How to Introduce a New Account Planning Structure to Your Sales Team

RevOps is usually in charge of creating and deploying new account planning structures. But the job doesn’t end there, you still need to convince your sellers to embrace change. Join Andy Keehn, VP of Marketing & Demand Generation at Prolifiq, and Seth Killian, Director of Sales and Marketing Operations at Ever.ag, to learn why account planning often fails and how to build the right workflows for success.

‍

“If you’re thinking of how to get started, don't try and boil the ocean. Look at your top accounts.” - Andy Keehn

‍

According to a survey by Prolifiq, 87% of teams say that account planning is very important to their organization. So why does account planning fail so often? The survey identified 4 top reasons:

‍

1. It’s treated as a one-time event 
2. Sellers see it as a mandatory exercise, not a helpful process
3. Some teams are left out of the planning, like marketing
4. Data is siloed in slide decks and spreadsheets and quickly becomes stale

‍

To put it bluntly, account planning fails when the people who are expected to do the work don’t see the value in doing it. Eventually, their managers will back off and stop pushing the exercise. RevOps can step up to the plate by empathizing with sales and building the right workflows in the right places.

‍

Improve adoption by engaging with sellers

‍

“How, as an Ops pro, can you help reps make the most out of what they have in front of them?” - Andy Keehn

‍

The goal of account planning is to take information out of people’s heads and put it in a central place where everyone’s expertise can shine. To improve adoption by your entire GTM org, focus on ensuring that people are having really great experiences. Sellers talk and share their success stories with others.  

‍

One option is to gamify the work done in QBRs by using a leaderboard. This helps keep sales reps interested but also gives them public kudos for getting things done. It also helps them look good to their leadership team, increasing their capital in your company.

‍

Build your workflows directly in your CRM

‍

“Identifying best practices in terms of opportunity management and building them into your systems is critically important.” - Seth Killian

‍

When account plans live in slide decks and spreadsheets, all of the hard work that went into building them eventually just…sits there, collecting dust and out of date. Since just about everyone uses a CRM, check out the features in your tool that can help automate your account planning process by providing data and insights into your deals. 

‍

You can start by looking at your sales cycles and pulling reports to break down trends. Perhaps your data is telling you that a rep needs to engage with 6 to 8 stakeholders in an account for the deal to progress. Build and document this requirement in your CRM workflow. 

‍

Ever.ag found out that their sales data revealed who were the biggest blockers to deal progression in their accounts. By implementing a methodology that highlighted these individuals, with a focus on flipping them into champions, the sales team saw a massive benefit to their pipeline success.

‍

Winning through collaboration

‍

Winning over the sales team is important, but RevOps needs to remember that collaboration often requires a top-down mentality to be successful. Make sure that you’re engaging leaders in your account planning efforts across your GTM org, including marketing, support, and account management. 

Looking for more great content? Check out our blog and join the community.