ABM Expert Q & A Donal Daly, CEO, Altify What is an account plan? In my book Account Planning in Salesforce, When I think about account planning, I like to think of I set out three basic themes or phases for an my account as a marketplace that I want to lead. account plan: Thinking of it this way gives me cause to pause — and think about where in the market I should Research for Insight into Customer, Competitor, focus, and which segments I should avoid. The plan and Company. is about building long-term business relationships in a complex marketplace that enable you to create, Integrate for Velocity by using four primary develop, pursue, and win business that delivers sources: existing CRM data, account team mutual value for you and your customer. knowledge, information shared by the customer, and supplementary data from research resources Why is an account plan so important? like Data.com. Account planning helps you maximize the return you get from an existing key account, a new Focus for Impact, prioritizing your plan units strategic account, or a group of named accounts in to maximize mutual value and targeting the your territory. opportunities where you can uniquely and competitively deliver. I’m sure you know that acquired business from an existing customer is six times more profitable than pursuing new customers. But, did you also know that you’re seven times more likely to win business from an existing customer than you are when trying to capture that new logo? What are the key elements of a good account plan? To be successful at account planning, you always need to be thinking about how to maximize revenue from your existing accounts by bringing value to your customer. 103