Why the Account Planning Process Is Broken—and How to Fix It

ITSMA research shows that providers who walk through the door knowing customers’ business issues have plenty of room to stand apart from the competition—because few do it well today.

But if providers are to take advantage of this opportunity, the account planning process needs to change. It needs to become a collaborative effort that involves marketing, sales—and the customers themselves. Everyone has something to gain from collaboration in account planning. Salespeople have the opportunity to move customers through the buying process faster—and become a part of the planning process for those purchases. Marketers have the chance to eliminate much of the distance between the work they do and the outcome they desire—a clear, direct impact on the sales process. And customers have an opportunity to get help and ideas on the issues that are most pressing to them.

However, collaborative account planning is not for every customer you have—marketing simply doesn’t have the resources, nor do salespeople have the appetite. It should be used in a small subset of top accounts (or prospects) that provide (or could provide) the largest proportion of revenue to the company.

There are six steps to collaborative account planning:

1. Pick the target accounts.

2. Conduct research and map to customers’ strategic planning processes.

3. Validate with customers and analysts.

4. Link the initiatives to the responsible individuals.

5. Develop targeted offerings.

6. Create tailored value propositions.

Marketing’s Role in Collaborative Account Planning

Collaborative account planning requires that marketing take a larger—though not equal—role in the process. Sales still calls the shots, but marketing contributes to the process and in some cases even facilitates it. Essentially, collaborative account planning allows each group to do what it does best: Marketing does the research and manages the process for developing the plan, and sales holds the customer relationship and directs the actions inside the account.

Ideally, sales and marketing should collaborate on both selecting accounts and digging up the market and customer intelligence to support the plan. Salespeople are good at understanding the “now” inside accounts—the current opportunities—while marketing develops the larger picture of market trends and new opportunities.

Develop Institutional Memory

As marketers work with salespeople across many different accounts, they gain invaluable perspective on broad customer trends and best practices for reaching customers. Marketing brings institutional memory into the account planning process, helping salespeople create shortcuts by identifying what has worked in the past and what has not, what resources might be appropriate, and what existing company assets can help.

Marketing can also play an important role facilitating meetings between the strategic accounts and sales and developing a cadre of subject matter experts to create and deliver thought leadership at those meetings. For example, at one professional services firm, marketing created a group of “client marketers” who devote themselves fully to helping sales build deeper relationships with a select group of strategic accounts.

A Reason to Work Together: Bottom-Line Results

ITSMA research shows that collaborative account planning produces real bottom-line results. Having marketing involved helps bridge the alignment gap between sales and marketing. For sales, account planning is an opportunity to maximize revenues from top accounts, expose all opportunities inside the customer by revealing the customer’s business priorities, and reduce wasted sales effort spent chasing the wrong opportunities. Collaborative account planning is the chance for sales, with the help of marketing, to expand knowledge about accounts, increase business, and improve relationships with its top accounts.

The collaborative account planning process forms the basis for a new kind of relationship with customers, in which sales stops selling what it has and instead brings more targeted ideas and solutions to its accounts.

Want to learn more about collaborative account planning? ITSMA program clients can download the full report here, or contact Jeff Sands for more information.

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ITSMA specializes in helping companies market and sell services and solutions more effectively. We work with the world's leading technology, communications, and professional services providers to generate increased demand, strengthen customer relationships, and improve brand differentiation. ITSMA annual program clients include business leaders such as AT&T, Cisco, Deloitte, EMC, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, and Tata Consultancy Services, among others. Our comprehensive research, consulting, and training on topics including ITSMA Account-Based Marketing℠, Brand Positioning, and Solutions Development provide the insight and experience companies need to improve business results. ITSMA is based near Boston, and has offices in London and Tokyo. Learn more at www.itsma.com.