Account Planning Software: Best Features to Look For

Let’s face it, the AI landscape is as much of a minefield at times as it is a gold mine. Countless tools and contradictory insights are enough to paralyze even the most seasoned sales leader if not interpreted correctly. The best account planning software, therefore, acts as an air traffic controller, cutting through the noise and guiding your organization toward the most effective, aligned solutions. It’s your strategic compass, ensuring you don’t get lost in the data deluge.

Without powerful account planning software, your efforts to build and maintain a lasting, impactful account planning practice will feel like an uphill battle.

The best account planning software makes account planning thrive. However, it should never be mistaken as a substitute for methodology or good selling. It’s a tool, not a strategy.

We’ve shown how vital relationships are going to be in the days to come with AI. Account planning is the best way to ensure you are able to build relationships effectively. Meanwhile, account planning as a discipline is certainly so much more than just what you get from even the best tool. The right account planning software will elevate your team’s ability to collaborate on account reviews while enabling them to dig into vital metrics and insights they couldn’t find any other way.

Before proceeding with choosing a solution, however, it pays to understand that while many vendors promise to have the best solution for account planning in Salesforce (even Salesforce themselves), relatively few have the features truly required to succeed in the current, B2B enterprise sale landscape.

Below, we’ll be diving deep into the features modern B2B sellers need included in their account planning tool to maximize their potential. By combining the right account planning tool with the right partner and sales methodology, your entire sales team can harness the greatest innovations account planning has to offer.

The value of strategic account planning in Salesforce

“The biggest change for me was that I started trying to identify problems. I stopped being afraid to go in and sit down with key stakeholders and just say, ‘Hey, here’s your business as I understand it. Do I have that right?’” – Todd Adair, Commercial Manager, GE Healthcare.

Strategic account planning is crucial to driving sustainable revenue growth within key accounts. Sales leaders report that 42% of revenue comes from recurring sales, with up-sells and cross-sells at 31%. Furthermore, 89% believe account-based selling enhances ROI and boosts customer satisfaction by over 20%.

When beginning their search for the best account planning software for their revenue team, sales leaders often have a vision for account planning that is unique to their organization. Their motivations, however, usually follow one of three trends:

• Reaching predictable revenue growth by increasing pipeline and retention in key strategic accounts.
• Increasing win rates by identifying and qualifying the right deals, aligning with customers, and increasing sales velocity.
• Improving their forecast accuracy by building a consistent and repeatable sales process.

In other words, they need to bring the full power of account planning to life. They must feel certain about the outcomes of their strategic efforts. Then they need to scale those outcomes across their organization.

Salesforce account planning software – features you need to succeed

The best account planning software, in a word, makes account planning thrive. However, it should never be mistaken as a substitute for methodology or good selling. It’s a tool, not a strategy. Without the principles in place to organize and orient your sales team and a commitment across the business to embrace a new way of working, even the best technology won’t spark meaningful change.

With that being said, what account planning technology can do is create conditions in which account planning is able to thrive. Implemented alongside the right approaches, technology is an essential prerequisite for fully realized account planning.

In the sections below, we’ll be taking a look at each feature you’ll need for a successful account planning solution in depth, and how to ensure that the tool and partner you choose stands out from the crowd.

The best Salesforce account planning software is 100% native to Salesforce

Building an effective account planning discipline that lasts is no easy feat. However, building it directly within Salesforce has a plethora of advantages – starting with being built directly into the CRM your sellers are using each and every day. Indeed, the best solution will feel so tightly integrated that many sellers might just assume that it’s simply an add-on.

A Salesforce-native solution significantly enhances account planning by embedding the process directly within the CRM, fostering seamless integration and real-time data access. This eliminates the need for disparate systems and manual data entry, saving valuable time and reducing errors.

The best solution will feel so tightly integrated that many sellers might just assume that it’s simply an add-on.

Crucially, a native solution leverages Salesforce’s robust data model, providing a holistic view of each account. Sales teams can easily access customer history, interactions, opportunities, and relevant insights, enabling them to create more accurate and informed account plans. This comprehensive view facilitates a better understanding of customer needs and potential growth areas.

Furthermore, a native solution streamlines collaboration. Teams can share and update account plans in real-time, ensuring everyone is aligned and working with the latest information. This fosters transparency and accountability, leading to more effective execution of strategies.

The inherent security and compliance features of Salesforce are also extended to the account planning process, ensuring data integrity and adherence to regulations. Customization options allow tailoring the app to specific business needs, ensuring alignment with unique workflows and methodologies. Ultimately, a Salesforce-native solution transforms account planning from a static document into a dynamic, data-driven process, driving revenue growth and strengthening customer relationships.

The best account planning software has a legacy of excellence in account planning

An ideal account planning solution should be built upon a foundation of extensive experience and a proven track record of successful deployments within enterprise sales organizations. This legacy ensures the solution isn’t just a piece of software, but a reflection of deep understanding and refinement over time.

Such a solution transcends the typical limitations of software vendors by offering not just technology, but also a comprehensive framework of best practices. It should bridge the gap between tools and methodology, providing the necessary training and strategic guidance to maximize its effectiveness.

The ideal provider should be more than a vendor; they should be a partner, offering expertise derived from years of hands-on experience in the account planning domain.

The ideal provider should be more than a vendor; they should be a partner, offering expertise derived from years of hands-on experience in the account planning domain. This expertise translates into practical, actionable strategies that empower sales teams to achieve consistent and predictable revenue growth.

The solution should facilitate a holistic approach, seamlessly integrating technology with proven methodologies. It should empower sales organizations to not just adopt the software, but to truly master the art of strategic account planning, ensuring long-term success and strengthened customer relationships.

Comprehensive revenue enablement service

Additionally, you’ll want an account planning provider that offers more than one tool. You’re really looking for a strategic partnership. Very few solution providers take this approach. Most tools are transactional: you pay for them once and then the actual day-to-day challenge of building an account planning discipline is left up to you.

However, the best account planning software solution providers will instead partner with you every step of the way. This could be in the form of a full suite of revenue enablement services to ensure you get the most from your investment. Programs should include both virtual and in- person workshops, specialized training, change management for optimized performance and leadership buy-in, analytics, development support, and best practice sales coaching—all delivered by our experienced consultants and managed services professionals.

Account planning for all accounts

Many account planning solutions will focus on what can be considered “key accounts.” Key account management is an important pillar of effective account planning. However, key accounts aren’t the only ones that matter. Indeed, it’s often smaller accounts that have the highest growth potential.

The best account planning software will help you identify cross-sell and upsell opportunities within accounts. By helping sellers leverage the whitespace within their accounts, the best Salesforce account planning software can lead to unparalleled revenue growth opportunities.

At the same time, account planning software must be scalable from mid-market to enterprise.

The best account planning software delivers a comprehensive solution, empowering teams to manage everything from a single account plan to complex account planning for sales territories, industry portfolios, and large global accounts with multiple divisions.

Built-in sales methodology

Does your Salesforce account planning software come with built in sales methodology right out of the box? It should be.

Account planning is more than just the software behind it. As such, the best tools have the account-based selling methodology baked into them directly out of the box.

Alternatively, look for a solution that can be configured during implementation to incorporate your preferred sales methodology beyond ABS, with multiple pre-built templates including MEDDIC and others.

By embedding methodologies like account-based selling or similar frameworks, businesses can streamline their sales cycles, improve forecasting accuracy, and enhance team collaboration. This integration allows for:

• Standardization: Consistent application of best practices across the sales organization.
• Data-Driven Decisions: Leveraging Salesforce data to inform strategic account planning.
• Improved Collaboration: Aligning sales teams with a shared understanding of the sales process.
• Enhanced Visibility: Providing managers with clear insights into account progress and potential roadblocks.
• Better customer relationship: By following a methodology, the sales team can better understand customers’ needs.

Ultimately, this empowers sales teams to focus on building strong customer relationships and closing more deals.

Unified sales solution suite

Once you’ve gone to the trouble of finding an account planning software that works natively in Salesforce and works with your preferred sales methodology, the worst thing that can happen when building out an account planning practice is for your sales team to struggle to simply use the software.

Instead, sales leaders should look for an account planning solution that will streamline the sales process while equipping sales teams to reach peak performance with a fully integrated suite of solutions. These tools help sellers discover new opportunities and grow revenue through strategic account planning, accelerate sales cycles with repeatable processes, and increase deal sizes and win rates through effective deal management and execution.

Account planning is more than just the software behind it. As such, the best tools have the account- based selling methodology baked into them directly out of the box.

Elevate account strategy with collaborative, insight-driven planning

A sales solution that drives real-world use empowers collaboration. Leading sales organizations leverage sophisticated platforms to conduct impactful account reviews, fostering alignment and driving actionable plans. Look for a solution that is capable of facilitating collaboration across the entire revenue team, enabling the identification of critical gaps, vulnerabilities, and strategic recommendations through shared insights. This is a vital component of your ideal account planning solution.

Harness the power of AI for smarter account planning

Of course, AI is here to stay, so why not have it baked into the solution you are using from the ground up?

The most cutting-edge account planning tools are already integrating AI-powered workflows and data signals to enhance sales productivity across all stages of the account lifecycle. These platforms deliver intelligent insights for informed decision- making and automate time-consuming research, empowering sales professionals to prioritize deal closure and revenue growth.

Your organization may not be ready to fully automate everything with AI. But a solution that is powered by AI shows signs of being future proofed, ready to mature with your organization as they dive deeper into the exciting world of AI efficiency.

Relationship mapping

Powerful relationship mapping and insight mapping are a bedrock of solid Salesforce account planning solutions.

Understanding the intricate web of relationships within an account is crucial for successful account planning. A sophisticated Salesforce account planning solution offers relationship mapping, providing a visual representation of key stakeholders and their connections within the client organization.

Powerful relationship mapping and insight mapping are a bedrock of solid Salesforce account planning solutions.

This feature facilitates the identification of influencers and decision-makers, allowing sales teams to focus their efforts on the most impactful individuals. Tracking relationship strength and engagement provides valuable insights into the health of customer connections, enabling proactive relationship management. Furthermore, integration with social listening capabilities allows sales teams to understand customer sentiment and identify potential opportunities or risks. By visualizing and analyzing these relationships, sales teams can develop targeted strategies for building rapport, navigating complex organizational structures, and ultimately winning deals.

Distinguish between true innovation, and surface-level solutions

Lastly, while some platforms offer superficial representations of account planning capabilities, elite solutions provide tangible, proven benefits and a clear roadmap for future development. Invest in tools that deliver real value, not just static screenshots.

As you can see, optimizing your B2B enterprise requires more than just implementing new software. Effective Salesforce account planning tools can significantly enhance strategic alignment, data-driven collaboration, and predictive insights. This leads to improved market navigation and more consistent, sustainable growth by leveraging key relationships and opportunities. At the end of the day, however, even the best account planning software is just a tool in the hands of your sellers. Bigger, better deals are still relationship first. Armed with the right methodology and technology, your sales team can thrive in a competitive world and stand out from the competition as trusted advisors to their customers.