You can be either a leader or a follower in the business world. However, to become a successful entrepreneur, you must know how to create new opportunities and use them when they arise. A good way to do this is through account planning. Following effective account planning strategies can boost your sales and increase your bottom line.
1. Helps You Define Your Business Goals
One of the biggest mistakes you can make when planning your business goals is not having a goal at all. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, 20% of businesses fail within two years of establishment, with the prime reason being not having proper planning and defined business goals.
Before starting any new task, it’s crucial to define the problem before starting a solution. Regarding account planning, this means taking time to understand what goals are within reach for your business.
It’s tempting for many businesses and small business owners to try and compete with larger competitors, but this will likely lead nowhere but to disappointment. Thus, instead of chasing after unrealistic expectations, focus on setting realistic and achievable goals in the short term.
For example, if your goal is to increase revenue by 10% this year, then you need to have the plan to accomplish that goal. On the other hand, if your business has never been profitable before and lacks the necessary infrastructure to support growth, it may be unrealistic to expect immediate revenue increases. Thus, instead of setting a goal for 10% revenue growth, focus on setting realistic goals within reach.
2. Amplifies the Results of Your Marketing Campaigns
Marketing campaigns are a great way to help you achieve your business goals. They’re also a great way to identify problems with your sales process and correct them before they become more serious issues requiring expensive solutions. Overall, you can say that marketing campaigns are an essential part of a great account planning strategy.
The first step in using marketing campaigns effectively is tracking each campaign’s results. It can be done by analyzing traffic sources and conversions from one campaign to another. You’ll want to do this for your marketing efforts and compare it against what you were expecting based on previous related experiences or historical data.
This comparison allows you to identify whether there are any issues with these campaigns and where those issues lie within their journey toward becoming customers themselves.
3. Helps You Make Better Use of Company Resources
Account planning helps you make better use of company resources. You can better allocate your time, money, and people to the most significant accounts in an account plan. You can also ensure that you’re using your brand in the best way possible to help grow the business.
It allows you to plan for the future because it considers what has worked so far, what hasn’t worked, and why it didn’t work out as planned. A good account planner will have a good idea about what needs to be done to achieve success with each account going forward.
It means that they will know if they need more resources or not based on how things are going with an individual client at any given time.
4. Help You Build a Stronger Sales Pipeline
A sales pipeline is a process that helps you move prospects through the sales process. It starts with qualifying your prospects and ends with closing the sale. The funnel-like structure makes it easy to visualize how your company progresses through each stage of the sales process.
You can then use this information to plan for future accounts and create more effective strategies for reaching out to clients who need help in those areas.
Account planning helps you build a stronger pipeline because it allows you to identify where your business currently fits within the industry. It helps you improve in areas where growth is strong or weak.
Additionally, account planning provides insight into what types of clients are most likely interested in working with you based on their specific needs. It will allow them easier access if they’re looking for someone who specializes in those services.
5. Help You Make Better Forecasts and Predictions
A forecast is an estimate of the future. It is a quantified prediction of what will happen in the future based on past performance and current information.
Forecasting can help you predict how much inventory you will need to keep your business running smoothly and how many customers will visit your store or make purchases. Forecasts also allow for more accurate pricing for different products or services since they give businesses an idea about how many people are likely to buy them at particular price points.
6. Ensures All Team Members Are Working Together to Keep Clients Happy
When you have a team approach to account planning, every team member works together to ensure the achievement of the goal. Account managers develop relationships and trust with clients, while salespeople keep them happy by delivering results.
It is necessary to keep clients happy and satisfied because data says that 93% of customers make repeat purchases when they experience excellent customer service, as per HubSpot. Thus, it is a win-win situation for both parties, the client gets great service, and the company earns more revenue.
Team members should also be helping each other out when it comes time for new business development. They’re not competing against each other but rather supporting one another’s efforts as necessary.
7. Allow You to Strategize Target-Oriented Marketing Materials
You can use your account planning to create more targeted marketing materials. Everyone in the company has an important role in creating and distributing content that will attract customers. However, if you don’t have a clear idea of what works for your target audience, it’s easy for marketing efforts to fall flat.
Using account planning as a guide helps you understand your target audience’s needs, wants, and desires so that when creating new content, it’ll be relevant to them. Account planners play a crucial role in the industry, and therefore, they are awarded handsome salaries. According to Zippia, the average annual pay of account managers in the US is $71,823.
They also help you create content that is more likely to resonate with your audience and drive sales. Thus, start with the basics when building a plan for your next marketing campaign. What are you trying to achieve? What are some of the key messages that will help you accomplish this goal? And what kind of content do you need to achieve these goals?
Account Planning Can be a Great Tool to Expand Your Business Boundaries
If you’re ready to make your business sales even better, then account planning is the tool for you. It can help you define your goals and create a strong pipeline of clients to target with your marketing campaigns.
Account Planning also ensures all team members are working together to keep clients happy by ensuring they have everything they need. It also helps them create more targeted marketing materials to reach their audience more effectively.
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