Planning is an unnatural process – it’s much more fun to get on with it. The real benefit of not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise and is not preceded by months of worry. – Sir John Harvey-Jones
It is that time of the year when our thoughts turn to account planning – getting ready to figure out where next year’s revenue is coming from.
Winning sales professionals know account planning delivers tangible benefits, reduces surprises, and mitigates the worry that is the constant companion of those whose scorecards are measured simply by revenue. In the Account Planning Book of Evidence Study (1,034 participants from 62 countries) the benefits of account planning are clear.
If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there. Account planning helps you to agree the destination with your customer. That agreement delivers many benefits. A full 74 percent of participants say that account planning results in a higher win rate. In truth though, increased win rate does not happen by accident. You can’t implement account planning with just a single objective of increasing win rate. It is, in fact, a consequence of the other benefits listed in the chart – and not just a goal in itself.
Most effective account planning happens when you focus on (1) Better Customer Loyalty based on increased customer satisfaction, (2) Improved relationships – deeper and wider – driving Better Executive Access, and (3) Material pipeline growth – by increasing the breadth and depth of your solution coverage in the account. It is easy to see that the most effective way to generate pipeline is to keep your customer happy and develop trusted relationships that go wide and deep.
We were pleased to see, from the study participants, that 72 percent see Increased Understanding Of The Customer’s Business as a key benefit of account planning. As you can see from the chart, it comes in at #2 just after Higher Win Rate. For those who fully understand the issues their customers face, they are much better positioned to add value to their customer. But not all sellers are capable of adding value. Earlier in 2016 Altify conducted separate research that resulted in the Altify Buyer / Seller Value Index 2016. According to that report, more than half of sellers think they add value most of the time, but most buyers disagree. In fact, more than a third of buyers think sellers ‘Rarely’ or ‘Never’ add value, and just one in seven (14%) would score the Sellers as ‘Almost Always’ adding value.
Customers are unique. They are not just market segments, each with the same level of technical savvy, common approach to risk, or awareness of their need. Consequently, their perception of value is different, and sellers’ interactions must reflect that. That’s why it is important sellers get a better understanding of their customer’s business – and clearly the participants in the study believe that account planning helps in 72 percent of cases.
Other findings in the report show that account planning helps to increase Deal Size by 14%, Win Rate by up to 59% and reduce Sales Cycle by 26%.
You can download a copy of Account Planning Book of Evidence here.