10/9/2023-Strategic Account Planning

Writing a strategic plan for an entire year is hard unless you break it into chapters. Fortunately, the calendar helps by giving you four equal quarters of the year. Start first by planning for Q1.

You’re less than 90 days until the start of Q1, which means it’s time for strategic account planning. Before this quarter enters warp speed, examine your plan for Q1.

Study your Q1 pipeline and Q1 ’23 actuals and start making projections against each account that will generate your rev for Q1.

The myth about strategic account planning is that it requires exhaustive analysis and insights, but that’s not entirely true. Focus your planning on accounts, people (buyers/prospects), and obstacles and you’ll be on your way.

Today, plan for Q1 by writing down key information about the accounts, people, and obstacles that will guide your selling activities for Q1 revenue.

1. Project a "low"/"high" revenue estimate for each account to generate Q1 revenue.

2. Who are the people on each account that will help you get the revenue you project? (That will create your Q1 prospecting roadmap.)

3. List the obstacles per each account you must address and solve.

Strategic planning does not have to be a complex exercise, keep it simple and focus on the aforementioned three elements.

Most sellers put a ton of energy into their quarterly account plans, and then the docs sit dormant in the cloud, getting lonely. (Those poor little planners…sitting alone in the cloud and unattended can not be fun.)

The purpose of all that strategic thinking you did for the quarter was to help you manage your selling activities throughout the quarter and year. While it’s tough to get visibility for the upcoming year where you currently sit in early Q4, you will still benefit from writing things down now. Clarity will come for each quarter by working through the same process focusing on revenue per account.

Start by asking yourself, "What is my revenue estimate per each account, and how am I going to get it? That question will lead you towards a needs analysis appraisal which will ultimately drive you towards people (KDMs) and obstacles.

Champion development starts today for your ’24 money, and your champs may not be folks you currently know. The champions will lead you to solving the obstacles on each account. But unless you take a snapshot of where you stand on each account now, you won’t be able to develop a prospecting and champion development plan.

You’ve heard the expression, "Plan the work, work the plan;" nothing more true could apply to how you need to make your strategic account planning live throughout the term.

Planning your accounts takes time and a little thought, but planning for Kelly’s birthday party in "The Office" takes patience and collaboration from Dwight and Jim – and that’s always a spectacle.

If you need a break from Q1 account estimating exercises, hang out with your favorite TV co-workers for 5 minutes.