1 pg. Account Plan

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• A simple 1 pg. Account Plan to manage your Key Accounts (template included)

Estimated reading time: 2 min. 22 sec

1 pg. Account Plan

If you’re a Key Account Manager or manage a small handful of clients - you need to understand each one deeply.

One way to do this is by creating a 1 pg. account plan.

(grab the template here)

Most of these concepts were borrowed from Miller Heiman’s book:

The New Successful Large Account Management: Maintaining and Growing Your Most Important Assets - Your Customers.

Let’s break down the components:

Partnership status

Start by assessing where you stand with this account by providing an honest assessment of how the account views the relationship:

• Commodity Vendor

• Service Provider

• Strategic Partner

Relationship Map

Next, map all key players in the account.

Add in reporting structure as well as relationship strength.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is great for this. (but not required)

Trends

Research and list 3-5 trends the customer is facing. This could be:

• Market dynamics

• Industry trends

• Competitive pressures

FAA (Fix, Accomplish, Avoid)

Based on the current trends, outline what the account is looking to fix, accomplish, or avoid.

Differentiators

List the 2-3 differentiators that would allow the account to capitalize on their FAA.

These should be unique to you and agreed on by the account.

Vulnerabilities

List the 2-3 weaknesses or potential risks within the account. These could be:

• Product market fit

• Single point of contact

• Economic conditions

• Etc.

Account Goals

List the specific, qualitative goals that if accomplished, you’d consider the plan a success.

Ex:

• Be on a texting relationship with C-suite

• Move from Commodity Vendor to Service Provider

• Have the customer participate in a customer case study

Revenue Goal

Use the “Goldilocks Method” to land on a revenue target over the next 12 mo.

1. If we were to fill all whitespace - what’s the total ARR amount? Aspirational 

2. What’s the absolute minimum revenue target we’d accept? (ex. 3% renewal increase - what’s the actual dollar value?) Bare Minimum

3. What’s the middle ground which is both realistic and a slight stretch? “Just Right” Target

Once your Account plan is set, you now need an action plan.

Pair your account plan with the 1 pg. Client scorecard and mutual action plan (which is also linked in the template at the bottom)

Read how to use it here.

That’s all for this week.

Hope it was helpful!

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