1.
DONAL DALY
CEO and Founder of The TAS GROUP
Author of the Best-Seller Account Planning in Salesforce
AccountPlanningStrategiestoGrowRevenue
CUSTOMER
PUTTINGTHE
ATTHECENTER

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Putting the Customer at the Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Every Account is a Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Which Customers Should You Pursue? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
A Customer Story: How Salesforce Does Account Planning . . . . . . 29
The Three Key Elements to Great Account Planning . . . . . . . . . . 36
Appendix: Account Planning Using Dealmaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
CONTENTS

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ExecutiveSummary
As you think about the markets you serve, the value you bring
and the profile of the customers to whom you best and most
competitively add value, you must also think about each large
customer (or portfolio of customers in your territory) in the
same way. Account Planning can help you find your sweet
The days of waging battle against customers are gone. Unless
you put the customer at the center and become a ‘customer
activated enterprise’ – by which I mean an organization in
which everything starts with the customer – you are destined
to failure or mediocrity. From a selling organization’s
perspective, Account Planning has the most significant role to
play in this customer-centered world.
A
ccountPlannin
g
hasthem
ostsignificantrolet
oplayinthis
custo
mer-centered w
orld

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
spot – those focused areas where you can truly add value
to the customer – and can help you to uncover what those
customers really want so that you can be their co-traveller on
the voyage to mutual value.
In this book we explore the essence of Account Planning
and discover the benefits that can accrue to you and your
customer by collaborating on their success. We begin that
journey in the first chapter Putting the Customer at the
Center.
In Every Account is a Marketplace we help you structure
your approach to your largest customers to build long-term
business relationships that enable you to create, develop,
pursue, and win business that delivers mutual value. Because
time is the most valuable currency that you have it is
important to clinically assess where to focus your resources
and we provide a guideline for that in the next chapter What
Customers Should We Pursue?
The most important lessons we learn are usually from our
customers. In A Customer Story: How Salesforce Does
Account Planning we hear directly from the practitioners at
Salesforce as they describe their path to increased customer
success with Account Planning. And to help you structure
your own Account Planning efforts we close off this book with
our perspective on The Three Key Elements of Great Account
Planning.

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We know that many sales organizations have struggled to
get the right level of return for their investment in sales and
that buyers are getting smarter and markets are getting
tougher. Customers are more empowered than ever before
and have little time for sellers who are not equipped to add
value to their business. By putting the customer at the center,
Account Planning helps sales organizations respond to these
challenges in a proactive and controlled manner.
Great sales organizations know that they have to apply proven
Account Planning and management practices to get the
most from their largest accounts or a portfolio of accounts
in a territory. Through our engagement with hundreds of
companies and tens of thousands of account plans, we have
learned a thing or two about what works, and what tools are
needed.
I expect that you will recognize the challenges and hope you
see value in our considered point of view.
Good Selling … Be careful out there!
DonalDaly

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
6
PUTTINGTHE
CUSTOMER
ATTHECENTER

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The days of waging battle against customers are gone.
Now, success comes from getting in the trenches with the
customer and working toward a win-win outcome. In a world
of superbly educated buyers who, above anything else, are
time-poor, hungry for insight and demanding progress, unless
you can assume the customer’s perspective, enriched by
your experience with other similar customers, your outcomes
will never be great. This is the essence of good opportunity
planning for individual deals, but requires account planning
when you are thinking not just about winning a deal, but
about developing a long-term mutually beneficial relationship
with your customer.
On a panel at a recent Dreamforce I was asked about the
most important competency required of the salesperson of
the future. My answer was simple: customer-centricity. I have
written before that the impact on a customer of a bad buying
decision is usually greater than the impact on a sales person
of a lost deal. Sales winners today and into the future will
actually care more about the impact to the customer, taking
a long-term view and relegating to a distant second place the
commission they earn on a deal.
To be successful,we need to understand that we live
in an era where having a customer focus is no
longeroptional.

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
In the 1997 seminal publication The Discipline of Market
Leaders, Treacy and Wiersema espoused the notion that, for a
company to be successful, it needed to choose between one
of three disciplines: operational excellence (cost leadership),
product leadership, and customer intimacy. I learned a lot
from that book and found it very valuable. But I think the
world has changed and I contend that, in today’s world,
customer intimacy is now ‘table stakes’ – the minimum entry
requirement for any market or business arrangement. Even if
you have the best product (think Apple), or the cheapest price
(think Ryanair or Southwest Airlines), if you don’t pay enough
attention to your customers, bad things happen.
The buyer-seller world has become a SaaS world – where
‘SaaS’ means Salesperson As A Service, reliable, trusted,
always-on. We believe that great salespeople don’t do much
‘selling’ at all. They build trust by being generous with their
energy and expertise. They’re skilled at understanding, not
outmaneuvering. They engage in developing growth plans
with their customers through collaboratively created account
plans that illuminate the path to mutual value – the destination
of account planning.
We are increasingly in a subscription economy,
earning our customer’s trust & business
one month at a time.

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The sellers who will be successful are those who benefit more
from their Customer’s Network Value than the outmoded
measure of Customer Lifetime Value. Remember that,
rather than calling a supplier for information, in many cases
customers are looking to peers and others ‘like them’ for
recommendations to short-list potential suppliers, refine their
requirements, and gain insight that often surpasses that of the
traditional ‘product first’ sales person.
Better than your own solutions, you need to know your
customer. That requires a deep understanding of the
challenges that face each of the key roles in the customer
organization (in the area that you can impact). Only then can
you offer a solution to meet those needs and position your
product as a solution that will optimize the outcome for the
customer.
To care about your Customer’s Network Value, you must first
care about your customer, and treat customer service, and
every customer interaction,
as an extension of your
promise to your customer.
Account Planning is a
great roadmap to guide
you on that journey.
You just need to put the
customer at the center.

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
A Rose by Any Other Name...
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” is a
frequently referenced line in William Shakespeare’s play
Romeo and Juliet, often used to imply that the names of
things do not affect what they really are.
So it is with Account Planning. Whether you call it account
planning, strategic account management, account
management, key account management, strategic account
planning, or global accounts, you know that to plan and
strategize about how to maximize revenue from your
customers is a worthwhile endeavor. You are probably well
underway with a structured approach to manage your
large customers. When implemented effectively, you know
that it can deliver very sweet returns for both you and your
customer.
Before you continue reading, think about these questions:
1. What % of your annual revenue comes from existing
customers?
2. What is your Win Rate when selling to an existing
customer compared with the Win Rate when selling to a
new customer?
3. What is your average Deal Size when selling to an existing
customer compared with the average Deal Size when
selling to a new customer?
4. On average what % of your solution portfolio do you sell to
each customer?

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5. What is your average Sales Cycle when selling to an
existing customer compared with the average Sales Cycle
when selling to a new customer?
When you consider these questions, you will probably
recognize that you get a considerable proportion of your
business from your existing customers, and that this business
is often easier to win, deal sizes are larger, and your sales cycle
is shorter than when selling to new customers. And when
reflecting on the fourth question, you possibly recognize that
you are not selling as broadly or as deeply as maybe you
could.
Account Planning can help you to win more often. In fact
your win rate in existing customers should be seven times
greater than your win rate with new customers. Average deal
sizes should be greater and sales cycles shorter. These are
just some of the benefits we have seen other organizations
achieve through effective Account Planning.
But that’s not all; when you put
the customer at the center of your
planning through a structured
Account Planning process you will
also see non-competitive deals,
better customer loyalty, increased
understanding of the customer’s
business, and better executive access,
all leading to a sustained profitable
relationship for you and your customer.
Non-Competitive
Deals
CustomerLoyalty
Understanding
ExecutiveAccess
ProfitableRelationship

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
12
EVERY
ACCOUNTISA
MARKETPLACE

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Account Planning can help you to maximize the return you
get in an existing key Account or new strategic Account. An
Account Planning methodology can be your compass as you
navigate your marketplace.
Your mission is to build long-term business relationships in
a complex marketplace that enable you to create, develop,
pursue, and win business that delivers mutual value.
In order to create the long-term relationships that you need,
you must be able to understand the complex marketplace
that is the customer. Understanding the customer allows you
to identify and create value for them, because you understand
their needs and know how to address them. In turn, you create
value for your company because you can identify, develop,
and pursue new opportunities in the Account long before
your competition has any inkling of those opportunities.
Thinking of a
customer Account as
a marketplace gives
you reason to pause
and think strategically
about where in the
marketplace you should
focus. Are there market
segments that are more
attractive than others?
Are there some that you
should avoid?

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
How will you know? Looking at your Account as a
marketplace will encourage you to apply proven go-to-
market principles to consider the market landscape, the
total addressable market – the amount being spent by the
customer with all suppliers in all areas that are applicable to all
of your solutions – and to analyze the competitive landscape,
uncovering incumbent players and emerging entrants.
Based on the market requirements – which are really the
customer’s Business Needs – you can prioritize and focus your
efforts and reflect on where your short-term and long-term
focus should be. A structured Account Planning approach
challenges you to reflect on go-to-market partners and how
to market to the Account, creating initial awareness that you
can subsequently translate into interest in, and preference for,
your company and its solutions.

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DevelopingYourAccountSellingSkills
Account Planning drives revenue, increases customer
satisfaction, aligns your organization, and provides incredibly
gratifying moments when you can see the impact of your
work – both for the customer, and for your company.
The methodology behind Account Planning is an evolution
of the sales skills you have used in the past. It must be built
on a solid foundation. But as you reach for greater account
penetration, longer lasting relationships, higher levels of
customer satisfaction, and a true partnership with your
customers, a different approach is required. It will be an
augmentation of solid opportunity management – but on
a broader scale, combining research, marketing, business
strategy, competitive analysis, and very targeted positioning
to leverage your unique sustainable differential advantage
as you seek to uncover opportunities that can deliver mutual
value – value to you in tandem with value to your customer.
As you participate in the race for greater revenue, Account
Planning is more a marathon than a sprint – but gets you over
the line faster.
RESEARCH MARKETING
BUSINESS
STRATEGY
COMPETITIVE
ANALYSIS
TARGETED
POSITIONING
Methodologyisanevolutionoftheseskills.

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
Account Planning is a strategic imperative that goes beyond
traditional selling tactics. The benefits that accrue go beyond
simple revenue numbers, and point to an approach that must
be focused not just on greater revenue as the sole arbiter of
strategy. When Account Planning is executed well, customer
satisfaction increases. Customers who are more satisfied buy
more from you, and do so without calling your competitors
first. Customers who are served well are easier to retain, and
therefore it is easier to make your revenue targets year after
year.
When you do Account Planning, you get to understand the
customer’s business, you sit with them on their side of the
table, and you strengthen your ability to shape their thinking
and business strategies.
FACT#1:
ForlargeenterprisesalesAccountPlanningand
Managementdeliversmoreadditionalpipelineand
consistentlygreaterwinratesthananyothersalesor
marketingactivity.

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A happy customer is hostile territory for your competitors to
enter. Switching suppliers is expensive for the customer and
they will do so only if they feel you are not serving them well
and fairly. Your ability to monitor, measure, and react is greater
if you are closer to the heart of their business, understanding
their corporate goals, and motivations. It takes investment,
research and hard work, but this is the price of customer
retention and growth.
The benefits of Account Planning are available to all
companies. If you have even one large account then Account
Planning is worth the effort. Maximizing revenue from your
existing customers is the single most effective way to grow
revenue.
FACT#2:
ForTerritoryorPortfolioPlanning,Account
Planninghelpsyoutoselecttheaccountsthatwilldeliver
themostrevenue,anddevelopaplantogrowyourentire
bookofbusiness.

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
ThreeCoreThemes
My early observation of sales methodology was that it was
very hard for sales professionals to execute on their Account
Plan. There was lots of valuable strategy to use, but very
little support on the practical execution. (That was why we
developed Dealmaker.) But developing a plan has limited
benefit unless you have the requisite tools and action plan to
help you follow through.
As you develop your customer growth plans, there are three
key elements of an Account Plan that you need to keep in
mind:
Research for Insight
Account Planning is strategic business planning applied
on an individual customer basis. Research, as you know, is
not limited to the customer. It must also encompass all of the
Three Cs: Customer, Competitor and Company. If you do your
homework on the Account, and apply the experience you
have gained from working with other customers, you should
be able to bring insight to the customer. If you don’t do the
research, then you won’t have the knowledge, and then you
can’t bring insight – and that is simply a missed opportunity.
The impact on a customer of a bad buying decision is
greater than the impact on a sales person of a lost sale.!

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Integrate for Velocity
There are four primary sources of input to your Account Plan
that you need to integrate to achieve maximum velocity:
• Existing CRM data in Salesforce
• Knowledge of the Account Team
• Information shared by the customer
• Supplementary data from third-party research sources.
If you don’t have a centralized
way to manage the plan, your
velocity and effectiveness suffer.
Integrating your team and
the customer with the data in
Salesforce and the pertinent data
from supplementary data sources
is the only way to provide a single
sharable resource.
Salesforce
Customer
Sales
Ecosystem
Account
Team&
Execs

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
Focus on Impact
Focus is the parallel thread that runs alongside Mutual Value
from the beginning to the end of Account Planning. It is in fact
the catalyst for Mutual Value as you prioritize the Plan Units
in your Account Plan and target the opportunities on which
to focus, where you can uniquely and competitively deliver
maximum value.
As you become master of your plan, you’re also on your
way to becoming a leader in your own marketplace. You
understand business goals and pressures and initiatives
the customer might consider, and the obstacles they must
overcome to be successful.

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WHICHCUSTOMERS
SHOULDYOU
PURSUE?

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
In selling, there are really only two things that you control:
• Who you call on, and
• What you say when you get there.
If you put your effort into deciding what customers you call
on, you are much more likely to be effective when you get
there. This applies as much to individual sellers as it does to
those responsible for developing the company’s strategic
sales or marketing approach.
So, how do you decide where to spend your selling time? You
need to decide where to prioritize your time, because not all
accounts or opportunities (or markets) are equal.

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The graphic shows 10 companies under consideration for
a sales plan. They include existing customers, and some
prospects. There may be a broad span of company types
(and opportunity size) spread across these accounts.
TargetCompanies CurrentRevenues(x-axis) FutureRevenues(y-axis)
Name
Last12
Months
Profit
History
Sales
Resource
Business
Profile
Opportunity
Profile
Relationships
Company1
Company2
Company3
Company4
Company5
Company6
Company7
Company8
Company9
Company10

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
ChoosingWheretoFocus
If an account or set of accounts is a marketplace then, in that
market, you want to be the market leader. You also want to
cover as many market segments as possible, but only where
you can achieve meaningful segment penetration.
In an ideal world, you will want to cover 100% of the market.
Realistically, because resources are scarce and your time is at
a premium, you must make choices and prioritize your efforts
in areas that will generate the most opportunity.
Plotting each of these accounts using Current Revenues and
Future Revenues as your guide will help you to determine
your prioritized areas of focus.
• Current Revenues
This is a picture of the business you are currently doing
with your existing customers. Obviously you want to
record the sales you achieved in this account over the past
year, but you should also be mindful of the profitability of
that business and the level of sales resources required to
win or service those deals.
• Future Revenues
This is much harder to assess than Current Revenues
because much of the data required is subjective. The
following framework may help you to get started: You
need to understand the profile of the customer’s business

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and how they are performing. Is the market growing?
Equally, you should pay attention to the Opportunity
Profile in the account – is there a good solution fit? What
is the strategic value? Are there known short-term needs,
etc. Finally, you might want to consider your relationships
in each of these accounts. Scoring each of these elements
helps us to fill out the Target Companies chart to plot
Current and Future Revenues for each company.
TargetCompanies CurrentRevenues(x-axis) FutureRevenues(y-axis)
Name
Last12
Months
Profit
History
Sales
Resource
Business
Profile
Opportunity
Profile
Relation-
ships
Company1 0 5 30 45 32 13
Company2 12 4 19 12 23 10
Company3 0 5 82 45 31 6
Company4 0 5 60 12 4 54
Company5 3 2 10 32 21 27
Company6 0 5 70 25 15 10
Company7 45 31 19 14 34 15
Company8 0 5 20 3 15 7
Company9 0 5 40 31 18 16
Company10 43 36 5 12 6 15

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
Current Revenues and Future Revenues for each of the
companies are categorized above into separate quadrants:
• In the A Quadrant are three accounts (Company 3,4, and
7) where there are both high Current Revenues and an
expectation of high Future Revenues. There is, in fact, a
B A
D C
CURRENT REVENUES
FUTUREREVENUES
1
5
9
3
4
7
2
8
10
6

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significant ‘gap’ between the current situation and the
revenue potentially realizable. You should complete a full
Account Plan for each of these accounts.
• In the B Quadrant, there are also three companies, where
high Future Revenues are expected for each of them.
Once more, as in A Quadrant, there is a significant ‘gap’
between the current situation and the revenue potentially
realizable. These accounts also should be part of your
sales plan.
• The lower right hand quadrant (C Quadrant) indicates
there is no future potential over and above Current
Revenues. But you should consider how to protect your
current revenue level and evaluate the consequence or
impact if you don’t.
• The lower left hand (D Quadrant) shows little Current
Revenues and little or no future potential and so these two
accounts (Companies 2 and 8) might best be left to the
marketing department to manage and nurture.
It’s always best to have a clear definition in your company
as to what determines the fate of each account. You should
consider the elements that make up Current Revenues and
Future Revenues and be clear on the definition of each. For
example, you might have an internal debate to determine
what High, Medium, or Low means in the context of last year’s
closed revenue. Depending on your current go-to-market
strategy you may not be as focused on the Opportunity Profit
History as others, and might want to weigh it accordingly.

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
Make a conscious decision and then apply it consistently
across all your territory or portfolio assessments.
(See below an example screenshot from Dealmaker Smart
Account Manager.)
As you develop your sales plan, apply the appropriate effort
in selecting which accounts you pursue. It will free you up to
spend your time wisely on accounts where you can maximize
the return on your effort.

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ACUSTOMER
STORY:
HOWSALESFORCEDOES
ACCOUNTPLANNING

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
The most important lessons we learn are usually from our
customers. We are extremely proud of all the great customers
who use our Dealmaker Smart Account Manager solution to
drive their Account Planning efforts and deliver enhanced
value to their customers while also maximizing the revenue
that they achieve. Here we are delighted to share with
you Salesforce’s story of its Account Planning journey, as
recounted at Dreamforce.1
1 I’m grateful to Stacey Farrell, Deirdre Ni Dhea, Pascal Yammine and Billy Martin for
sharing they experiences and insights at the Dreamforce 14 presentations “How Salesforce Uses
Account Planning to Close More Deals” and “How Salesforce Uses Account Planning to Connect
with Customers.”
THECHALLENGE:
• Nosingleprocess,
approachortool
inallgeographies
• Reducedknowledge
sharing
•Inefficiencyin
rampingupnewhires
According to Stacey Farrell, Senior
Sales Enablement Manager at
Salesforce, the core challenge was
that the company did not have one
single process, approach or tool
across its many geographies and
different business segments. That
led to reduced knowledge sharing
and in particular inefficiencies in
ramping up new hires. Almost half
of Salesforce’s 3,500 sales reps have been with the company
for less than a year – that’s due to organic growth, not
turnover. But most worrying, the lack of a single process
led to unrealized account growth potential and sub-optimal
customer relationships. So effectively Account Planning is
growth planning.

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Salesforce’s first step in moving to a common Account
Planning process tool was to ensure executive sponsorship.
This became a key differentiator of the change program,
due to the active engagement of the executive team – from
delivering training videos on the methodology and tool to a
formal program within Salesforce that matches senior leaders
to top accounts for QBR purposes.
THESOLUTION:
• Implementacommon
AccountPlanning
processtool
• Establishdedicated
resourcestohelpwith
thechange
• Recognizethe
commitmenttothe
customer
Recognizing that Account Planning
is not something you can just turn on
and hope it works, Salesforce put in
place dedicated resources to make it
happen. They knew that the program
would change the way they acted
as a company, the way they treated
customers and the way they worked
together so it was important to
resource for that commitment.
In February 2014, despite having
thousands of account execs saying, “I want to use it,”
Salesforce launched Dealmaker to just 30 account teams. Why
30? Wanting to make sure they got it right, they started with
30 teams, got them working, got feedback, made changes
based on feedback and then went to 100 teams and expanded
out from there.
Under pressure from keen account execs, some exceptions
were made in the early days. But the change team quickly
found that execs didn’t follow the process – they didn’t

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
really know the process – and so
they ended up backtracking. This
taught the importance of training
– but, because they couldn’t train
thousands of people at the same
time, the controlled roll-out was the
only option.
Salesforce did a lot of training: self-
service videos, workshops, monthly review calls and one-on-
one coaching sessions. They recognized that training is an
ongoing activity and has to be planned, funded and resourced
as an ongoing activity, to avoid having a lot of people using
a tool, not really knowing how to use it and not getting the
value out of it.
You know that sales reps hate training – they act like you’re
pulling them out of the field and stopping them from making
money. But the change team found that once the account
execs realized the tool helped them to prioritize and showed
them the white space in their accounts, it was easy to get
them on board.
There was no need to worry about integration from a
technical perspective because Dealmaker is built on the
Salesforce platform. All they had to do was turn it on, make a
few configurations and it worked, linking directly to accounts,
contacts and opportunities. But the change team had to
integrate Dealmaker into the process since it changed how
sales people did their jobs. In practical terms that meant that
THEINTEGRATION:
• Controlledroll-out
•Training:self-service
videos,workshops,
reviews
•Realizationthatthe
tooldidhelp

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when they had manager reviews, the
managers didn’t review a PowerPoint
or a Word document or someone’s
notes on a piece of paper, they went
into the plan and it became how
they did their reviews. In this way
integrating Account Planning into the
process made it an ongoing activity,
part of the DNA of the organization
because they realize the value of
it, not a one time a year activity.
Account execs now can answer the
questions: “How are you going to hit
your number? How are you going
to make your plan?” because they are able to articulate a
strategy for their account or portfolio of accounts, can clearly
see the white space where there are unfulfilled opportunities
to sell, know the insight they can bring to their customer and
how to align the company’s solutions with that.
For impact, the change team identified the key measures that
really drove the business and made those measures a part of
the account teams’ day-to-day lives. Those metrics – through
a dashboard feature – are now reported on an ongoing basis
within the accounts, within the regions and all the way up to
Keith Block (President and Vice Chairman).
One change that was not foreseen happened among the
sales managers. Their job was transformed from looking at
the numbers (a sales manager’s first reaction is always to
THECHANGE:
• Universalplansand
reviews
• NomorePowerpoints,
Worddocuments,
papernotes
• Articulatedaccount
strategies
• Moreinsightinto
customersolutions
• Morecoachingand
lessnumbercrunching

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
look at pipeline and opportunity and ask if it’s going to close)
to becoming a coach, helping their staff to solve customer
problems.
In the end, the results speak for themselves. Billy Martin
(Director of Sales Readiness) explains: “What’s cool about
this is when you get these teams together and they start
collaborating, you get opportunities, true opportunities in the
CRM perspective that are generated out of this process that
never existed before. They just weren’t even on the radar
screen.
“We generate pipeline reports out of these training sessions
that are like $20m and $30m worth of pipeline that just
didn’t exist before. And if we could keep our numbers up,
if our typical close ratio is 20% or 30%, that could be really
impactful to the business. This comes because of the way the
methodology helps those teams to think differently about
those accounts or about their
portfolio.
“Right now, we’re tracking about
50% of our pipeline for marketing
cloud through the TAS tools. How
much of that will we close? We
hope all of it, but the cool thing
is that it’s being tracked in a very
strategic way. The tool (Dealmaker)
gives us a full view of a customer
across all the different products. It’s
THERESULTS:
• Trueopportunities
thatgenerate
$20-30millioninthe
pipelinethatdidn’t
existbefore
•Fullviewofcustomer
acrossallproducts
• Visibilityintothe
whitespace

35.
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35
brought a new level of visibility that we didn’t have before and
it gives us a better view of the full white space.
“The ultimate goal from our perspective is that we have one
plan. We use one tool. And the account execs can tell one
story. And that story is: “How am I gonna make my number?
How am I gonna be successful as an account executive?”
...We have one plan. We use
one tool. And the account
execs can tell one story...
-BILLYMARTIN,Director,SalesReadiness@Salesforce

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
36
THETHREE
KEYELEMENTSTO
GREAT
ACCOUNTPLANNING

37.
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As you prepare your go-to-market strategies you need to
think about how to maximize revenue from your existing
customers. So consider these three key elements of great
Account Planning as you look at your existing customers and
what they can contribute to your revenue goals.
Business acquired from existing customers is
6xs MORE PROFITABLEthan pursuing new customers
You know that:
But did you also know that:
You are 7xs MORE LIKELYTO WIN BUSINESSfrom
an existing customer than when trying to capture a new logo
Research for Insight
If you want to maximize revenue from your large
accounts, it’s really all about research, research, and more
research. You need to slow down your natural inclination to
focus solely on pursuing deals now. Account Planning is a
long-term play. If you do your homework on the Account,
and apply the experience you have gained from working with
other customers, you should be able to bring insight to the
customer. If you don’t do the research, then you won’t have
the knowledge and, therefore, you can’t bring insight – and
that is simply a missed opportunity.

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
Integrate for Velocity
A single Account is a subset of your overall market, and a
composite representation of all of the individual real and
potential prospective opportunities within that Account. You
must recognize it as an integrated component of the market
ecosystem. You also need to integrate data, knowledge and
information to achieve velocity. The data already exists in
Salesforce – so your Account Plan must be integrated with
your CRM. Your Account Team has the knowledge – everyone
needs a common platform to work together effectively. The
customer has the information – so you need to integrate that
into your plan. Only when you integrate all three can you
achieve velocity.
Focus on Impact
Remember that the impact on a customer of a poor buying
decision is usually greater than the impact on a sales person
of a lost deal. Your role is to create value for the customer,
not just to communicate information about your company
or solutions. Before you position your value, a prerequisite is
having a deep sense of what the customer values. When you
have done your research, you can begin to feel comfortable
in the customer’s shoes, and begin the walk together toward
mutual value.
Good Selling ... Be careful out there! Donal Daly

39.
39
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APPENDIX:
ACCOUNTPLANNING
USING
DEALMAKER

40.
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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
Earlier in this ebook we saw how Salesforce turned to Account
Planning to achieve growth, releasing unrealized account
growth potential and optimizing customer relationships. They
used Dealmaker to ensure a single coordinated approach
across all their geographies and business segments.
Here’s a quick overview of how Dealmaker makes the Account
Planning process easier, faster and more effective.
This is the marketplace – in this case, one account, though
it could be a portfolio of accounts. Let’s assume this is your
account – a key customer or group of customers.

41.
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41
This marketplace view allows you to make sure you cover all
the business units within the account, map the penetration
for each of your solutions and identify the white space where
opportunities for additional sales revenue lies.
Map penetration
for each of
your solutions
Identify
white space
Cover all
business units in
the account
Then by looking at all of the people in the organization you
can tell who you need to build relationships with.

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
And by understanding their business issues, their Goals and
Pressures, you can identify where you might be able to help.
This helps you find new opportunities where you can deliver
value by providing more of your solutions to more areas in the
account.
You can map each of your customer’s business units and score
them – in a system that you can configure – to identify which
units you should be focusing on.
Map each of
the customer’s
business units
Configurable scoring
system determines the
plan units for you to
focus on

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43
And this quadrant graphic shows which units are most
important: to you and to the customer…
...which allows you to prioritize and focus on the highest value
opportunities.
Identify the most
important plan units –
important to us and to
the customer
Prioritize and focus
on the highest value
opportunities

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PUTTING THE CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER: Account Planning Strategies to Grow Revenue
And within those highest value opportunities, you can prioritize
and focus on the highest value objectives and actions.
You can even pull together multiple plans to get a full picture
of your market.
Pull multiple plans
together to get a full
picture of your market
Prioritize and focus
on the highest value
objectives and actions

45.
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45
ABOUTTHEAUTHOR
Donal Daly is CEO and founder of
The TAS Group, which is his fifth
global business enterprise. Combining
his expertise in enterprise software
applications, artificial intelligence and
sales methodology, he continues to
revolutionize the sales effectiveness
industry. Donal was also CEO and
founder at Software Development Tools,
NewWorld Commerce, The Customer
Respect Group, and Select Strategies
— all of which were acquired by various
parties. Donal is the author of four books
including his recent Amazon Bestseller,
Account Planning in Salesforce, and
Select Selling Sales Fieldbook.
Send your comments and feedback to:
ddaly@thetasgroup.com