{"id":15691,"date":"2018-06-11T17:01:09","date_gmt":"2018-06-11T16:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/intercom.com\/blog\/?p=15691"},"modified":"2024-07-12T17:47:26","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T16:47:26","slug":"your-sales-team-needs-account-plans-heres-how-to-create-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/your-sales-team-needs-account-plans-heres-how-to-create-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Your sales team needs account plans. Here\u2019s how to create them."},"content":{"rendered":"

Account plans are one of the most important weapons in a salesperson\u2019s arsenal. They bring together critical information about your customer, your competitors and your sales strategy to nurture existing business in a simple document to ensure each customer is set up for success. So why do sales teams<\/a> often ignore them?<\/p>\n

The formula for selling SaaS software is quite simple. You acquire users, you monetize them and you look to keep them around for as long as possible.<\/p>\n

While each of these pillars brings with it tremendous growth opportunities for salespeople and their customers, over the past few decades salespeople have put the majority of their time and effort into acquiring customers while retention and monetization<\/a> take a back seat.<\/p>\n

New logo acquisition is a key metric that sales teams<\/a> focus aggressively on. But it\u2019s a simple truth that most salespeople do not celebrate when a large customer renews their contract in the same way as when they sign on the dotted line for the first time.<\/p>\n

According to research by Invesp<\/a>, 44% of companies admit they focus more on acquisition than retention. Meanwhile, the same research points out that customer retention is far more financially sound for your business and increasing customer retention rates by 5% can increase profits between 25-95%.<\/p>\n

\"startups<\/p>\n

How to create an account plan for your sales team?<\/h2>\n

A strategic account plan is the cure to acquisition addiction for your business and, done right, will act as the blueprint for each customer\u2019s success with your product. It will guide your sales team towards growth opportunities, flag churn risks and defend against potential attacks from your competitors. Here\u2019s a step by step guide to creating yours, along with some handy account plan templates you can start using right away.<\/p>\n

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  1. Gather the building blocks of your account plan<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Create a 360-degree view<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Putting your account plan to work<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    1. Gather the building blocks of your account plan<\/h2>\n

    The first step of an account plan is preparation, gathering all the data points at your fingertips that will make or break a customer\u2019s success. Think of it as time spent sharpening your axe before a day full of chopping wood.<\/p>\n

    The type of information you gather will depend on the type of business you run and also the type of customers you\u2019re selling to, but at a high level we recommend starting your account plan by answering some of the below questions:<\/p>\n