account management business plan

Key Account Management Plan Template

Abhijit gangoli.

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer at DemandFarm

Key Account Management Plan

As the saying goes, ‘failing to plan is planning to fail’. This could not be more true when it comes to Key Account Management . Creating and maintaining a Key Account Management plan can be critical to the success of your business. After all, your key accounts are the customers that bring the most revenue and profit. So it only makes sense to invest the time and resources necessary to keep them happy. But what goes into a Key Account Management plan ?

A Key Account Management plan will help you map out your approach, stay organized, and on track as you work to grow and nurture your relationships with your key accounts. If you are not sure where to start, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered with this Key Account Management plan template . We provide a systematic approach to analyze your customers, identify key areas, and adopt best practices of Key Account Management planning.

6 Steps of Key Account Management plan

Broadly, a Key Account Management plan can be divided into 6 categories or steps: account analysis, self-analysis, business development, action plan, monitoring, and reviewing the plan. Each of these sections will provide you with an opportunity to capture information that you need to improve your business and ensure customer satisfaction.

Step 1: Account analysis

When creating a Key Account Management plan, start by analyzing your current accounts . This will give you a better idea of how to focus your marketing efforts. Also, it will help you identify the pockets of potential growth. For example, do you have any new customers on whom you are not able to collect data? Are there existing customers who are not satisfied with their experience? These and other questions can help you identify areas where you need to improve.

Get to know their business better – what are their goals, what are their challenges, what are their priorities? Here’s a list of questions to guide you through some research:

• What is their company culture like?
• How do they view themselves?
• What is their budget like?
• How many employees have they hired?
• For each employee, what is their role description?
• What are their key performance indicators?
• What are the challenges the key account is facing?

Best practice: You may find it helpful to create a diagram or table that illustrates the relationships between these various parts of your key account. Invest in an automated solution that can improve the integrity of your data while enhancing the research process.

Step 2: Self-analysis

What analytics can help you to understand is what type of information you need to focus on in order to improve your business. This includes customer requirements, competitive analysis, product development, and technical excellence. Depending on the situation, one or a combination of these elements will need to be emphasized.

Current customers can be analyzed using a number of tools. You can use analytics and automation to get a handle on how your customers interact with your business. This will help you identify customer pain points that you can address with changes to your product or service. You can also analyze performance data to identify how your products perform. This can include identifying customer complaints, feedback, and satisfaction issues. Lastly, you can analyze sales projections to determine how much revenue you will be making in the coming year.

These projections are based on estimated sales growth, which uses data from your previous experiences with similar products and services. All this information will help you create a list of initiatives that you need to address in your key account management plan. Define your objectives by answering questions like: What is your key account trying to achieve? What’s the bigger picture? Differentiate yourself by linking your capabilities to their key objectives.

Best practice: Clearly define your objectives and allocate specific business units to a generic team rather than a specific account manager – it will foster a creative, collaborative culture.

Step 3: Business development

In order to sustain growth, businesses must constantly look for ways to improve their offering. This can include new products, processes, and services. However, innovation is not just for startups. Even large companies must continually look for ways to improve performance. For example, how can a company increase sales by 10% without increasing prices? How can they do this by improving their service? Or by adding new products that are both cost-effective and attractive to customers?

Analyze the current state of the account and the factors that affect it. Consider this

• Market position (leadership, growth potential, share of market, price sensitivity)
• Business unit performance (income, cost, margin, growth potential)
• Current contracts (length, renewal likelihood, value, special terms and conditions)
• Customer service/relationship quality ratings (impact on new business opportunities )
• Competitors’ status (what are they doing?)
• Potential business opportunity value (current and future)
• Critical success factors (what would make the account happy?)
• Optional technology benefits

Knowing this will help you frame how you approach the project. Also, it will help you identify the type of research needed to understand the client’s industry better.

Best practice: Depending on the type of research you are doing, you can either outsource it to a specialist, or hire a professional researcher to do it for you. If you are conducting consumer research , you can create a survey or you can ask people who are familiar with the company to complete questionnaires for you.

Step 4: Action plan

Once you’ve done the research and analysis, it’s time to create your plan. Don’t worry about being perfect at this point – just get your plan drafted and then review it with your key account manager. Ensure everyone is committing to achieving the goals. A successful Key Account Management plan will show you where you need to go next to grow your business and build more value for your customer.

Define timelines that are achievable and align with your objectives.

• What’s the short-term goal?
• What is the best time to do it?
• How will you achieve your goal?
• Who is responsible for each task?

Focus on high-leverage activities to understand what takes up your time. What is unlikely to generate new business? Eliminate or reduce these tasks to make way for more productive activities. Focus on activities such as one-on-one meetings, phone calls, writing, project reviews, and research. 

Best practice: Don’t overload yourself or your team at first – ease into your plan gradually. This will help you get used to the process and avoid procrastination. Focus on one task at a time to ensure consistency and improve your performance. Celebrate your victories (big or small) to keep yourself motivated.

Step 5: Track and monitor your progress

Once your Key Account Management plan is underway, you need to make sure you’re tracking and monitoring your progress. Did you commit to too much? Are you going to get done on time? Ensure that you take some time to review your progress so that you can course-correct if necessary.

In addition, review your customer’s performance. Did they meet their commitments to you? If not, why not? This will give you insight into what they are seeing or feeling so you can position yourself for future advantage.

Set up a progress report template to ensure that you are able to capture all the data and information that you need to compile a report on your key account management efforts. A template will ensure that you do not miss any important information and that you can easily compare your progress between different reports.

Best practice: Set up a Key Account Management software to manage and organize all your key accounts and objectives. You can set up a project for each of your key accounts, or you can create a general project for all of your client work. Using software will ensure that you don’t lose track of any elements of your work and can easily revisit past projects or templates to ensure consistency between projects.

Step 6: Revise and improve

No plan is ever set in stone. Your Key Account Management plan isn’t any different. Don’t be afraid to review and revise your plan. Keep records of your Key Account Management activities to ensure you can recognize your successes and learn from your failures. Review your activity logs at the end of each month to evaluate your performance and effectiveness.

Keep a PMO (project management office) or project management software can help you manage and organize all of your 

• Does the plan reflect the results of your analysis?
• Are the goals realistic and achievable within the timelines?
• Are there any parts of the plan that need to be revised or updated?

Best Practice:  Review your plan on a quarterly basis at the very least.

How to overcome challenges while creating a KAM plan template?

Although a Key Account Management plan can provide tremendous benefits to both you and your customer, the process of developing and executing such a plan is not without challenges. Challenges such as time, resources, information and organizational culture can impede your team’s ability to succeed with the plan.

Time constraints

Time is a precious resource, and your customer may not have much of it to invest in you or your organization. You need to ensure that you don’t put unnecessary pressure or demands on them that they   can’t  meet. Similarly, you don’t want to delay delivering on your promises because you’re waiting on a customer to meet you halfway. Be creative and resourceful in meeting both of your obligations.

Resource constraints

Your team may not have the resources (human or technical) necessary to complete Key Account Management activities. Ensure that you thoroughly review the requirements and focus on those that provide the most value. Then prioritize the requirements and take time to prepare yourself and your team to tackle  Key Account Management plan requirements from both a quality and time perspective.

Incompatible organizational culture

Although most organizations attempt to integrate their culture with that of their customers, in some instances the two are fundamentally incompatible. If this is the case in your scenario, then it is likely that you will not be able to change your customer’s culture. Instead, you will need to carefully strategize how you will adapt yourself and your operations to accommodate your customer culture. 

Differing priorities

Your customer may have conflicting priorities which prevents them from fully engaging with you. For example, they may have a new product launch they are prioritizing above all else. This may mean that they are unavailable to participate in any collaborative events you plan with them or their other key accounts. Ensure that you have a backup plan that allows you to engage with them in some way to ensure retention of the relationship.

Uncertainty surrounding Key Account Management plan effectiveness

The results your organization achieves when performing key account management activities are often uncertain until some time has passed. Ensure people from all departments are prepared for this and ensure leaders are able to course correct if required.

Cost-effectiveness of activities

It is possible that the time or costs associated with an activity designed to nurture your customer could result in a negative return on investment (ROI). Ensure you’re not unnecessarily draining your resources. Eliminate or reduce the impact of activities that are not worth the cost or time required to deliver them. 

Lack of or ineffective tools and systems

There are many technology solutions available to help you manage your key accounts more effectively. A common complaint we heard was that the tools and systems provided by the company were underdeveloped or clunky, so much so that they frequently caused more headaches than they alleviated. Ensure that the tools and systems you require to manage your key accounts are state-of-the-art and functional.

As you can see, there are many different elements that go into a successful key account management plan. Success with your key account management plan will require commitment and discipline from you and your team. Prepare yourself and your team before you launch the plan. Ensure everyone is clear on their responsibilities and timelines. Use resources such as one-on-one meetings, group meetings, phone calls, or a virtual meeting platform to engage your team and address any concerns early on.

By taking the time to put together a detailed and well-thought-out plan, you can increase your chances of success and make it easier to manage your key accounts. Use this template to keep your key account management plan organized and ensure that you are providing the best possible service to your most important clients.

Ready to discuss your Account Management Needs?

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About The Author

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer at DemandFarm, Abhijit Gangoli, is a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of experience in successfully building businesses in the Sales and Marketing domain for the B2B Tech industry. At DemandFarm, he focuses on business and sales strategy to drive growth and innovation in the company. His past venture, DemandShore, now a part of Spiceworks Ziff Davis, is an omnichannel B2B performance marketing company. At DemandShore, he also successfully conceptualized and launched martechadvisor.com - one of the leading digital media publications in the marketing technology space globally.

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8 best practices for successful strategic account management

Reading time: about 8 min

For most organizations, the old business adage rings true: 80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients. It would make sense, then, to treat these valuable assets with greater care. Yet, too often, companies don’t have a dedicated process to nurture those key business relationships.

The work isn’t done when the sale closes. Customers big and small can churn for many reasons. The best way to avoid a costly breakup with your most valuable customers is to implement a strategic account management program.

Read on to learn strategic account management best practices and how you can nurture key relationships for long-term success.

What is strategic account management?

Strategic account management (SAM) or key account management focuses on building long-term mutually beneficial partnerships with key customers.

Through in-depth research and assessment, strategic account managers find opportunities to drive value for their partners by identifying problems, offering creative solutions, and leveraging partnerships to move both organizations toward their strategic goals.  

A formal strategic account management program can:

• Foster customer loyalty.
• Stimulate growth.
• Increase profitability.
• Drive innovative and scalable service solutions.

Sales vs. strategic management

Unlike a sales program, which focuses on short-term selling cycles and customer acquisition, strategic management goes a step further to develop deeper relationships with a small number of core customers over time.

In short, sales is about the present. Strategic management is about the future.

While the gains may not be immediate, strategic accounts are a vital part of an organization’s long-term success and profitability.

Strategic account management best practices

An effective SAM program isn’t something you stumble upon. The most successful organizations rely on formal, measurable, repeatable processes to develop and maintain their most valuable customer relationships.

Whether you already have a process in place or plan to implement a new strategic account program, use these account management best practices to put your organization ahead of the curve.

1. Assign dedicated strategic account managers

The first step to a successful program is to assign dedicated account managers who are separate from sales. The best programs don’t have managers that must split their priorities or switch focus between making sales and developing strategic accounts.

Instead, create a team (or teams) with dedicated accounts and team leads focused solely on strategic management.

When filling these roles, keep in mind that sales and strategic management have different objectives and require a different skill set and approach to customer relationships.

Strategic account managers should be both analytical and personable. They need to build rapport with customers, think strategically about partnership opportunities and solutions, collaborate and communicate with high-level stakeholders and decision-makers, and lead a cross-functional team.    

2. Develop selection criteria for key accounts

While all customers are valuable, not all customers can be elevated to a key account. Be selective. Strategic accounts are reserved for customers whose partnerships can propel your organization toward its goals.

How can you determine which accounts are worthy?

You’ll need to develop a shortlist of selection criteria that hone in on alignments between your two organizations. Focus on three to eight objective criteria, weighted in relative importance to your organization.

These criteria could include:

• Product fit
• Revenue potential
• Growth potential
• Cultural fit
• Geographic alignment
• Existing relationships
• Potential channel partnership

Senior management should take the lead on this stage rather than the sales managers. Selection criteria are based on the organization’s high-level strategic goals and vision, so senior managers are the best fit for this role.  

3. Polish the handoff from sales

An oft-overlooked step in the SAM process is the transition from sales to account management. How well you handle account transitions is an important part of building a trusted relationship with your customers.

For best results, follow a formal, scripted handoff from the sales team to the account management team. Each customer (whether they become a key account or not) should be methodically organized and tracked in your account system.

Make sure to communicate clearly with the customer, so they understand who their points of contact are and what to expect going forward. For example, how often will you touch base with them via phone or email? Who can they talk to if they have questions or concerns? Setting clear expectations (and following through!) will foster a trusting relationship with your customer.

Learn how our sales and customer success teams at Lucidchart have perfected this handoff in this article .

4. Create a comprehensive customer profile

Once you have a selection process in place and you have identified and assigned your key accounts, you’ll need to develop in-depth customer portfolios.

The strategic account manager has to know their customer inside and out. To do this, they need to conduct research on the client company to build out a comprehensive profile.

Investigate and assess the company’s:

• Business and markets
• Goals and initiatives
• Stakeholder roles and responsibilities
• Key decision makers
• Analyst reports
• Competition

The aim is to understand your customer’s pain points and goals in order to identify opportunities for added value and collaboration. Our thorough customer model overview template can help.

5. Conduct a needs assessment

With your portfolio of customer research, the next step is to conduct a needs assessment.

• What are the organization’s pain points?
• Where do your needs or goals overlap and how can you help each other progress?
• Are there any problems looming that you can anticipate and address for them?

Use your data to find ways you can help them, and assess opportunities for collaboration and partnership. Strategic accounts are long-term investments. Instead of a typical 3-12 month transactional lifecycle, you are creating a strategy for the next 1-3 years. Keep that in mind as you assess strategic needs and opportunities.  

Remember: The ultimate goal of strategic account management is to grow with your customer.

6. Draft a strategic plan and proposal

Based on your needs assessment, drill down to the best strategic opportunities and draft an account plan. This plan is your strategic roadmap for the next 1-3 years. Once you polish the plan, approach your customer with your proposal.

Your proposal should include things like:

• Strategic recommendations (e.g., potential partnerships with other companies, creative solutions, etc.)
• Specific long-term goals with short-term benchmarks
• Resource requirements

This is your chance to demonstrate to the client that you’ve gone above and beyond to understand and address their needs and that your company is invested in their success.

7. Set a cadence for contacts, meetings, and follow-ups

Once you have a strategic plan in place, set a regular cadence for ongoing communication with your key accounts.

Outline a schedule for each touchpoint, meeting, and follow-up to ensure your customer is in the loop and has the opportunity to give feedback, communicate changes, or ask questions.

This schedule will help you stay updated on what your customer needs, how they are using your product or solution, and how you can help. Clear communication is vital to a strong working relationship with your customers. Our customer journey map template is a perfect way to start.

8. Monitor performance

Continually monitor and measure your performance on each account. What progress have you made on your short-term and long-term goals? How do your results measure against your KPIs?

Monitoring performance is not only important to ensure you deliver on your end but also to track how well the key account fulfills its obligations to you. While you want to drive value for the client, the goal is one of mutual long-term benefit. If the relationship no longer holds the same strategic value for your organization, it’s better to identify that sooner rather than later.

Measure your account performance continually so you can keep the plans on track and pivot or reassess as needed.

Lucid can help with your strategic account management

Strategic account management is complex. With so many moving parts, it is easy for data, insights, or people to fall through the cracks. Yet, key accounts represent the most valuable customers, so you can’t afford to drop the ball.

Lucidchart helps sales teams manage their processes seamlessly. From account maps to process flows , Lucidchart helps you visualize relationships and stay on track as you move through the account management process.

With our Salesforce integration , you can import your CRM data directly into Lucidchart to create account maps. Account maps help managers and teams:

• Identify key relationships in an organization.
• Track the progression of a sale or relationship.
• Transition accounts between reps and teams.
• Document a shareable account plan.

Key accounts are 60% to 70% more likely to close, and key accounts make up the lifeblood of many companies.

Don’t miss out on your best relationships. By implementing a formal strategic account management process, you can reap the benefits of long-term partnerships for many years to come.

 Lucidchart serves as a dynamic roadmap to help your team close bigger deals faster.

Lucidchart, a cloud-based intelligent diagramming application, is a core component of Lucid Software's Visual Collaboration Suite. This intuitive, cloud-based solution empowers teams to collaborate in real-time to build flowcharts, mockups, UML diagrams, customer journey maps, and more. Lucidchart propels teams forward to build the future faster. Lucid is proud to serve top businesses around the world, including customers such as Google, GE, and NBC Universal, and 99% of the Fortune 500. Lucid partners with industry leaders, including Google, Atlassian, and Microsoft. Since its founding, Lucid has received numerous awards for its products, business, and workplace culture. For more information, visit lucidchart.com.

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Free Account Planning and Management Templates

By Joe Weller | May 9, 2023

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This article includes the top free account planning and management templates for account managers, client-facing project managers, salespeople, and account executives. Use these templates to improve client relationships and build partnerships.

On this page, you'll find a strategic account plan presentation template and a sales account plan template with space for capturing key account details. Download an account mapping template featuring an org chart, and a key account management action plan template with sample copy. You’ll also learn about key account planning elements and how to do it , along with tips on using an account planning and management template .

Simple Account Plan Template

Download a Sample Simple Account Plan Template for  Excel | PowerPoint | Microsoft Word

Download a Blank Simple Account Plan Template for  Excel | PowerPoint | Microsoft Word  

This customizable, one-page simple account plan template can help everyone on your team understand their needs, so you can establish and strengthen a long-term relationship with them. The sample template comes with text already filled in to help you proactively create a customer account plan. Start by entering the client’s primary goal and the key team members (e.g., management, decision makers). You can then create a plan of action for managing the account, including identifying any blockers, next steps, and the owner for each component of your account plan.

Strategic Account Plan Presentation Template

Download a Strategic Account Presentation Plan Template for  PowerPoint | Google Slides  

Solidify your client-account planning and management with this dynamic strategic account plan template. Enter details of your client’s key priorities, initiatives, and people so that any team member can become apprised of the client’s goals and active players at a glance. The template also includes space to specify the client’s annual account targets and revenue streams, as well as your action plan (specific actions, assignees, and due dates) — all to ensure that you strengthen your client relationship and have a solid account plan and client-management strategy in place.

Sales Account Plan Template

Download a Sales Account Plan Template for  Excel | PowerPoint | Microsoft Word  

Ensure that you proactively meet — and even exceed — your sales-account management and planning goals with this comprehensive sales account plan template. Use the template to document prospective and existing clients’ decision-making processes and other important details. Enter account-overview details (e.g., account revenue, industry, relationship strength), account objectives, account solutions, and your account action plan. This template is the perfect solution for capturing important details about prospective or existing customers and for creating a dynamic strategy to help them succeed, so you can develop and retain a strong partnership with them.

Account Mapping Template

Download a Sample Account Mapping Template for  Excel | Microsoft Word | PowerPoint  

Download a Blank Account Mapping Template for  Excel | Microsoft Word | PowerPoint   

Use this account mapping template to identify a client’s key players, so that you and your team are readily aware of the client’s hierarchy, who makes purchasing decisions, and more. Download the customizable sample account mapping template with example content to get an idea of what to include for each role. Once complete, the template provides insight for account managers, salespeople, and account executives for the roles of each individual within the client’s organization. By understanding the roles in your client’s organization, you can make more informed decisions and facilitate a more effective strategy and long-term relationship.

Key Account Management Action Plan Template

Download a Sample Key Account Management Action Plan Template for  Excel | Microsoft Word | PowerPoint

Download a Blank Key Account Management Action Plan Template for  Excel | Microsoft Word | PowerPoint  

A successful key account management action plan serves as an easy-to-follow map that accurately charts a customer’s current state, their goals, and how to help them achieve a mutually beneficial association. This template is available in two versions: blank and with sample text to guide you through the key account management action plan process. Easily capture your key clients’ details, individuals’ roles on the project, management objectives, clients’ preferred communication styles, and actionable steps to foster and strengthen the partnership.

What Is a Key Account Plan? 

A key account plan is a strategic document that outlines your objectives and strategies for your most important customers. Sales and account management teams use a key account plan to provide a coordinated approach to growing client partnerships. 

A key account plan typically includes details of your client's business, such as challenges they face, their value proposition, services they provide, and the actions and resources needed to achieve their goals. The primary aim of a key account plan is to ensure that your organization provides a coordinated, consistent, and focused approach to your most valuable clients.  It also helps you effectively allocate resources, and track client-relationship progress over time.

Elements of Key Account Plan

The elements of a key account plan might vary, depending on your business. A key account plan typically includes information about the client, their needs, their buying behavior, and the steps you’ll take to increase sales and improve customer satisfaction. 

The goal of a key account plan is to maximize the value of the relationship for both your company and your most vital customers for optimal key account management (KAM). Typically, a project manager will complete the key account plan document.

The seven main elements of a key account plan typically include: 

• Client Profile: Detailed information on the key account, including company background, main decision makers, and relevant client information. 
• Situation Analysis: An assessment of the current state of the relationship with the key account, including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) and competitive analyses. You can use a SWOT analysis template to determine these details.
• Goals and Objectives: Clear, measurable, and time-bound goals and objectives for the key account relationship. These are both important to cover, but goals and objectives are different and require distinct approaches.
• Strategies and Tactics: Determine how you’ll achieve the goals and objectives, including specific strategies and tactics for improving the relationship and growing the business. 
• Action Plan: A detailed plan of action, including specific activities, milestones, and deadlines for implementing these strategies. 
• Resource Allocation: A plan for allocating resources, including personnel and budget, to support the implementation of your key account plan. 
• Performance Monitoring and Evaluation: A plan for monitoring and evaluating the progress of the key account relationship regularly and adjusting  as needed.

Steps in the Process of Key Account Planning

A well-designed key account plan includes information about your client's current and future needs, their strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities available to you. It provides a clear plan for how you will meet their needs and grow the relationship. 

The following are the fundamental steps in the key-account-planning process: 

• Identify Key Accounts Identify the key accounts that are critical to the success of the business. This might include customers who generate the most revenue or have the most potential for growth. 
• Gather Information About Key Accounts Gather as much information as possible about each key account, including their needs, pain points, buying habits, decision-making processes, and main stakeholders. 
• Analyze Key Account Data Once you’ve gathered information about each key account, analyze the data to understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of each relationship.
• Develop an Account Plan Develop a comprehensive account plan for each key account. This plan should include specific strategies and tactics for growing the relationship, meeting customer needs, and maximizing value.
• Implement the Account Plan Work closely with the key account to execute on specific tactics, such as building stronger relationships with key stakeholders and tracking progress to ensure the plan is achieving its goals.
• Review and Adjust the Plan Regularly review your key account plan and make adjustments as needed based on changes in the customer's needs, market conditions, or other factors that may impact the relationship.

For more help with client planning and management, check out our collection of free client management and tracking templates , and our tips and best practices for mastering client management .

How to Use an Account Planning Template 

Use an account planning template to develop a detailed analysis of your account's current challenges and to identify revenue opportunities. Gather information about your goals for the key account, main stakeholders, and steps to execute.

1. Download and Name the Simple Account Plan Template for Microsoft

Download and open the Simple Account Plan Template in Microsoft Word. Save and rename the document locally.

2. Enter Basic Details About the Plan

• Click the Date box and enter the date you’re creating the plan.
• Click the Created By box and enter the name of the person responsible for the plan. 
• Click the Version box and enter the plan’s version.
• Click the Goal box and enter the goals for the account.

3. Complete the Account Plan Team Section

• For each account planning team member, double-click the team member’s NAME section. 
• When the NAME field opens, enter a name for that team member. 
• In the Title field, enter a title for the particular team member. 

• Click the corresponding image icon. Right-click and highlight Change Picture , and click the location ( From a File, From Stock Images, From Online Sources, or From Icons )  of the person’s image. 

• Select the image and click the Insert button.

4. Enter the Details for Each Action Step in the Project Account Action Plan

• Fill in the Action Step field. 
• In the Responsible field, enter the name(s) of the internal stakeholder(s) responsible for the step. 
• In the Description field, provide a brief description for each action step in your account plan. 
• In the Status field, provide the current status (e.g., Accepted, Declined ) for each step. 
• In the Outside Shareholders field, enter the names of the customer’s or client’s personnel who are responsible for that step. 
• In the Notes / Constraints field, enter any relevant notes. 

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The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed. 

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time.  Try Smartsheet for free, today.

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The Fundamental Guide to Account Planning

Key account management is as much a science as it is an art. Create a consistent approach to how you build background information on critical clients, develop a sales approach, and build a relationship based on proactive management and support. 

Without an overhanging, strategic framework, it's hard to develop a playbook of tactics that protect your brand reputation and cultivate long-term business relationships — let alone train your team on how to do the same thing. In this ultimate guide to account planning, you'll learn more about:

• How to create key account and sales account plans
• Best practices for strategic account planning
• The growing role of automation and technology in key account planning and management
• How to find the right key account management software for your organization

Table of Contents

What is a Key Account Plan?

The 4-Step Guide to Creating a Sales Account Plan

The role of automation in strategic account planning, do's and don'ts when creating a key account plan template, why modern businesses are changing their account planning methods, 5 steps to more proactive key account planning, are you utilizing strategic account mapping successfully, how crm integration is changing the strategic account planning process, 5 things to look for in a strategic account planning software, what is a key account plan.

A key account plan is your methodical strategy for ensuring your key client has an enjoyable customer experience throughout the life of the account. It's your roadmap for reaching out to the client to grow the relationship, tracking their deliverables, renewing contracts, or securing more orders. 

In most businesses , approximately 20% of your accounts are responsible for 80% of your business. These high-volume accounts make up your key accounts, though clients with influential ties in your industry can also be key accounts. 

Every business has its own unique approach to crafting key account plans that position its brand favorably and ensure that the relationship is providing value both for the client and the organization.

A key account plan often has these essential elements:

• An overview of the account's business, pain points, and contacts within the client organization
• Long-term objectives for both the client and the sales team
• Action items stretching from day one with the key account to fulfilling and resetting the long-term objectives
• A change management process for assessing the key account over time so the account manager can recognize if they are succeeding with the account or if they need to take additional steps to cultivate or save the relationship

Learn more about what a key account plan is and how it can help grow your revenue here .

Creating a sales account plan is a critical part of ensuring a new client — whether they're a key account or a new business — doesn't fall through the cracks or have a substandard experience.

Create a standard operating procedure you and your account management team can use to consistently create sales account plans for each new account. We recommend following these four steps:

1. Divide the Accounts

Your business will have multiple different types of accounts based on their recurring revenue, strategic value, size, potential, and other factors. Categorize your accounts into key accounts, strategic accounts, and other divisions so you can develop specialized teams devoted to the different types.

2. Assess Their Needs

For each account, take a deep look at their overarching goals, their short-term goals, the opportunity for upsells, and other ways the account manager can satisfy their needs while growing the account.

3. Create the Sales Account Plan

Develop a sales plan of step-by-step actions the account manager can perform to both grow the account relationship and satisfy current orders.

4. Implement the Plan

Now that there is a fleshed-out plan with supporting details and rationales, it's time for the AM to take the first step.

Read our in-depth guide to creating sales account plans to get started.

Businesses are turning to automation for a lot of their revenue and administrative functions. After all, newly developed AI and machine-learning systems can quickly enter, analyze, and compile data. 

Integrations and increasingly sophisticated connections between different business tools can copy data from one platform to another with far fewer errors or manhours than manual systems. As a general rule, automation is making businesses more efficient , faster, and more client-ready.

However, automation and artificial intelligence aren't tools for replacing humans. Instead, they're ways to allow humans to focus on creative or critical thinking-based tasks that manual data entry often interfered with.

In account management, for example, clients still want human interaction and personal attention to ensure their needs are being sufficiently (and proactively!) met. Account managers can use automation to quickly fill data into CRMs and account management software platforms, generate reports that capture trends and insight, and manage repetitive tasks.

In turn, AMs can spend their time developing strategies for each client, focusing on building relationships, and resolving unique challenges and one-offs that automated systems simply can't handle.

Learn more about where automation does and doesn't fit into strategic account management .

Earlier, we discussed the value of creating key account plans. Having a repeatable process can guide your team and new account managers in the future so they can quickly and consistently create sales account plans that meet your business's standards. Another tool for guaranteeing consistent quality and key account management practices is to develop a key account plan template.  

This simple tool will provide a starting point for account managers so they can organize their information and hit the ground running with a time-tested management approach. Key account management software with customized templates can make the approach even easier.

You and your team can develop a gallery of template styles to fit each account type or have different drag and drop elements so KAMs can record their thoughts and account-critical details.

This blend of consistency and personalization allows your team to make each plan their own while still making the plans universal enough for team leads and new AMs to easily understand the documents. 

Key account plan templates should include these standard blocks:

• A simple overview section with business details, contact information, and a brief summary of the relationship.
• A robust objectives section where the account manager can identify short-term and long-term client needs, pain points that the client has experienced before or with other services providers, and their own expectations for service.
• An area for competitive analysis and risk analysis so account managers can strategize on best practices for retaining the account and ensuring your organization is more appealing than competitors.
• A timeline of actionable tasks so AMs can create a to-do list that doesn't rush the client or let them feel ignored.

Read more about the best practices for developing key account plan templates here .

Developing your current clients into key accounts and focusing on recurring business is more predictable and more profitable than chasing after new clients. As a result, more and more organizations are focusing on customer service and account-based relationships to wow clients and ensure a longer-lasting relationship that benefits both sides.

This is a significant change in how businesses are handling their account management, but it's not the only change.

Organizations are also prioritizing technology and strategy development. This includes creating resources for remote work and communications, investing in key account management software with in-depth data and templates for account management, and focusing on collaborative tools that connect all branches of the revenue team. This results in a less siloed, more relationship-driven workplace.

Learn more about how and why modern businesses are changing with technological advances and shifts in account management mindsets here .

Reactive account management is about solving problems, but that still means problems have to occur — and that's bad for business. Instead, more businesses are focusing on proactive key account planning to anticipate changing client needs and resolving problems before they reach the client or become a substantive problem.

This creates a smoother, more positive client experience. Five of the most important steps for incorporating this practice include:

1. Be an Ally

Instead of simply fulfilling sales and attempting to upsell clients at regular intervals, create a long-term success plan with your client. Discuss what their needs are year after year and what their expectations are both for your services and their total growth. Taking an authentic interest in their needs allows you to develop more personalized plans and create upsells that provide them with more value.

2. Assign a Key Account Champion

Instead of simply having key account managers mixed in with your other types of account managers, have a leader who represents and champions key accounts. They should engage with key account managers to ensure they have the resources they need, regularly communicate with business leaders so the value of your key accounts stays visible, and continually educate revenue teams about the needs of these unique accounts.

3. Make Sure the C-Suite Is on Board

Your C-suite team should receive regular updates on how your organization's key accounts are performing and the value they bring to your business. This turns them into opportunities, not just disruptive accounts that seem to require more hand-holding. It's also important to have your C-suite executives engage with key contacts. This allows for better feedback and more authentic connections.

4. Communicate With Your Team

While the key account manager for a key account may know how important a client is, the product delivery team, customer service representatives, and even the marketing team may not be equally informed. Ensure that all of the departments that serve each key account are kept informed of changes and new developments — negative and (even more importantly) positive. This builds more engagement across your revenue team.

5. Give Key Accounts Attention

Don't overwhelm key account managers. Key accounts require more attention than self-service accounts or accounts that fall more in line with your standard business practices. If your AMs have too many clients, things will start to slip through the cracks, and your clients may look elsewhere for service providers.

Learn about each of these strategies in more depth here .

Strategic account mapping is all about identifying critical contacts in a strategic account client's organization. By identifying contacts, decision-makers, and how different agents within the client organization interact, your team can better communicate the value you're providing and anticipate changes in client needs.

Recording all of the client details in an account map helps your team stay on top of shifting contacts due to turnover; it's also a good resource for when your own team has turnover or you need to reach out to a key account while the typical AM is out of the office.

Learn more about how to make your strategic account mapping practices stronger.

Customer relationship management tools (CRMs) and key account management tools (KAMs) need to talk to each other, but they can't replace each other.

CRMs are generally used for cultivating new business and organizing a prospective lead's journey so it's as fulfilling as possible. KAMs help organize account details and long-term strategies to support the account manager over time.

Despite these distinct purposes, the two platforms need to share profile details and sales details so your organization fully understands revenue and can create accurate forecasts.

Read our in-depth article about how your business's CRM fits into how strategic and key account management processes.

Strategic account planning software needs to offer account managers critical resources and organization so they can manage contact details, short-term and long-term goals, and actionable tasks so the account stays as healthy as possible. We recommend looking for strategic account planning software that allows you to achieve all of the account planning fundamentals we discussed in this guide. Five of the most critical elements include:

• Interactive Org Charts
• CRM Integration
• Reporting Functions
• Deliverables Tracking
• Planning Templates 

Explore these 5 specific elements of strategic account planning more in detail here .

Contact Kapta for Account Planning Support

At Kapta, we've created a complete software platform with the resources and organizational tools account managers need to stay on top of key and strategic accounts.

Revenue teams can use our platform to share information, analyze trends, manage deliverables and upsell opportunities, and more. Schedule a demo or contact our team today to see how Kapta can support your organization.

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10-Step Guide: Creating a Strategic Account Management Plan

Strategic Account Management, or SAM, is all about the relationships you build with company customers or partners. But even with that idea in mind, building strong relationships worth the time and effort isn’t always an easy process. If you don’t have a clear pathway to strengthening and maintaining those connections, your company relationships could be suffering. Finely tuned communication and negotiations skills, trusting relationships forged over time, and regular reassessments all contribute to an effective plan. You may want to learn more about our negotiations skills training program .

A proper strategic account management plan can help you and your team stay on track and ensure you’re giving each customer and partner the proper amount of attention. This step-by-step guide can help you create a plan that fits your needs and moves your company forward.

The Importance of a Strategic Account Management Plan

As with just about everything in business and sales, when you have a plan in place, you can stay organized more easily while ensuring that no projects, customers, or clients are neglected. SAM planning works largely the same way.

Without a strategic account management plan, you approach your customer relationships without a checklist of bases to cover or things to address. This means that projects and tasks can easily become forgotten and get pushed to the side, while customers and partners are left feeling like they’ve been ignored. But when you have a plan in place, you can ensure you’re nurturing key relationships, giving each customer, client, or partner the appropriate amount of attention.

If you’re ready to get started on creating your own strategic account management plan, these steps can help you out. These ten steps, broken down into three main portions, can get you on track to building stronger relationships.

Phase 1 – Developing a Portfolio

Before you can begin working with a client, you need to do the research to understand who they are, what they value and what their goals are. Within this phase, there are four key steps.

1. Create a Profile

The profile of your customer, client, or partner will share a brief overview of who that person is. Much of the information that appears in a customer profile will not be extremely detailed, but it will serve as the foundation of your work. The customer profile should be referred back to whenever you need a refresher about the personal or business details about this individual.

2. Develop Trust

Because trust is the foundation of all relationships, both personal and business, your second step will be to show your client or customer that you are serious about helping them fulfill their needs and desires. Throughout this step, your main goal will be to develop an effective working relationship with the customer and identify areas that may need strengthening.

3. Identify Targets

Once you have been able to develop who the customer or client is, you can start working towards figuring out their wants and needs. These needs will be the items or ideals that drive you and the client forward through the next steps of your account plan.

4. Find the Opportunity

Everyone brings their own value to the table, and now that you and your client have gotten a clear understanding of who you each are and what you are intending to accomplish, you can determine what opportunities are available to you. Analyze what the competition is doing and what distinguishes you and the skills you bring from what is already out there.

Phase 2 – Creating a Strategy

The next phase of your strategic account management plan should be to lay out an angle of attack based on the information outlined in your portfolio. In some cases, you may be able to create multiple pathways for the second phase of your account.

5. Determine the Value

Understand what value can be provided by the client. When you understand what customers can hope to get out of a purchase, you can better understand how to push that idea forward.

6. Create Objectives

It isn’t enough to say you want to “sell a product” or “get things done.” Instead, you need to set out clear long and short-term objectives that can be reached and measured. Outline a few of these growth objectives beforehand as part of your account plan and you’ll have an easier time developing your strategy in the next step.

7. Take Action

Using all the information you previously gathered, develop an action plan for accomplishing your goals and objectives. Look at the value you hope to provide, the opportunity you have created, and consider what customer needs will need to be addressed. All these pieces of info should influence the decisions you make.

Phase 3 – Growing

The final phase puts all the information into motion and continues to measure what has been developed. Throughout this phase, you and your customer should continue to implement the strategies and ideas created in the first two phases. Once a change needs to be made, you can return to Phase 1 and readdress the ideas and issues.

8. Commit

Recognize that this relationship is important and that it will consistently need to be maintained. Both you and the client should commit to moving forward.

9. Follow New Leads

Once you have prepared yourself to continue forward, look for new leads that may allow you to grow. These opportunities are what pushes your business to the next level.

10. Always Reassess

Very rarely will a strategic account management plan work for years and years without needing to be readdressed. Whether you accomplish your goals or you’re struggling to see any developments, you may need to restart the process earlier than you thought. Always be ready to begin again when the time is right.

The art of strategic account management planning is becoming increasingly important for businesses. If you understand how to approach building each relationship and move forward as a team looking for mutually beneficial rewards, you can increase your position, develop the company to see more profits and returns, and have an overall better sense of what you are able to accomplish.  If you’d like to accelerate the learning of your team, don’t hesitate to contact SNI so we can assist you in your specific goals.

To learn more about our sales, negotiation, or influence training for your organization please click here . Contact

1 thought on “10-Step Guide: Creating a Strategic Account Management Plan”

You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this topic to be really something that I think I would never understand. It seems too complex and very broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it!

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Two Successful Approaches to Account Planning [Template]

Updated: August 23, 2022

Published: June 20, 2022

Are you a B2B account manager or sales executive serious about account-based marketing (ABM)? If the answer is “yes,” chances are you understand your customers want partners, not vendors.

To win new business and grow key accounts, account managers and sales executives must become invested in their customer’s challenges, goals, and the competitive landscape in which their business operates.

By using strategic account planning to target your key accounts , you can become your customer’s trusted partner by solving problems instead of selling products.

This article will touch on two viable account planning solutions — account-based marketing software and a manual, template-based approach. Below, we share one of the best templates to begin the account planning process in your sales organization.

Strategic Account Plan Template Layout

If you're reluctant to invest in ABM software or just want a solid starting point to understand ABM strategy better, this strategic account planning template will help you:

• Expand your understanding of your customer’s business, goals, and motivations
• Deliver value through right-fit solutions to their toughest challenges
• Navigate internal politics and target key stakeholders to drive buy-in
• Identify and avoid risks, barriers, and limitations

Featured Resource: Strategic Account Planning Template

Download This Template for Free

Ready to explore what account planning is all about and how it can increase your sales? In this article, we’ll go over the following topics:

• What is account planning?
• Terms related to account planning
• Account planning process: a step-by-step guide
• Account planning templates
• Account-based marketing software

Let’s get started.

What is Account Planning?

Account planning, used primarily in B2B sales, is the process of nurturing and growing your existing customer relationships. When creating an account plan, you seek to understand your customer’s business by identifying their key initiatives, problems, and challenges. Your objective is to deliver value that helps them achieve their goals and increase their sales.

Account planning is about partnering with your customer instead of selling to your customer. It looks at sales not as a transactional process but as the start of a strategic partnership. This term is usually applicable in B2B organizations rather than B2C organizations.

Because account planning is such a thorough process, it allows you to ask your customer highly specific questions related to their business and challenges.

These questions are usually related to the product or service you offer, giving you further insight into how you can solve for them in both the short and long term.

While account planning aims to decrease customer attrition , it can also be a valuable tool for acquisition. Understanding your most profitable customers can help you identify better prospects to target in your future sales efforts.

Account Plan

An account plan is a document that outlines all pertinent information about your customer, including their business goals, challenges, priorities, competitors, decision-making processes, and purchase criteria. You can also detail your strategies for retaining and upselling them.

The information you gather for your account plan will give you valuable insight into your customer's priorities. This constant flow of helpful information makes it easier to be proactive in fulfilling the client's needs.

Efficient implementation takes a lot of trial and error, but when you have the right data as a starting point, the trial period gets shorter and easy to overcome. Knowing what your clients want is a good way to ensure that your account planning efforts will be more effective from the beginning.

Free Account Management Template

A strategic template for your account-based marketing, sales, and management.

• Key Business Initiatives
• Account Competitor Analysis
• Sales Opportunities, Targets & Risks

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Free Account Planning Worksheet

Fill out the form to access your free template..

In addition, by offering this type of value, customers are happy and more likely to be loyal to your organization. Your objective is to deliver value that helps them achieve their goals and increase sales.

An effective account planning strategy will help your company build a reputation as a solution provider that customers can trust. To build an effective account strategy, account professionals must become invested in their customer’s challenges, goals, and the competitive landscape in which their business operates.

Account Planning and Marketing Strategies

Knowing what your customers appreciate and expect from your services is a strong foundation for your marketing efforts. Marketing is not only about putting your work out there but also about taking your audience’s language and communicating what they actually need to hear. This is where account planning comes in.

Account planning helps any marketing team turn business data into effective creative work that satisfies your customers and leads.

A marketing strategy aimed at transforming pain points into strong assets creates a strong customer relationship based on value and efficiency rather than a plain sales process.

Why is Account Planning important?

87% of marketers say account-based marketing outperforms other marketing activities. As such, it’s vital to learn how it can help your business too.

Here are some of account planning’s most significant benefits.

Reduces Acquisition Costs

Customer acquisition is expensive for several reasons. Some of the major costs are incurred from the resources expended to discover customer drivers and challenges.

Account planning reduces acquisition costs because it allows you to focus more on creating business through existing customers instead of looking for new ones.

Speeds Up Sales

Account planning reduces acquisition costs and makes it easier to close deals faster. In addition, since account planning focuses on existing accounts, sales professionals already know the key decision-makers in the buying process and understand how they prefer to buy.

Furthermore, account planning helps sales professionals observe customer behaviors that can be disruptive to the buying process.

Retains Important Relationships

Since account planning involves frequent communication between clients and representatives, your sales professionals are positioned to get the real-time pulse of clients.

An effective account plan helps businesses nurture existing relationships with customers while also providing a solid base for future marketing efforts. If account planning plays an essential role in client retention outcomes and conversion rates, it affects the company's overall number of clients (and revenue).

Working on your account planning will reduce acquisition costs while making it easier to close deals faster. Since account planning focuses on existing accounts, sales professionals already know the key decision-makers in the buying process and understand how they prefer to buy.

When account planning is optimized, sales strategies will have a new foundation full of valuable data. This will help sales workers ensure that all their efforts are going in the right direction.

By reducing acquisition costs and speeding up sales, account planning can be the first step in successfully using your business resources, especially time and money. It provides the information needed to build solid foundations for your client’s relationships and your sales work.

Account planning can be a great way to level up your business sales and customer satisfaction rates, but it can be difficult to start implementing its steps. Having the right guides and resources is essential for any business process.

Related Account Planning Terms

Now, let’s talk about some of the common terms you’ll find while scrolling through any account planning article.

Sales Account Planning

Sales account planning is an alternative term for account planning. This account planning approach process takes all the information about customer behavior and focuses on improving sales processes. With a special focus on converting users into customers, sales account planning will have a strong lead generation potential. However, customer retention strategies won’t have a special place in this process.

Strategic Account Management

Choosing high-value and high-profit accounts to grow and nurture is called strategic account management. Not all accounts or customers warrant a plan, so strategic account managers typically spearhead these efforts. Thus, account planning and strategic account management can go hand-in-hand.

Key Account Management

Key account management is similar to strategic account management and may also complement the account planning process. Sales leaders and representatives build, maintain, and nurture the business’s most profitable accounts. They do this by offering exclusive resources, recurring meetings, and dedicated key account managers (KAMs).

Account-based Marketing

Account-based marketing is usually carried out after key accounts have been established and account plans have been created. After these high-value customers are identified, the marketing team will create campaigns, assets, and messaging that targets these accounts.

As you can see, account planning can be a huge asset to your business, allowing you to delve in-depth into each customer profile.

By knowing the customer’s challenges, industry, and goals, you can position your product as the solution in a much more specific and targeted way, which can help increase close rates .

Now, it’s time to create a plan that can help you jumpstart your account planning efforts.

How to Start Account Planning at Your Business

Starting an account plan can be time-intensive, but when done right can show good results. There are four basic steps to implement if you want to start account planning at your business. These are:

1. Determine which accounts require account planning.

First, you should develop criteria for determining which accounts need an account plan. Clients who tend to require an account plan include those who are high profile, likely to scale, and can use your product or service in other departments in the company.

2. Discover the needs of these accounts.

Discovering the needs of these strategic accounts requires loads of research. These are some questions that can be a good place to start:

• What are the goals of this client?
• What do they value the most?
• Who is involved in the buying decision process?
• What are their current plans to achieve goals?
• What KPIs do they measure?

3. Create actionable steps.

After doing your research, it’s time to develop actionable steps. These steps vary depending on the account but might include:

• Account analysis
• Short-term steps (e.g., getting them to renew with you)
• Long-term steps (e.g., long-term client growth)

4. Execute the account plan.

Lastly, execute the plan you’ve created by incorporating the specifics of your business and sharing it with your stakeholders.

Account Planning Process

• Use an account planning template.
• Summarize your customer’s business strategy.
• Know your customer’s key business initiatives.
• Understand your customer’s organizational chart and key players.
• Audit your customer’s products and revenue.
• Analyze your customer’s competition.
• Outline the buying process and selling points for prospective contacts.
• Establish a strategy for growing your relationship with your customer.
• Identify sales opportunities, targets, and risks.
• Create an action plan.
• Review your plan with your customer.

Before Starting: Download HubSpot's Account Planning Template

Now you know all the details about account planning, its benefits, and what’s required to implement it effectively. So, with all this information in mind, it’s time to put in the work and start building your account plan.

HubSpot's pre-built Account Planning Template contains prompts for each of the subsequent sections, as well as suggested topics to include in each one. Rather than starting from scratch, we recommend you follow along by downloading the free template.

Section 1: Business Overview

The most effective account managers and sales teams understand their customer’s narratives. They ask value-focused questions to get to the root of their customer’s business objectives, internal and external challenges, and industry landscape.

This questioning and learning must be an ongoing exercise. Objectives and goals are ever-changing, and customers often reposition their value in the face of new technology or market shifts.

In this section, identify the following:

• Your customer’s vision/strategy
• Your customer’s vital numbers
• The year the company was founded
• Your customer's annual revenue
• Number of employees who work for your customer
• Popular target markets in the customer's industry

After creating an account plan and getting to know your customer inside out, here are a few questions your account managers can ask:

• “We noticed that your industry has seen a decline in _______. How has your business fared since this trend started?”
• “Your competitor recently developed a new product. How does leadership plan to tackle this new challenge?”
• “Your initiatives for ________ did well for Q4 of last year, resulting in X% growth in revenue. Do you have any plans to continue those initiatives in Q1? What challenges do you foresee?”
• “I saw that you expanded into the ________ market. How has that been going? Are there any plans to expand into related industries?”

Section 2: Key Business Initiatives

As former FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss outlines in his book Never Split the Difference , all successful negotiations begin with listening. To develop a value-based action plan, you need to discover what your customer values most.

By focusing on your customer’s value expectations, you create opportunities to grow more strategic customer relationships. This safeguards against competition while increasing customer loyalty.

Ask questions that will reveal your customer’s:

• Short-/medium-/long-term priorities
• Key projects
• Key performance indicators (KPIs)

Section 3: Customer Relationship Landscape

Your customer relationship landscape is, essentially, what you know about your audience based on the connections you’ve been creating with your clients. Knowing what they appreciate, how they want to communicate, and even the aspects of your business they admire most will save time and help them reach new goals.

Which type of clients are you helping the most? Where do you find more growth potential and positive feedback? It’s time to ask these questions and turn them into the customer approach that your account plan will follow.

Section 4: Customer Products and Revenues

Today’s customer desires a strategic partner to deliver value across their organization. In this section, list and describe where you are currently adding value, analyze the ROI of that value, and identify gaps in the value chain.

Don’t forget to include the following information:

• Whitespace analysis
• Current sales performance
• Current margin performance
• Wins or losses over the last 12 months

Section 5: Competitor Analysis

Performing a competitive analysis for your customer may not seem to provide high value to your sales team, but remember: Your goal is to move from a transactional relationship to a strategic partnership. Only when you understand your customer’s challenges can you help them differentiate their products and services.

List your customer’s:

• Competitors
• Competitors’ strengths
• Competitors’ weaknesses

Section 6: Buying Process and Selling Points

Businesses don’t buy products or services — people do. So, expand your organizational chart from section three to include personal motivations and decision criteria, and plot your value-based selling points to specific members of your customer’s organization.

The goal of a trusted advisor should not be to fit a product into an empty slot. Rather, your focus should be to understand how your key selling points match each decision maker’s goal.

Identify each of the following:

• Evaluation criteria
• Key decision criteria
• Key selling points

Section 7: Relationship Goals and Strategy

Before an account manager can move the customer relationship forward, they must establish the status of their current client relationship. Knowing where we’re starting helps us get the right resources to build solid foundations and effectively approach the next steps.

Using the organizational chart from section three and the motivations from section six, determine which relationship target has the greatest opportunity for engagement. Focus on those who can provide the most productive outcomes for the customer’s business and your own.

Expand your relationship landscape to include:

• Current relationship status ( Vendor, Preferred Supplier, Planning Partner, Trusted Advisor )
• Core business partners
• Relationship target (who, what, where, how, why)
• Relationship progression strategy

Section 8: Sales Opportunities, Targets, and Risks

Once you’ve documented your customer’s objectives, motivations, and key relationships, determine the products/services that will help them attain their goals. List revenue goals and identify blockers — internal and external.

List and define:

• Two-year revenue goals
• Customer needs for products/services
• Cross-sell and upsell opportunities
• Risks, barriers, and limitations
• Operational restrictions

It can be easy to gloss over the final bullet — operational restrictions. However, this exercise can illuminate friction in service/product delivery and reveal opportunities for automation and processes that can impact your entire book of business.

Section 9: Action Plan

Although there may be many value-add opportunities, narrow your focus to a small subset. Move the needle one position at a time.

Determine which team members will own which task, what resources will be required to achieve these tasks, and agree upon accountability measures.

Ensure that you do the following in your action plan:

• Identify the top five objectives.
• Create a list of critical resources.
• Assign tasks and key owners.

Section 10: Plan Review

Discuss value co-creation with your customer. Ensure you have correctly defined and prioritized value opportunities and work with them to provide relevant materials or resources to secure buy-in.

Engage the customer in a collaborative role to establish a process, timeline, and next steps.

We’ve collected some of the best strategic account planning templates you can use right now.

1. HubSpot’s Account Planning Template [Google Docs]

HubSpot’s Account Planning Template is useful for account managers who want the freedom to personalize their account plan with a strong marketing basis.

This template includes all the items discussed before, making it a complete resource for startups and big businesses. It can help small and large teams by providing an actionable step-by-step guide for account managers, sales executives, and marketing professionals to collaborate within the account planning process.

2. Databahn Account Plan Template [XLS]

Databahn offers a free Strategic Account Plan template that’s a good option for account management teams trying to streamline their account planning processes. This template is not only easy to use and complete, but it also includes different details like the members of the team, marketing strategies and targets, industry analysis, and annual reports.

Disclaimer: Even when completed, the account planning template needs to be constantly updated to be as effective as possible.

3. Gartner’s Key Account Plan Template

Gartner, the leading information technology research and advisory company, offers a template that includes a comprehensive set of customizable tools to help executive sales leaders construct or enhance their organization’s critical account plan.

4. ForecastEra’s Free Account Planning Template [PDF]

As part of its account planning tools, ForecastEra also offers a free account planning template to help sales executives.

5. Intercom’s Account Plans [XML]

Intercom is a customer success company that works with tools that level up clients relationships.

This company offers an account plan template to help account managers maintain successful customer satisfaction rates by taking advantage of up-to-date information.

6. Unstrategic’s Strategic Account Plan [PDF]

This easy-to-use template is an excellent resource for account managers and sales teams. It offers a detailed solution for companies to work on their account planning without struggling with technical misunderstandings.

This PDF guide offers a user-friendly content display and provides systematic instructions on how to fill out each section. It is great for anyone filling out an account plan for the first time.

7. Revegy’s Account Planning Template

This guide is the best option for sales professionals who want to create effective sales strategies based on customer data.

This tool can help you build consistent account plans that are easy to understand and implement.

8. Avention’s Strategic Account Plan Template [PPT]

Avention made this template to assist the account management team in staying on top of the client’s business objectives and goals. It’s also helping them achieve desired results that will ultimately have a good impact on the customer’s business.

9. Get2Growth Strategic Account Planning Template [PPT]

This company offers a one-page detailed template you can use to build an account plan in a few steps.

With different graphic elements and sections, this template is a good solution for account professionals who want to achieve an innovative account managing approach based on quick solutions.

10. Account Planning Template by AccountTips [XSL]

This template is full of helpful resources for account managers, and they offer clearly labeled Excel tabs to level up your account management work.

Supported by articles and academic resources, this template provides both questions to ask and cells to fill with relevant information. You will find yourself finishing your account plan in a blink of an eye.

Supporting Account Planning with Account-Based Marketing Software

Creating an account-based marketing plan (ABM) is the natural next step after finishing the planning process. But there’s no need to do it manually. Instead, we recommend using ABM software that can help you automate your ABM campaigns.

There are a number of different account-based marketing software platforms that can support your efforts, including HubSpot ABM Software , Terminus , and Demandbase .

A high-quality ABM software generally features tools and resources to help you establish a solid foundation for an account planning strategy. It’s typically rooted in defining and understanding your ideal customer profiles (ICPs).

It might also contain features that cover company and contact information, giving you insight into the businesses you're trying to target and the individual decision-makers you need to reach. Other tools — like workflow templates for building and maintaining your ICPs — can also be a big help for successful account planning.

Image Source

Here's how a workflow looks in HubSpot's ABM software. Specific actions are triggered depending on previous settings, automatically segmenting your ICPs by tier.

Personalization and Engagement

The fundamental basis of ABM, as a concept, is personalization. It's a process rooted in understanding and approaching individual accounts on terms that will specifically resonate with the prospects and customers behind them.

Features designed for compiling lists of target companies with similar characteristics can help you group like-minded companies and contacts for streamlined outreach. Some types of ABM software allow you to send ads to influencers within your targeted accounts across certain platforms — typically LinkedIn.

Resources that allow you to engage with those targeted lists via email can also add value to your account planning efforts. One way or another, it's always in your best interest to reach your target accounts in ways that suit their unique values and characteristics. Finding software to simplify that process can make your outreach more robust without losing focus.

Tracking and Measuring Efforts

Account planning isn't a static process. You need to constantly look for ways to modify your strategy as you interact with more customers. That's why resources to track the efficacy of your efforts are crucial.

Target account reporting libraries can help you keep tabs on target accounts. A solid ABM software often includes resources that let you review internal stakeholders within your target companies, allowing you to see who's supporting, blocking, or influencing your efforts.

It also helps to have visibility into the different interactions your business has with a target company. Some types of ABM software allow you to monitor activity like emails, meetings, and logged calls. Tools like that will enable you to understand where and how to improve your outreach and planning.

How can an ABM support your account plan?

Regardless of the one you choose, ABM software will be a time saver for your sales team, and it will give you the tools to work on your key customer relationships.

You now have all the resources you need to build a successful account plan from scratch, starting with the main questions and all the implementation steps that will help you get there. Are you ready to turn account planning into a valuable asset for your business?

Editor's note: This post was originally published in July 7, 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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The Ultimate Account Management Guide for Professional Services

March 2, 2022 - 10 min read

Companies of all sizes and shapes experience customer churn. Research by Statista confirms that one in four customers leave their product or service provider due to poor customer service. 

No organization wants to leave money on the table. Adopting a strategic account management program can help companies battle average churn rates of 25% that plague companies across industries.

What‌ ‌is‌ ‌account‌ ‌management?‌ ‌

Account management is an organized process that engages and nurtures customer relationships to accomplish organizational and customer goals.

In strategic account management, companies focus on delivering consistent value to clients in innovative ways that build trust and grow business, such as:

• Offering continued product or service training
• Having on-demand question and answer sessions
• Delivering an exceptional level of customer service
• Creating consistent value-adds to the existing product or service to delight customers

What are the key responsibilities of strategic account managers?

Account managers use their consultative skills to answer client questions, solve their problems, and act as continued business partners.

Irrespective of the client industry, all account managers have certain common responsibilities:

• Engage and nurture long-term relationships with customers
• Review customer requirements and suggest appropriate improvements such as relevant products, services , and upgrades that can meet customers’ current or future needs
• Identify and promote cross-sell and upsell opportunities to achieve business goals
• Monitor customer demand, usage numbers, and overall account metrics

Additionally, account managers highlight their company’s value proposition to their clients to create and sustain continued business relationships.

How‌ ‌does‌ ‌managing‌ ‌accounts‌ ‌vary‌ ‌by‌ ‌industry?‌ ‌

Though the fundamentals of strategic account management remain the same across industries, their goals may vary.

Different factors have an impact on the account management process and goals, such as:

• The size and nature of client companies
• Market dynamics of the industry in which the client company operates
• Your company’s B2B sales process, competitive advantage, and selling approach

Let’s review this with an example.

SaaS companies: Many SaaS companies follow a business-to-business (B2B) sales model that supports client companies to continue and renew their subscriptions. Promoting software upgrades and offering better value in existing subscription plans are a few steps SaaS companies take to retain their customers in the long term.

Medical equipment companies: In medical equipment companies, the sale of medical devices is the first step to building a relationship with a client organization. Providing exceptional customer support, offering innovative services , and delivering value in annual maintenance contracts is crucial to cementing the relationship with their healthcare clients.

Common‌ ‌challenges‌ ‌in‌ ‌account‌ ‌management‌ ‌

Strategic account management is a delicate balancing act. Apart from keeping their C-suite happy, account managers must ensure that their clients are satisfied.

Even as they are busy building great customer relationships, they tend to face certain challenges:

• Being reactive: Account managers may get busy dealing with operational matters and miss talking strategy with their customers. If they behave in a reactive manner, they run the risk of missing value-adding opportunities.
• Not mitigating risks early: Unpredictable client surprises can spring up, leaving you to wonder what went wrong. Not addressing client feedback early can prove costly if the client ends the relationship.
• Relying too much on gut instinct: Yes, gut instincts work. However, key account management processes and consistent workflows are essential to scale and standardize your approach and get the desired results.
• Thinking like a vendor: Stop thinking like a vendor. Vendors can be easy to replace. Your client will find someone faster, cheaper, or better than your company. Instead, build real engagement with your clients and help them achieve their goals by being a strategic business partner.

Account‌ ‌management‌ ‌best‌ ‌practices‌ ‌

Elevate account management by using advanced customer improvement techniques to help you get repeat business, create deeper business relationships, and accomplish client goals.

Embrace clarity in roles

Demarcate lines between customer success, account management, and sales. Clarify what account managers need to do to reduce confusion, increase internal efficiencies, and lower churn rates.

Assess customers needs

Provide the account management software and tools that can help teams organize customer information and understand what they want.

Availability of sales information, customer contacts, and industry news can help account managers stay updated about their clients’ goals and pain points.

Recommend suitable upsell and cross-sell opportunities if it adds value to their client’s business. Knowing their needs and understanding their end goals can help account managers be their client’s strategic business partners.

Improve cross-functional collaboration

In many smaller companies, the same team often handles sales and account management responsibilities. However, mid-sized and large enterprises tend to have dedicated teams for account management.

Regular communication with the sales team can help you achieve your goals . Make sure to ask the right questions in your interactions with the sales team, such as:

• Was the customer interested in any specific product or service feature?
• What was the final product or service purchased by the customer?
• Were any particular requests made by the customer?

Focus on account metrics

Make decisions based on customer account information. Monitor client metrics to see their progress and use metrics to generate future forecasts and actionable insights.

Track account health using key performance indicators (KPIs) such as customer churn rate, customer satisfaction score, and retention rate. 

Put customer relationship management (CRM) into action

Deploying the right account management tools can be a lifesaver. Integrate your account management tool with CRM to organize customer contacts, review deal values, and have real-time conversations with internal teams.

Make your CRM a centralized hub to store client industry information, track campaigns , and benchmark your competitor’s products and services. Adopting a longer-term mindset and having the customer’s best interests at heart will also help.

Top tips for strategic account management planning

Research from Gartner shows that 28% of account managers meet their account growth targets.

Designing and implementing an effective account management plan is essential to generate continued business from your most valuable customers. Consider these tips to get started:

• Keep your plan updated: Keep updating your plan to cater to evolving customer needs, market demands, business goals, and competitor products.
• Embed account planning in CRM: Integrating account management into your CRM makes client data accessible to the team, increases user adoption, and simplifies account management.
• Boost collaboration: To develop a robust account management strategy, collaborate with all the internal teams that interface with the clients. You can get valuable customer intelligence and commercial inputs from the sales, marketing , product, and research and development (R&D) teams.
• Connect plans to business goals: Encourage account teams to connect their long-term plans to business goals . Embed opportunities to cross-sell and up-sell into the account management plans to grow business revenues, retain customers, and strengthen relationships.

Recommended‌ ‌account‌ ‌management‌ ‌tools‌ ‌

When your team has the right account management tools to work with, they can focus on building and nurturing great customer relationships.

Many account management tools exist, but it’s important to find the one that perfectly fits your team and organization’s needs.

Good account management software should help you design and implement a successful account management strategy that:

• Retains existing customers and obtains continued business
• Nurtures and deepens customer relationships and increases brand loyalty
• Enables you to review customer needs and understand how to help them
• Makes the best use of internal resources to achieve mutually beneficial goals
• Provides strategic data that lets you make future sales forecasts and business decisions

Features‌ ‌to‌ ‌look‌ ‌for‌ ‌in‌ ‌account‌ ‌management‌ ‌software‌ ‌

Before zeroing in on your ideal account management software, make sure it has these key features:

• The ability to store, organize, sort, and filter customer information by deal size, due dates, account manager, priority, or scope of work
• A robust mobile application that supports account management teams on the go
• Gives your account management team complete visibility of customer projects by seamlessly integrating with an industry-leading CRM , such as Salesforce
• Increases real-time communication through easy integrations with chat and messaging apps such as Slack or Microsoft Teams
• A unified hub to store all client information, files, and related documents so that teams don’t waste time searching for the latest files

Why‌ ‌use‌ ‌Wrike‌ ‌for‌ ‌enterprise‌ ‌account‌ ‌management?‌ ‌

Strategic account management is all about improving the client experience. With many moving parts, key information and actionable insights risk slipping through the cracks. Using the best account management software can support you and keep both your CEO and customers happy.

Use Wrike to minimize routine activities and delight customers with customized reports and on-time service deliveries that keep them coming back. Grow your business with simple time tracking, shared team calendars, and personalized workflows that increase team efficiency.

Start a free Wrike trial to review product usage, build deeper client relationships, and successfully execute your account management strategies.

Yuvika Iyer

Yuvika is a freelance writer who specializes in recruitment and resume writing.

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How to Succeed at Key Account Management

• Lynette Ryals

Key account management (KAM) is one of the most important changes in selling that has emerged during the past two decades. KAM is a radically different organizational process used by business-to-business suppliers to manage their relationships with strategically-important customers, and it produces measurable business benefits. Not surprisingly, smart suppliers are keen to implement KAM. But, […]

Key account management (KAM) is one of the most important changes in selling that has emerged during the past two decades. KAM is a radically different organizational process used by business-to-business suppliers to manage their relationships with strategically-important customers, and it produces measurable business benefits.

• LR Lynette Ryals is professor of Strategic Sales and Account Management at Cranfield University School of Management.

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7 Free Account Planning Templates for Sales Teams

Praburam Srinivasan

Growth Marketing Manager

February 13, 2024

Clients are the lifeblood of our business. That’s why it’s important to give them world-class service. To do that, you need to understand their needs and problems and do your best to address them.

An effective way to ensure client satisfaction is to use account planning templates. They allow strategic account managers to collect valuable info a breeze and let you create tailored strategies for nurturing existing partnerships and forging new ones.

Check out our list of the seven best templates for improving client communication , retention, and revenue potential!

What is an Account Planning Template?

What makes a good account planning template, 1. clickup account planning template, 2. clickup account management template , 3. clickup large account management process template, 4. clickup resource planning template, 5. clickup business plan template, 6. sales strategic account plan template by template.net, 7. google docs business plan template, types of account planning templates, how to use an account planning template, an overview of the best account planning templates.

Account planning is a strategy that allows you to better understand potential and current clients and customers, improve interactions, and foster relationships. An account planning template is a pre-built framework for streamlining this process, mainly by helping you organize vital information. Equipped with a well-designed template, account planning is more focused and efficient throughout.

These templates help key account managers, marketers, and sales teams with tasks such as:

• Setting KPIs , measuring success, and optimizing future efforts for strategic account planning
• Onboarding new clients and understanding their objectives and challenges
• Researching the clients’ industries, trends, and competitive landscape
• Developing collaboration strategies to maximize the provided value

Here are the key qualities of an account plan template that ticks all the right boxes:

• Comprehensive structure : Contains sections for optimizing the most important steps of the process. These include account overview, goals, insights, budget, and evaluation
• Intuitive design : Easy to navigate and understand, suitable for all skill levels and departments
• Customizable and scalable: Flexible enough to accommodate various types of clients and their key account plan
• Integrates with your favorite tools : Easy to incorporate into your existing workflow
• Actionable : Allows you to transform your goals and plans into tangible tasks and deadlines

7 Account Planning Templates To Use in 2024

If you need a solid foundation and guidance to revolutionize the way you interact with clients, use the account planning templates below to centralize information, manage relationships and processes, allocate resources, and create superb business plans—your clientele will thank you!

The ClickUp Account Planning Template is a simple but powerful tool for strategic account management. It’s beginner-friendly, allowing anyone to pick it up in no time. Despite its simplicity, it offers numerous views and features to level up your client relationship game.

The Accounts List view provides a crystal-clear overview of all your clients, complete with their basic info. The accounts are grouped according to their status by default, but you can sort them based on their stage, priority, or other key account planning details of your choice.

If math is not your strongest suit, you’ll be happy to hear that this template can even do mathematical operations. If you need to calculate the sum or average of, say, earnings from a particular account, hover with your mouse below the column and select the Calculate option. 

ClickUp Gantt Account Planning Template

The template’s Gantt view takes account planning one step further by helping you visualize all your client-related activities. Unlike your typical calendar, it’s a two-dimensional chart showing the task timeline and its dependencies. Use it to manage tasks and create accurate project plans for your accounts.

On the left side of the view, you’ll find a roster of clients and their associated tasks. This list also displays details such as priority, status, assignee, and other info you choose. To the right of the screen, there’s a bar chart whose length symbolizes the estimated duration of the tasks. The bars are colored based on their urgency for easier prioritization. 

Now that you’re familiar with its basic elements using the Gantt chart will be a walk in the park! Click and drag to move the tasks around, or expand and shorten them by pulling the edges.

You can also add dependencies to lock tasks together. When you make changes to any of the two or more tasks, the other ones will automatically shift to maintain the relationship.

For instance, say you planned to meet with a client to discuss the next steps of your partnership, and you have to reschedule it for the following week. You don’t need to reschedule the entire workflow task-by-task. You can move up the meeting only, and the dependent tasks will follow suit.

ClickUp Timeline Account Planning Template

The Timeline view is similar to the Gantt view in terms of facilitating time management , but there are some crucial differences to keep in mind for account managers.

While a Gantt chart depicts the complexities of tasks, the Timeline view is simpler and features a single chronological line of events. It gives you a bird’s-eye view of your upcoming work.

It’s a visualization tool that gives a quick overview of tasks, their names, assignees, duration, and dependencies. You can use it to see what’s coming next, set milestones, and create project roadmaps. All this helps you effectively allocate resources , increase accountability, and instill confidence in the stakeholders.

Choose which criteria you want to group and filter tasks by. As with Gantt charts, you can reschedule and change the duration of items with a few clicks. By clicking on a task, you’ll reveal all the information you need to complete it.

ClickUp Board Account Planning Template

If the List view is too overwhelming for you, fear not. The ClickUp Account Planning Template also has a simplified Kanban-style board for better visualization and management of accounts and related tasks. 

The clients are represented with cards, which you can move around by dragging and dropping between columns. It doesn’t get much simpler than that!

By default, the grouping criteria is the account stage, but you can select a different one, such as priority or complexity. If you switch on swimlanes, you can introduce a second dimension to further personalize the key account planning process.

The cards contain information such as assignee, duration, account health, completion percentage, and monthly revenue. As usual, you can customize their appearance and click on the task to reveal more information, add comments, and track time. 

Account planning and management are closely related. While planning focuses on studying the clients’ needs and strategizing, account management deals with the day-to-day execution of client-related work. They’re like a lock and a key—one is useless without the other!

To help you with account planning efforts, we’ve created the ClickUp Account Management Template . It serves as a central database for all account-related information and activities. Use it to track tasks and deadlines, and streamline communication. 

The template is in folder form and includes dedicated lists for key account plans and past clients. They’re packed with vital information such as contact info, chosen pricing plan, and estimated revenue opportunity.

The master view offers as many as six custom views:

• At Risk : A list of existing relationships with low engagement and are likely to churn
• Engagement : A list of all clients grouped based on their engagement level
• Priority Accounts : An agile board that classifies accounts by their priority tag
• Gantt : A chart for keeping up with the task schedule 
• Client Success Playbook : A document for recording critical processes
• Signup Form : A Form that prospects can complete and connect with dedicated key account managers

Despite your finest efforts and the help of a handy template, key account management is still complex and labor-intensive. The best way to streamline it and establish consistency is to document every step of the process.

The Large Account Management Process Template by ClickUp is ideally suited for high-level planning. It helps you develop an efficient account management workflow and centralize critical account-related information.

It’s in list form and contains multiple views. Use the Process Overview List to jot down all the stages and tasks of your account management process. With a few clicks, you can:

• Assign tasks to team members 
• Define their priority and complexity
• Update the status

Add your own specific fields and play around with the filtering, sorting, and grouping to get the overview you need.

After defining the tasks, use the Gantt and Timeline views to schedule and visualize them. This helps you identify critical path tasks, track progress, and allocate resources to optimize productivity .

Account management typically requires some serious juggling between the client’s wishes and your capabilities. You want to provide as much value as possible without overworking your staff or maxing out your resources. It’s all about striking that perfect balance.

Luckily, that’s where the Resource Planning Template by ClickUp steps in. It’s like having a personal resource management assistant that’s available 24/7. It’s a comprehensive system designed for businesses of all sizes, particularly those dealing with resource constraints and capacity gaps.

The template comes in list form and includes numerous views:

• Clients List
• Project Coordinators Board
• Project Coordinators Workload
• Team Workload
• Activity Gantt 

Feel free to add custom views to tailor the template to your workflow. For example, you can create a new list view dedicated exclusively to budgeting or equipment.

The template also includes many time management tools. In the Workload view, you can quickly assess team members’ availability and capacity. Distribute tasks by dragging and dropping them from the right sidebar onto the chart. Employees can also track time in-app, which helps ensure accurate billing.

This ClickUp Business Plan Template is a game-changer for up-and-coming businesses and those looking to propel their existing operations to new heights. It’s a user-friendly tool that provides a structured framework for outlining your goals, strategies, and action plans.

Although comprehensive, the template is easily adaptable to various scenarios and purposes. The best part is—it allows for easy scaling once your business takes off.

The template is available in multiple views, including:

• Topics : A list of subjects to cover when discussing the launch of a new business
• Status : A Board view of topics, i.e., tasks, grouped by status
• Gantt : A chart to help you plan and stay on top of the timeline 
• Business Plan : A document in which you can describe your company and vision, outline marketing and sales goals , and define metrics and milestones 

If you want to optimize your sales efforts and align them with your client’s needs and goals, check out this Strategic Sales Account Planning Template by Template.net. With all the key information in a single document, you can create a winning sales growth strategy and build a long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationship with your account.

Within the template, you’ll find sections covering all critical aspects of sales account planning. For starters, lay out the executive summary, objectives, and account details. In the next section, perform the SWOT analysis for the client and their competitor, then compare the results to gain valuable insights. 

The final section, which is the action plan, defines the steps needed to reach the desired objectives. Top it off with key performance indicators and a sales reporting schedule, and you’ll have a perfect roadmap to success.

This template works in Google Docs, Word, PDF readers, and Apple Pages. You’ll need to subscribe to Template.net to download the document, but you can edit it directly on the website for free.

This Google Docs Business Plan Template can be an invaluable resource for all newcomers to the world of business. To call it comprehensive would be a massive understatement—it’s 45 pages long! 

The document covers it all—from the Confidentiality Agreement and executive summary to the expenses and appendices. It contains tables, charts, and lists for easier readability.

Setting up and using the template is a breeze. After opening the doc, create a copy so you can edit it. Then, section by section, replace the decoy text with your own, following the provided guidelines for optimal results.

Account planning templates come in various forms, each designed to cater to different aspects of account management. Here are some common types of account planning templates you might encounter:

Strategic Account Plan Template : This type of template focuses on long-term strategy and goals for a specific key account. It typically includes sections for objective setting, understanding the customer’s business and needs, identifying opportunities for growth, and outlining a strategic action plan.

Sales Account Plan Template : A sales account plan template is geared towards sales teams. It often includes sections for identifying key decision-makers, analyzing competitors, tracking sales targets, and outlining strategies to increase sales within the account.

Customer Success Account Plan Template : This template is designed to help customer success teams manage their accounts effectively. It usually includes sections for understanding the customer journey, identifying customer pain points, setting customer satisfaction goals, and planning initiatives to improve customer success.

Account Management Plan Template : An account management plan template is a comprehensive tool for managing an account across all fronts. It may include sections for setting objectives, identifying key stakeholders, SWOT analysis, developing an action plan, and tracking progress.

Key Account Plan Template : This type of template is used for managing major clients that make up a significant portion of the company’s revenue. It generally includes sections for understanding the client’s strategic goals, identifying opportunities for upselling or cross-selling, and creating a tailored service plan.

Account Development Plan Template : An account development plan template is used when the goal is to grow the account. It often includes sections for identifying growth opportunities, setting growth targets, outlining a sales strategy, and tracking development progress.

An account planning template is a valuable tool to streamline your sales strategies and enhance customer relationships. But how exactly do you use it? Below, we break down the steps to effectively utilize an account planning template.

• Understand the Template : Each account planning template may vary in design and structure, but they generally include sections for objective setting, SWOT analysis, key stakeholders, action plans, and progress tracking. Familiarize yourself with these sections to understand what information is required.
• Set Clear Objectives : Begin by setting clear objectives for your account. What do you aim to achieve? This could be expanding your business within the account, improving customer satisfaction, or increasing the account’s profitability. Write these objectives in the designated section of the template.
• Conduct a SWOT Analysis : The SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis section helps you understand the current state of the account. Identify your strengths and weaknesses within the account, as well as any opportunities for growth or potential threats that could hinder your progress.
• Identify Key Stakeholders : Every account will have key stakeholders or decision-makers. It’s essential to identify who these individuals are, understand their needs and expectations, and document this information in the template.
• Develop an Action Plan : After setting objectives and conducting a SWOT analysis, develop a strategic action plan. This plan should outline the steps you will take to achieve your objectives, with clear actions, responsible parties, and timelines.
• Track Progress : Most templates include a section for tracking progress towards your objectives. Regularly update this section to keep track of your achievements and adjust your strategies as needed.
• Review and Update Regularly : An account plan is not a set-and-forget document. It should be a living document that you review and update regularly. This ensures the plan remains relevant and aligned with any changes in the account or your business strategy.

Remember, an account planning template is a tool to guide your strategy and actions. It’s not about filling in every section perfectly; it’s about using it as a framework to deepen your understanding of the account, align your team, and drive strategic action towards your objectives.

Take a look at the table below to compare the templates on our list and their benefits:

Elevate Your Account Planning With ClickUp Templates

With their flexibility and user-friendliness, these templates are sure to take your account planning to the next level. Use them to strengthen your client relationships and ultimately drive growth and bring mutual benefit . Start a free ClickUp Workspace today!

Questions? Comments? Visit our Help Center for support.

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Strategic Account Management Plan Template

Identify strategic account objectives.

• 1 Identifying the right objectives
• 2 Setting realistic targets
• 3 Aligning objectives with account capabilities

Define Strategic Account Goals

• 1 Financial
• 2 Customer Satisfaction
• 3 Market Share
• 1 Analyze historical data
• 2 Create action plans
• 3 Monitor progress

Share the strategic account goals

Assess Current Situation with Strategic Account

Research strategic account business environment.

• 1 Government Regulations
• 2 Industry Standards
• 3 Environmental Regulations

Develop Tactical Action Plan

• 1 Financial investment
• 2 Market research data
• 3 Additional training

Approval: Tactical Action Plan

• Develop Tactical Action Plan Will be submitted

Communicate the Plan to the Account Team

Assign roles and responsibilities to account team members.

• 1 Manage client communication
• 2 Analyze account performance
• 3 Identify upsell opportunities

Develop Communication Plan for Strategic Account

• 3 Quarterly
• 3 In-person meetings

Approval: Communication Plan

• Develop Communication Plan for Strategic Account Will be submitted

Initiate Contact with Strategic Account Stakeholders

Create and implement strategic account development programs.

• 1 Customer satisfaction surveys
• 2 Product training sessions
• 3 Regular account reviews

Monitor Execution of Action Plan

• 3 Completed

Hold Regular Review and Feedback Sessions

• 1 Addressing customer concerns
• 2 Improving communication channels
• 3 Refining goals and objectives

Approval: Review and Feedback Sessions

• Hold Regular Review and Feedback Sessions Will be submitted

Evaluate and Document Account Management Process

• 1 Regular communication is key
• 2 Flexibility is important in response to market changes
• 3 Collaboration with stakeholders drives success

Adjust Account Strategy Based on Market Changes

Maintain continuous dialogue with strategic account.

• 2 Bi-weekly
• 1 Account performance review
• 2 New product features and updates
• 3 Future growth opportunities

Renew and Modify the Account Plan

• 1 Objectives
• 3 Action Steps

Approval: Modified Account Plan

• Renew and Modify the Account Plan Will be submitted

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The 7 Steps of a Key Account Management Plan

KAM in the Pharmaceutical industry  | In the first part of this article, we discussed the different types of strategic accounts you can encounter in the pharmaceutical industry, detailing the 5 key success factors for your KAM strategy . Today, we are going to dig deeper into the distinct steps of a successful Key Account Management plan.

How to implement a Key Account Management Plan

There are 7 steps that need to be followed for a successful Key Account Management action plan in the pharmaceutical industry :

1. ACCOUNTS’ ANALYSIS Get an overall understanding of each account and collect the right input to segment your accounts effectively. 

2. ACCOUNTS’ SEGMENTATION Segment your accounts according to the right dimensions and criteria. Then, identify which ones are most important in order to prioritize (Key / Strategic Accounts).

3. UNDERSTAND THE DECISION-MAKING UNIT Identify the key decision makers and influencers, evaluate the level of partnership you have with them. Identify their needs and their areas of interests. Then, identify/map working links among stakeholders.

4. DIAGNOSIS Perform a useful SWOT analysis and make your market diagnosis. 

5. SET OBJECTIVES Define realistic objectives for each of the key performance indicators measured in your analysis.

6. ACCOUNT TACTICAL PLAN Build an impactful account plan based on the previous steps, using all the resources you have at your disposal. Identify areas where additional resources could deliver greater feedback.

7. MONITORING/FOLLOW-UP Make sure your actions are well implemented and track key performance indicators to measure their impact. Book and update your plan accordingly.

How to measure your KAM plan's ROI

Typically there are some KPIs usually predefined by top management in line with your company’s strategy. Many companies use the Win-to-Lose ratio , Formulary Status, Penetration index and Revenue-to-Profit ratio. It is very important to always involve the account / customer into the measurement process using satisfaction questionnaire, improvement areas analysis and other measurable items.

In the end, financial data are always the key metrics and should be easily captured from the accounting system and analyzed from an ROI standpoint, as well as from a customer satisfaction perspective. The simple sum of inputs (investments) and outputs (net sales) together with your updated KAM Business Plan / Action planning will help drive successful long term business.

The ultimate goal of a Key Account Manager is to create a mutual value zone where both parties benefit from their collaboration and their relationship grows stronger and stronger. Identifying such opportunities that withhold a real potential of mutual value creation requires KAMs with innate understanding of what healthcare stakeholders expect from a pharmaceutical company, combined with an intuitive sense for business.

For Key Account Managers to be successful, a culture of openness and transparency is needed between the pharmaceutical company and the healthcare providers. Strategic Accounts Management requires fundamental organizational changes.

Massimiliano Nazionale, Commercial Excellence Senior Manager EMEA at Celgene said: “ It’s a program, not just a one-off initiative, it’s a long-term cultural change. You have to analyze the external environment and also the internal scenario within the organization. Then identify the opportunities and the challenges, and by linking these to your capabilities, you can focus on the priorities and on the change you want to achieve to be successful. ”

What makes the Actando approach so different?

Our blended learning approach seeks to maximize learning retention by combining in-class simulations-based courses with eLearnings, assessments and implementation tools. This learning methodology has proven to facilitate immediate understanding and mindset change, in a way that allows the flexibility required in today’s busy corporate environment.

Our Key Account Management program teaches you how to build and implement an account plan . It follows the Key Account Planning Process that maximizes impact with an optimal return on investment. Participants practice this process step by step using the impact Key Account Management simulation/serious game. If you want to learn more, download our detailed Key Account Management brochure by clicking the button below:

Key Take Aways

• KAM is the way you operate your business: it’s a business model, not a sales model.
• Not every account needs a KAM approach at any time: it is important to identify, segment and prioritize customers.
• The number of KAMs differs from the number of sales representatives. With KAMs, some areas have none, other areas have several.
• KAM is about building long-term strategic partnerships with the right types of organizations and the right people in these organizations.
• KAM is more than hitting sales targets, it’s about reaching the business objectives over the next five years and maintaining it.
• KAMs need to work with brand teams to understand the patient’s journey, and then map across key decisions and who will be making those decisions.
• KAM is about being a voice back into the organization.
• KAMs are the conductors of their environment: they know who the right people are and they know what’s needed and when it’s needed.
• KAMs need to ensure they have the proper knowledge and understanding of different company functions, and know when they need their colleagues’ expertise.
• The pharmaceutical industry needs to change from brand-centric to customer-centric thinking.
• Understanding customer needs and providing appropriate support is key.
• It is all about building relationships that can grow into a strong partnership.
• All programs should be evaluated and customer feedback should be incorporated into future strategies.

  The Actando Consulting Team

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Top 10 Account Plan Templates with Examples and Samples

Today’s dynamic business environment makes staying organized an absolute necessity. With companies recognizing the significance of strategic plan approaches, the need to maintain dedicated accounts is on the rise.  

The need for a structured account plan template cannot be overemphasized, as these pave the way for businesses to profit. Preparing these from scratch, however, is a major pain point for businesses.

How and where can businesses find such templates on which success hinges? Well, SlideTeam’s Account Plan Templates are the answer. Before we present our templates further, here is some reason that you should not miss out on use of account plans. 

According to a report by Business News Daily, companies employing structured account plans see up to 23% more revenue growth than companies without such plans.

These templates, crafted from strategy and structure, help businesses navigate challenges more easily while seizing opportunities to form lasting partnerships. 

Whether you’re an established business leader or just embarking on your entrepreneurial adventure - these content-ready, 100% editable and customizable templates prove to be the perfect solution. 

You get both a starting point to the presentation, a structure and capability to mold these to the audience profile. 

Template 1: One-Page Strategic Account Plan Presentation Report Infographic PPT 

This PPT Slide includes account segmentation, annual account planning, quarterly account review, weekly bi-status checks and much more. It facilitates gathering customer and competition insights to foster business growth. Additionally, this slide offers contact details of business units while giving a snapshot into company activities.

Through this PPT slide, you can present an activity ledger and account history, detailing past project types and estimated earnings. Use this presentation template to present key customer challenges and essential business goals. Account managers, sales teams and business leaders will find this especially significant. The tool provides streamlining account management, strategic planning, engagement insights, decision-making process optimization and customer relationship management.

Download Now

Template 2: Account Strategic Review with Yearly Growth Plan

The PPT Slide provides a view of client dynamics, financial aspirations, challenges faced, current progress, goals, and the journey ahead with next year’s growth plan. This slide is an invaluable asset for business leaders, strategic planners, and account managers. From new ventures to established enterprises - or both, using it provides insightful quarterly account review.

Template 3: Strategic Account Plan PPT Template Bundles

This PPT slide offers abundant resources for engaging buyer personas and enhancing brand recognition. It contains 10 useful slides including an account plan overview, customer retention framework, cost analysis, value optimization plan, phased implementation roadmap , 30-60-90 day action plans, and more. This bundle offers utility whether you are an experienced professional communicating complex strategies or an educator looking to impart knowledge. Marketers, strategists, educators and anyone seeking to make an impressionable presentation appreciate its usefulness.

Template 4: Account Plan Executive Sponsorship Sales Enablement Value Engineering Status

This PPT slide can help guide your understanding of complex topics with ease. From informative charts and graphs to comprehensive overviews, topic subtopic templates, and analysis templates, you have everything at your fingertips! The slides include an account overview, customer contact matrix, sales enablement tactics, executive sponsorship tracker, value engineering dynamics and project status reporting.

Template 5: Strategic Planning and Implementation Track Progress PPT Template 

This PPT Slide is perfect for business leaders and managers looking to communicate strategic plans and track progress. It includes slides covering strategic planning process, implementation steps, progress tracking frameworks, accountability models, and more. Key slides feature strategies to drive alignment, assign responsibilities, and report on metrics. Use it to clearly communicate plans across the organization and unify teams. Track progress through color-coded sections and illustrated graphics.

Whether it's a new product launch, expansion plans, or an organizational restructure, this template communicates your strategy and approach.

Template 6: Key Account Management Plan PPT Template Bundles

This PPT slide is ideal for recruiting accounting managers attempting to plan out a six-month recruitment strategy. These slides contain useful tools such as a key account management plan, account assessment process. You will also find roadmaps such as seven-step recruiting process; monthly training map management process; strategic plan training map and key account planning

Track your recruiting goals through timelines, roadmaps and planning frameworks. Customize with specific hiring initiatives, budgets milestones and deadlines. Impress stakeholders by outlining your vision for hiring top talent over the next six months.

Template 7: Accounting Analysis and Planning PPT Presentation Slide

The PPT Template provides tabulated balance sheets, step-by-step agenda descriptions, pie charts, and other schematics to deliver maximum impactful messages.

This bundle is an invaluable resource, offering insights into crucial accounting topics ranging from year growth charts, annual account targets and cash flow statements, KPIs, P&L to financial projections, key financial ratios, liquidity ratios, profitability ratios, funding updates and funding updates! Accountants, financial analysts business leaders and educators need to have it as a ready reckoner.

Template 8: Six-month continuous accounting development roadmap plan

Perfect for accounting managers attempting to map out their 6-month strategy, this PPT slide features a timeline to provide visual breakdown of goals, budgets, tasks, and deadlines in one visual place under periodic automatic, daily automation, globalization and landscape. Use this template to cover automation plans, recruiting goals or software implementation, with color-coded sections indicating high-priority actions and a tool to track progress in automation.

Template 9: Key account management plan with communication style

This PPT Slide focuses on three vital areas: Communication, Relationships, Management Objectives, Action Steps, Facts, Areas of Interest and Priority and Strategies. Together, these provide a framework for nurturing and managing key account focus with the use of suitable communication styles, forging meaningful relationships and employing effective strategies. The slide is invaluable for sales teams, account managers, and business executives for building and nurturing key client relationships. This presentation lets you outline your account management strategy, while emphasizing tailored communication styles as essential in creating lasting connections and driving success.

Template 10: Content planning worksheet managing strategic accounts via sales and marketing

This PPT Slide is an indispensable resource designed to simplify the management of customized campaigns for individual customers. You’ll find instructions for creating compelling content strategies tailored for strategic accounts like top of the funnel, middle of the funnel and below the funnel with unique needs.

This slide provides an informative introduction to a content marketing worksheet, an invaluable tool designed to oversee and manage personalized campaigns in diverse content formats such as webinars, blogs and social media initiatives. This template is designed for discussion and navigation, making it an valuable asset for teams navigating strategic accounts. Download for strategic content production.

Clear Blueprint for Success 

As you craft impactful account plans, remember that having the appropriate template can serve as your compass. SlideTeam’s collection of account plan templates provides you access to strategic success. Explore all possible outcomes, customize plans, and watch client relationships grow. Raise your planning game using SlideTeam's templates, where innovation meets strategy seamlessly. Download and get ahead!

FAQs on Account Plans

What is in an account plan.

An Account Plan is a comprehensive strategy tailored to managing and nurturing key client relationships. It outlines objectives, goals, tactics and timelines designed to engage clients and get insight into their business needs and any growth opportunities available. You also outlining steps, activities, and timelines for mutual success as well as communication strategies, milestones, metrics measuring progress/performance - ultimately serving as a roadmap towards forging and maintaining productive partnerships.

What is the purpose of an account plan?

An account plan strategically guides businesses in managing and cultivating key client relationships. It outlines a comprehensive strategy to assess client needs, set objectives, and develop mutually beneficial strategies. An account plan helps prioritize efforts, enhance communication channels and tailor solutions to client requirements; serves as a roadmap for teams coordinating activities while setting goals and tracking progress. 

How do you write an account plan?

To create a compelling account plan, thoroughly understand your client's business, goals and challenges. Research to gather insights to tailor the plan to their needs. Define clear objectives with strategies aligned with their vision. Outline key actions, responsibilities, and timelines; incorporate communication strategies and touchpoints. Include metrics for tracking progress and success. Finally, craft an engaging narrative demonstrating your understanding of their goals while offering bespoke solutions; revisit and adjust this plan so it remains in line with changing client needs or market dynamics.

What is the use of account plan templates?

With their consistent format, these account plan templates assist teams in gathering relevant client information, setting goals and strategies, and outlining action steps and tactics, streamlining the planning process while ensuring no details go overlooked. Account plan templates also improve efficiency by streamlining team communication efforts, aligning efforts across efforts and monitoring progress over time - increasing efficiency, fostering collaboration, and helping businesses maintain key client partnerships for long-term success.

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How To Open a Business Bank Account Online (2024 Guide)

Erin Quinn is a freelance writer and editor with a background in education, marketing, and non-profit administration. Erin’s first passion is communication and making difficult topics easy to understand. She loves to “nerd out” on personal finance topics and break all the cultural rules about discussing money.

When she isn’t copywriting, she is both working and volunteering in local non-profits to benefit school kids of all ages. As a military spouse, Erin loves getting to know whatever locale her family is in, especially if food is involved!

David Gregory is a sharp-eyed content editor with more than a decade of experience in the financial services industry. Before that, he worked as a child and family therapist until his love of adventure caused him to quit his job, give away everything he owned and head off to Asia. David spent years working and traveling through numerous countries before returning home with his wife and two kids in tow. His love of reading led him to seek out training at UC San Diego to become an editor, and he has been working as an editor ever since. When he’s not working, he’s either reading a book, riding his bicycle or playing a board game with his kids (and sometimes with his wife).

You can set up a business bank account completely online with a few simple steps.

Key Takeaways

• A business bank account is an ideal way to separate your business and personal finances.
• Business bank accounts can be set up entirely online.
• Consider your business’s needs and research fees and features of each financial institution before beginning the application process.
• Before you begin, gather the necessary documents in electronic format to facilitate a smooth and efficient process. 

Whether you are a small business owner just starting, an individual contractor or a large corporation, business bank accounts can help meet your unique needs. These accounts offer several benefits such as separating business and personal finances, streamlining accounting, managing risk for personal liability and assisting with regulatory compliance. 

Opening a business account online is a simple process if you are prepared with the necessary documents and information.

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Why You Can Trust The MarketWatch Guides Team

Personal banking is a big financial decision, especially with the number of product options and rates available in the market. To help you make the best choices possible, we at the MarketWatch Guides team are dedicated to providing you with a comprehensive view of the best banks, credit unions and financial technology products available in the United States. Our team researched more than 100 of the country’s largest and most prominent financial institutions, collecting information on each provider’s account options, fees, rates and terms.

Learn more about our methodology and editorial guidelines .

Opening a Business Bank Account Online

Use this step-by-step guide to understand the process of opening a business account online. 

Step 1: Research Online Banks and Compare Account Options

Start by researching accounts at various financial institutions to find one that suits your business needs. Just as there are personal accounts, there are business checking accounts and business savings accounts. 

Consider account fees, transaction limits, wire transfer fees, online banking features and customer support. Some accounts may offer interest on your balance, so look at the annual percent yield (APY) if the account has one.

Also, you should make sure the bank is a member of the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) or NCUA (National Credit Union Administration) so your money will be insured and safe. 

Step 2: Prepare Required Documents and Information

You’ll need the following documents for your online business bank account application: 

• Business registration documents : These may include your articles of incorporation, business license or certificate of formation.
• Employer Identification Number (EIN) or Social Security number (SSN) : You need an EIN or SSN to identify your business for tax purposes. If your business has employees or multiple owners, you will need an EIN. If you’re a sole proprietor, you can use your SSN.
• Personal Identification Documents (ID) : Anyone with access to your accounts, such as owners, partners and authorized signers, should be prepared to provide a government-issued ID such as a driver’s license or passport.
• Proof of business address : You will need a document that confirms the physical location of your business. If the business operates from a home address, check with the bank about its home-based business policies.
• Business license or permits : Not every business requires a license or permit, but if your industry is regulated by a licensing or permitting board, be sure to have proof of your authorization. 

To ensure a smooth application process, create a checklist of the required documents specific to your chosen bank’s application.

Step 3: Initiate the Application Process

Go to the website of the bank you’ve chosen. Look for the option to “Apply Now” or “Open an Account” under the Business Accounts section, and click on it to begin the application process. 

Be sure to complete the online application with accurate information. You’ll likely need to provide details about your business such as its legal name, address, type of business, industry and anticipated account activity. 

Step 4: Provide Necessary Business and Personal Information

Scan or take clear photos of the necessary documents and upload them as instructed. Make sure the documents meet the bank’s requirements for format and file size.

Step 5: Review and Submit Your Application

After reviewing and agreeing to the bank’s terms, submit your application electronically. Some banks may require a small opening deposit. The bank will review your application, and it may contact you for additional information or verification if needed. 

Step 6: Set Up Your Account and Start Banking

Upon approval, you’ll receive confirmation of your new business account. The bank will provide instructions for setting up online banking access, ordering checks and downloading the mobile app. If your account comes with a business debit card or credit card, you’ll receive them in the mail — follow the instructions provided to activate them.

Once your account is set up, you can start using it to receive payments, make purchases, pay bills and manage your business finances.

Benefits of a Business Banking Account

While it may not seem necessary to open a business bank account, especially if you are a single proprietor or a small business owner, there are good reasons to do so.

• Protect yourself: In the case of a lawsuit, it is best to have your personal assets separate and therefore protected.
• Simplify taxes: If all of your business expenses and dealings are in one easy-to-find place, it makes the process much smoother when dealing with the Internal Revenue Service.
• Build credit: In the long term, having a business checking account is the first step toward building credit as a business. That can be beneficial down the line if you need to take out a small business loan or want a business credit card.

Tips for Selecting the Right Online Bank

When selecting an online bank for your business, consider the following factors:

• Account fees and limitations: Your business checking account may have a minimum balance requirement, monthly maintenance fee, transaction fees, overdraft fees or ATM fees. You may also see transaction limits that cap the number of withdrawals and deposits you can make within a period.
• Account features and perks: Does it offer a mobile banking app with account alerts, customizable reporting tools and security measures like multi-factor authentication? Can you set up bill pay or ACH transfers to automate some of your cash flow? 
• Integrations with your business tools: Check if you can integrate the account with the software you use for payment processing, payroll and accounting.
• Physical location or ATM capability: If you receive cash payments, you may also want to check that it’s convenient to make cash deposits. 
• Business lending solutions: If you think you may expand or need credit in the future, consider whether the online bank offers business loans, lines of credit or business credit cards. Evaluate the terms, interest rates, loan amounts and eligibility criteria for those credit products.
• Regulatory compliance record and financial stability: You should check the reputation of your chosen bank by reading reviews. You should also verify that the bank is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
• Customer support: Look for reviews or testimonials from other business customers to gauge the bank’s responsiveness and reliability in addressing customer inquiries or issues. Check what support channels it offers and if they meet your needs.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

When completing an online application for a business bank account, avoid these common mistakes that could lead to delays or complications.

• Incomplete or inaccurate information: Ensure you have all the information needed to begin the application, both personal and for the business. Double-check spellings, addresses and numerical data to avoid errors that could lead to application rejection or processing delays.
• Ignoring eligibility: Learn the bank’s requirements, including business type, ownership structure, industry restrictions and minimum balance requirements. Double-check you meet these criteria before proceeding with the application.
• Skipping the review process: Take time to review all the information before applying. Verify that you’ve uploaded all the documents correctly and that you’ve filled out all the fields in the application form.

If you encounter roadblocks during the online application process, reach out to the bank’s customer support team for assistance. After applying, follow up with the bank to confirm receipt and inquire about the status of your application. Stay proactive in addressing any outstanding requirements or issues that arise during the processing period. 

The Bottom Line: Opening a Business Bank Account Online

Opening an account for your business allows you to separate your personal and business finances and conduct important business transactions swiftly and accurately. 

The process begins with thorough research and comparison of online banks to find the one that best suits your needs. You’ll want to consider account fees, transaction limits, customer service and online banking features.

FAQ: How To Open a Business Bank Account Online

Can i open a business bank account online if i have a sole proprietorship.

Yes, you’ll typically use your Social Security Number (SSN) as the taxpayer identification number for your business unless you’ve obtained an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS.

How long does it take to open a business bank account online?

The time it takes can vary depending on several factors, including the specific bank’s processes, the completeness and accuracy of the application and any additional verification requirements. In general, the timeline for opening a business bank account online typically ranges from a few days to a couple of weeks.

Can I open a business bank account online if my business is not yet registered?

In most cases, you will need to have your business registered before you can open a business bank account, whether you’re applying online or in person. Business registration provides the necessary legal documentation to establish the existence of your business, which banks typically require when opening a business account. An exception may be if you are operating as a sole proprietor.

Editor’s Note: Before making significant financial decisions, consider reviewing your options with someone you trust, such as a financial adviser, credit counselor or financial professional, since every person’s situation and needs are different.

Small Business Trends

How to start a property management company.

If you buy something through our links, we may earn money from our affiliate partners. Learn more .

Are you considering starting a property management service?

It’s important to note that the roles of a property manager and real estate agents have several points of convergence. Both roles exist under the umbrella of the real estate industry and share certain prerequisites.

A broker possesses the qualifications to operate as a property manager. What follows is an outline of property management activities and guidance on launching a business that caters to rental properties or investment properties.

The future looks good . The property management market will be worth 21.4 Billion USD by 2025. So, if you are looking at how to make money in real estate , property management is one sure way to do it.

17 Important Steps to Starting a Property Management Company

The process of starting a property management company is not a spontaneous one; it necessitates following a series of well-thought-out steps. Let’s delve into what these steps entail.

1. Research Other Property Management Companies

Before you can start your own property management company, you need to know what you’re up against.

That means market research into the property management industry. Potential property managers need to know who their direct and indirect competition are.

• Who their customers are. These are your potential clients.
• What products they offer. Do they sell properties too?
• Their pricing. What’s a month’s rent worth?

Remember, direct competitors are other property managers. Indirect competition can include in house managers. And those who sell real estate.

2. Choose a Name and Brand Your Property Management Company

One of the first steps in setting up your property management company is to choose a name and build a brand around it.

An impactful, well-thought-out name can leave a lasting impression and help in establishing your identity in the market.

Here are a few tips for aspiring property managers looking to brand their new business venture. Remember, successful property management companies start their journey with a strong brand.

• Make sure the name is unique. There’s legal issues about duplication in most states. Try a Google search to see what’s taken.
• Choose the url carefully. It needs to be memorable. Don’t just focus on the SEO value. You’ll get traffic from one people remember. It shouldn’t be hard to spell or understand.

3. Write a Property Management Business Plan

Any successful property manager understands the value of a robust business plan in guiding their enterprise. Such a plan assists in multiple areas, including setting achievable goals, choosing an appropriate business model, and keeping the focus sharp.

In the following sections, we will cover a few crucial points that need to be addressed in a well-structured business plan.

• Business Model and Service s. Add the general structure of your business here. Plus a few words on who you are and what you do.
• Goals. Property managers need to have long and short term objectives. Landlord resources written down can help you put these together .
• Structure . Most SMBs have specific positions. Outline them.

Those are some areas a property manager starting up should cover. Here’ s a generic business plan template site .

4. Form a Legal Entity and Register

To operate legally, you’ll need to select a suitable business entity for your company and registering it accordingly. This crucial step not only legitimizes your operations but also defines the framework within which your business will operate.

• Sole Property Management Business . Business losses and profits go on the personal tax returns of a sole proprietor.
• A Partnership. Got a few commercial properties to look after? Partners claim business income on personal taxes. They are liable for claims too.
• Limited Liability Corporation. Contrary to popular belief, an LLC isn’t an incorporated business. The property management company’s owners have limited financial and legal liability.
• Corporation. Business and personal taxes get filed separately.

5. Open a Business Bank Account

As a property management company, you could be working with various clients, including real estate investors owning multiple investment properties or individuals with residential property concerns.

Regardless of the client base, a business bank account is essential for managing your company’s financial operations. This involves more than just securing a business credit card.

For instance, some states require funds from lease agreements to be is kept separate from security deposits, necessitating careful financial management.

6. Make Sure You Have the Licenses and Permits Required in Your State

Property owners expect the professionals managing their real estate properties to hold the necessary licenses and permits. Compliance with these legal requirements is key to building trust with your clients.

In this context, having a real estate license, although not always necessary, can be an added advantage.

Property Management License: This is a requirement for some boards. You’ll need to pass a property manager license exam. Real estate investors favour these.

Real Estate Brokers License: This is a common requirement. The exam usually contains both property management and other questions. Here’s some easy steps to get a real estate broker’s license.

Leasing Agent License: Some states require these that specifically focus on activities in a defined real estate market.

7. Create a Business Website and Choose a Location

In the initial stages, an online presence can help you save on commercial office space and tap into the digital market, where most property management companies now operate.

Having a professional website will not only save you money but also expand your reach to potential clients. However, remember to consider associated costs such as search engine optimization for your website and hosting fees, which are essential to increasing your visibility online.

A business email hosting service is good. The setup fee should be low .

8. Consider Ongoing Costs and Fees

Your business will need to balance costs and fees to stay afloat. Here’s some of what you’ll need to look at.

• Ongoing Management Fee. The money you get paid. Charge a flat rate or a commission on the rental value.
• Lease Renewal Fees. Be sure to clarify these. Usually they can be a flat rate or a percentage of rent.
• Legal Fees. You don’t need to pay these. They’re optional, but a real estate lawyer can help. Max cost is $1,500 USD.
• Utilities . This is a cost if you’re going brick and mortar. Water, heat and hydro. Property taxes too.
• Advertising. Business cards, signage and digital marketing are just a few possibilities. The national average for a business sign is $438 dollars.

Don’t forget to add in your tools and a leasing fee if there’s no existing tenant.

9. Get Your Taxes in Order

Understanding and organizing your tax obligations is vital for running a successful property management company. Taxes in the property management sector can be complex, and they vary depending on your business structure and location. Here are key points to consider:

• Research Local Tax Laws: Ensure you are aware of the state and local tax laws applicable to property management businesses in your area.
• Consider Hiring a Tax Professional: An accountant or tax specialist can help navigate the complexities of real estate taxes, deductions, and credits.
• Organize Your Records: Keep detailed financial records, including all income, expenses, and receipts.
• Understand Self-Employment Taxes: If you’re a sole proprietor, be prepared to handle self-employment taxes, which cover Social Security and Medicare.
• Regular Tax Filings: Ensure timely quarterly or annual tax filings to avoid penalties.
• Explore Tax Deductions: Identify potential tax deductions specific to property management, such as operating expenses, travel, and office costs.

If you’re self employed manager of your own company, there are separate rules .

10. Purchase Business Insurance

Just like any other business, procuring business insurance is an absolute necessity for a property management company. This protective measure ensures that your business can withstand unexpected financial blows, thereby providing a safety net for your venture.

• Errors and Omissions Insurance . Also called professional liability insurance. Protects against property manager mistakes.
• General Liability Insurance . Covers day to day services.
• Tenant Discrimination Insurance . Not necessarily covered under the general liability policy.

11. Plan Your Accounting System

Setting up an efficient accounting system is crucial for managing the financial aspects of a property management company. An effective system will help you track income, expenses, and profitability. Here are some important steps to consider:

• Choose the Right Accounting Software: Select software that can specifically cater to property management needs, like tracking rent payments and maintenance expenses.
• Maintain Separate Accounts: Keep client funds, such as security deposits and rent collections, separate from your business operating funds.
• Regular Financial Reporting: Generate monthly financial reports to stay informed about your business’s financial health.
• Monitor Cash Flow: Keep a close eye on your cash flow to ensure you have enough funds to cover operating expenses and plan for future investments.
• Hire a Professional Accountant: Consider hiring an accountant familiar with real estate and property management to manage your books and provide financial advice.

Keeping the books straight is important. Look for software that can capture records for individual properties.

12. Set Up Your Business Phone System

Given the nature of a property management business, maintaining consistent communication is key. Opt for a business phone system that offers useful features like a mobile app, voicemail-to-email service, and the flexibility to add or remove users as per your business needs.

13. Hire Staff

Now, let’s talk about staffing. Here are some of the key roles you’ll need to fill to ensure the smooth operation of your property management company. In certain circumstances, you might need to look into obtaining a National Interest Exemption (NIE).

14. Finalize Your Services and Pricing Structure

Once you have a clear understanding of your services, it’s time to associate costs and fees with each service. This will allow you to calculate revenue forecasts and make necessary adjustments to the numbers, ensuring your pricing remains competitive while also profitable.

15. Consider Property Management Software

Financial tracking is crucial when dealing with rental properties, making property management software an invaluable tool. Features like rent collection and tenant tracking are essential to efficiently manage your property portfolio.

16. Market Your Business

An effective marketing strategy can significantly boost your real estate sale activities. Ensure your website is well-optimized for search engines and designed to be mobile-friendly, as the majority of users now access the web via mobile devices.

17. Expand Your Portfolio

Every property owner seeks a successful property manager to maximize their return on investment (ROI). Starting a property management business becomes more straightforward when following the steps listed here.

As your portfolio expands and your clients’ monthly rental income spikes, you’ll find more property owners queuing up to bring you on board.

Starting a property management company requires careful planning, strategic implementation, and a constant eye on evolving market trends.

This path may seem daunting, but by following the steps outlined in this guide, you’re positioning yourself for success in the vibrant field of property management.

Always remember that, at the core, this business revolves around people and properties – a seamless blend of strong relationships and meticulous care for assets.

As your business takes root and begins to flourish, you’ll find the journey equally rewarding as the destination itself. Go forth and conquer the world of property management with confidence and competence!

What is a Property Management Company?

So, what does a property management company do? Simply put, these individuals or teams shoulder the responsibility of managing a property that is owned by another party.

Their jurisdiction includes various types of residential property, along with industrial and commercial spaces. Their tasks range from rent collection, property advertisement, to the regular cleaning and maintenance of the premises.

These companies are often the preferred choice for absentee landlords who seek expert management for their properties.

How Much Does it Cost to Start a Property Management Company?

You need to consider capital and operating expenses to start this type of business. Property management enterprises start out with costs averaging $19,267 dollars.

These businesses often collaborate with real estate agents to facilitate the sale of apartment buildings and contribute to other related activities.

Image: Depositphotos

Very helpful article

Thank you Asif.

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