The account planning strategy is a marketing concept for small businesses that provides a way to plan and manage customer relationships over time. An account planning strategy helps you understand your customer’s needs and preferences, then take an approach that targets their specific needs. This article will explore why small businesses must adopt this strategy today to stay competitive.
Identify Your Key Prospects
Do you know who your key prospects are? A lot of companies don’t. They know they want to reach specific people and groups but need help identifying them. It is where account planning strategy comes in, it helps you develop a clear plan for identifying your key prospects and reaching them with the right message at the right time.
Account planning aims to identify and research your key prospects or prospective customers. Small businesses with limited resources may need help identifying the right prospects for their campaigns. The best way to do this is through customer segmentation.
Account planning starts with research – a deep dive into what those audiences want and need, who they are, and how they behave. From there, it moves on to strategy, defining the channels you will use to reach them, the messages you will send out, and how often those messages should be sent out. Finally, it culminates in tactical execution: creating all those pieces of content that will get your message across.
Better Understanding of the Customer’s Needs
An account planning strategy’s first and most apparent advantage is its ability to help you better understand your customers’ needs. When you know what your customers want, it’s easier for you to figure out how best to serve them. According to the State of the Connected Customer Report, 63% of consumers expect businesses to know their unique needs and expectations.
Understanding these needs also helps inform where your business can add value. Suppose a company tells you repeatedly that its most significant concern is security. In that case, there might be an opportunity for your firm or product/service line to improve current processes or develop new ones altogether.
Effective Territory Management
Territory management is key to effective account planning. Knowing the territory, including the key accounts and prospects and their buying process, can help you achieve results quickly.
In addition, being aware of your competition will give you an edge over them in winning accounts. Knowing what your customers need from a business perspective can be beneficial in helping win new customers or keeping existing ones happy with the service provided by your company’s products and services.
Improved Relationship With Existing Customers
According to Think Impact, a 5% increase in customer retention results in a 25% – 29% increase in revenue. One of the biggest benefits you’ll see from implementing an account planning strategy is improved relationships with existing customers.
It is a popular approach for improving the relationship with existing customers. It’s also an excellent technique for identifying new opportunities for your business and can help you improve your communication with prospective clients.
The account planning strategy is a process that involves analyzing the client’s needs and then creating strategies to meet those needs. The key is understanding what motivates your client, their problems, and how they want to solve them. Then you’ll be able to offer solutions to help them achieve their goals.
Set Better Goals and Objectives for the Account Managers
According to the US Small Business Administration, there are 33.2 million small businesses in the US. When you’re small, ensuring everyone is working towards the same goals is essential. An account planning strategy can help you do this because it allows you to create a shared vision for the company and its team members.
Account planners create plans that outline what they want to achieve over time to meet their objectives. These plans are often broken down into quarterly or annual cycles so they can easily be updated throughout the year based on new information from clients or internal teams like marketing departments.
Account Planning Training Can Be an Incentive for Employees
Account planning training can be an incentive for employees. If your business is going to spend money on account planning, it’s crucial that you show your staff how investing in this strategy will benefit them as well.
Employees who are engaged see themselves as more invested in their company’s success and feel more motivated by their work because they think they have been listened to. They may even go above and beyond what was expected because they want to prove themselves worthy of being heard.
Having a Good Account Planning Strategy Is Essential to Grow Your Business
Account planning is a process that helps you identify your most important customers and prospects. Account planners act as the “eyes and ears” of the company, researching trends in your industry to inform strategy, which can help you better understand your customers’ needs.
Account planning can help you manage your territory more effectively. It is especially true if you are working in an area with a lot of competition. Account planning can help focus on the right prospect at the right time with relevant information about how they could benefit from working with you.
Conclusion
Your company can build a solid foundation for growth and success with account planning. As you’ve probably seen, this is a popular strategy many brands use today. It can help you increase your revenue, generate more leads, and even improve customer retention rates while building brand loyalty among your audience members.
In our data-driven world of digital marketing, where consumers are bombarded with messages from brands every second of every day, it becomes increasingly difficult to stand out from the crowd.
The key is having an effective plan for reaching out to them so that they’re receptive when we come knocking at their door with one-on-one interactions, which allow for meaningful connection around shared values.
