Why AI-Era Account Planning Matters More Than Ever

(Below is an excerpt from the eBook, Not Just Another Sales Robot)

No matter how you look at it, change is difficult. This is just as true for sales teams as it is for individuals.

On the individual level, experiencing change – like a new job or a bigger role at the same company – presents many challenges. At the team level, implementing new software, new methodology, or ways to shorten the sales cycle can be a massive hurdle. How teams approach change makes a significant difference between success and failure. Since the early days of account planning becoming established as an elite sales discipline, successful change management has played a key role in enabling its successful adoption by enterprise sales teams.

AI presents a sweeping change for sellers

Yet more recently, a change the size of which we have only seen a handful of times in our lives has swept through the world: the advent of artificial intelligence.

Grappling with that sweeping change has already been a massive hurdle for organizations. Yet, it will also present itself as a disproportionate opportunity, the likes of which we haven’t seen since before the dot-com era.

Grappling with that sweeping change has already been a massive hurdle for organizations.

Yet, it will also present itself as a disproportionate opportunity, the likes of which we haven’t seen since before the dot-com era.

However, just because AI is on the rise doesn’t mean the same principles that make successful account planning no longer apply. The account planning playbook is simply evolving. In that vein, you can see this eBook as a companion piece to take with you on your journey – aimed at helping you and your team build the same kind of trust and discipline we’ve always advocated for in account planning. Only this time that discipline is grounded within the perspective of innovative AI technologies that have the power to impact our workflows at every level.

With the right mindset, and built on the right approach to sales, teams can continue to innovate. Relationships are still at the heart of each and every deal. But in interactions along the way, AI will play an integral role.

This eBook will help you understand what AI is – particularly generative AI – and how it will impact you and your sales team. It will give you practical strategies on how to deploy it effectively and will even give you an inside look at what AI technologies are doing within an account-based sales software world to help sellers get ahead of the competition at every level.

With the right team behind you, and armed with the right partnerships, you can exceed what you might have thought possible in the new era of sales AI.

Account planning in the era of AI

How must selling evolve to adapt in the era of AI?

In the era of AI, account planning is more critical than ever. To succeed with both AI and account planning, it’s crucial to understand that the core principles of relationship-centric selling and becoming a trusted advisor remain highly relevant and can be significantly enhanced by AI.

Below, we’ll go over the core areas account planning can help sellers get ahead of the competition in the era of AI.

Becoming a trusted advisor

Artificial intelligence and sales tools can give you the data and insights you need to pinpoint areas for growth in key accounts – but they aren’t enough in-and-of themselves to build an effective buyer/seller relationship.

Elite sellers understand that in order to have an impact, they need to be seen as trusted advisors to their key accounts.

What do we mean by becoming a trusted advisor? Basically, it means gaining an understanding of the people you are selling to, and their unique problems, and establishing mutual trust in order to work with them every step of the way to finding a solution. This is part of the mindset shift required to become effective at account planning. It means becoming so much more in the eyes of your customers and prospects than that of just another vendor.

Earning a place as a trusted advisor means engaging everyone in the organization with whom you can deliver value. It means building out a robust understanding of roles in the decision-making process, how (and to what extent) they exert influence and what priorities are top-of-their-mind. In mapping a rich understanding of how key players relate to one another, reps can start to uncover how things happen in the organization.

Often, these insights are not visible to the untrained eye. AI can help you distinguish these insights, but the seller acts as interpreter and relationship builder once the insights are gathered.

Benefits of Account Planning

Account planning is not a one-and-done solution. It requires constant iteration, and a good deal of investment in time, training, and collaboration. But the benefits of establishing an effective account planning process are more than worth it. These include:

• Better relationships: relationships are at the heart of account planning. Through seeking to deeply understand accounts – and the people, problems and potential in them – sellers can land new deals, grow revenue, and even deliver novel solutions to problems customers didn’t know they had.
• Happier customers: of course, landing new deals isn’t the only incentive to excel at account planning. Good account planning also leads to happier customers. Through effective account management strategies, sellers can improve relationships with customers, turning them into loyal customers, and retaining and growing revenue in those accounts.
• Revenue growth: ultimately, account planning leads to growth. Sales organizations can experience unparalleled revenue growth when they undertake a focused account planning strategy. A higher growth rate should pique large enterprises’ interest in putting together an effective account planning strategy.

Effective account planning requires more than a tool or software or an easy change – it’s a cultural shift. It means taking a new look at how you and your organization think about account planning, committing to proven sales methodology best practices, relationship mapping, collaboration, and coaching. With the right mindset, coaching, change management, and software, businesses can begin winning more revenue through a strategic approach to account planning while incorporating AI.

Read the full eBook, Not Just Another Sales Robot. Click below to download your copy, today!