The relevance of account plans in sales is key. An account plan is a documented strategy and list of initiatives that aim to help grow a customer’s business with the service provider.
Although typically used in enterprise sales, account plans can also be replicated for commercial and SMB customers. The plan provides the sales team with a north star and prioritized direction on the next best activities to unlock further business with their customers.
Every company’s plans will have different content. Some account plan features may be common across different service organizations. For example, mapping customer professionals with service provider roles is relevant. In enterprise accounts, there are several decision-makers and influencers, and different individuals from the service provider may better cover these individuals. For example, business decision-makers may be mapped with business professionals, tech executives with technical team members from the service provider, operations folks with project management/delivery team members, etc.
Serving multiple business units (BUs) within an account is always a goal of service providers, who gain diversification by capturing budgets from distinct wallets within the customer. BUs may have different overall objectives, varied market challenges, and distinct internal dynamics that can make one type of solution valid for one BU compared to a different customer BU.
Success in current projects is central to growing within an account, big or small. Monitoring a project’s progress, issues, blockers, and overall health is crucial. Allowing for high visibility of the project’s progress can help unlock further conversations within the account. Customer decision-makers must show proof of success to open up to internal referrals and recommendations. With larger accounts, several people approve new vendors and direct additional work to existing service providers. Remember that enterprise professionals want to unlock their annual bonuses and get promoted, and they can also use external help to achieve this.
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