Most businesses have realized that it is more cost-efficient to retain an existing client compared to acquiring a new one. But with this approach, there is a possibility that the sales leaders might just be underestimating the extent to which it has affected their business. According to research conducted by Frederick Reichheld, even if a business increases its customer retention percentage by about 5%, it maximizes the profits by almost 25% to 95%.
When it comes to B2B companies, consumer churn is usually a fallout of poor customer care. Several sales teams are enthused to know the next big client in the market, but they don’t spend much time with the existing customers. However, with time and attention span, the sellers can create increased revenue by interacting with existing clients once the initial sale is done.
In this article, we will delve into the process of account planning and the strategies that help companies have a successful account plan.
Understanding Account Planning
The process of account planning improves connecting with your existing clients by developing strategies customized to their objectives for growth and development. It’s one of the essential aspects of the account-oriented sales process.
If executed well, the account planning process bears a close resemblance to the connection between a company and its customers, instead of a simple transactional bond. The process needs a vast amount of background research work on the industry of B2B customers, market players, and revenue and sales data.
However, when it comes to creating the best account plan, here are a few strategies that will help you get better at it.
Get a Competitor Analysis Done
When you conduct a competitive analysis, it adds to the structure of an ongoing dialogue about your customer’s direct competitors. Irrespective of how aloof they might appear to be about the companies in their individual space, customers can be keen to learn about the strategies and performance of other market players. Knowing slightly about the industry landscape enables you to come up with advanced ways to help clients gain a competitive advantage.
An ideal place to start is the ‘Five Forces’ competitive assessment. It enables you to evaluate the client’s business about supplier power, competitive rivalry, replacement threat, a fear of new entry, and purchasing power. When you have a clear understanding of the competitive edge or disadvantages in every section, it is possible to help the client position themselves successfully against other players in terms of services, products, or even the go-to-market motions.
For instance, if the client’s brand deals in ‘in-product surveys’ and you are aware that their biggest competitor lacks this feature, you can emphasize it. They have the scope to talk more about this particular feature and use it in their favor in their marketing campaigns.
Invest in Account Planning Tools
Account planning tools for B2B sales are necessary because they help to track crucial data, provide consistent value, and align with consumer priorities. These tools enable the sales operation and enablement and sales leaders to be consistent in how the representatives store and make use of stakeholder and account data for generating deals.
The tools also help to review the client’s strategy to decide which initiatives and targets connect with the solution’s capacities. It also helps to list client objectives, culture, and challenges. The tool further helps you to understand where you can offer maximum value in terms of the customer’s plans.
Prolifiq states that most of the time B2B companies create account plans in spreadsheets. Hence, they are replicating data between the CRM and various other locations. In most cases, the data becomes stale, outdated, and accessible to various other team members. That means handing off the account from the sales to other accounts can be cumbersome. Hence, the leading account planning tools can offer one source for data needed to create stakeholder and account strategy.
Generate the KPIs for Success
It is necessary to create achievable, feasible, and quantifiable sales goals for the account plans. All the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) provide you with something that you can track and share with your clients to let them know you want them to succeed.
A few standard KPIs in account planning are:
- Consumer retention rate
- Call response rate
- Email response rate
- Strategic call total
- Strategic email total
- Cross-sell, upsell, and the contract extension revenue
- Customer referral total
Since a few KPIs might differ to a vast extent from the sales team in your company, it is necessary to think beyond all these standard metrics. You need to set objectives and evaluate buyer sentiment for training and up-skilling various account managers and the sales teams to have ample foundational know-how for discovering new scopes.
Assess the Results
Account planning is a continuous process. The industries are in flux and the customer objectives will change as the industry changes. The moment you finish a single account plan, another starts. However, before you make your next plan, it’s important to debrief. You can connect with clients to discuss the loopholes and successes of the plan. The inputs will help you with the next plan.
Finally, the process of account planning is critical to the success of a B2B company. Often, companies wonder how to go about it. If you resonate with this, you can opt for the guidelines mentioned above and reap the benefits of the account planning tool. That way, your account plan will have the right elements to succeed.
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