Your browser does not support JavaScript! Article - Account Planning – The Cornerstone of Strategic Account Management
Modo de Proceder
The Insight Group Article

Account Planning – The Cornerstone of Strategic Account Management

October 2015

by Mike Byrnes and Gus Maikish, Managing Partners, The Insight Group

Cornerstone of Strategic Account ManagementWhile account planning is critical to successful strategic account management, it is only one of the elements necessary to achieve the desired results in an overall strategic/global account management strategy. Account planning can be used as a starting point to revamp a company’s account management system. It is also the cornerstone of the account manager’s business plan.

 

Why is Account Planning so Important?

Account planning serves multiple purposes:


  1. Coordination/Continuity: Account planning provides important documentation allowing a new team member or an executive making a call to quickly understand the relationship with an account.
  2. Review/Reassessment: More importantly, it forces the account team to revisit their understanding of and their plans for their client. At least once a year, account managers must step back from their roles and assess their tactics, relationships, and plans to make sure that they are still in alignment with their customer. It is imperative that the team’s objectives align with the client’s. The account planning process assures that alignment.
  3. Strategic Execution: Finally, the account planning process should deliver a plan to identify opportunities and to close business. The plan should include strategy, tasks, resources required, responsible individuals, and due dates. These plans should emerge from the best thinking of the entire team.

Why do so many Account Plans fail?Insight Plan

According to the Strategic Account Management Association’s (SAMA) 2014 Current Trends & Practices Research Report: Only 11% of the over 300 responders in the survey rated their organization's execution strategic account plans as effective and two-thirds were neutral.

Why do they fail?



Keys to successful Account Planning

Our view of the keys to successful account planning are:


  1. Define the business relationship clearly so that all participants have a common understanding of the current status.
  2. Involve the customer to understand their objectives and make sure that the team’s objectivesInsight Cornerstone Account Planning align with the customer’s.
  3. Honestly assess the individual relationships that exist and those that are needed to advance the business relationship. The session needs a plan for each of these individuals to establish or enhance the current relationship.
  4. Employ a CRM tool. This tool can assist the account manager move the identified opportunities through the normal sell cycles with individual responsibilities and target dates assigned.
  5. Implement a management cadence process to ensure there is timely execution and updating of the plan.


If you would like more information on Strategic Account Management, contact Mike Byrnes(mbyrnes@insight-group.com) or Gus Maikish (gmaikish@insight-group.com )

Mike Byrnes - The Insight Group Email Mike Byrnes View Mike Byrne's LinkedIn profile

Mike Byrnes is INSIGHT’s Strategic Account Management Practice Leader. He has consulted with a wide variety of organizations where he has assisted them in improving their global account management and revamping their services organization. He has over 35 years of experience in IT, sales, business strategy and management. Mike has been a speaker at the Strategic Account Management (SAMA) annual conference and led 2 joint studies with Arizona State University's Center for Services Leadership.

More on Mike at INSIGHT

Gus Maikish - The Insight Group Email Gus Maikish View Gus Maikish's LinkedIn profile

Gus Maikish has extensive experience in strategic and global account management dealing with very large accounts, leading and coaching sales teams and leaders for over 30 years. He is a lecturer at the Columbia University Business School, the Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA), and at other institutions. He is currently co-authoring a book on the subject of Global Account management, combining his experience with both academic and research views on this subject.

More on Gus at INSIGHT



The INSIGHT Group is a management consulting firm dedicated to assisting product-based companies implement high growth services and solutions business plans and strategies. We help clients design and execute broad transformational initiatives including go to market strategies as they extend their product portfolio to include delivering capabilities as a service. Our partners are experienced line executives with a proven track record of helping our clients transform from a product-focused company to services and solutions led company.

client photo team photo alliance partner photo
Meet our Clients Meet our Thought Leaders Meet our AlliancePartners




Insight Group News

Profiting from Services co-authored by Insight's Stephen Brown

Profiting from Services

Insight Group Articles

Monetizing Data and Analytics

by Rich Lechner. Read this article


A Business Model Revolution is Underway... How Long Can Your Product Business Successfully Compete?

by Tom Esposito & Peter Lyons. Read this article


Cultural Challenge Series

by Tom Esposito and Peter Lyons (et al).



Why Service-Solutions is a Really Big Deal

by Ed Petrozelli. Read this article


Beyond Products: Innovating & Diversifying in Healthcare

by Maryann Ciampa. Read this article


Company Culture and Leadership Development: Keys for Transformation

by Bob Giacometti and Peter Lyons. Read this article


Managing Intellectual Capital for Services

by Tom Esposito. Read this article


Aligning Business Model & Culture to Maximize the Analytics Opportunity

by Ed Petrozelli. Read this article


Account Planning: The Cornerstone of Strategic Account Management

by Mike Byrnes and Gus Maikish. Read this article


Managing Services Acquisitions: 5 Key Elements for Success

by Michael Poehner. Read this article


Six Keys to Success in Services: HR's New Role

by Bob Giacometti. Read this article


Selling Value-Added Services: What's working, What's not

by Mike Byrnes & Ed Petrozelli. Read this article


Transforming into a Customer Solutions Business

by Tom Esposito & Peter Lyons

Part 1: A Changing Business Landscape

Part II: Operating the Services / Solutions Business Model


The Role of Culture as Businesses Shift from Products to Services/Solutions

by Mike Byrnes & Ed Petrozelli.

Part 1: Key Challenges
Part 2: Key Success Factors


Collaborative Leadership: The Top 10 Traits of Collaborative Leaders

by Bob Giacometti. Read this article


10 Keys to Leading a Strategic Account in the New World of Providing Value-Added Solutions & Services

by Gus Maikish & Mike Byrnes. Read this article