How to do account planning
Account planning is the discipline of building a deliberate strategy for a strategic account: understanding it deeply, mapping the players, finding growth, and executing a plan. It is what separates reactive order-taking from proactively growing your most important accounts.
Short answer
Do account planning by researching the account deeply, mapping the org and key stakeholders, identifying whitespace and expansion opportunities, setting specific goals with a relationship strategy, and building a dated action plan you review regularly. Account plans turn a set of contacts into a deliberate strategy for growing revenue in a strategic account.
Step by step
Research the account deeply
Understand their business, strategy, priorities, and challenges. The more you know about their world, the more relevant your plan.
Map the org and stakeholders
Chart the decision-makers, influencers, champions, and blockers across the account, and your relationship strength with each.
- Org map with roles and influence
- Relationship strength per stakeholder
- Whitespace: products and divisions not yet sold
- Goals, strategy, and dated actions
Identify whitespace and opportunities
Find the products, teams, and divisions you have not yet sold into. Whitespace is where expansion revenue lives.
Set goals and a relationship strategy
Define specific revenue and relationship goals for the account and how you will deepen and broaden your footprint.
Build and review a dated action plan
Turn the strategy into concrete, dated actions with owners, and review the plan regularly so it drives activity rather than gathering dust.
How Ardovo helps
Ardovo holds the org map, relationship strength, whitespace, and action plan on the account, so Rook can surface expansion opportunities and flag under-covered stakeholders. Account plans stay live and actionable instead of becoming a stale annual document.
Frequently asked questions
What is account planning?
It is the process of building a deliberate strategy to grow and retain a strategic account: researching the business, mapping stakeholders, identifying whitespace, setting goals, and executing a dated action plan. It turns a collection of contacts into a proactive plan for expanding revenue in key accounts.
Which accounts need an account plan?
Your largest, most strategic, and highest-potential accounts, where the revenue and expansion opportunity justify the effort. Transactional accounts do not need deep plans. Focus account planning where deepening relationships and finding whitespace can meaningfully grow revenue over time.
What is whitespace in account planning?
Whitespace is the products, divisions, teams, or use cases within an account that you have not yet sold into. Mapping whitespace reveals where expansion revenue lives, which is why account planning focuses on it alongside deepening relationships with existing stakeholders.