Strategic account planning isn't just for large agencies—it's a critical practice for driving sustainable growth, regardless of your agency's size.
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:
The first step in annual account planning involves creating a comprehensive revenue forecast that includes both secured work and growth targets.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
For each key account, develop a comprehensive account plan that tells the story of the relationship, opportunities, and strategy. A good account plan includes:
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:
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:
Detail the revenue history, current commitments, and qualified opportunities:
Identify other agencies or partners working with your client:
Clearly articulate what you need from agency leadership to achieve your goals:
In your account planning, consider these four levels of effective account management:
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.
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: