Overview
In this section, you will find information about how to create and manage Account Plans in Salesforce, in particular:
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In practice, the Account Development Plan functionality can be used in different ways depending on the GBU needs. For example, you may use it to manage Key Accounts or to manage customer accounts that you intend to grow as Key Accounts for your GBU or for Solvay. ILLUSTRATION OF KEY ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT (LINK WITH COMMERCIAL EXCELLENCE) Key Account methodology is dedicated to Accounts with growth potential, including product development & innovation, for which a dedicated Strategic Plan (KAP), aligned with the customer/market Roadmap, is required for the development of customer focused value propositions. It aims at developing pro-actively solutions for customers that lead to partnership beyond transactions from the desire to understand the customers’ business, their opportunities and challenges, their customers and marketing stakes. Key Account Managers (KAM) are responsible for developing strategic relationships with their KA, defining & implementing a Key Account Plan (KAP), committing in mid-term business plan derived from the KAP to achieve annual target with regards to sales, volume & contribution margin, etc. --> Salesforce can support Key Account Managers in these objectives. |
Concerned profiles:
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Table of content
Step By Step
Definition & Objectives | |
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Account Plan process covers the creation and management of Account Plans in Salesforce, mainly for key accounts, but also applicable for standard accounts. An Account Plan summarizes the strategy set up for specific accounts or groups of accounts. Each Account Plan includes milestones detailing the actions to execute in order to achieve the plan. Once the account plan is created and approved, the execution of the strategy and follow-up of milestones is entirely managed in SFDC. The Account Plan is regularly updated to remain a living document. The following information can be found in the Account Plan page: 1.Information: this section includes the general information like the owner, the Account Plan Name, the visibility, the GBU, etc. 2.Account Plan Session Stage: This section displays the Account Plan Stage and the validity date 3.(Key) Account Profile: this section define the main market, main challenges and locations 4.Partnership with Solvay: this section displays some financial information 5.Solvay’s Project Objective with KA: this section lists the strategy and the 3 key initiatives 6.Business Plan: this table covers the sales, contribution margin and share of wallet projection for next 5 years. |
Solution rules | |
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Confidentiality•An account plan can have different levels of confidentiality •Shared : All CRM users will have visibility on the Account Plan •GBU Restricted: Your Account Plan will be restricted to your GBU CRM users •Account Plan Team : Your Account Plan is limited to the users identified in the “Account Plan Team” |
Demo | ||
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Create an Account Plan | ||
 To create his Account Plan, David starts from the home page and clicks on Create New and then on Account Plan |  | |
 He now can start filling the information in the different fields. |
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 He now can start filling the information in the different fields.A field Visibility is available to define who can view the Account Plan. 3 options are foreseen: •“Shared”: it means the Account Plan is visible by all the users in Salesforce •“GBU restricted”: it means only the users in the field GBU are able to see the Account Plan •“Account Plan Team”: only the colleagues added in the “Account Plan Team” will be able to view the Account Plan
•David will let the Account Plan shared |  | |
•The field Account Plan Stage is used to define the stage. Following values are available:  •David will define the stage as Pending Approval |  | |
 Among the fields available, the field Strategy is key in order to summarize in a few lines the strategy. Next to this field, 3 key global initiatives can be defined |  | |
 David has now created his Account Plan. He must not forget to also define the Business Plan |  | |
 To define the business plan, David double-clicks on each value in order to edit it. Once the table finished, he clicks on Save. |  | |
Associate Accounts to the Account Plan | ||
 To associate accounts with his Account Plan, David opens the Account Plan he created |  | |
 He hoovers the Account Plan Association and clicks on New Account Plan Association |  | |
 David uses the look icon to search the accounts in the system |  | |
 In the new search window, David searches for Bayer accounts part of the strategy and then selects the account. |  | |
David knows it’s important to associate all the accounts to the Account Plan, so that any user opening an account is aware of the Account Plan and can consult the strategy defined.
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 Once the full list of accounts associated, David can consult the account and see the accounts in the related list. |  | |
 Once the Account related to the Account Plan, the relationship is available at account level. This relationship will be fully public, meaning David can consult any relationship in the system, whatever the visibility of the Account Plan.•Nevertheless, he might not be able to open some Account Plans depending of his access. |  | |
 David’s GBU Data Steward has another possibility to associate Accounts to the Account Plan. From the Account Plan Association related list, he clicks on New Multiple Plan Associations. |  | |
 He defines the Corporate Group and the GBU. This will help Salesforce to filter the accounts to be associated to the Account Plan. |  | |
 Once defined, he clicks on Save |  | |
 Done! GBU Data Steward can now consult, at Account Plan level, all the associations created. |  | |
The associations created are still manageable by David: he can decide to delete one if the account associated is not related to the plan. He can also add additional associations, one by one as previously seen. David has so all the flexibility to manage the association!
Last but not least, David’s GBU Data Steward can perfom this action multiple times; either with another Corporate Group to add others accounts at once or with the same Corporate Group if few customers were recently added. Don’t worry, no duplicate associations will be created! |  | |
Add Colleagues to the Account Plan Team | ||
 To associate accounts with his Account Plan, David opens the Account Plan he created |  | |
 He hoovers the Account Plan Team and clicks on New Account Plan Team |  | |
 David uses the look icon to search the Account Managers in the system. |  | |
 In the new search window, David searches for Pedro and then clicks on his name. |  | |
 Once selected, David clicks on Save & New to quickly add another account |  | |
 A field Access defines the level of access Pedro will have:•Read/Write: Pedro will be able to edit the Account Plan information •Read Only: Pedro will only have visibility on the Account Plan (in case David has put the Account Plan as restricted to the Account Plan Team Members) | ||
 Once the full list of Account Managers associated, David can consult the Account Plan and see the Account Managers in the related list. |  | |
Create a milestone for the Account Plan | ||
 To create a milestone in his Account Plan, David opens the Account Plan he created |  | |
 He hoovers the Account Plan Milestone and clicks on New Account Plan Milestone |  | |
 David enters now the information for the milestone•The field Status allows David to manage the milestone status during the Account Plan period. The available status are the following:  |  | |
 Once completed, David clicks on Save and checks the information entered.•A field On Time defines with traffic light the status of the milestone:  Status = Complete Status = Delayed & Due Date > 2 MonthsStatus = On Schedule & Due Date < 2 Months  Status = CancelledStatus = Delayed & Due Date > 2 Months Status = On Schedule & Due Date < Today |  | |
 Once the full list of Milestones are created, David can consult the Account Plan and see the Milestones in the related list. |  | |
He now can start 
Once selected, David clicks on Save & New to quickly add another account