Strategic account planning isn't just for large agencies—it's a critical practice for driving sustainable growth, regardless of your agency's size.
Why Annual Account Planning Matters
Annual account planning provides a structured approach to understanding revenue potential and setting realistic targets. This process is fundamentally about risk mitigation—giving yourself enough time to respond to challenges before they become crises.
Effective account planning helps you answer crucial questions:
- What revenue do we already have secured?
- Where are our growth opportunities with existing clients?
- How much new business do we need to meet our targets?
- Who is responsible for delivering on each revenue stream?
The Revenue Planning Process
The first step in annual account planning involves creating a comprehensive revenue forecast that includes both secured work and growth targets.
Step 1: Document Secured Revenue
Begin by identifying all revenue already under contract but not yet delivered. This creates your baseline—the minimum revenue you can reasonably expect for the coming year.
Step 2: Identify Account Growth Potential
Before setting new business targets, evaluate growth potential within existing accounts. Meet with account managers to determine realistic expansion opportunities for each client relationship.
Some accounts may have significant growth potential, while others might be maintenance relationships or candidates for strategic wind-down. This honest assessment prevents wasted effort on accounts with limited futures.
Step 3: Calculate the New Business Gap
After accounting for secured revenue and projected account growth, determine the gap that needs to be filled with new business development. This provides clear targets for your business development team.
Step 4: Assign Revenue Ownership
Distribute revenue responsibility across your team. Each account manager should commit to specific targets for their accounts, while business development takes ownership of new revenue acquisition.
Step 5: Build in Buffer Room
Smart revenue planning includes building in a buffer. If your target is $5 million, aim to secure commitments for $5.5 million. This provides flexibility when inevitably some opportunities don't materialize as expected.
Creating Detailed Account Plans
For each key account, develop a comprehensive account plan that tells the story of the relationship, opportunities, and strategy. A good account plan includes:
1. Client Background
- Company mission and vision
- Strategic and financial goals
- Recent developments or changes
2. Stakeholder Mapping
Map out "who's who in the zoo" by identifying key stakeholders, their roles, and the quality of your relationships with each. Corporate environments are dynamic, so update this quarterly.
Categories to track for each stakeholder:
- Decision-making authority
- Budget control
- Relationship quality
- Communication frequency
- Areas of interest/focus
3. Customer Intimacy Assessment
Evaluate how close you are to the client. The true test for appropriate customer intimacy isn't if the client knows your name—it's whether you have direct, informal access to decision-makers when needed.
Document:
- Communication frequency and quality
- Client satisfaction indicators
- Relationship development activities
- Areas where trust could be strengthened
4. Financial History and Pipeline
Detail the revenue history, current commitments, and qualified opportunities:
- Past revenue performance by department/service line
- Current booked revenue
- Pipeline opportunities with probability assessments
- Budget information across departments
5. Competitive Landscape
Identify other agencies or partners working with your client:
- Competitors within the account
- Their strengths and weaknesses
- Service areas they cover
- Opportunities for you to expand your footprint
6. Requirements for Success
Clearly articulate what you need from agency leadership to achieve your goals:
- Resources required
- Executive presence for key meetings
- Capability development needs
- Timeline for critical actions
The Four Levels of Account Management
In your account planning, consider these four levels of effective account management:
- Service Provider: Basic order-taking and delivery. You fulfill client requests competently, but aren't bringing additional value.
- Experience Creator: Providing excellent service and client satisfaction. The client enjoys working with you, but you're not challenging their thinking.
- Challenger: Pushing the client toward better outcomes and demonstrating ROI. You're aligned with client goals and actively helping them achieve better results.
- Trusted Leader: Becoming a strategic advisor the client turns to for future thinking. The client seeks your input on broader business initiatives before decisions are made.
Revenue growth typically comes from operating at the Challenger and Trusted Leader levels. While the first three levels are within your control, becoming a Trusted Leader requires earning that position through consistently excellent performance.
Implementation Tips
- Make Account Plans Living Documents: Update quarterly at a minimum to reflect changing business conditions
- Share Plans Across Teams: Use them to onboard new team members to client relationships
- Focus on Opportunity Identification: Look beyond current projects to identify major opportunities that could drive significant growth
- Hold Regular Reviews: Schedule quarterly business reviews to assess progress and adjust strategies
- Balance New vs. Existing Business: As your agency matures, aim to keep new business requirements under 20% of total revenue
The Bottom Line
Effective account planning is fundamentally about risk mitigation, not hope. By documenting what you have secured, what you realistically believe you can achieve, and how you'll get there, you create a roadmap for sustainable growth.
Most importantly, account planning distributes responsibility throughout your agency, empowering team members to take ownership of growth while giving leadership visibility into opportunities and challenges.
Whether you're a small independent agency or part of a larger network, implementing robust account planning processes will help stabilize your current business and create predictable growth pathways for the future.
Looking for an account planning template to get started? Contact cbaldwin@upsourcedaccounting.com or reach out to your controller.
For a walkthrough of the account planning template, watch this episode of Creative Outcomes: