategic management

Unlike a sales program, which focuses on short-term selling cycles and customer acquisition, strategic management goes a step further to develop deeper relationships with a small number of core customers over time.

In short, sales is about the present. Strategic management is about the future.

While the gains may not be immediate, strategic accounts are a vital part of an organization’s long-term success and profitability.

Strategic account management best practices

An effective SAM program isn’t something you stumble upon. The most successful organizations rely on formal, measurable, repeatable processes to develop and maintain their most valuable customer relationships.

Whether you already have a process in place or plan to implement a new strategic account program, use these account management best practices to put your organization ahead of the curve.

1. Assign dedicated strategic account managers

The first step to a successful program is to assign dedicated account managers who are separate from sales. The best programs don’t have managers that must split their priorities or switch focus between making sales and developing strategic accounts.

Instead, create a team (or teams) with dedicated accounts and team leads focused solely on strategic management.

When filling these roles, keep in mind that sales and strategic management have different objectives and require a different skill set and approach to customer relationships.

Strategic account managers should be both analytical and personable. They need to build rapport with customers, think strategically about partnership opportunities and solutions, collaborate and communicate with high-level stakeholders and decision-makers, and lead a cross-functional team.    

2. Develop selection criteria for key accounts

While all customers are valuable, not all customers can be elevated to a key account. Be selective. Strategic accounts are reserved for customers whose partnerships can propel your organization toward its goals.

How can you determine which accounts are worthy?

You’ll need to develop a shortlist of selection criteria that hone in on alignments between your two organizations. Focus on three to eight objective criteria, weighted in relative importance to your organization.

These criteria could include:

• Product fit
• Revenue potential
• Growth potential
• Cultural fit
• Geographic alignment
• Existing relationships
• Potential channel partnership

Senior management should take the lead on this stage rather than the sales managers. Selection criteria are based on the organization’s high-level strategic goals and vision, so senior managers are the best fit for this role.  

3. Polish the handoff from sales

An oft-overlooked step in the SAM process is the transition from sales to account management. How well you handle account transitions is an important part of building a trusted relationship with your customers.

For best results, follow a formal, scripted handoff from the sales team to the account management team. Each customer (whether they become a key account or not) should be methodically organized and tracked in your account system.

Make sure to communicate clearly with the customer, so they understand who their points of contact are and what to expect going forward. For example, how often will you touch base with them via phone or email? Who can they talk to if they have questions or concerns? Setting clear expectations (and following through!) will foster a trusting relationship with your customer.

Learn how our sales and customer success teams at Lucidchart have perfected this handoff in this article .

4. Create a comprehensive customer profile

Once you have a selection process in place and you have identified and assigned your key accounts, you’ll need to develop in-depth customer portfolios.

The strategic account manager has to know their customer inside and out. To do this, they need to conduct research on the client company to build out a comprehensive profile.

Investigate and assess the company’s:

• Business and markets
• Goals and initiatives
• Stakeholder roles and responsibilities
• Key decision makers
• Analyst reports
• Competition

The aim is to understand your customer’s pain points and goals in order to identify opportunities for added value and collaboration. Our thorough customer model overview template can help.

5. Conduct a needs assessment

With your portfolio of customer research, the next step is to conduct a needs assessment.

• What are the organization’s pain points?
• Where do your needs or goals overlap and how can you help each other progress?
• Are there any problems looming that you can anticipate and address for them?

Use your data to find ways you can help them, and assess opportunities for collaboration and partnership. Strategic accounts are long-term investments. Instead of a typical 3-12 month transactional lifecycle, you are creating a strategy for the next 1-3 years. Keep that in mind as you assess strategic needs and opportunities.  

Remember: The ultimate goal of strategic account management is to grow with your customer.

6. Draft a strategic plan and proposal

Based on your needs assessment, drill down to the best strategic opportunities and draft an account plan. This plan is your strategic roadmap for the next 1-3 years. Once you polish the plan, approach your customer with your proposal.

Your proposal should include things like:

• Strategic recommendations (e.g., potential partnerships with other companies, creative solutions, etc.)
• Specific long-term goals with short-term benchmarks
• Resource requirements

This is your chance to demonstrate to the client that you’ve gone above and beyond to understand and address their needs and that your company is invested in their success.

7. Set a cadence for contacts, meetings, and follow-ups

Once you have a strategic plan in place, set a regular cadence for ongoing communication with your key accounts.

Outline a schedule for each touchpoint, meeting, and follow-up to ensure your customer is in the loop and has the opportunity to give feedback, communicate changes, or ask questions.

This schedule will help you stay updated on what your customer needs, how they are using your product or solution, and how you can help. Clear communication is vital to a strong working relationship with your customers. Our customer journey map template is a perfect way to start.

8. Monitor performance

Continually monitor and measure your performance on each account. What progress have you made on your short-term and long-term goals? How do your results measure against your KPIs?

Monitoring performance is not only important to ensure you deliver on your end but also to track how well the key account fulfills its obligations to you. While you want to drive value for the client, the goal is one of mutual long-term benefit. If the relationship no longer holds the same strategic value for your organization, it’s better to identify that sooner rather than later.

Measure your account performance continually so you can keep the plans on track and pivot or reassess as needed.

Lucid can help with your strategic account management

Strategic account management is complex. With so many moving parts, it is easy for data, insights, or people to fall through the cracks. Yet, key accounts represent the most valuable customers, so you can’t afford to drop the ball.

Lucidchart helps sales teams manage their processes seamlessly. From account maps to process flows , Lucidchart helps you visualize relationships and stay on track as you move through the account management process.

With our Salesforce integration , you can import your CRM data directly into Lucidchart to create account maps. Account maps help managers and teams:

• Identify key relationships in an organization.
• Track the progression of a sale or relationship.
• Transition accounts between reps and teams.
• Document a shareable account plan.

Key accounts are 60% to 70% more likely to close, and key accounts make up the lifeblood of many companies.

Don’t miss out on your best relationships. By implementing a formal strategic account management process, you can reap the benefits of long-term partnerships for many years to come.

 Lucidchart serves as a dynamic roadmap to help your team close bigger deals faster.

About Lucidchart

Lucidchart, a cloud-based intelligent diagramming application, is a core component of Lucid Software's Visual Collaboration Suite. This intuitive, cloud-based solution empowers teams to collaborate in real-time to build flowcharts, mockups, UML diagrams, customer journey maps, and more. Lucidchart propels teams forward to build the future faster. Lucid is proud to serve top businesses around the world, including customers such as Google, GE, and NBC Universal, and 99% of the Fortune 500. Lucid partners with industry leaders, including Google, Atlassian, and Microsoft. Since its founding, Lucid has received numerous awards for its products, business, and workplace culture. For more information, visit lucidchart.com.

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Strategic Account Planning: All You Need to Know

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What is Strategic Account Planning?

Strategic account planning is more than just a buzzword in the business world. It is a structured approach that allows companies to align their goals and objectives with the needs and expectations of their key accounts. By understanding and implementing strategic account planning, businesses can drive long-term success, foster strong customer relationships, and stay ahead of the competition.

At its core, strategic account planning involves a deep understanding of the customer’s business, industry, and challenges. It goes beyond transactional interactions and focuses on building strategic partnerships that are mutually beneficial for both parties involved. By investing time and effort into understanding the customer’s needs, businesses can develop tailored solutions, provide exceptional value, and become trusted advisors to their key accounts.

One of the key benefits of strategic account planning is the ability to retain and grow existing customer relationships. By understanding the customer’s unique challenges and objectives, businesses can proactively identify new opportunities for collaboration and growth. This not only helps in retaining the customer but also enables businesses to increase their share of wallet and drive revenue growth.

Benefits of Strategic Account Planning:

• Improved customer satisfaction and loyalty
• Increased revenue and profitability
• Enhanced cross-selling and upselling opportunities
• Stronger alignment of business goals and objectives
• Greater visibility into customer needs and expectations

However, it is important to note that strategic account planning is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Each customer and industry will have unique requirements and dynamics. Therefore, businesses must invest in the time and resources required to truly understand their key accounts and develop customized account plans.

Key Elements of Strategic Account Planning

By understanding strategic account planning and its implications, businesses can unlock the full potential of their key accounts and establish themselves as trusted partners in their industry.

Processes of Strategic Account Planning

Strategic account planning involves several key processes aimed at building value-driven relationships with key customers. Implementing these processes effectively can significantly contribute to long-term development and revenue maximization. Let’s delve into these essential processes:

Current Position

Understanding the current position of the account is crucial. This includes analyzing account information such as revenue, profitability, product/service usage, geographic spread, and strategic initiatives. By leveraging publicly available data and asking relevant questions, such as the client’s future goals and potential obstacles, account managers can gain valuable insights into the client’s financial standing and organizational structure.

Voice of Customer (VOC)

Listening to the voice of the customer is paramount in strategic account planning. Engaging in meaningful discussions with clients helps uncover their challenges, concerns, and pain points. This insight is invaluable for tailoring products/services to meet client needs, driving customer loyalty, and increasing sales. Unlike publicly available data, VOC requires proactive communication and relationship-building efforts.

Relationship Management

Effective relationship management is essential for success in strategic account planning. This involves understanding the different types of relationships with clients and creating organization charts to identify key contacts, their roles, and their level of influence within the client organization. By mapping relationships and understanding the dynamics within the client’s organization, account managers can tailor their strategies and efforts accordingly.

ARPEDIO’s Relationship Mapping & Org Chart Software, natively in Salesforce

Key Components of Strategic Account Planning

When it comes to strategic account planning, certain key components are crucial for achieving success. These components form the foundation of an effective account planning process. Let’s explore the essential elements that businesses should consider:

1. Understanding Customer Needs

One of the key components of strategic account planning is gaining a deep understanding of customer needs. By conducting thorough research and analysis , businesses can identify their customers’ pain points, challenges, and goals. This knowledge enables them to tailor their strategies and solutions to meet those specific needs.

2. Setting Clear Objectives

To drive success in account planning , it’s important for businesses to set clear objectives. These objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). By defining clear goals, businesses can align their efforts and track progress effectively.

3. Developing Effective Strategies

An effective account plan requires the development of well-thought-out strategies. These strategies should outline how businesses will address customer needs and achieve their objectives. It’s essential to consider factors such as value proposition, competitive advantage, and differentiation when developing these strategies.

Conducting Account Research and Analysis

In order to develop an effective strategic account plan, businesses need to conduct thorough account research and analysis. This crucial step provides valuable insights into the customers’ business environment, challenges, and goals, allowing businesses to tailor their strategies and offerings accordingly.

Account research involves gathering data and information about the customer’s industry, market trends, competition, and customer preferences. This can be done through market research reports, industry publications, customer interviews, and online surveys. By leveraging these sources, businesses can gain a comprehensive understanding of the customer’s unique needs and pain points.

Once the account research is complete, businesses can perform a detailed analysis of the gathered information. This analysis helps identify patterns, trends, and areas of opportunity that can shape the strategic account plan. It provides a solid foundation for making data-driven decisions and developing tailored strategies for customer engagement and growth.

Techniques and Tools for Account Research and Analysis

There are several techniques and tools available to aid businesses in conducting account research and analysis. These include:

• SWOT analysis : A strategic tool that helps identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with the customer’s business.
• Competitor analysis: Evaluating the customer’s direct and indirect competitors to understand their positioning, offerings, and market share.
• Customer segmentation: Dividing the customer base into distinct segments based on demographic, geographic, psychographic, or behavioral factors to better understand their unique needs.
• Financial analysis: Assessing the customer’s financial health, including revenue, profitability, and liquidity ratios, to gauge their stability and growth potential.
• Technology platforms: Utilizing customer relationship management (CRM) systems, data analytics tools, and social listening platforms to gather and analyze customer data effectively.

By employing these techniques and tools, businesses can uncover valuable insights and trends that drive informed decision-making and allow for the development of targeted strategies. With a well-rounded understanding of their customers and the market, businesses can position themselves as trusted advisors and add significant value to their strategic account relationships.

Developing a Strategic Account Plan

Developing a comprehensive strategic account plan is essential for businesses looking to drive long-term success and build strong customer relationships. In this section, we will guide you through the process of creating an effective account plan that aligns with your business objectives and meets the needs of your key stakeholders.

Identifying Key Stakeholders

One of the first steps in developing a strategic account plan is identifying the key stakeholders involved in the account. These stakeholders may include decision-makers, influencers, and end-users within the customer organization. By understanding their roles and responsibilities, you can tailor your account plan to address their specific needs and objectives.

Defining Value Propositions

To create a successful account plan, it’s crucial to define compelling value propositions that differentiate your offerings from competitors and address the unique challenges faced by the customer. By clearly articulating the value your products or services bring to the table, you can effectively communicate the benefits and outcomes that customers can expect.

Creating Actionable Goals and Initiatives

A strategic account plan should outline actionable goals and initiatives that align with both your business objectives and the customer’s goals. These goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). By breaking these goals down into initiatives, you can map out the steps required to achieve them and assign responsibilities to team members.

By following these steps and incorporating them into your strategic account plan, you can create a roadmap for success and establish a strong foundation for long-term growth. In the next section, we will explore strategies for effective communication and relationship building in strategic account planning.

Effective Communication and Relationship Building

Effective communication and relationship building are crucial components of successful strategic account planning. Building strong relationships with key accounts helps businesses establish trust, foster loyalty, and drive long-term growth. In this section, we will explore strategies for fostering strong relationships with key accounts and ensuring effective communication throughout the account planning process.

Fostering Strong Relationships

Building strong relationships with key accounts is about creating a connection based on trust, mutual understanding, and shared goals. Here are some strategies to foster strong relationships:

• Invest time in getting to know your key accounts. Listen actively to their needs, challenges, and objectives. This will help you tailor your approach and provide personalized solutions.
• Communicate regularly with your key accounts and be proactive in addressing their concerns. Show genuine interest in their success and offer support wherever needed.
• Deliver on your promises and exceed expectations. Consistently deliver value and demonstrate your commitment to the success of your key accounts.
• Collaborate with key accounts on joint initiatives and projects. This not only strengthens the relationship but also creates opportunities for mutual growth.

Ensuring Effective Communication

Effective communication is the foundation of successful account planning. It ensures that all stakeholders are aligned, goals are clear, and expectations are managed. Here are some strategies for effective communication:

• Establish clear channels of communication with your key accounts. Regularly check in, provide updates, and be responsive to any inquiries or requests.
• Listen actively to understand your key accounts’ needs and objectives fully. Ask relevant questions and seek clarification to ensure clear communication.
• Communicate strategically, tailoring your messages to resonate with each key account’s unique needs and preferences.
• Utilize a combination of communication methods, including face-to-face meetings, phone calls, emails, and video conferencing, to maintain a strong connection with your key accounts.

By prioritizing effective communication and relationship building, businesses can establish strong partnerships with key accounts, lay the foundation for long-term success, and unlock collaborative opportunities.

Aligning Sales and Marketing Efforts

Effective strategic account planning requires a seamless collaboration between the sales and marketing departments. Aligning sales and marketing efforts ensures a coordinated approach that maximizes customer relationships and drives business growth.

By integrating sales and marketing strategies, companies can create a unified front that delivers consistent messaging and a personalized customer experience. Sales teams can provide valuable insights to the marketing department, enabling them to develop targeted campaigns that resonate with key accounts. Likewise, marketing teams can equip sales teams with the necessary tools and resources to effectively communicate the value proposition to customers.

This alignment also helps to eliminate any disconnect between sales and marketing, fostering a stronger partnership and reducing internal conflicts. Sales and marketing teams are united in their shared goals and objectives, leading to improved communication, streamlined processes, and better overall outcomes.

Furthermore, aligning sales and marketing efforts allows businesses to leverage customer data and insights across both departments. This integrated approach enables a deeper understanding of customer needs, preferences, and behaviors, empowering sales and marketing teams to create more targeted and personalized strategies that drive results.

Ultimately, aligning sales and marketing efforts in strategic account planning enhances customer engagement, accelerates the sales cycle, and improves overall business performance.

Benefits of Aligning Sales and Marketing Efforts

The alignment of sales and marketing efforts offers numerous benefits for businesses:

• Improved lead generation: By working together, sales and marketing teams can generate high-quality leads through targeted campaigns and strategies.
• Enhanced customer experience: Consistent messaging and personalized interactions contribute to a positive customer experience, fostering loyalty and long-term relationships.
• Higher conversion rates: The synergy between sales and marketing ensures a smoother sales process, leading to higher conversion rates and increased revenue.
• Maximized ROI: Integrated sales and marketing efforts optimize resource allocation and minimize wasteful spending, resulting in a higher return on investment.

Proactive Account Management and Growth

Proactive account management is an integral part of achieving long-term success in business. By actively engaging with accounts and continuously delivering value, companies can foster strong relationships, drive customer satisfaction, and identify growth opportunities. In this section, we will explore key insights and strategies for effective account management and achieving sustainable growth.

Delivering Exceptional Customer Service

One of the foundations of proactive account management is delivering exceptional customer service. By going above and beyond to meet customer needs, companies can solidify their position as trusted partners. This involves:

• Anticipating customer needs: Understanding the unique requirements of each account and proactively identifying opportunities to provide value.
• Ensuring clear communication: Maintaining open lines of communication with accounts, actively listening to their feedback, and addressing any concerns in a timely manner.
• Providing personalized support: Tailoring solutions and support to meet the specific goals and challenges faced by each account.

Identifying Growth Opportunities

Proactive account management also involves identifying and capitalizing on growth opportunities. By analyzing account data and market trends, businesses can uncover potential areas for expansion. This includes:

• Understanding customer goals: Gaining a deep understanding of each account’s strategic objectives and aligning efforts to support their growth initiatives.
• Monitoring industry trends: Keeping a pulse on market developments, emerging technologies, and evolving customer needs to identify new opportunities for value creation.
• Collaborating with cross-functional teams: Engaging with sales, marketing, and product teams to leverage synergies and develop innovative solutions that drive customer satisfaction and business growth.

Utilizing Account Management Tools

Effective proactive account management often involves leveraging technology and tools to streamline processes and enhance productivity. By implementing the right account management software , businesses can:

• Track and manage account activities: Gain visibility into account interactions, progress, and potential risks, enabling better decision-making and proactive problem-solving.
• Automate tasks: Reduce manual administrative work, allowing account managers to focus on building relationships and delivering value.
• Generate actionable insights: Analyze data and generate reports to identify trends, measure account performance, and uncover opportunities for improvement.

To effectively implement proactive account management strategies, it’s crucial to leverage data-driven insights, nurture strong customer relationships, and continuously adapt and innovate. By prioritizing proactive account management and embracing a growth mindset, businesses can drive sustainable success for themselves and their valued customers.

Key Performance Metrics and Measurement

Measuring and tracking the success of strategic account planning is crucial. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of their account plans and make data-driven decisions, businesses need to monitor key performance metrics. These metrics provide valuable insights into the outcomes of their strategic initiatives and help identify areas for improvement.

Key Performance Metrics for Strategic Account Planning

When measuring the performance of strategic account plans, businesses should focus on several key metrics:

By regularly monitoring these performance metrics, businesses can assess the impact of their strategic account plans and make informed decisions to optimize their efforts. It is important to establish baseline measurements, set realistic targets, and consistently track progress to ensure continuous improvement and success.

With the right data and insights, businesses can identify areas for improvement, make informed adjustments to their strategies, and drive meaningful results through strategic account planning.

Overcoming Challenges in Strategic Account Planning

Strategic account planning is a crucial process for businesses to ensure long-term success and maintain strong customer relationships. However, it is not without its challenges. In this section, we will explore some common obstacles that businesses may encounter during strategic account planning and provide strategies and solutions for overcoming them.

Lack of Alignment and Communication

One of the key challenges in strategic account planning is the lack of alignment and communication between different departments within an organization. Sales, marketing, and customer service teams need to work cohesively to develop and execute account plans effectively. By fostering open lines of communication and implementing cross-functional collaboration, businesses can overcome this challenge and ensure everyone is working towards a common goal.

Changing Customer Needs

As customer preferences and requirements evolve, businesses must adapt their account plans to meet these changing needs. This can be a challenge, especially when organizations are not proactive in gathering customer feedback and monitoring market trends. By staying abreast of industry changes and regularly engaging with customers, businesses can stay ahead of the curve and continuously update their account plans to align with shifting customer needs.

In strategic account planning, identifying and building relationships with key stakeholders is crucial. However, it can be challenging to determine who the key decision-makers are within a customer organization. Conducting thorough research and leveraging existing relationships can help businesses overcome this hurdle and ensure they are engaging with the right individuals who have the authority to make purchasing decisions.

Managing Multiple Accounts

For businesses managing multiple key accounts, prioritization and resource allocation can become a challenge. It is essential to allocate resources effectively to ensure each account receives the necessary attention and support. By leveraging account management tools and establishing clear guidelines for prioritization, businesses can overcome this challenge and effectively manage multiple accounts.

Measuring Success

Measuring the success of strategic account planning can be difficult without defined metrics and performance indicators. Businesses need to establish clear goals and track relevant metrics to assess the effectiveness of their account plans. By leveraging data analytics and setting measurable objectives, businesses can overcome this challenge and make informed decisions to continuously improve their account planning process.

Overcoming challenges in strategic account planning is essential for businesses to achieve their goals and maintain successful customer relationships. By addressing the common obstacles discussed in this section and implementing the provided strategies, businesses can navigate the complexities of strategic account planning and drive long-term success.

In conclusion, this article has highlighted the essential elements and strategies required for successful strategic account planning. By adopting these practices and continuously refining the account plan, businesses can unlock their full potential, drive long-term success, and foster strong customer relationships.

Strategic account planning is a critical approach that enables businesses to understand and meet the unique needs of their most important customers. By taking the time to research and analyze each account, organizations can develop tailored strategies that address specific challenges and opportunities.

Furthermore, by focusing on effective communication and relationship building, businesses can strengthen collaborations with key accounts, enhance customer loyalty, and drive mutually beneficial growth. Regularly reviewing and evaluating key performance metrics can provide insights into the effectiveness of account plans and guide future decision-making.

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The complete guide to strategic account management (2024).

Key takeaways

• Strategic account management is especially crucial in industries or enterprises where a few clients contribute significantly to a company’s revenue (the 80/20 rule).

By managing key accounts properly, an enterprise can drive revenue growth, increase customer loyalty, and maintain a competitive edge in the market.

In this article...

What is strategic account management? 

Strategic account management (SAM) refers to a specialized approach used by businesses to manage their most important and valuable customer accounts strategically and proactively. Also known as strategic customer management, or SAM, this strategy focuses on building and maintaining long-term relationships with key, profitable clients or accounts to maximize their value to the organization.

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Strategic account management best practices

There are a variety of core concepts and principles in the realm of strategic account strategy and management. Understanding each type can help you leverage what techniques might best suit your business needs.

Customer-centric approach 

SAM involves understanding key accounts’ unique needs, goals, and challenges. It consists of aligning the enterprise’s products, services, and solutions to manage, meet, and exceed customer requirements.

Building long-term relationships

SAM emphasizes cultivating strong, mutually beneficial relationships with key accounts over the long term. This involves continuous engagement, effective communication, and providing ongoing value to the customer.

Strategic planning

SAM requires developing strategic account plans tailored to each core account. These plans outline objectives, strategies, and actions to maximize the account’s potential and align with the customer’s business objectives.

Cross-functional collaboration

Successful SAM involves collaboration among various departments within the organization, such as sales, marketing, customer support, tech support, product development, and senior management. This collaboration ensures a unified approach to serving the strategic accounts.

Value creation and delivery

SAM delivers exceptional value to strategic accounts by offering customized solutions, addressing specific pain points, and providing high-quality service and support.

Continuous review and adaptation

SAM involves regularly reviewing the account strategy, assessing performance, and adapting plans based on changing market conditions, customer needs, or internal factors.

Measurement and metrics

Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to evaluate the success of strategic account management efforts. Metrics should include revenue growth, customer satisfaction, retention rates, and profitability of the accounts.

Executive-level engagement

SAM often involves engagement at the executive level, where senior leaders from both the supplier and customer organizations collaborate to align strategies and foster a strong partnership.

Strategic account management is especially crucial in industries or enterprises where a few clients contribute significantly to a company’s revenue (the 80/20 rule). Additionally, it’s a practice that’s essential for all sales managers and executives. By focusing resources and efforts on managing these key accounts strategically, businesses aim to increase customer loyalty, drive revenue growth, and gain a competitive advantage in the market. They can also gain new accounts by maintaining and strengthening the current strategy account management structure.

Read more : How to Build a Sales Pipeline

How does an account management strategy work?

SAM involves systematically managing customer relationships, mainly focusing on important accounts or clients to achieve specific business goals. 

Here’s how it typically works:

Identify key accounts: The first step is determining which accounts are crucial for the organization’s success. The 80/20 rule is a popular and proven rule that 20% of a company’s key accounts produce the most revenue. These accounts may contribute significantly to revenue, have growth potential, or hold strategic importance for other reasons.

Understand customer needs: Account managers work closely with key clients to understand their needs, pain points, objectives, and challenges. This involves building relationships and gaining insights into the client’s business operations. Listening, asking the right questions, and seeking the right solutions to meet and exceed a customer’s spoken and unspoken needs are crucial.

Develop account plans: Create customized plans for each key account. These plans outline strategies, objectives, actions, and timelines tailored to meet the specific needs and goals of the client while aligning with the company’s objectives.

Cross-functional collaboration: Collaboration among different departments, such as sales, marketing, customer support, and product development, is essential. This ensures a unified approach to effectively serving the strategic accounts.

Provide value: Account managers aim to provide value to key accounts by offering tailored solutions, addressing pain points, delivering high-quality service, and demonstrating a deep understanding of the client’s business.

Regular communication and engagement: Maintain regular communication and engagement with key accounts. This involves ongoing discussions, updates on new offerings, sharing industry insights, and promptly addressing concerns or issues. Lapses in communication can lead to a problem with or loss of a strategic account.

Reviewing and adapting strategies: Regularly review account strategies, assess performance against set objectives, and adjust plans based on changing market conditions, customer needs, or internal factors. Flexibility and agility are crucial in adjusting strategies.

Measurement and evaluation: Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to evaluate the success of the account management strategy. Metrics should include revenue growth, customer satisfaction, retention rates, and profitability of the accounts.

Executive-level engagement: For more extensive or strategic accounts, engagement at the executive level is often necessary. Senior leaders from supplier and customer organizations collaborate to align strategies and foster a strong partnership.

Continuous improvement: Use feedback and insights from account management activities to improve services, products, and strategies for better account management.

The success of an account management strategy relies on understanding the specific needs of key strategic accounts, providing value, fostering strong relationships, and aligning strategies to meet both the client’s and the company’s objectives.

By following these tips and consistently executing your SAM strategy, you can effectively manage key client relationships, drive value, maximize revenue potential, and achieve mutually beneficial outcomes for any organization and its key accounts.

Read more : 6 Common Sales Mistakes to Avoid

Why is strategic account management (SAM) effective?

SAM strategies work for several reasons, mainly due to their focused approach to managing and nurturing key client relationships. Here are some effective SAM strategies:

Focused resource allocation

SAM allows companies to concentrate their resources, efforts, and expertise on managing a select group of key accounts. This focused approach ensures that resources are used efficiently to drive value and revenue from these crucial clients.

Understanding client needs

SAM involves gaining in-depth knowledge of the client’s business, objectives, challenges, and preferences. This understanding enables account managers to tailor solutions, products, and services to meet client needs.

Long-term relationship building

SAM emphasizes building and maintaining long-term relationships with key accounts. Companies can increase customer loyalty and retention by investing time and effort in fostering these relationships.

Customization and personalization

SAM enables companies to offer personalized solutions and services to key accounts. By customizing offerings to meet specific client needs, companies enhance the value they provide to those clients.

Strategic alignment

An effective SAM ensures that the company’s strategies align with the objectives and goals of key clients. This alignment strengthens the partnerships, fostering mutual growth and success.

Maximizing revenue potential

SAM helps identify opportunities for upselling, cross-selling, and offering additional services to key accounts. This approach maximizes revenue potential from existing, valuable, profitable clients.

Reduced churn and increased profitability

SAM reduces churn (loss of customers) and improves client retention by focusing on customer satisfaction and building relationships. Satisfied, loyal clients are likelier to continue doing business and generate higher profits.

Differentiation and competitive advantage

Companies implementing SAM strategies differentiate themselves from competitors. Offering superior client service, value, and tailored solutions can create barriers for competitors entering those accounts.

Risk reduction

Diversifying efforts across multiple key accounts reduces the risk of dependency on a few customers. If one account faces challenges, the impact on the overall business is lessened.

Continuous improvement

SAM involves ongoing feedback loops and performance evaluations. This allows companies to optimize their services continuously, adapt to changing client needs, and refine their strategies for better account management.

In summary, strategic account management strategies work because they focus on understanding client needs, building strong relationships, providing tailored solutions, and aligning processes to achieve mutual success. This approach enables companies to manage, measure, and implement various account functions effectively.

Read more : How to Map Out an Effective Sales Process

What are the pros and cons of Strategic Account Management?

• Resource intensive: SAM can require significant resources, including time, effort, skilled personnel, and financial investment, to manage key accounts effectively. An enterprise must determine if it has the bandwidth to tackle this process.
• Complexity: Managing multiple key accounts with diverse needs and demands can require a sophisticated approach, frictionless coordination, and efficient, timely communications among various departments.
• Dependency risk: Over-reliance on a few key accounts may pose risks if one or more funds face challenges or discontinue the relationship.
• Costs vs. returns: The cost of servicing and managing key accounts might sometimes outweigh the returns, especially if the relationship yields a different result. An accurate analysis must be rendered.
• Changing dynamics: Market shifts, changes in customer needs, or turnover within the client’s organization can impact the effectiveness of SAM strategies.
• Strategic misalignment: Misalignment between the company’s objectives and those of key accounts may lead to difficulties in meeting mutual goals.

While strategic account management brings numerous benefits, businesses must consider these challenges and trade-offs when implementing and maintaining a successful SAM strategy. Adapting strategies, continuous improvement, and efficient resource allocation are essential to maximize the benefits while mitigating potential drawbacks.

Strategic account manager’s next steps & key takeaways

The good news for sales managers, executives, and other personnel who need great SAM tools and options is that multiple popular, scaleable, user-friendly, and effective strategic account management CRM solutions exist, including Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive. 

Explore your options, and choose a CRM and SAM software solution that helps the enterprise surpass its goals and succeed beyond expectations. Reading our helpful articles and buyers’ guides can help in the quest to improve strategic account management efforts and tasks and find the optimal solution.

There’s no easy answer, but most experts agree that using the best CRM/SAM solution for the enterprise’s unique needs and approach works best. There are multiple solutions on the market, each with its unique approach, features, integration properties, pros and cons, and costs.

Among the most essential building blocks of effective SAM are building trust, maintaining transparency, meeting goals, retaining, developing a repeatable process, and managing growth.

Attention to customer service, delivering outstanding results, being proactive and not reactive, and accountability.

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Strategic Account Managers, Here's How to Amplify Your Efforts

Updated: May 08, 2020

Published: January 27, 2020

After a deal closes, the customer relationship is still in its infancy. Beyond renewals, existing accounts present a great deal of new revenue and partnership opportunities for sales pros who understand their continued role managing customer accounts strategically.

What is strategic account management?

Strategic account management is a framework that focuses on building engaged, mutually beneficial relationships between a company and its key accounts or customers to drive sales growth. Typically managed at the organizational level, strategic account management encompasses teams across departments within a company.

In this space, Strategic Account Managers identify and create opportunities by positioning solutions aligned with customer goals, challenges, and initiatives. By focusing on strategic account management, sales professionals can grow accounts and enjoy other benefits, including:

Once the deal has been closed, the company needs to be able to dedicate efforts on maintaining and growing these relationships. In doing so, existing accounts can grow, offering many benefits, including:

• Shorter sales cycles
• Reduced acquisition costs
• Priority relationships
• Greater access to decision-makers

It is important to note, that in an ideal state strengthening relationships with valuable accounts should come from dedicated support in the form of Strategic Account Managers so sales reps can focus on closing new deals.

Strategic Account Manager

Strategic Account Managers are responsible for facilitating the development and growth of key customer relationships. They often serve as a point person for the stakeholders of the strategic account.

In this post, we’ll ways your company can leverage strategic account management in your pursuit of opportunities with existing customers.

Strategic Account Manager Job Description

Ready to add a Strategic Account Manager to your team? Here’s a job description to help you find a qualified candidate.

[Your Company Name] is hiring a Strategic Account Manager.

This role is responsible for managing relationships with our most valued customers. As a Strategic Account Manager, you will oversee customer retention, satisfaction, and revenue growth strategy.

In this position, you will:

• Serve as the main point of contact for your assigned accounts.
• Get to know your assigned accounts to understand their opportunities and challenges.
• Identify how our company can support the customer’s opportunities and challenges.
• Monitor the satisfaction level of your customer accounts and report progress to internal stakeholders.
• Be on point as the internal company contact regarding your customer accounts.

Skills and qualifications:

• Must have hands-on experience and demonstrated success managing multiple key customer accounts.
• Strong relationship-building skills to build trust and rapport with customer account stakeholders.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills.
• Excellent customer service skills.
• Data reporting and analytical skills; must be able to pull and analyze key metrics to measure the results of customer retention and satisfaction.
• Creative problem-solver.
• Sales experience — meeting quota should be the norm.

Strategic Account Management Process

To ensure success implementing the strategic account management process, consider these best practices.

1. Focus on the right customers.

Growing a current relationship starts with smart customer selection. Salespeople must take the time to determine which of their accounts represent the most significant opportunities. How? By finding the overlap between the customer’s strategic initiatives and your solutions.

In this early stage, examine "hard" factors — including revenue generated and product mix — and "soft" factors, such as level of access, relationships, and buying behavior.

Consider the divisions, departments, and locations within a target account. The best opportunities aren’t necessarily found in the accounts that have spent the most. In fact, these accounts often represent fewer sales opportunities because they’ve spent so much. Look for the accounts with the most significant potential for future purchases.

2. Analyze customer needs.

Targeting an existing account requires as much foresight as targeting a new one. Though salespeople already have access to some stakeholders, it’s still crucial to build a plan. This process begins by understanding the buyer’s journey, which helps sales professionals align their activities to the customer’s place in the buying process.

Of course, the buyer’s journey begins when they encounter a challenge in their pursuit of long-term goals and short-term objectives. The value of expanding existing accounts is it places the sales professional on this path early. You’re there to greet your customer when they arrive, so to speak.

In these initial stages, sales professionals can shape the customer’s thinking and properly frame their needs. This level of influence comes from salespeople who become trusted advisors. Reaching this point means you’ve provided insight to the customer and have taken the time to understand their business.

A trusted advisor can even be the person who triggers the buyer’s journey. This position is powerful and influential because, as McKinsey says, "research has found that journey performance is significantly more strongly linked to economic outcomes than are touchpoints alone."

3. Align with the customer.

A compelling solution is not enough. Salespeople need to be better than the competition. They must find alignment with the customer, so the value of the solution resonates with their business need. This step is critical, because it differentiates their solution from competitors.

Creating alignment involves stakeholder analysis. Sales professionals need to understand who will make the buying decision. Some of these stakeholders will have an existing relationship with the sales professional. Others will be new.

Taking a strategic approach means engaging established relationships to expand to new ones. The process is ongoing because stakeholders enter and exit the picture.

4. Engage customer needs

Business drivers change — and that’s a good thing. These changes are exactly why the business needs solutions in the first place. To track these changes in real-time, however, salespeople must keep the customer engaged. Without a high level of communication, they risk presenting solutions and insights that don’t resonate with their customer.

Regular dialogue clarifies evolving needs and boosts profitability, because fully engaged customers are more profitable than average customers. According to findings from Gallup , 40% of customers who are highly satisfied with their account manager are deeply engaged.

5. Measure success.

Strategic account managers must be able to demonstrate success to both their customers and stakeholders within their company. Customers who engage in a long-term partnership with an account manager expect a personalized experience that will help them achieve their goals and keep their business running smoothly.

Using a CRM to track customer communications can help Strategic Account Managers stay on top of their valuable partnerships.

When you are able to measure and document successful conversations and support initiatives for your customer, you gain valuable insight on how to continue having a fruitful partnership.

Additionally, those who manage strategic accounts must be able to measure and report success to their company’s stakeholders. If a company is allocating resources to strategic account management, there is an expectation that the account will be able to generate significant revenue to justify the investment. Strategic account managers must be able to demonstrate success for their company.

Strategic Account Management Planning Tools

With so many inputs to consider in the strategic account planning process, it’s important sales professionals have the right tools to manage and track their research and relationships.

There are many options for account planning tools and templates. Selecting the right tool is important, because your team needs a tool that’s robust enough to capture all critical customer information and lean enough to be put to practical use.

As you evaluate strategic account management tools and templates look for these key components:

• Industry Analysis Tool — Include a component that supports examination and documentation of external industry issues that may impact the customer.
• Customer Relationship Analysis Tool — Include a component that documents history with the customer and avenues for expansion -- like untapped business units and new divisions.
• Customer Strategy Map — Include a component that captures the customer’s strategy to determine which of their objectives and initiatives connect with the solution’s capabilities. List the customer’s goals, challenges, and culture.
• Stakeholder Assessment Tool — Include a component that helps your sales professionals categorize identified stakeholders by their role, level of influence, and alignment with the solution.
• Competitive Assessment Tool — Include a component where your team can review your competitive position from the customer’s perspective to identify ways to articulate your unique value.

To begin the strategic account planning process, check out HubSpot’s sales tools to facilitate mutually beneficial customer relationships and grow your business.

Ready to learn more about how account management can benefit your business? Check out this post to learn the difference between account management and sales.

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An in-depth guide to strategic account management.

One buzzphrase swirling around the salesworld is Strategic Account Management or SAM. This is also called Key Account Management. Unlike a lot of trendy words or concepts, SAM is a legitimate, logical strategy. More importantly, it plays a major role in ensuring the long-term viability of your organization.

According to Gartner , 70 percent of CSOs say delivering higher returns from key accounts is a priority. However, current account management channels fall short. In fact, only 28 percent of sales leaders agree these regularly meet cross-selling and account growth targets.

What is Strategic Account Management?

SAM is a methodology that involves identifying important accounts and cultivating mutually beneficial relationships. Unlike sales, which often focuses on the short term, SAM takes a long-range view. Hence, the best strategic account manager is not necessarily your best sales rep. More on that later.

What is a Strategic Account Manager?

As a sales leader, if you have taken the time to identify your most strategic accounts, it’s time to identify who your strategic account manager will be. You may be tempted to place a sales rep in the role of your strategic account manager but that would be a mistake. Your strategic account manager should be more focused on long-term success, rather than an immediate sale. Where a salesperson may have a hunter mentality, the strategic account manager is a nurturer.

The strategic account manager will be a subject matter expert for your company. They will take the time to look for new opportunities (problems that can be solved) and create new solutions for the customer. For example, a client reveals their operation is spread out in a dozen regions, with each region having a department director. The directors are creating individual reports in Excel and your client is lacking real-time access to data or KPI dashboards. This is an instance where the strategic account manager can improve the business processes across the client’s organizations, improving their outcome and increasing value for both parties.

The strategic account manager will help clients solve both specific problems relating to your solution and business problems relating to the client’s operations. In the example above, the specific problem is dealing with data that does not share information across the organization. The business problem is inefficiency, because the client is forced to manually create and share reports costing them time and money every day. In general, salespeople are good at solving specific problems, while strategic account managers have the time and skillset to assess the larger picture and move to solving underlying business problems. This makes their skillset different than the ones salespeople possess. The core competencies you want to look for in a strategic account manager include:

• Account Management Skills
• Organization & Planning Skills
• Problem Solving
• Market Awareness
• Strategic Thinking
• Analytical Skills

As the primary contact with valuable clients, strategic account managers end up working alongside key decision-makers at the client’s organization, supporting them with their business outcomes. Therefore, they should possess a strong aptitude for analysis and problem-solving. Because strategic account managers will need to stay abreast of industry trends, they will need a continuous learning mindset.

Why should we use strategic account management?

Simply, it’s the best way to guarantee long-term profitability for your organization. The 80/20 ratio states 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers or sellers. While that’s overly simplistic, the underlying concept is valid. Strategically, focusing on key accounts will generate the largest long-term ROI from your resources.

If you think you already focus on your biggest clients, you’re missing the big picture. In many cases, your largest accounts will also be strategic accounts. However, that’s not always the case.

Part of strategic account management is identifying buyers with the greatest potential. After recognizing them, you can develop your relationships, so they grow into larger clients.

How do we determine who should be our strategic accounts?

This is a multistep process. First, set criteria for evaluating current clients. Then, come up with a Strategic Score. You may use whatever term you want for your final quantifiable sum. However, use enough criteria to differentiate between accounts. Just don’t use so many that you risk designating the wrong accounts as strategic.

Some areas to consider:

• Likelihood of continued relationship
• Client’s ability to grow as a company
• Product/service fits to client needs
• Projected revenue potential
• Pre-existing personal relationships
• Client’s current financial health

Notice how many areas involve the client’s current position, state, and potential upside. That’s a good way to see beyond your current largest accounts. Now, you can identify up-and-comers that can grow with your organization. Remember, SAM isn’t just about right now. It’s about the long game and looking further down the road.

Strategic account management works on the philosophy that your best source of new revenues is your current customer base. Identifying which customers to invest in and providing dedicated resources for growth is critical. Strategic account management is less about upselling or cross-selling, and more about partnering and problem-solving. The long-term business benefits of strategic account management are indisputable; you will keep your best customers longer, increase their value over time, and lower your client acquisition costs. Allowing your best customers to manage themselves is not a strategy. Creating a strategic account management plan is the path to predictable revenue and organic growth.

Additionally, make sure you save this process. As you gain clients, input their details into the system. This gives you a sense of whether you should make them a strategic account. Do this as soon as possible after acquiring their business. This way, you can keep a strategic account pipeline operating parallel to the sales pipeline.

Who should be the strategic account managers?

Once you’ve ranked existing clients by strategic account suitability, you can plan your SAM structure. Naturally, your priority should be determining strategic account managers.

Gallup research shows the importance of account managers . They note 40 percent of B2B customers who are very satisfied with their account manager are fully engaged. If they are not very satisfied, this drops to 13 percent. Also, with only 29 percent fully engaged, 71 percent are at risk of leaving for a competitor.

Some organizations promote their top sales reps. Or else they turn a sales manager into an account manager. These are mistakes. The reality is, all three of those roles require distinct skill sets. You might think that sales managers and account managers are interchangeable. After all, both require management skills. But they aren’t the same.

Sales managers manage people. Strategic account managers manage relationships . It’s a subtle but important distinction.

A sales manager coaches their sales reps. They help their team members hit targets (whether KPIs, sales numbers, or both). They then develop reports so sellers can improve.

A strategic account manager cultivates relationships with the stakeholders of their portfolios. They monitor each client. As a client’s needs and objectives change, strategic account managers identify opportunities to expand the relationships. Some of the main skills needed include the following:

• Organization
• Relationship building
• Emotional intelligence

As account growth can be a lengthy process, strategic account managers must be patient. It’s rare that a rapid change in a client’s requirements presents an opportunity. But when it does, be prepared.

Account managers work with many clients. And each has multiple important players. This is not only true for clients, but your organization as well. These days, most buying decisions require a consensus of many diverse stakeholders.

When issues arise, relationship support and maintenance may require experts. Account managers typically coordinate service requests.

Within such a web of personalities, strategic account managers must maintain their composure. A big part of the job description is “managing” their own and other’ emotions.

How many accounts should each strategic account manager have?

There’s no rule for this. It depends on your unique situation. A key account may be a revenue generator, but it needs a lot of high touches and service. You’d then dedicate an account manager to just that account.

Conversely, you might have many moderate revenue accounts that don’t require as much contact. For these, you can assign numerous accounts to one manager. Of course, this requires monitoring. As the number and demands of key accounts change, distribute their maintenance to account managers as needed.

Your initial number of managers depends on the size, complexity, and contact requirements of your strategic accounts. There’s no formula for this. It’s something you’ll need to calculate during the process.

How many contacts/touches per client should strategic account managers strive for?

This depends on the account. Some want or need more frequent contact, whether emails, follow-ups, meetings, check-ins, etc. One way to find out what each account prefers is to ask the client.

Next, determine a cadence for that account and stick to it. Think of your cadence as a promise. It ensures regular contact, check-ins, and support. Failing to honor that promise harms the relationship.

How should account managers expand business with existing accounts?

This is a complex question. And like figuring out your strategic accounts, it’s a multistep process:

Step 1 – Build a thorough customer profile for each account.

• Who are the stakeholders involved in purchasing decisions?
• What are their target markets?
• What are their short- and long-term goals?
• What are the specifics of their industry and offerings?
• Who is their primary competition?

Step 2 – Draft a needs assessment for each account.

• Identify the intersections between current and future problems
• Determine the fitness of your offerings.

Step 3 – Create a contact cadence plan , including:

• Phone calls
• Videoconference

Use a range of contact types, and always tailor the type of contact to the need. Problems may require a more personal touch, such as video or in person. The same may be true of opportunities, like adding service. Also, account growth necessitates more frequent communication and contact.

Step 4 – Write up a Strategic Account Plan Typically, this is a one-to-three-year roadmap. It should show how the relationship will proceed and grow. Include the following:

• Customer profile
• Needs assessment
• Account cadence
• Clear direction for both the account manager and account
• Feedback/adjustments from the account

Sharing this with the client is essential. It ensures uniformity and clear expectations. It also avoids surprises and shows the client this isn’t a one-off transaction. You are invested in the relationship.

This is why selecting the right clients to be strategic accounts is so critical. Some might tick all the boxes. However, they may not yet be interested or able to form strategic relationships.

Step 5 – Track account progress. This should include:

• Update stakeholders/decision makers

These should assess how relationships are progressing and when to create or execute an opportunity for growth. Account managers should keep tabs on these things.

But it’s also important to consider it from the client’s perspective. Perhaps the timeline for increasing business has changed. Maybe key stakeholders have shifted, or the decision-making process has evolved. There might be other indicators the agreed-upon strategic account plan needs adjusting.

Remember, this is a bilateral arrangement. It is a partnership where organizations and strategic accounts work together for mutual benefit.

Watch Out for These Errors That Can Doom Your Strategic Account Management

We’re revisiting the topic of Strategic Account Management (SAM) today. The last time we visited this subject, we provided you a comprehensive, in-depth guide into what SAM is and some of the best practices to ensure a successful SAM program. In this edition, we’ll be looking at the inverse – the mistakes that will cause your strategic account management efforts to fail.

On the one hand, SAM is about maintaining regular contact and developing relationships with your most important or highest potential accounts. On the other hand, too much contact can make you seem like a bothersome pest. Where the line falls is going to vary from account to account – some will welcome frequent touches and others will only want sporadic check-ins or meetings.

The converse is true as well – you can get caught up with juggling so many accounts that one accidentally falls by the wayside and is needing some love and care. If this is an account that wants more attention, that can potentially put you at risk of losing it to a more active, engaged competitor.

There are a couple things you can do to avoid falling into the too much/too little trap. First, as we mentioned in our previous SAM blog , come up with a strategic account plan that sets the guidelines and timelines for contact at the start of the relationship and get customer approval for that plan. That way, everyone is clear on the expectations and you know when and how you should be communicating with them.

Secondly, take advantage of your various calendar/reminder technology applications (including task reminders within your CRM) to set notices for yourself on when to reach out to each account. When you have a mutually agreed strategic plan, you can sometimes set these notices weeks or even months in advance. Enter the scheduled contact appointments and methods as soon as you know when and what they are. Then you’ll see the reminders as those dates come up and you won’t forget.

The ultimate endgame result of SAM is, of course, to expand the revenue from the account and increase the monetary value of the business relationship. But sometimes – perhaps feeling the pressure of meeting a goal or needing to get a win if in a slump – strategic account managers switch to pushing the sell when it’s not the right time to do so, or, if it is the right time, approach it from an aggressive pitch standpoint rather than the consultative, contemplative strategy that yields the highest win rate and account satisfaction.

A corollary to this is spamming the account(s) with marketing content and collateral . Some marketing content – if it’s relevant to the account’s business situation – is good. Too much and it gives off the stench of selling.

Here’s the thing: As your company’s sales reps can tell you, your accounts know you want to grow the financial relationship with them. But focus on developing the human relationship with them first and let the revenue-generating opportunities arise organically out of the discussions about how the buyer is doing and growing themselves. Let it happen naturally and let your conversations and contacts with your accounts be fruitful, relevant, and relationship-building.

The one constant in life is change. This is particularly true in the business world, as people change employers and roles. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption in many industries, accelerating the rate of change. All of this means that the key influencers and stakeholders who are critical to developing relationships with your accounts might well be different from the ones you began with.

One of the most important duties as a strategic account manager is keeping updated on how the client organization has changed – whether new people in the roles you’re communicating with or a structural reorganization that results in a redistribution of job duties. If you don’t keep tabs on these fluctuations, you might find yourself talking to the wrong people or approaching the new people in the same way as the old.

The problems with the first are quite obvious – if you’re not cultivating relationships with the right influencers and decisionmakers, you won’t have the advocates necessary to successfully expand your business when the time comes. As for the second, remember that everyone has their own individual personality, communication style, and preferred touch cadence. So you might, for example, be used to Jan, who is an expressive communicator who enjoys frequent contacts. If Bob, who is a business-oriented person who prefers only the minimal necessary touches takes on Jan’s old role and you continue with the way you’ve engaged Jan, you run the risk of irritating Bob and damaging the relationship.

As a side note to this – make sure one of your relationships within the organization is someone at the C-Suite level, where there’s final approval/sign-off of decisions. Failure to have at least one crusader in the C-Suite can either slow down the sales process when an opportunity arises or even potentially kill the deal altogether.

The prior point is about ignorance at the human level – where relationships are forged and the groundwork is laid to move forward with expansion opportunities when they arise. But that’s not the only area where ignorance can result in lost opportunities and damaged relations. Being unaware of how a client’s industry, processes, target markets, or any other aspect of an account’s business situation can be equally harmful.

Here, the negative consequences can be missed opportunities, mistimed efforts at asking for more business, and providing information or advice that isn’t applicable to an account’s current reality. At the most extreme, this exposes you to potentially losing the account because you seem inattentive or oblivious. Remember what we said earlier – the one constant in life is change. That applies to situations as much as it does people.

To prevent this from occurring, become an expert in your accounts’ industries and stay current on the changes within them – both on an industry-wide level and on a geographic one – for example, monitoring how regulatory changes in a geographical region might impact a client there, even if those same changes in business environment aren’t occurring in other locations the client operates.

Also, as part of your outreach cadence, make sure to factor in asking about how the organization’s situation has changed – both positively and negatively. This is especially important if your touch rate is low and limited to essential communications only – you won’t have as many opportunities to find out what exactly is going on internally.

One of the most common mistakes made by strategic account managers – particularly those who may have been promoted or transferred from sales – is paying too close attention to short-term goals and scenarios. This can lead to the aforementioned problem of being in selling mode or not being able to distinguish between when to simply further develop the personal relationship and when a genuine expansion opportunity has arisen.

Remember, while strategic account management does involve a sales component, most of your time will be spent building relationships and servicing your accounts. This is a long-term process – one that can sometimes take literal years before an opportunity for growth arises. Patience is more than virtue when you’re an account manager – it’s a necessity. And if this isn’t a personality trait you’ve developed previously, it’s one you’ll need to acquire. This is about the long game. Be flexible enough to respond to the short-term when it’s required, but always keep in mind that you are planting seeds that will bear fruit later.

As a strategic account manager, you’re a rockstar at dealing with numerous accounts and people. You’re well-organized, know who to talk to and how to communicate with them, and are able to cultivate and capitalize on opportunities to grow the business. But you can still fail if your organization hasn’t provided you the support you need to carry out your mission.

The reality is, supporting strategic accounts isn’t a siloed, solo effort if you want to be successful. After all, your expertise is in relationship development. If a customer has an issue or request with your service or product, there’s a strong chance it’s something that you won’t be able to unilaterally fix. You’ll need the help of other departments in your organization. But if the processes aren’t in place for you to be able to quickly touch base, get a response, and just as swiftly follow up with resolving that issue or filling that request, your clients can feel left twisting in the wind due to the delays and lag in answering their needs.

In most organizations, it’s neither realistic nor feasible to expect, for example, dedicated service technicians to report directly to a strategic account manager. The usage rate simply isn’t high enough or frequent enough for that to make sense. But you do need the clear expectations and processes established and understood by everyone in the organization so that when you do need to call on, say, the service technicians, that they’re able to swiftly link up with you and get that key account serviced.

Remember you’ve spent weeks, months, even years cultivating the relationships and been patient. It’s natural by force of habit to switch to transactional thinking when it’s time to negotiate the deal, but keep in mind the bigger picture. This is a key account – the most important thing is extending the customer lifetime value and creating a win-win situation that benefits both parties. Years of work can be thrown away in a single moment of contentious debate.

So while you’re negotiating, remember this isn’t a one-off deal. This is the culmination and payoff of untold amounts of resource investment – one that will continue to be profitable and worthy ROI if you maintain the relationship and the account on the same cordial terms that led you to this moment.

Get Your Custom Sales Account Management Plan Now!

Strategic account management requires upfront planning and an investment in your people but it’s also the optimal way to increase revenue and build long-lasting partnerships. Could your team benefit from a detailed strategic account management plan? At Janek, we have the resources, experience, and expertise to help grow your key accounts organically. Learn more, contact us today .

Editor’s Note:  This article, first published in July 2021, underwent revisions to enhance its coherence.

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10-Step Guide: Creating a Strategic Account Management Plan

Strategic Account Management, or SAM, is all about the relationships you build with company customers or partners. But even with that idea in mind, building strong relationships worth the time and effort isn’t always an easy process. If you don’t have a clear pathway to strengthening and maintaining those connections, your company relationships could be suffering. Finely tuned communication and negotiations skills, trusting relationships forged over time, and regular reassessments all contribute to an effective plan. You may want to learn more about our negotiations skills training program .

A proper strategic account management plan can help you and your team stay on track and ensure you’re giving each customer and partner the proper amount of attention. This step-by-step guide can help you create a plan that fits your needs and moves your company forward.

The Importance of a Strategic Account Management Plan

As with just about everything in business and sales, when you have a plan in place, you can stay organized more easily while ensuring that no projects, customers, or clients are neglected. SAM planning works largely the same way.

Without a strategic account management plan, you approach your customer relationships without a checklist of bases to cover or things to address. This means that projects and tasks can easily become forgotten and get pushed to the side, while customers and partners are left feeling like they’ve been ignored. But when you have a plan in place, you can ensure you’re nurturing key relationships, giving each customer, client, or partner the appropriate amount of attention.

If you’re ready to get started on creating your own strategic account management plan, these steps can help you out. These ten steps, broken down into three main portions, can get you on track to building stronger relationships.

Phase 1 – Developing a Portfolio

Before you can begin working with a client, you need to do the research to understand who they are, what they value and what their goals are. Within this phase, there are four key steps.

1. Create a Profile

The profile of your customer, client, or partner will share a brief overview of who that person is. Much of the information that appears in a customer profile will not be extremely detailed, but it will serve as the foundation of your work. The customer profile should be referred back to whenever you need a refresher about the personal or business details about this individual.

2. Develop Trust

Because trust is the foundation of all relationships, both personal and business, your second step will be to show your client or customer that you are serious about helping them fulfill their needs and desires. Throughout this step, your main goal will be to develop an effective working relationship with the customer and identify areas that may need strengthening.

3. Identify Targets

Once you have been able to develop who the customer or client is, you can start working towards figuring out their wants and needs. These needs will be the items or ideals that drive you and the client forward through the next steps of your account plan.

4. Find the Opportunity

Everyone brings their own value to the table, and now that you and your client have gotten a clear understanding of who you each are and what you are intending to accomplish, you can determine what opportunities are available to you. Analyze what the competition is doing and what distinguishes you and the skills you bring from what is already out there.

Phase 2 – Creating a Strategy

The next phase of your strategic account management plan should be to lay out an angle of attack based on the information outlined in your portfolio. In some cases, you may be able to create multiple pathways for the second phase of your account.

5. Determine the Value

Understand what value can be provided by the client. When you understand what customers can hope to get out of a purchase, you can better understand how to push that idea forward.

6. Create Objectives

It isn’t enough to say you want to “sell a product” or “get things done.” Instead, you need to set out clear long and short-term objectives that can be reached and measured. Outline a few of these growth objectives beforehand as part of your account plan and you’ll have an easier time developing your strategy in the next step.

7. Take Action

Using all the information you previously gathered, develop an action plan for accomplishing your goals and objectives. Look at the value you hope to provide, the opportunity you have created, and consider what customer needs will need to be addressed. All these pieces of info should influence the decisions you make.

Phase 3 – Growing

The final phase puts all the information into motion and continues to measure what has been developed. Throughout this phase, you and your customer should continue to implement the strategies and ideas created in the first two phases. Once a change needs to be made, you can return to Phase 1 and readdress the ideas and issues.

8. Commit

Recognize that this relationship is important and that it will consistently need to be maintained. Both you and the client should commit to moving forward.

9. Follow New Leads

Once you have prepared yourself to continue forward, look for new leads that may allow you to grow. These opportunities are what pushes your business to the next level.

10. Always Reassess

Very rarely will a strategic account management plan work for years and years without needing to be readdressed. Whether you accomplish your goals or you’re struggling to see any developments, you may need to restart the process earlier than you thought. Always be ready to begin again when the time is right.

The art of strategic account management planning is becoming increasingly important for businesses. If you understand how to approach building each relationship and move forward as a team looking for mutually beneficial rewards, you can increase your position, develop the company to see more profits and returns, and have an overall better sense of what you are able to accomplish.  If you’d like to accelerate the learning of your team, don’t hesitate to contact SNI so we can assist you in your specific goals.

To learn more about our sales, negotiation, or influence training for your organization please click here . Contact

1 thought on “10-Step Guide: Creating a Strategic Account Management Plan”

You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this topic to be really something that I think I would never understand. It seems too complex and very broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it!

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Strategic Account Management Plan Template

Identify strategic account objectives.

• 1 Identifying the right objectives
• 2 Setting realistic targets
• 3 Aligning objectives with account capabilities

Define Strategic Account Goals

• 1 Financial
• 2 Customer Satisfaction
• 3 Market Share
• 1 Analyze historical data
• 2 Create action plans
• 3 Monitor progress

Share the strategic account goals

Assess Current Situation with Strategic Account

Research strategic account business environment.

• 1 Government Regulations
• 2 Industry Standards
• 3 Environmental Regulations

Develop Tactical Action Plan

• 1 Financial investment
• 2 Market research data
• 3 Additional training

Approval: Tactical Action Plan

• Develop Tactical Action Plan Will be submitted

Communicate the Plan to the Account Team

Assign roles and responsibilities to account team members.

• 1 Manage client communication
• 2 Analyze account performance
• 3 Identify upsell opportunities

Develop Communication Plan for Strategic Account

• 3 Quarterly
• 3 In-person meetings

Approval: Communication Plan

• Develop Communication Plan for Strategic Account Will be submitted

Initiate Contact with Strategic Account Stakeholders

Create and implement strategic account development programs.

• 1 Customer satisfaction surveys
• 2 Product training sessions
• 3 Regular account reviews

Monitor Execution of Action Plan

• 3 Completed

Hold Regular Review and Feedback Sessions

• 1 Addressing customer concerns
• 2 Improving communication channels
• 3 Refining goals and objectives

Approval: Review and Feedback Sessions

• Hold Regular Review and Feedback Sessions Will be submitted

Evaluate and Document Account Management Process

• 1 Regular communication is key
• 2 Flexibility is important in response to market changes
• 3 Collaboration with stakeholders drives success

Adjust Account Strategy Based on Market Changes

Maintain continuous dialogue with strategic account.

• 2 Bi-weekly
• 1 Account performance review
• 2 New product features and updates
• 3 Future growth opportunities

Renew and Modify the Account Plan

• 1 Objectives
• 3 Action Steps

Approval: Modified Account Plan

• Renew and Modify the Account Plan Will be submitted

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A complete guide to strategic account management.

Christine Dzou

Not all accounts are created equal. Chances are a small proportion of your buyer accounts make up the bulk of your company’s revenue.

Based on the value of these accounts, it makes sense to treat them with a high degree of care and even allocate dedicated resources to maintain them.

So how can you identify what these key accounts are? How can you add value and generate more revenue from these existing accounts?

This is where strategic account management comes in.

In this article, we’ll explain what strategic account management is and how it can grow your bottom line. We’ll also cover how you can implement a strategy and best practices to follow.

JUMP TO EACH SECTION TO LEARN MORE:

What is strategic account management?

Why is strategic account management important, how to implement a calculated account management strategy.

• Take your account management strategy to the next level with Gong

Strategic account management is the process of identifying and building mutually beneficial relationships with your most important accounts. It allows you to foster customer loyalty, increase profitability, and deepen existing relationships.

A deal doesn’t end once a buyer signs on the dotted line. You need to take a more proactive approach to maintain and grow existing accounts.

Here’s why dedicating resources to strategic account management is worth the investment:

Increases customer retention rates

Buyers today have more choices than ever. If your solution fails to address their  pain points , they won’t hesitate to switch to an alternative.

You can increase customer satisfaction and improve retention rates by understanding your buyers’ needs  and  providing the resources they need to achieve their goals.

Every buyer has different reasons for choosing your solution, so you can’t take a one-size-fits-all approach. You’ll need to uncover your buyers’ pain points and present personalized solutions that align with their objectives. We’ll look at how you can conduct a needs assessment later.

Leads to more growth opportunities

Most businesses are obsessed with  acquiring new buyers , and for good reason — sales to bring in revenue.

But if you’re neglecting existing accounts, you could be missing out on huge opportunities to generate revenue for your company. An account with high growth potential could turn into one of your biggest buyers (or even valued partners).

For example, let’s say a buyer signs up for a starter plan. However, as their business grows, they discover the plan no longer fits their needs. By working closely with this account, you can identify cross-sell and upsell opportunities — generating more revenue.

Delivers valuable insights

As you nurture relationships with strategic accounts, you’ll also understand how they’re using your solution to accomplish certain objectives. These insights can help your sales manager improve the company’s  sales strategy .

In short, a successful strategic account management strategy can help you build mutually beneficial business relationships and grow your bottom line.

Now let’s break down the exact steps to make this strategy work for your sales organization.

A successful account management strategy isn’t something you can slap together in an afternoon. It’s an undertaking that requires careful planning.

Follow these steps to implement an account management strategy that works: 

1. Identify your strategic accounts

Strategic accounts spend the most, right?

Not exactly.

Part of strategic account management involves identifying accounts that have the  potential  to grow into bigger ones — something that’s harder to achieve for more established accounts.

In fact, organizations that focus on customer spend when selecting key accounts are  51%  less likely to see increased revenue.

( Image Source )

So which accounts should you designate as strategic accounts?

Start by creating a list of criteria to help you narrow down the accounts to include in your strategic management strategy. Examples could include the following:

• Product fit
• Revenue potential
• Growth potential
• Financial health
• Potential partnership

Identify three to five criteria to prioritize. For example, if you want to expand into other markets, you might prioritize “potential partnership” over “product fit.”

Next, assign each account a score from 1 to 10 in each category. The accounts with the highest scores should be your strategic accounts. Work with senior management to ensure the accounts you’ve selected align with the organization’s strategic goals.

2. Assign dedicated strategic account managers

Once you’ve identified the accounts with the most growth potential, the next step is to assign dedicated strategic account managers to them.

But proceed with caution here.

Some companies make the mistake of assigning salespeople to key accounts. However, selling and managing an account are different roles with distinct skill sets.

You’ll need an account management team whose sole purpose is not to close deals but to manage strategic accounts. These individuals will operate separately from your sales professionals.

A strategic account manager’s responsibilities include the following:

• Providing ongoing support to assigned key accounts
• Conducting an in-depth needs assessment for each account
• Identifying how the company can support their objectives
• Handling inquiries and finding solutions for complex issues 
• Monitoring performance metrics and reporting progress to stakeholders

The ideal strategic account manager is someone with strong relationship-building skills. They’re also creative problem solvers with great organizational skills. 

Excellent interpersonal skills are another must. Strategic account managers need to collaborate with customer success and product teams to develop custom solutions and facilitate the  onboarding process .

How many accounts should a strategic account manager have?

It depends.

For accounts with the most potential to help your company achieve a key objective (e.g., gaining referrals in new markets), you might dedicate one manager to that account. Alternatively, you may also assign multiple accounts with moderate growth potential to one account manager.

There’s no hard and fast rule here. Of course, you don’t want to overextend your managers either by assigning them too many accounts.

3. Build a comprehensive profile for each account

The next step is to develop an  in-depth profile  for each strategic account. This will enable your strategic account managers to find ways to deliver value.

Answer the following questions for each account:

• What are their target markets?
• What products or services do they offer? 
• Who are their main competitors?
• Who are the key decision-makers? 
• What are their short- and long-term goals?

The aim here is to create a comprehensive profile for each account. But don’t stop at these questions. Conducting a SWOT analysis will help you gain a deeper understanding of these accounts and their business.

SWOT stands for:

• Strengths:  What are the company’s strengths? What areas in their industry do they excel in?
• Weaknesses:  In what areas is the company lacking? Maybe a competitor is beating them in certain markets or has features they don’t offer.
• Opportunities:  What are some opportunities for the company? Maybe there are untapped markets that they could serve.
• Threats:  What are some threats that could affect the account’s growth? Examples include emerging competitors or changing regulations.

A SWOT analysis will help the account manager determine which initiatives to prioritize. Use resources like LinkedIn, Crunchbase, and the company’s website to research your key accounts.

4. Conduct a needs assessment for each account

Now that you’ve identified your key accounts and created profiles for each, the next step is to identify the “gaps” between their current states and desired outcomes. This will enable you to create an account management plan to help close those gaps.

For example, let’s say an account is struggling with inaccurate data. Conducting a needs assessment can help you understand where gaps in that account’s data collection process exist.

Maybe they’re still relying on manual data entry for certain processes, which leads to more mistakes and errors in their data. With this information in hand, you can formulate a plan to fix these issues and even identify potential upsell opportunities.

5. Draft a strategic account plan

Once you conduct a needs assessment, you can start drafting a strategic plan. This provides strategic account managers with a “roadmap” for how they’ll help certain accounts grow.

An account management plan should include the following:

• Account snapshot:  Gather basic information about the account. What is their mission statement? What are your revenue goals for the account? Are there any cross-sell or upsell opportunities?
• Internal decision-makers:  For your efforts to be successful, you’ll need buy-in from the right people. Identify the internal stakeholders for each strategic account and determine their decision-making criteria.
• Personalized recommendations:  How will you help an account grow? Look through your needs assessment to determine which initiatives to propose. Examples include suggesting partnerships or developing a personalized training program for their team.
• Resource requirements:  How much time and how many resources will you dedicate to the account? Who will be responsible for managing the account?
• Challenges:  Are there any challenges or considerations for growing the account? Note them so you can address them if and when they arise.

This is a lot to keep track of.

Here’s a  template  to help you put together an account management plan:

Enlist your salespeople to help you with the account planning process.

Then, review and share the strategic plan with the target account. This will help you set expectations from the start and avoid unwanted surprises. It will also send a clear signal that your company is invested in the account’s success.

6. Create a communication schedule

Set a schedule for ongoing communication with your strategic accounts. You may decide on weekly or monthly check-ins, but consider more frequent touch points if the plan calls for it.

Create a brief outline of what you’ll cover each time, and review the account’s progress. Have they implemented any of your personalized recommendations? Did they encounter any setbacks? Be sure to allow time for your buyers to share their thoughts and provide feedback.

Finally, make sure your buyers know what resources are available to them and how you can help. While this may sound obvious,  16%  of strategic account managers say they are fully utilizing dedicated resources for their key account management. If an account isn’t using certain resources, you can allocate those resources elsewhere.

7. Track and measure success

Implementing a strategic account management strategy is a huge investment. It’s important to measure the right  KPIs  to determine your efforts’ impact on key business objectives.

Some metrics to help you measure success include the following:

• Cross-sells and upsells
• Client referrals
• Account testimonials
• Satisfaction rates

Tracking relevant metrics can help you determine whether a customer relationship is mutually beneficial. If it isn’t, you can either scale back your investment or reconsider certain client relationships entirely.

8. Create executive alignment

You have lofty goals for your strategic accounts. But unless you get buy-in at the executive level, your initiatives will likely fail to gain any traction.

Set up account executives on both sides to agree on the next steps. Establish a business case for your initiatives and describe your strategy in detail. Outline how you’ll measure success and demonstrate ROI to get key decision-makers on board.

Take your strategic account management strategy to the next level with Gong

Strategic account management is a highly involved process. Keeping track of all the moving parts and following account management best practices makes it easy for key insights to slip through the cracks.

That’s where Gong comes in.

Gong’s  customer success software  records and transcribes all buyer interactions across phone calls, emails, and web conferencing. Strategic account managers can gain full visibility into a key account to ensure a smooth handoff from your sales team.

Request a demo today  to see how Gong can help you implement a successful strategic account management strategy for your key customer accounts.

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Strategic Account Management: What It Is and How to Do It Well

Micah Lally | April 20, 2020 | Customer Service | 6 min read

Quick Links

• 1.   What Is It?
• 2.   SAMA
• 3.   Tips to Try
• 4.   How to Implement SAM

You've probably heard all about how important it is to build relationships with your customers. How it's critical that you put your customers first .

But how exactly do you make that work in your company's benefit? And what should you do to make customers a sustainable resource for your progress?

This is where you level up and implement a strategic account management program.

What Is Strategic Account Management (SAM)?

Also known as key account management, this process aids on an organizational level. The idea is to build strategic relationships between an organization and its customers that will provide value to both sides.

Through SAM, you can build a trust that uplifts and benefits everyone involved.

Strategic account managers look for opportunities to identify problems, provide solutions, and leverage partnerships in an effort to align their company and clients with their goals.

This enables teams to:

• Generate customer loyalty
• Drive revenue
• Stimulate growth
• Create new service solutions

The Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA)

If you're trying to develop a strong SAM program for your own organization, then you'll likely want to turn to the Strategic Account Management Association .

Founded to help companies become essential to their customers, SAMA provides training, resources, and tools that will enable businesses on their journey to becoming invaluable.

SAMA has developed proven best practices for implementing a strategic account management program into your company, leveraging customer-focused frameworks to get your train rolling down the tracks.

Strategic Account Management Best Practices

In order for your SAM program to be effective, you'll need to put in certain practices. Positive relationships and satisfying results aren't going to just manifest on their own. You need processes in place to generate your wins.

Here are some best practices for you to follow:

Appoint Strategic Account Managers.

The first (and most important) step is to assign strategic account managers that operate separate from your sales team.

The idea is that even though they will work closely together, you don't want managers to have to split their attention and priorities in too many directions. Give them one set of responsibilities that they can fully own.

It's easier to do when you can recognize that a sales manager and a SAM manager have different goals and approaches to customer relationships .

Strategic account managers will work a lot closer to customers, building rapport and thinking strategically about how to provide uplift for both the company and the customer.

Be Selective in Choosing Key Accounts.

Your key accounts are the customers who can actually push your company toward its goals. And while you should value all of your customers, not all of them fit the bill here.

Create a selective list of criteria to help you identify which partners align with your company. A few ideas to include are:

• Cultural fit
• Potential to grow
• Potential for revenue
• Product or service fit
• The state of your existing relationship

Criteria should focus mainly on your company's high-level objectives.

Streamline Handoff From Sales.

You've probably encountered the friction that occurs when sales hands customers off to account managers. Obstacles pop up, like miscommunication of goals or strategies.

When this happens, customers can lose trust in you being able to provide actual value to them.

To avoid this, develop a standardized transition process for each and every customer. Make sure there is clarity on client expectations, the account managers' expectations, established goals, and plans for your future together.

Develop Customer Portfolios.

To really leverage your customer relationships, your strategic account managers will need to know them like the back of their hands. That's where customer profiles come into play.

Carefully research your key accounts, from their market and industry all the way to their competitors .

The better you understand their challenges, pain points, and goals, the easier it will be to add value.

Create a Strategic Plan.

Hone in on your customers' needs and start brainstorming creative solutions for them. If you can identify opportunities to really help them along, you'll be able to establish real trust between the two of you.

From there, you can draft a proposal for each account and fill them in on how you plan on tackling their issues.

Be sure to demonstrate an understanding of short-term and long-term goals so they can have benchmarks to base expectations off of.

Invest in Open Communication.

Maintaining consistent communication is the key to any level of customer interaction. Practice ongoing communication in the form of regular meetings and follow ups.

It's important to keep customers in the loop. They'll be able to provide feedback, ask questions, and even update you on their internal changes.

On the other side, they'll appreciate being updated, instilling trust and confidence in your business. No one likes being kept in the dark, after all.

How to Develop a Strategic Account Management Plan

Having an actual plan in place is critical to your efforts in building sustainable customer relationships. Strategic account management isn't a casual check-in strategy. It's a refined, thorough approach to building strong, lasting relations.

If you're ready to start building your own SAM program, these steps will help you get on your way:

1. Build Your Account Portfolio.

Calling back to your customer profiles, this is the first step toward building something with your most valuable customers.

Create an overview of each account and don't skimp on the details. The better you understand them, the more aligned you'll be with their needs and yours.

2. Foster Trust.

You'll want to start strengthening your relationship with each client as soon as you select them as a key account. Trust is invaluable in any relationship, and business ones are no exception.

Show them that they can rely on you to prioritize their best interests and take action in their favor.

Not only will you build trust, but you will also enable them to confide in you on specific areas that they need assistance.

3. Identify Opportunities to Take Action.

Speaking of areas to improve, your strategic account managers should be on the hunt for wants, needs, and windows of opportunity to meet them.

Once there's a clear understanding of what the client's goals are, you should determine which issues you can effectively provide solutions for. Dive into your portfolio to study their market and who their competition is.

If you can come up with creative ways to accomplish their goals, you'll be able to highlight just how much value you bring to the table.

4. Define Your Objectives.

Be clear in your objectives. Create an action plan or proposal that outlines exactly how you plan on getting things done.

In order to maintain whatever trust you've established, you'll need to provide benchmarks that can be measured and reach goals that can be tracked.

Plus, having a fleshed out strategy will help keep your SAM team on the right track. They'll be more effective and productive overall if they have a plan to follow.

5. Initiate Your Strategies.

Action plan: developed. Objectives: set. Customers: assured.

You're ready to get things rolling.

Start working toward accomplishing those short-term goals and pursue whatever big win you and your key account defined as your long-term goal.

6. Commit to Your Customers, But Be Open to New Leads.

None of the above steps means anything if you don't view your customer relationships as important or valuable. Make a true commitment to providing value and finding ways to get value in return.

At the same time, don't close yourself off to new opportunities either. Always be on the lookout for other customers who can provide you with the means to grow as a business.

Strategic account management is extremely important in today's market. Customers now have thousands of business options at their fingertips and have no issue jumping ship to whatever they feel might be a better opportunity for them.

It's more important now than ever to set yourself up as invaluable and to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

With the help of some strategic account managers, SAMA resources, and a great plan, you'll be able to define your business as their best option.

Micah Lally

I’m a Content Writer at Bluleadz. I’m a big fan of books, movies, music, video games, and the ocean. It sounds impossible to do all of those at the same time, but you’d be surprised by the things I can accomplish.

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The Ultimate Strategic Account Planning Guide and Best Practices

In the ever-evolving world of sales and customer relations, a pivotal question arises: How do you transform a regular customer relationship into a thriving, long-term partnership? The answer lies in strategic account planning, a critical approach in today's dynamic business environment.

Strategic account planning, especially in nurturing existing customer relationships, particularly shines when integrated with the inbound sales methodology. This synergy is powerful, as both approaches centre around understanding and addressing the specific needs, challenges, and aspirations of clients.

By aligning strategic account planning with the inbound-focused methodology, sales managers and key account managers can develop strategies that not only meet but also exceed client expectations, fostering more profitable relationships.

This article aims to demystify strategic account planning and key account management, highlighting their importance in cultivating lasting business connections and driving sustained growth.

From foundations to best practices

We begin by defining what strategic account planning is, setting the stage for its relevance and detailing the account planning processes in the contemporary sales arena. Next, we explore the strategic account planning process in detail, offering a step-by-step guide to implement these strategies within your organisation effectively.

Then, we move to the account planning template, an essential resource in this process. It is designed to streamline your strategic efforts by translating the theoretical aspects of strategic account planning into a structured and practical format. This ensures that your planning is both organised and impactful.

In the final section, we focus on strategic account planning best practices. This segment, enriched with insights from industry experts and lessons from hypothetical case studies, offers practical and actionable strategies. These strategies are conceived to enhance and elevate your account planning activities.

Empowering your strategic account planning journey

Whether you're new to this field or seeking to refine your existing techniques, this article is an invaluable resource. It offers a blend of insights and practical advice to help you master the complexities of nurturing strong, mutually beneficial client relationships. Through strategic account planning, you're not just maintaining client connections; you're embarking on a journey to build enduring partnerships that drive mutual growth and success. Let's dive in.

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What is Strategic Account Planning?

Strategic account planning is a methodical, client-focused approach aimed at nurturing and expanding relationships with key business customers, focusing particularly on existing accounts. It's not just a one-off task but a continuous cycle that involves understanding the strategic goals, needs, and challenges of your most valuable customers, strengthening key relationships, and aligning your company's offerings and resources to meet these needs in a way that benefits both parties.

Developing a tailored roadmap

Developing a tailored roadmap for each key account, a task often spearheaded by a strategic account manager, is a central aspect of strategic account planning, closely aligning with the principles of account-based experience . This approach emphasises creating personalised solutions and engagement strategies tailored to the unique needs and preferences of each key client. This involves moving beyond simple transactional interactions to develop a deeper, more strategic partnership.

The roadmap includes actionable steps and strategies designed to deliver real value to the client, thereby building trust and loyalty. It usually encompasses personalised solutions, joint projects, and proactive engagement strategies that align with the client's long-term objectives and growth plans.

In-depth industry understanding and adaptability

Effective strategic account planning also requires a comprehensive understanding of the client's industry, competitive environment, internal dynamics, and the customer lifetime value they offer. A crucial aspect is the ongoing monitoring and adaptation to the client's changing business context. This enables organisations to anticipate and respond to their client's evolving needs, thus positioning themselves as essential partners rather than just vendors.

Transformative approach to client interaction

Ultimately, strategic account planning transforms how organisations engage with their key clients. It shifts the focus from a short-term, sales-centric view to a long-term, relationship-oriented strategy. This ensures that both parties not only achieve their strategic objectives but also gain enhanced value from their partnership.

Navigating the complex landscape requires a clear and structured account planning strategy. This process is vital for businesses aiming to deepen relationships with key clients and drive growth. The following section outlines a five-step guide to managing and developing strategic accounts effectively, ensuring a comprehensive understanding and targeted action.

Strategic Account Planning Process

1. assessment and insight gathering.

Experienced executives, especially sales professionals, begin strategic account planning by thoroughly assessing the client's current position. An integral part of this assessment is the application of customer engagement marketing techniques. This includes understanding their financial status, the range of products or services they offer, their geographical presence, and their strategic initiatives.

Equally important is gathering the 'Voice of the Customer' (VOC), which involves collecting insights into the client's challenges, needs, and aspirations through direct conversations. This step is crucial for developing a deep understanding of the customer's business and the market in which they operate. By combining these insights, you gain a comprehensive view of where the client stands and what they require for future growth.

2. Relationship and influence management

Effective sales account planning, led by strategic account managers and supported by sales professionals, hinges on building relationships with key individuals within the client organisation. It's essential to map out the hierarchy, identifying the decision-makers, influencers, and the nature of internal relationships.

This understanding enables more targeted and impactful communication strategies. Categorising relationships as tactical, cooperative, interdependent, or strategic allows for a tailored approach to each unique interaction, fostering stronger, more productive relationships.

3. Opportunity identification and growth strategy

Identifying potential growth opportunities within the account is the next step. This involves understanding the client's buying centres (i.e. groups influencing buying decisions) and focusing on the needs and preferences of key customers. Analysing these centres enables alignment of your offerings with the client's needs and objectives.

Goal setting is also critical, as it helps define clear targets for account expansion and engagement. This phase combines strategic foresight with an understanding of the client's business to pinpoint areas where your products or services can add the most value.

4. Data analysis and strategic planning

In this phase, the focus is on analyzing various types of data:

• Profile data (basic information about the account)
• Activity data (interactions with your organisation)
• Derived data (insights inferred from other data sources)

Comprehensive data analysis, including understanding the competitive landscape, aids in making informed strategic decisions and in inventorying resources, ensuring the right tools and assets are available to support the strategic account. Additionally, integrating all kinds of data leads to informed, evidence-based strategies tailored to the specific needs and dynamics of the account.

5. Collaborative execution

Finally, executing the strategic account plan requires collaboration between the account management team — including sales and marketing teams — under the guidance of strategic account managers. Collaboration ensures alignment in understanding the account's needs and the necessary strategies to meet these needs.

This joint effort, involving the entire sales team, is crucial for implementing the plan effectively, ensuring coherent actions and a unified experience for the account. Regular communication and coordination between teams are vital to adapt to changes in the client's needs or market conditions.

Embarking on strategic account planning is a journey of understanding, strategising, and collaboration, often guided by the expertise of sales leaders. By adopting an account planning mindset and following these five essential steps in their account plans, businesses can create a roadmap for success that is both client-centric and results-oriented. Remember, effective account planning lies not just in meticulous plot but also in adaptive execution, ensuring that strategies evolve with your client's needs and market dynamics.

Account planning template

A streamlined and dynamic account planning template is indispensable. It serves as a practical tool, guiding account managers through a systematic process of crafting and implementing strategic plans for key accounts. Emphasising action over extensive theorising, this template must be concise yet comprehensive. It must focus on actionable items, specific activities, and measurable goals.

Simplicity and effectiveness at its core

Our account planning template is built on the principle of simplicity combined with effectiveness. It encourages listing clear action items, monthly plans, and required support within set timelines.

We understand that flexibility is key in today's dynamic business environment. Therefore, this template is designed to be adaptable, allowing modifications in response to significant changes in the client's situation or market dynamics. Remember, it is the consistent execution of small, daily tasks aligned with the key elements of the plan that leads to achieving long-term goals.

What the template contains

Account Overview

This section provides a comprehensive overview of the business landscape, including essential information such as the client's products or services, target market, company size, and location. This bird's-eye view is crucial for account managers to gain initial insights and prepare for deeper dives into the account.

Account Segmentation

Segmenting client accounts is vital for developing tailored strategic plans. This part of the template assists in categorising accounts based on factors like their health score, enabling sales teams to approach each account with strategies best suited to their specific needs.

Account Financials

Understanding the financial aspects of a client's organisation is key to identifying potential revenue streams. This includes details about the client’s business units and geographical presence and estimates the client's total annual revenue potential.

Whitespace Analysis

This analysis helps identify gaps between the client's needs and the services or products you offer. It is a crucial tool for uncovering untapped opportunities within existing customer accounts and understanding their pain points at various levels.

Relationship Mapping

Visualising key stakeholders and their interrelations within the client’s organisation is the focus of this section. It includes tools to explore detailed contact information, budget control, and influence dynamics, offering insights into the organisational hierarchy and relationships.

Competitor Analysis

This section enables a deeper understanding of the market, customer behaviour, and competitors' strengths and weaknesses. It helps strategise effectively to gain a competitive advantage and better comprehend customer spending versus wallet share.

Communication Planning

Documenting past interactions with the client aids in developing an effective communication strategy. It provides insights into the frequency and quality of past communications, guiding future engagement strategies to maximise ROI.

Account Management KPIs

Defining and tracking Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is essential for measuring and adjusting account progress. This helps identify and tackle new opportunities, solve problems, and analyse account planning patterns over time.

To harness the full potential of strategic account planning and start transforming your client relationships today, click here to download our comprehensive Account Planning Template.

Moving forward with strategic account planning best practices

Now, with a clear understanding of the components and utility of our Account Planning Template, you are well-equipped to take a strategic approach to managing and growing your crucial client relationships. However, the journey continues. The next critical step is to apply these principles effectively.

In the following section, we will provide actionable insights and proven strategies to enhance your account planning efforts. From leveraging industry insights to fostering strong client relationships, these best practices are designed to ensure that your strategic account planning is not only practical but also aligns with the latest trends and techniques in the field.

Strategic Account Planning Best Practices

Building on our comprehensive understanding of the Account Planning Template, we now turn our focus to the advanced strategies crucial for dynamic client relationship management in B2B technology. The ability to effectively align with client needs is the cornerstone of building sustainable, growth-driven partnerships.

In this section, tailored specifically for a hypothetical Singapore-based B2B tech firm like Innovatech Solutions, we dive into the best practices. These practices are not mere suggestions; they are critical tactics for any B2B technology firm striving to excel in a competitive marketplace. Here, you will find actionable insights and proven strategies beyond essential account planning, aligning with cutting-edge trends and techniques to maximise your impact in the industry.

1. Mapping the client landscape

Gaining a comprehensive understanding of your client's environment is the first step in account planning:

• Business overview : Create a profile for Innovatech Solutions, detailing its operations, size, market position, and strategy. Understanding Innovatech's annual revenue, number of employees, industry focus, and future ambitions gives a clear perspective of its business dynamics.
• Competitor analysis : Develop a comparison chart showing Innovatech in relation to its competitors. Highlight areas such as market share, innovation in tech offerings, and customer feedback. This analysis helps identify Innovatech's unique strengths and potential areas for growth.
• Relationship mapping : Map out the network of influence within Innovatech, going beyond traditional organisational structures. Identify key decision-makers, influencers, and their roles in the technology adoption process. This map is crucial for understanding decision-making and identifying pivotal players.

2. Aligning with client objectives

Tailor your offerings to meet the client’s strategic goals:

• Customer solutions and business initiatives : Identify Innovatech's short to long-term priorities. For instance, if Innovatech aims to expand its cloud computing services, align your solutions to support this expansion.
• Aligning solutions with client's goals : Connect your services to Innovatech’s objectives. For example, propose relevant tech solutions for enhancing cybersecurity, with clear timelines and potential business impacts.
• Client confirmation : Verify your understanding of Innovatech's goals through active dialogue. Ensure your relationship map accurately reflects the decision-making landscape and use any identified opportunities to deepen engagement.

3. Preparing your account plan

A well-crafted plan for strategic accounts serves as your blueprint for engagement:

• SWOT analysis : Analyse strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in your relationship with Innovatech. This analysis helps pinpoint areas for improvement and strategies for growth.
• Whitespace analysis : Look for untapped opportunities within Innovatech. Utilise sales data and market trends to identify areas where Innovatech could expand or enhance its tech offerings.
• Long-term goals and strategy : Set ambitious, achievable goals that align with both Innovatech’s aspirations and your own strategic direction. These goals should reflect a mutual vision for growth and innovation.

4. Performance optimisation

Continuously refine and adjust your strategy (including sales strategy) for maximum effectiveness in strategic account management:

• Action plan : Outline specific steps for engaging with Innovatech. Assign team responsibilities based on areas of expertise and Innovatech’s needs. Set clear objectives and resources required for each task.
• Account health : Regularly assess the health of your relationship with Innovatech. Monitor renewal opportunities interaction quality and conduct a thorough risk analysis to maintain a robust partnership.

As you can observe, mastering account planning is more than just a strategic advantage; it's necessary to foster long-term, mutually beneficial relationships. By applying these best practices, tech firms like Innovatech Solutions can achieve deeper client engagement, enhanced service offerings, and ultimately sustained business growth. The overall approach is not just about planning; it's about evolving with your clients and leading the way in technological advancements.

Final Thoughts

As we conclude this comprehensive post on strategic account management, it's essential to reflect on the key takeaways and their practical application in the real world. Throughout this article, we've explored the intricacies of strategic account planning, from understanding its fundamental principles to implementing a detailed account planning template. The insights provided here are not just theoretical concepts; they are practical tools proven to foster significant growth and deeper client relationships in the B2B technology sector.

At xGrowth, our experience in implementing these strategies speaks for itself. We've been at the forefront of Account-Based Marketing (ABM) and other critical marketing domains, helping well-known brands reach and surpass their growth objectives. Our approach combines foundational strategies with a deep understanding of each client's unique needs, leading to impressive results.

Success stories

For example, our expertise in ABM and Lead Generation has been instrumental in creating 12 significant opportunities with top financial institutions in Australia and New Zealand. This initiative led to the creation of a robust $1.2 million pipeline in premium accounts. Our success is rooted in our ability to integrate personalised content with ABM strategies, creating campaigns that genuinely resonate with high-value clients.

The journey of strategic account planning and sales account planning is ongoing, and adapting to the evolving needs of your clients is always going to be vital. If you want to transform your marketing efforts and achieve similar success, xGrowth is here to guide you. With our proven strategies and your commitment to excellence, the growth potential is limitless.

For more insights or to learn how xGrowth can enhance your marketing strategies, reach out to us for a chat.

Related Resources

Introduction Launching products into new markets requires a strong go-to-market (GTM) strategy. We have previously released resources that discuss how to create a Go-to-Market Strategy and how it differs from a marketing strategy (marketing strategy vs. Go-to-Market Strategy). We have also published articles on Go-to-Market Phases and real-world Go-to-Market Strategy examples. As the latest addition to […]

Introduction A Go-to-Market Strategy is a comprehensive marketing plan that outlines how a company will effectively reach and engage with its target audience to launch and successfully promote a new product or service. It ensures focus and alignment across all your teams and provides a framework to measure success. By clearly defining your target customer, […]

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A strategic account planning template for your business

January 14, 2021 by MindManager Blog

By: Nicholas Mistretta

It’s always easier to paint by numbers than it is to sit down in front of a blank canvas and create something new, and this approach can be adapted specifically for your account planning needs. What’s to follow in today’s article is a strategic account planning template that you can use to win new key accounts or grow existing ones.

You may recall from previous articles that you must first change your mindset when dealing with your strategic accounts. You’re a partner, not a vendor. A problem solver, not a salesman. And as such, you have to think differently and plan differently.

The strategic account planning template below, including some account planning tools, is meant to help you improve relationships with your key accounts by:

• Understanding your customers’ business goals and identifying opportunities
• Identifying and reducing risk
• Delivering value to your client
• Creating value for your organization
• Increasing revenue

You want to show your strategic accounts that you’re invested in their success, challenges, and goals. But you also want to create a strategy for mutual success, where both sides win. That’s the only way successful partnerships last.

Perhaps it will help to think of your strategic account planning template in simpler terms. It should help you figure out where you are now with a particular client, where you want to be, and how you’re going to get there.

Therefore, your account planning template will be more Rand McNally road atlas than Picasso’s painting of The Old Guitarist. But that doesn’t mean it still can’t be a masterpiece, and that will be determined by how well you fill in the blanks and connect the dots.

Your strategic account planning template for greater success

Will time and effort be required when filling in your template details and all the research and resources that go into it? You bet! Will it be worth it? If done the right way, the potential ROI from a great account planning template has no limits, or as Michael Jordan once famously said, “ The ceiling is the roof .” (That’s OK, we know what he meant.)

1. Your customer’s business overview

Your goal in step one is to gather as much information as you can on your key account’s business so you can better understand their wants and needs. In doing so, you can create that value we mentioned above. And what happens when you create value? You make your organization indispensable.

This should never be thought of as a one-time exercise. Change is always happening whether we see it or not. Goals and objectives change over time. Markets shift and businesses expand. And new technology comes along that turns everything upside down.

Write everything down about your strategic client – from names, main contacts, and year founded, to annual revenue, number of employees, and the date your relationship with them began. Everything that’s relevant, and in the beginning, it may be better to have too much information rather than too little. At least until you get a better sense of what data is necessary.

Take note of all the information you’ll need to help define your customer’s goals and strategies for reaching those goals.

2. Understanding your customer’s key objectives

In this step, you’ll want to ask your customer about their business. And listen strategically while they talk, rather than what most of us do in casual conversations, which is to passively listen and wait our turn to speak.

You want to get a better feel for:

• The challenges they currently have
• How they’ve tried to solve them, what’s working, and what isn’t
• How they measure success and the time frame for measuring
• Their short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals
• Key projects now and in the near future
• Their KPIs – key performance indicators

Keep in mind what your objective is during this step – to figure out what your strategic client values most, and this may sometimes require reading between the lines, which is why being a great listener is so crucial. By better understanding their expectations and goals, you’ll build more customer loyalty, and keep the wolves at bay (i.e., the competition).

Jeff Bezos once famously said, “Focusing on the customer makes a company more resilient.” There’s that win-win end game we keep harping on.

3. A better understanding of the client landscape

Large corporations are complex machines made up of flawed human beings all trying to get ahead. It’s important that you and your team understand the organizational chart, the important players, and the decision-makers. And this can change based on different product lines, different divisions, and geography.

The point of this exercise is in knowing the right person you should be dealing with. Think Godfather II. Would you go to Fredo Corleone to strike up a deal with the family or Michael?

Find information on what job titles you should be targeting for your products. Use past performance – which titles served you well in the past, allowing you to get your foot in the door or the information you needed to help move forward with that client.

Part of your strategic account planning template includes assessing the client landscape, and to do that, you should get information on the following:

• Your relationship history with the client
• The client’s organizational chart
• A whitespace map – opportunities for added value – upsells, cross-sells
• Project status reports
• Customer value scorecard – client satisfaction, objectives, performance/KPIs
• Net promoter score – percentage of customer rating recommendations likelihood

4. Delivering value across the client’s organization

This step gets to the heart of your client’s products and revenues. Identify where you’re currently adding value, what the ROI is for that value, and if any gaps exist in the value chain.

Specific things you’ll want to examine are:

• Their white space analysis
• Current sales performance
• Current margin performance
• Successes and failures over the last 12 months

Now it’s time to analyze your key account’s top competitors.

5. Analyze the competition

As a partner, the only true way to understand your clients’ needs is to better understand their competition. When dealing with simple accounts, your relationship was very transactional – how much can I sell them today. But with strategic accounts, your partnership must be more strategic.

Part of that challenge is in helping those customers differentiate themselves from their top competitors. For each strategic account who you’re creating an account planning template for, consider the following:

• Your client’s top competition
• The competition’s strengths
• The competition’s weaknesses

6. Identify value-based selling for key decision-makers

When is the last time you sold to a company versus an individual at that company? Understanding human nature will be helpful.

Take the organizational chart you created in a previous step in your account planning template and expand it to include motivations and criteria for each key decision-maker in your key account.

Then use value-based selling points to target those individuals to whom you’ll be selling. Salesmen sell based on an empty slot on a shelf. While trusted partners understand how their selling points match the goals for each decision-maker.

Identify each of the following for the key decision-makers within your strategic accounts:

• Evaluation criteria
• Key decision criteria
• Key selling points

You must understand how the people inside your key accounts make decisions and what criteria they use to do that. Those great listening skills we mentioned earlier will serve you well once again.

7. The customer relationship – goals and strategies

Use the motivations from the above step and the organizational chart from step three to find relationship targets (key players) with the greatest opportunities for engagement. Those that can provide the most productive outcomes for both the customer’s business and your own. Remember, mutual success is the goal; that’s what a true partnership is built upon.

Start by being honest about where your relationship status currently stands. Have you ever watched a movie where a guy proposes to a woman who obviously isn’t interested, while you cringe with embarrassment simply because he misread the relationship? Don’t be that guy.

You’ll want to determine the following:

• Your current relationship status – are you seen as a trusted partner or simply a vendor?
• Who are the core business partners?
• Answer the who, what, where, how, why for all relationship targets
• A progression strategy to strengthen those key relationships

8. Identifying opportunities, targets, and risk

To this point, you’ve gathered and analyzed a lot of data – customer objectives, motivations, and important relationships with key decision-makers. You’ve decided which products or services you can suggest to help your clients reach their goals.

This step is about making a list of relevant goals for your strategic accounts and identifying internal and external blockers. Then it’s time to face the final hurdle – operational restrictions.

You may find certain roadblocks in place for the delivery of products and services. You may find opportunities to automate certain aspects of the client’s business, or specific processes that can have a greater impact on their success.

At this stage, you’ll want to identify:

• Operational restrictions
• Barriers, limitations, and risks
• Cross-sell and upsell opportunities
• Methods to align your customer’s needs with your products or services
• Long-term revenue goals

9. Creating your action plan for success

Much of your strategic account planning template to this point has revolved around gathering data and becoming more familiar with your key accounts and the key decision-makers inside those accounts. So, by now you should know the problems and potential solutions, the steps required to get there, the necessary resources, who should perform each step and by when, and how you can measure accountability.

Identify all the tasks you’ll use to achieve positive results and assign them to the right people. This will include primary tasks, milestones, and sub-tasks if required.

Your action plan should contain the following:

• The customer’s top five objectives
• Critical resources for achieving those objectives
• The assignment of each task

How do you measure success? You quantify with data. Some specific areas you’ll want to assess are:

• How to improve results with fewer resources (cost-conscious)
• How to achieve the same results with fewer resources (cost reduction)
• How to improve quality or user experience (satisfaction)
• How to reduce time or unnecessary steps (efficiency)

10. Strategic account planning review

You should review the entries in your strategic account planning template as often as necessary. As we mentioned earlier, things tend to change and sometimes those changes happen quickly.

Consider using the following schedule for this last step:

• Bi-weekly – check-in by email to get status updates on the account plan
• Monthly – schedule a client call and go over their account plan updates or changes, if objectives have changed, and anything else
• Quarterly – Put together a one-hour progress report that outlines challenges, unexpected events, new opportunities, successes, failures, and decisions for moving forward

Review the process to date, the timeline involved, and the next steps. Ask yourself if you’ve prioritized value opportunities correctly. And ask the client for relevant resources to secure buy-in as you continue working together to achieve their long-term goals.

The emphasis should always be on collaboration and positioning yourself as a beneficial and mutual partner. Your strategic clients will value you much differently and begin to see you as an indispensable member of the team, rather than someone trying to make a quick buck with a quick sale.

Let’s conclude this article on strategic account planning templates with a quote from a gentleman who’s seen a bit of success in his life:

“The key is to set realistic customer expectations, and then not to just meet them, but to exceed them – preferably in unexpected and helpful ways.”

– Richard Branson

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Strategic Account Planning: How to Plan for Maximum Sales

Strategic account planning is incredibly powerful!

Effective account planning not only helps close bigger deals faster but most importantly, helps establish amazing relationships with customers that will carry on for years. Strategic account planning should be recognized as a differentiator and value creator, not an administrative chore completed once a year. Make it be part of the rhythm of your business.

Investing time in building relationships and developing account strategies is time well spent, especially when you’re doing it with the right accounts, the right mindset, the right process and the right team. Account planning isn’t something you need to do with every account you’re selling to or in every segment; for example, it’s unlikely that you’ll drive a strategic account-planning program in your small business segments. On the bigger accounts, though, this is a mandatory practice.

We’ve worked with the best sales professionals and the best sales teams on the planet and through these tens of thousands of hours of working together we perfected a proven account planning template framework (see below).

What is Strategic Account Planning?

Account planning in sales helps prioritize your most important prospects and ensures they’re getting the best of what your company has to offer — and it’s as easy as following our template (listed below).

Whether it’s this year or five years down the line, account planners layout which accounts they want to win over and when. Then keep tabs on them all with monthly follow-ups, quarterly reviews , etc.

Account planning is not just about identifying which companies to target for potential business expansion – but also figuring out how each prospect will use your products or services, and the lifecycle of potential deals over time, which accounts they want to win over, and when.

Why is Account Planning Important?

Successful account plans have a clear strategy, goals, steps to reach the goal, tactics that are tailored to fit specific clients.

Account planning provides clarity and direction for growth-account planners to prioritize accounts to ensure that each one is being served properly.

Identifying who needs your product or service and mapping out when they may be ready to make a purchase, all the way through to keeping tabs on these client accounts with monthly follow-ups.

A Proven The Account Planning Process

Account planning is very focused on getting to the essence of what we’re trying to do with an account: plan, build relationships , identify strategic initiatives that we can solve, and build an action plan to sell. Here’s an Account Planning coaching video that maps out the proven account planning process.

Sales Account Planning Template

See our account planning template below. It’s a battle-tested and proven blueprint for closing millions of dollars in revenue, continually refined over years, designed for success using best practices across multiple industries so that all businesses can benefit from this account planning process framework.

1) Build An Account Planning Snapshot

It’s scary how many salespeople don’t even know where to begin when it comes to account planning and frequently ask “What is the first step in the account planning process?”

First – it’s incredibly important that we build out the Account Plan Snapshot:

• What do we know about the account?
• Who are the key executives?
• What’s their current revenue?
• Who is their Existing Customer?

An account planning snapshot is so important. Complete a snapshot first so you can get a clear executive overview of the account. This is the ground floor of our account planning process.

2) SWOT Analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats

The second step of the account planning process is a SWOT analysis which helps to formulaically analyze the accounts strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats together as a team.

Remember this is still in the foundational stage. You may not have all the answers, and that’s OK, that’s why you’re bringing your team together. See potential strengths below:

• What are the company’s strengths?
• What are they good at?
• Are they making money?
• How are they performing?
• Are they dominating in their market?
• What are people saying about them?
• What products are great?
• How are their products?

Then, research weaknesses. See potential company weaknesses below:

• What are the areas of weakness for the company?
• Maybe a competitor of theirs is beating them in certain markets?
• Maybe they’ve got huge attrition right now and you’ve read that on Glassdoor or wherever?

These are some potential weaknesses you can look for.

• Opportunities

Researching the opportunities can be downright magical for you and your team. This research will help you learn everything there is to know about your market and its competitors, which are crucial components for success.

Hopefully by this time you’ve had conversations with:

• Decision-makers
• Your champion
• Some influencers
• Even maybe some of their customers

You want to list out any potential opportunities you see:

• What are some opportunities for the company?
• What people are saying about them in the press?

Research is critical in the Opportunities stage of SWOT analysis. It’ll align you around what you’re trying to accomplish, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and lastly – it will allow you to provide a huge amount of VALUE to your customer.

• What are some industry threats?
• What are some competitive threats to the company?

Overall the SWOT analysis is an incredibly powerful account planning tool in your account planning process.

I love building out a SWOT analysis for accounts that I’m trying to partner with. When I sit down with an executive, I like popping up that SWOT analysis, saying, and sharing:

• Here’s a SWOT analysis: strengths weaknesses threats opportunities, etc
• Here’s the research we’ve done
• Does this look accurate?
• How could this improve? Let’s work on it together?

Frequently what happens on calls and in rooms with executives when sharing this information we go through and we start tweaking the strengths weaknesses and threats and opportunities together – it’s an absolute home run!

We are now embedded within their company and proposing laser-focused solutions.

3) Map Out Top Initiatives

After your SWOT is complete – it’s time to list out top initiatives derived from the SWOT and decide what to prioritize as your top initiatives, as well as brainstorm initiatives for short, middle, and long term sales goals .

So list out the top initiatives and fill in the template list:

• Who are these initiatives for?
• Why are they important?
• What are some dates we can attach to tasks?

Here we can start aligning with compelling events and other trigger events – this is a hugely strategic step.

At this point we haven’t done a deal review, we’re not really at a forecast stage yet – we’re focused on research, we’re building an account strategy and account plan ( see this article for territory planning ).

4) Conduct a Business Unit Analysis

After you’ve completed the top initiatives, you can now begin building your Business Unit Initiatives Analysis.

List out all the business units or departments of the company – just start listing them out and then start filling in information around each business unit:

• How many employees do they have?
• What are company goals?
• Who’s the executive that owns it?
• When’s the last time we’ve made contact with that executive?

When building out this business unit analysis it gets you to a point where you can:

• Prioritize your time
• Prioritize your team’s time
• Focus goals that make bottom-line sense

This step is where you prioritize where you’re going to invest the resources to go execute the account strategy and the account plan that you’ve created based on all your great research and collaboration you’ve done with your team – you are now aligning ACTION to your great research.

5) Build An Organizational Chart & Political Map

Building an organizational chart is so incredibly important – it’s a critical aspect of the sales process too. For many sales leaders and sales teams, the political landscape of a company and a buying decision is where we found out if and when a deal will really happen. Spending time to map out who you know and who you’re connected with, will pay dividends down the line.

Always make sure there’s an org chart in your account plan. The chart should include:

• All decision markers, influencers, champions, and executive sponsors, both direct and indirect
• For each person list our their “buying roles” (decision maker, evaluator, user, approver)
• For each person market their “relationship status” (supporter, mentor, neutral, non-supporter & enemy)

There are a ton of templates out there but keep it simple – build out your chart to get a sense of the political map:

• Who has power?
• Who reports to whom?
• How do decisions get done?

Org charts are done in a bunch of different ways you can use a tool if you have one or you can just draw it on a whiteboard, do it in a document – however you want to do it – go crazy! But a solid org chart is a must-have.

6) Develop a Connect the Dots Strategy

The next step is to develop a connect the dots strategy .

Let me explain what that means:

• We’ve done the SWOT analysis
• We’ve identified top initiatives
• We have a sense of the executives
• We have a sense of which executives own which initiatives
• We’ve also built an org chart

Now we want to figure out who in our company is connected, or who in our network is connected with people of the account that we’re targeting.

From here start mapping executives to executives so we can build a connected dots strategy:

• Ask for referrals
• What’s our best approach to go after these people?

Be mindful about who you should be going after. Remember these are strategic accounts building relationships through outreach should be thoughtful and strategic – we’re doing it with research, with intent, with purpose – and we need to remain mindful of that.

7) Build out an Opportunity Planning Map

We’re almost done! The next thing you need to do is build out your opportunity map. So far in the account planning process, we’ve done a ton of work and we’ve identified:

• A good sense of their top initiatives
• We know the org chart
• We know where power lives
• We’ve even got to connect the dots strategy

Think about how much work you’ve done already to set yourself up for success – now you just have to list out opportunities and start projecting deals:

“Here are some deals that we can go after, based on what we’ve learned from the account.”

And then we do an opportunity map where we start listing out, you know ballpark some deals that we’re going to you know kind of start thinking about, so directionally we know what this can look like in terms of a bigger deal.

List them out and talk it over with the team – which leads us to our next point:

8) Manage an Action Plan

We have now made it to the last step of the account planning process. This is the step where you take all of the info you have gathered and turn it into an actionable plan with personnel and dates attached to it:

• Who’s connecting with who
• Who’s doing what
• What’s the timeline

It’s important to remember that although the salesperson is who’s running point on the account, it’s a team effort .

You win as a team, you lose as a team, so everyone on the team must have a role in this process to keep it moving along.

By assigning roles to everyone on the team ownership is distributed across the entire team and most importantly – multiple people are responsible for follow-through – so we can see the results that we expect.

Being very specific in your action plan is the difference between an account plan that’s developed, and not in action, and an account plan that has action, and turns into bigger deals.

As the strategies are put into action, nurture a culture that holds people accountable. Ask the tough questions when the sales team comes together. Once the executive interactions and conversations happen and pain is identified and validated, shift the focus to managing an opportunity. There is a point, once an opportunity is identified and qualified, when the actions created from your account-strategy work shift to sales process work. These kinds of accomplishments are great motivators for the team to create their own qualified opportunities by being strategic with their accounts.

Sales Account Planning Recap

Just to recap quickly – see the 8 step sales account planning template process below:

• Executive Overview
• SWOT analysis – Strengths, weaknesses, threats, opportunities
• Top Initiatives Chart – Identify the company’s top initiatives that we’ve validated hopefully with some key executives
• Business Unit Analysis
• Build an Organizational Chart
• Connect The Dots Strategy
• Opportunity Map
• Action Plan – Critical: the plan needs owners, timeline and dates outlined

Embracing account planning, collaborating with your champion to fill in blanks, and working with your team to execute will supercharge your sales efforts.

The account planning strategy above is not going to get filled in in one sit-down – effective account planning takes time. It may take weeks to build with your team.

It really all depends on the size of the account, the size of the opportunity, the size of your team – but the steps and process are important.

Above is a battle-tested framework that has evolved over time with some of the best salespeople and sales teams in the industry and resulted in important deals with astronomical sales revenue.

Account Planning Mindset

The Zen Buddhist concept of the “beginner’s mind” is something everyone should pick up before they begin diving into the creative side of sales strategy and account planning. The saying goes, “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.” This is such a great concept for taking a fresh look at a familiar situation. Suggest to each new salesperson you hire and anyone wanting to kick-start their creative juices that he or she read Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki. The notion of a “beginner’s mind” also helps a team get out of a rut on an account that may have had zero revenue growth. Account teams sometimes continue to focus on the same strategies, the same executives, and the same value propositions with their accounts. You can use the “beginner’s mind” philosophy to shake the proverbial tree with some of your accounts

Strategic Account Management

Effective account planning in the beginning stages sets up a lifetime of high performance, strategic account management, and a clear road map to success. By focusing on the information and roadmap laid out in the account planning, strategic account management builds trust, and leads to more deals in the future, as it proves you are a thoughtful, reliable partner that knows the customer’s business.

Final Thoughts on Account Planning

Account planning is critical at the beginning of a deal. It can help us determine who’s involved, what it will take to influence them, and how much our clients may be willing to pay for their products or services.

With this information, we have some guidance on which deals are worth pursuing further, and can help us create a roadmap so directionally we know what this can look like in terms of a bigger deal in the future, and help us allocate attention and personnel accordingly.

By starting with a solid account plan, demonstrating thorough process, insights, and strategic account planning throughout the course of the relationship, it will be far easier to find opportunities faster and be more informed than ever before, resulting in record-breaking revenue.

Sign up for your Free Demo of the #1 Sales Enablement Enablement Platform – SalesHood – today.

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Free Account Planning and Management Templates

By Joe Weller | May 9, 2023

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This article includes the top free account planning and management templates for account managers, client-facing project managers, salespeople, and account executives. Use these templates to improve client relationships and build partnerships.

On this page, you'll find a strategic account plan presentation template and a sales account plan template with space for capturing key account details. Download an account mapping template featuring an org chart, and a key account management action plan template with sample copy. You’ll also learn about key account planning elements and how to do it , along with tips on using an account planning and management template .

Simple Account Plan Template

Download a Sample Simple Account Plan Template for  Excel | PowerPoint | Microsoft Word

Download a Blank Simple Account Plan Template for  Excel | PowerPoint | Microsoft Word  

This customizable, one-page simple account plan template can help everyone on your team understand their needs, so you can establish and strengthen a long-term relationship with them. The sample template comes with text already filled in to help you proactively create a customer account plan. Start by entering the client’s primary goal and the key team members (e.g., management, decision makers). You can then create a plan of action for managing the account, including identifying any blockers, next steps, and the owner for each component of your account plan.

Strategic Account Plan Presentation Template

Download a Strategic Account Presentation Plan Template for  PowerPoint | Google Slides  

Solidify your client-account planning and management with this dynamic strategic account plan template. Enter details of your client’s key priorities, initiatives, and people so that any team member can become apprised of the client’s goals and active players at a glance. The template also includes space to specify the client’s annual account targets and revenue streams, as well as your action plan (specific actions, assignees, and due dates) — all to ensure that you strengthen your client relationship and have a solid account plan and client-management strategy in place.

Sales Account Plan Template

Download a Sales Account Plan Template for  Excel | PowerPoint | Microsoft Word  

Ensure that you proactively meet — and even exceed — your sales-account management and planning goals with this comprehensive sales account plan template. Use the template to document prospective and existing clients’ decision-making processes and other important details. Enter account-overview details (e.g., account revenue, industry, relationship strength), account objectives, account solutions, and your account action plan. This template is the perfect solution for capturing important details about prospective or existing customers and for creating a dynamic strategy to help them succeed, so you can develop and retain a strong partnership with them.

Account Mapping Template

Download a Sample Account Mapping Template for  Excel | Microsoft Word | PowerPoint  

Download a Blank Account Mapping Template for  Excel | Microsoft Word | PowerPoint   

Use this account mapping template to identify a client’s key players, so that you and your team are readily aware of the client’s hierarchy, who makes purchasing decisions, and more. Download the customizable sample account mapping template with example content to get an idea of what to include for each role. Once complete, the template provides insight for account managers, salespeople, and account executives for the roles of each individual within the client’s organization. By understanding the roles in your client’s organization, you can make more informed decisions and facilitate a more effective strategy and long-term relationship.

Key Account Management Action Plan Template

Download a Sample Key Account Management Action Plan Template for  Excel | Microsoft Word | PowerPoint

Download a Blank Key Account Management Action Plan Template for  Excel | Microsoft Word | PowerPoint  

A successful key account management action plan serves as an easy-to-follow map that accurately charts a customer’s current state, their goals, and how to help them achieve a mutually beneficial association. This template is available in two versions: blank and with sample text to guide you through the key account management action plan process. Easily capture your key clients’ details, individuals’ roles on the project, management objectives, clients’ preferred communication styles, and actionable steps to foster and strengthen the partnership.

What Is a Key Account Plan? 

A key account plan is a strategic document that outlines your objectives and strategies for your most important customers. Sales and account management teams use a key account plan to provide a coordinated approach to growing client partnerships. 

A key account plan typically includes details of your client's business, such as challenges they face, their value proposition, services they provide, and the actions and resources needed to achieve their goals. The primary aim of a key account plan is to ensure that your organization provides a coordinated, consistent, and focused approach to your most valuable clients.  It also helps you effectively allocate resources, and track client-relationship progress over time.

Elements of Key Account Plan

The elements of a key account plan might vary, depending on your business. A key account plan typically includes information about the client, their needs, their buying behavior, and the steps you’ll take to increase sales and improve customer satisfaction. 

The goal of a key account plan is to maximize the value of the relationship for both your company and your most vital customers for optimal key account management (KAM). Typically, a project manager will complete the key account plan document.

The seven main elements of a key account plan typically include: 

• Client Profile: Detailed information on the key account, including company background, main decision makers, and relevant client information. 
• Situation Analysis: An assessment of the current state of the relationship with the key account, including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) and competitive analyses. You can use a SWOT analysis template to determine these details.
• Goals and Objectives: Clear, measurable, and time-bound goals and objectives for the key account relationship. These are both important to cover, but goals and objectives are different and require distinct approaches.
• Strategies and Tactics: Determine how you’ll achieve the goals and objectives, including specific strategies and tactics for improving the relationship and growing the business. 
• Action Plan: A detailed plan of action, including specific activities, milestones, and deadlines for implementing these strategies. 
• Resource Allocation: A plan for allocating resources, including personnel and budget, to support the implementation of your key account plan. 
• Performance Monitoring and Evaluation: A plan for monitoring and evaluating the progress of the key account relationship regularly and adjusting  as needed.

Steps in the Process of Key Account Planning

A well-designed key account plan includes information about your client's current and future needs, their strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities available to you. It provides a clear plan for how you will meet their needs and grow the relationship. 

The following are the fundamental steps in the key-account-planning process: 

• Identify Key Accounts Identify the key accounts that are critical to the success of the business. This might include customers who generate the most revenue or have the most potential for growth. 
• Gather Information About Key Accounts Gather as much information as possible about each key account, including their needs, pain points, buying habits, decision-making processes, and main stakeholders. 
• Analyze Key Account Data Once you’ve gathered information about each key account, analyze the data to understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of each relationship.
• Develop an Account Plan Develop a comprehensive account plan for each key account. This plan should include specific strategies and tactics for growing the relationship, meeting customer needs, and maximizing value.
• Implement the Account Plan Work closely with the key account to execute on specific tactics, such as building stronger relationships with key stakeholders and tracking progress to ensure the plan is achieving its goals.
• Review and Adjust the Plan Regularly review your key account plan and make adjustments as needed based on changes in the customer's needs, market conditions, or other factors that may impact the relationship.

For more help with client planning and management, check out our collection of free client management and tracking templates , and our tips and best practices for mastering client management .

How to Use an Account Planning Template 

Use an account planning template to develop a detailed analysis of your account's current challenges and to identify revenue opportunities. Gather information about your goals for the key account, main stakeholders, and steps to execute.

1. Download and Name the Simple Account Plan Template for Microsoft

Download and open the Simple Account Plan Template in Microsoft Word. Save and rename the document locally.

2. Enter Basic Details About the Plan

• Click the Date box and enter the date you’re creating the plan.
• Click the Created By box and enter the name of the person responsible for the plan. 
• Click the Version box and enter the plan’s version.
• Click the Goal box and enter the goals for the account.

3. Complete the Account Plan Team Section

• For each account planning team member, double-click the team member’s NAME section. 
• When the NAME field opens, enter a name for that team member. 
• In the Title field, enter a title for the particular team member. 

• Click the corresponding image icon. Right-click and highlight Change Picture , and click the location ( From a File, From Stock Images, From Online Sources, or From Icons )  of the person’s image. 

• Select the image and click the Insert button.

4. Enter the Details for Each Action Step in the Project Account Action Plan

• Fill in the Action Step field. 
• In the Responsible field, enter the name(s) of the internal stakeholder(s) responsible for the step. 
• In the Description field, provide a brief description for each action step in your account plan. 
• In the Status field, provide the current status (e.g., Accepted, Declined ) for each step. 
• In the Outside Shareholders field, enter the names of the customer’s or client’s personnel who are responsible for that step. 
• In the Notes / Constraints field, enter any relevant notes. 

Streamline Your Account Planning and Management with Smartsheet

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The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed. 

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time.  Try Smartsheet for free, today.

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The 30-60-90-Day Blueprint: Your Path to Key Account Success

Milind Katti

COO & Co-Founder, DemandFarm

Powering Progress: The 30-60-90-Day Blueprint Plan for Key Account Excellence

Your Guide to Key Account Management Excellence. Learn how the 30-60-90-Day Blueprint powers progress, fostering sustainable business growth.

In the world of B2B sales, success is all about relationships. The most important of these relationships is with your key accounts. That is the customers who have the potential to generate the most revenue for your business. By building and managing long-term relationships with your key accounts , you can create a foundation for sustainable growth.

The 30-60-90-Day Blueprint is a time-bound, comprehensive approach to Key Account Management . It breaks down your first 90 days into three phases:

• The 30-day phase: You actively engage in learning and comprehending the intricacies of your key accounts . During this period, you diligently gather essential information about their businesses, goals, and challenges, establishing a strong foundation for your future interactions.
• The 60-day phase: The focus shifts towards building robust relationships and delivering exceptional value. To achieve this, you strategically devise and execute plans tailored to meet the specific needs of each key account, aiming not only to meet but also exceed their expectations.
• The 90-day phase: Your efforts are geared towards cementing and solidifying these newly formed relationships. It is crucial to continue delivering value consistently, ensuring that your key accounts remain content and satisfied. This stage sets the groundwork for long-term success and opens the doors to further growth and opportunities.

Through sustained dedication and customer-centricity, you position yourself as a trusted partner for your key accounts, fostering enduring relationships that propel mutual prosperity.

Understanding the 30-60-90-Day Blueprint

The 30-60-90-Day Blueprint is your trusted roadmap in Key Account Management, guiding your journey with strategic precision. This game plan operates on understanding, delivering value, and building strong relationships, gradually leading to long-term success. By breaking down KAM into manageable stages, it eliminates guesswork and empowers you with a clear vision, focusing your efforts on specific goals while optimizing resource utilization.

As a catalyst for progress, each stage builds upon the previous, ensuring continuous growth. With a keen understanding of your key accounts , you can effectively cater to their needs, consistently deliver value, and forge powerful strategic relationships. Follow the proven path of the 30-60-90-Day Blueprint to unlock the full potential of your key accounts, driving increased revenue, heightened customer satisfaction, and strengthened relationships.

The First 30 Days: Building a Strong Foundation

The first 30 days of the 30-60-90-Day Blueprint are all about getting to know your key accounts. Knowledge is power, and in this phase, the spotlight is on in-depth research and analysis. Gather information about their businesses, their goals, their challenges, and their expectations. This information will help you understand your key accounts’ needs and how best you can meet them.

You’ll also start to build relationships with your key accounts . This means communicating with them regularly and listening to their needs. It also means being responsive to their requests and going the extra mile to help them succeed. Through effective communication, you understand the nuances of your clients’ needs – giving you an edge in offering them precisely what they need.

With a solid understanding and clear objectives, you can craft an actionable plan. This roadmap outlines the steps you’ll take to meet and exceed your clients’ expectations, making the first stride towards a mutually beneficial relationship.

By the end of the first 30 days, you’ll have a solid understanding of your key accounts and their needs. You’ll also have started to build strong relationships with them. This will put you in a great position to deliver value and achieve mutually beneficial results.

The Next 60 Days: Driving Growth and Value

The second stage of the blueprint, spanning the next 60 days, moves the lens from understanding to action. With deep insight into your key accounts’ needs and goals, you’re well-positioned to deliver value and drive growth.

The first step in this next phase is developing a customized account strategy . This plan, tailored to your key account’s needs, will outline how you will enhance engagement, identify growth avenues, and drive account expansion. Your strategy must be flexible, allowing for modifications based on evolving needs and market dynamics.

An important aspect of this phase involves exploring opportunities for upselling and cross-selling . By aligning these opportunities with your clients’ needs, you could find additional revenue streams, while simultaneously providing more value to your clients.

Collaboration is essential during this phase. Cross-functional teams within your organization can provide unique insights and skills. This ensures a holistic approach to Key Account Management. By pooling resources and harnessing internal expertise, you create a synergy that amplifies the value delivered to your key accounts.

Project monitoring should not be ignored. Regularly assess your strategy’s effectiveness, identify potential gaps and adjust as required. This cyclical process helps you stay in sync with your key accounts’ expectations. You can thus ensure that your efforts are on the right track.

By the end of the second phase, you’ll have implemented targeted strategies, driven significant growth, and created tangible value for your key accounts. This places you in a strong position to solidify your relationships and lay the foundation for long-term success.

The Final 90 Days: Solidifying Success and Expanding Relationships

The final phase of the 30-60-90-Day Blueprint is about consolidating your success and laying the groundwork for future growth. It’s in this phase that your efforts bear fruit.

You will concentrate on cementing the relationships you’ve built and continuously delivering value to your key accounts. Your primary task is to deliver on promises made and meet client expectations. The emphasis is on maintaining the high bar of performance you’ve set. But you also need to be consistent in the quality of service you provide.

Your ability to meet and surpass expectations will bolster your clients’ confidence in your partnership, and drive their loyalty and satisfaction.

However, it doesn’t stop there. This final phase calls for the provision of continuous value-added solutions. This involves anticipating your key accounts’ future needs and presenting innovative solutions. Through this, you demonstrate a commitment to their ongoing success. Your proactive approach will further reinforce your value as a trusted partner.

Towards the end of this 90-day period, the focus shifts to fostering long-term partnerships. All your work in understanding, strategizing, and delivering value results in a strong, trusting relationship. Your efforts should be directed towards maintaining these relationships. You must find ways to expand them further and promote sustainable growth.

It’s crucial to remember that the 30-60-90-Day Blueprint isn’t an end, but only just a beginning. It’s a cycle of continuous improvement and strengthening relationships. It sets the stage for ongoing growth and success.

By the end of this phase, you’ll have achieved Key Account Excellence, with robust partnerships driving your business to new heights.

The 30-60-90-Day Blueprint: Your Pathway to Sustainable Success

The 30-60-90-Day Blueprint is a valuable business tool. It redefined the way businesses approach Key Account Management. Through its sequential stages – understanding key accounts, delivering value, and fortifying relationships – it creates a path to achieve sustainable growth and attain Key Account Excellence.

One of its greatest qualities is its versatility. This Blueprint isn’t a rigid structure but a dynamic guide that can adapt to the evolving needs of your key accounts. The focus remains on understanding clients, creating value and building relationships for lasting success.

It’s important to keep in mind that this Blueprint isn’t a one-off process. It’s a cyclical journey during which you should mark your continuous progress and growth. Each cycle of the Blueprint pushes your business further along the path of success.

In essence, the 30-60-90-Day Blueprint is more than just a strategy – it’s an ongoing commitment to your key accounts. It’s a resolution to strive for excellence, to improve continually and to grow in your partnerships. It’s this commitment that will help propel your business and ensure that you achieve Key Account Excellence.

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About The Author

Milind is the COO & Co-Founder of DemandFarm. He co-founded DemandFarm to build smart software technology to bring Account Planning and Relationship Intelligence into your CRM, making Key Account Management data-driven, predictable and scalable.Milind has close to 25 years of experience in sales & marketing. He is an Electronics & Communication Engineer with MBA in Marketing. He enjoys long-distance running, loves reading history, and above all else, he is a humanist.

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Job Opening: Account Executive (Strategic Account Manager)

Job Description

This position implements the strategic account sales execution of our company's Animal Health and technology portfolio of products and services. The Account Executive creates and executes account plans and the overall key account approach. They are also responsible for revenue delivery and must develop a deep understanding of account goals, needs, and pain points to generate joint business plans. The Account Executive supports a best-in-class sales organization by establishing and contributing to a culture that promotes innovation, continuous improvement, a customer focused mindset, and professional development. The account executive must drive performance in their assigned customer groups in alignment with the sales management team and commercial operations groups. Additionally, this position will stay abreast of the external environment and support the contracting process. They must also align with our Distribution, Marketing and Channel Management teams. This position must possess negotiation skills, financial acumen, a proficiency in marketing, excellent mathematical and analytical skills, be an expert relationship builder (internal and external) and project a natural executive presence. The ideal candidate partners with cross-functional peers to gather internal resources that meet customer needs, provide value, and improves our company's industry position.

Contracting/Negotiation : (35%)

Must execute strategic pricing plan for contracts, incentive packages and other agreement elements

Collaborate on the approach for major customers and execute the defined process

Use financial tools and ensure compliance/performance to the agreements (hold customers accountable to their commitments)

Communicate and action the sales opportunity created by the contracts at the centralized level, as well as to our field sales team

Increase share of wallet, revenue and profitability

Marketing Plan Execution : (30 %)

Coordinate the involvement of company personnel, including support, service, and management resources, to meet key account performance objectives

Align with go-to-market strategies from all category/functional areas responsible for demand creation

Serve as resident expert for key value-generators for customer groups

Work with strategic account activation leads (SAALs) to rollout initiatives at the regional and hospital level

Share best practices and client trends with internal and field based team members

Maintain an understanding of external factors and emerging trends impacting customers

Design and collaborate on a marketing plans to drive growth

Lead presentations, project kickoff meetings and execute promotions

Relationship Building/Sales: (20%)

Build long-term trusted relationships with customer leadership

Manage strategic accounts with the greatest complexity, opportunity and/or challenges

Direct and engage with customers before, during and after the contracting process.

Monitor client engagement levels, conduct periodic business reviews and choose projects with the highest ROI

Understand key customers’ long-term business goals, associated pain points and identify suitable upselling and cross-selling opportunities

Discover and partner with vendors who add unique value to our customers organization. Drive the relationship and collaboration

Analytics: (15%)

Optimize internal data to develop strategies, monitor customer compliance, maximize ROI, identify growth opportunities

Maintain accurate financial and structural customer information to ensure correct incentive calculations and to build trust

Provide feedback to our internal team to build tools and models that describe our current state, and can be applied to develop strategies to share with our customers

Internal Key Contacts:

• Marketing, sales, salesforce enablement, global key accounts, customer experience, technology and monitoring, distribution, channel, finance, learning and development, communications, HR, legal, compliance, professional services, medical affairs

External Key Contacts:

Key industry opinion leaders

Customer executives

Non-competitive industry stakeholders/leaders

Background & Education:

Bachelor’s Degree (technical or business degree)

Minimum 5 years of both sales and marketing experience

Must have at least 5 years of account management experience at the national and/or global level

Managed a customer generating $10M of annual revenue

Experienced with negotiating and writing corporate account level contracts

MBA preferred

Required Skills/Abilities:

Demonstrated negotiation abilities and share of wallet outcomes with key accounts

Excellent communication skills both verbal and written, including highly effective presentation skills

Must have knowledge of companion animal markets

Business minded acumen with science and technical balance

Strong veterinary medical acumen

Strong communication, influence, and collaboration skills

Strategic capability to successfully plan, source and manage portfolio of products at various lifecycle phases

Balanced ability to collaborate and influence across multiple internal and external stakeholders

Demonstrated technology proficiency including Customer Relationship Management software and web applications

Skilled at developing strong networks and relationships across functions and other organizational boundaries

Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite

NOTICE FOR INTERNAL APPLICANTS

In accordance with Managers' Policy - Job Posting and Employee Placement, all employees subject to this policy are required to have a minimum of twelve (12) months of service in current position prior to applying for open positions.

If you have been offered a separation benefits package, but have not yet reached your separation date and are offered a position within the salary and geographical parameters as set forth in the Summary Plan Description (SPD) of your separation package, then you are no longer eligible for your separation benefits package. To discuss in more detail, please contact your HRBP or Talent Acquisition Advisor.

Employees working in roles that the Company determines require routine collaboration with external stakeholders, such as customer-facing commercial, or research-based roles, will be expected to comply not only with Company policy but also with policies established by such external stakeholders (for example, a requirement to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to access a facility or meet with stakeholders). Please understand that, as permitted by applicable law, if you have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 and an essential function of your job is to call on external stakeholders who require vaccination to enter their premises or engage in face-to-face meetings, then your employment may pose an undue burden to business operations, in which case you may not be offered employment, or your employment could be terminated. Please also note that, where permitted by applicable law, the Company reserves the right to require COVID-19 vaccinations for positions, such as in Global Employee Health, where the Company determines in its discretion that the nature of the role presents an increased risk of disease transmission.

Current Employees apply HERE (https://wd5.myworkday.com/msd/d/task/1422$6687.htmld)

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE (https://wd5.myworkday.com/msd/d/task/1422$4020.htmld)

US and Puerto Rico Residents Only:

Our company is committed to inclusion, ensuring that candidates can engage in a hiring process that exhibits their true capabilities. Please click here (https://survey.sogosurvey.com/r/aCdfqL) if you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. For more information about personal rights under the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment laws, visit:

EEOC Know Your Rights (https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2022-10/22-088_EEOC_KnowYourRights_10_20.pdf)

EEOC GINA Supplement​

Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination (https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OFCCP/pdf/pay-transp_%20English_formattedESQA508c.pdf)

We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing diverse, talented, and committed people together. The fastest way to breakthrough innovation is when diverse ideas come together in an inclusive environment. We encourage our colleagues to respectfully challenge one another’s thinking and approach problems collectively.

Learn more about your rights, including under California, Colorado and other US State Acts (https://www.msdprivacy.com/us/en/CCPA-notice/)

U.S. Hybrid Work Model

Effective September 5, 2023, employees in office-based positions in the U.S. will be working a Hybrid work consisting of three total days on-site per week, generally Tuesday, Wednesday and either Monday or Thursday, although the specific days may vary by site or organization, with Friday designated as a remote-working day, unless business critical tasks require an on-site presence. This Hybrid work model does not apply to, and daily in-person attendance is required for, field-based positions; facility-based, manufacturing-based, or research-based positions where the work to be performed is located at a Company site; positions covered by a collective-bargaining agreement (unless the agreement provides for hybrid work); or any other position for which the Company has determined the job requirements cannot be reasonably met working remotely. Please note, this Hybrid work model guidance also does not apply to roles that have been designated as “remote”.

Under New York State, Colorado State, Washington State, and California State law, the Company is required to provide a reasonable estimate of the salary range for this job. Final determinations with respect to salary will take into account a number of factors, which may include, but not be limited to the primary work location and the chosen candidate’s relevant skills, experience, and education.

Expected salary range:

$149,400.00 - $235,100.00

Available benefits include bonus eligibility, health care and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits, paid holidays, vacation, and sick days. For Washington State Jobs, a summary of benefits is listed here (https://www.benefitsatmerck.com/) .

Search Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully

Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company. No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails.

Employee Status:

Relocation:

No relocation

VISA Sponsorship:

Travel Requirements:

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

Hazardous Material(s):

Job Posting End Date:

*A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.

Job Posting End Date: 05/29/2024

A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.

Requisition ID: R294109

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