account-plan

name	account-plan
description	Create or update strategic account plan
role_groups	["sales","customer_success"]
jtbd	You need to think strategically about a key account but the context is scattered. This gathers all information on the account - stakeholders, history, opportunities, risks - and creates a structured account plan so you have a clear strategy for growing the relationship.
time_investment	20-30 minutes per account

Purpose

Create a comprehensive strategic account plan by gathering all context on an account and structuring it into a clear growth and relationship strategy.

Usage

• /account-plan [account-name] - Create or update account plan for specific company

---

Method

Define the account, planning horizon, authorized owner, and as-of time before searching. Build a source ledger across company, person, meeting, deal, and prior plan records; deduplicate copied facts while retaining every source ID and source date. Classify each material item as observed, customer-stated, inferred, contradictory, stale, or unknown. Only then map stakeholders, current state, opportunities, risks, and possible actions. Keep recommendations separate from the account owner's decisions, and never convert a suggested action into a task or saved plan without the controlled-write sequence below.

Output contract

Return the scope and coverage first, followed by the source ledger, known account facts, unresolved contradictions and unknowns, stakeholder map, evidence-backed opportunities and risks, and recommendations awaiting human decision. Any count or total must name its denominator and excluded unknown values. End with a save status of not requested, awaiting confirmation, verified from read-back, or failed, plus the exact path and receipt when a confirmed write occurred. Never describe an unverified draft as the current account plan.

Evidence, authority, and recovery

Treat the account plan as a decision aid, not as a source of truth. Set an as-of timestamp when gathering context. Add per-field provenance to every material fact or claim: the source path or record, the source date (the date of the event or assertion, or undated), and the as-of time when it was read. Do not silently use a file modified date as the event date. A compact notation is: Annual value: £... (source: 04-Projects/..., source date: 2026-08-01, as-of: 2026-08-12T10:30Z).

• Keep absent data as Unknown — not found. For any unknown field, do not infer a stakeholder role, relationship strength, budget, renewal date, adoption number, intent, or outcome from a title, pattern, or template. Never invent absent facts. If sources contradict one another, list each source and date, show the contradiction, and leave the field unresolved until an authorized human resolves it.
• Separate observed facts from customer-stated facts and recommendations. Recommendations are not human decisions: do not turn a suggested owner, status, priority, or next action into a saved fact or create follow-up work without the user's decision.
• Keep gathering read-only. Before creating or updating 05-Areas/Companies/[Company-Name]_Account_Plan.md, show an exact write preview: the target path and complete proposed content, or an exact before/after diff, including every provenance and Unknown label. Require explicit confirmation from the authorized human account owner; a recommendation, a prior plan, or an implied yes is not authority. Do not write before that confirmation.
• After writing, read back the saved plan from disk and compare it with the approved preview, including the path, content, and key field annotations. Report the read-back result. If the write fails, times out, or the read-back differs, say that the plan is not verified and may be partially changed; preserve the prior copy where possible, re-read the file, show the discrepancy, and wait for explicit human direction before repairing or retrying. Never claim the plan was created or updated from a tool response alone.

Step 1: Gather Account Context

Collect information from multiple sources:

Company/Account Files

• Check 04-Projects/ for deal files related to this account
• Check 05-Areas/Companies/ for company page
• Look for company pages in 05-Areas/Companies/

Person Pages

• Search People/ for individuals at this company
• Extract:
  • Names and roles
  • Relationship strength
  • Key conversations
  • Pain points mentioned
  • Influence level

Meeting History

• Search 00-Inbox/Meetings/ for meetings with this account (last 12 months)
• Extract:
  • Key topics discussed
  • Decisions made
  • Commitments (theirs and ours)
  • Concerns raised
  • Wins celebrated

Deal History

• Current deals in pipeline
• Past deals (won/lost)
• Products/services they use
• Contract value and terms
• Renewal dates

---

Step 2: Analyze Stakeholder Map

Build comprehensive stakeholder analysis:

For Each Stakeholder:

Role classification:

• Champion: Advocates for us internally
• Economic Buyer: Final decision authority
• Technical Buyer: Evaluates product fit
• User: Day-to-day product user
• Blocker: Resistant or hostile

Influence and Support:

• High influence, high support = Key Champion
• High influence, low support = Risk / Blocker
• Low influence, high support = User Champion
• Low influence, low support = Monitor

Relationship Strength:

• Strong: Regular contact, mutual trust
• Moderate: Occasional contact, professional
• Weak: Minimal contact or new relationship
• None: Haven't connected

---

Step 3: Identify Opportunities and Risks

Growth Opportunities

1. Expansion opportunities:

   • Additional products/features they don't use
   • Other departments/teams that could benefit
   • Volume/usage growth potential

2. Upsell indicators:

   • Pain points that premium features solve
   • Budget availability signals
   • Competitive alternatives they're using

3. Relationship opportunities:

   • Executives we haven't met
   • Teams we're not working with
   • Events/conferences they attend

Risk Factors

1. Churn risk:

   • Product adoption issues
   • Unresolved pain points
   • Competitor activity
   • Budget cuts mentioned

2. Relationship risks:

   • Key champion leaving
   • Stakeholder concerns unaddressed
   • Reduced engagement

3. Competitive risks:

   • Competitor mentions
   • Evaluation processes
   • Dissatisfaction signals

---

Step 4: Generate Account Plan

Create structured account plan document:

# Account Plan: [Company Name]

**Plan date:** [Today]
**Account owner:** [User name]
**Annual value:** $[Amount if known]
**Renewal date:** [Date if known]

---

## 📋 Executive Summary

**Account status:** [Strategic / Growing / Stable / At-Risk]
**Primary goal:** [Main objective for this account]
**Top priority:** [Most important action]

**Quick facts:**
- Customer since: [Date]
- Products using: [List]
- Team size: [Number of users]
- Industry: [Vertical]
- Company size: [Employees]

---

## 👥 Stakeholder Map

### Key Champions

**[Name] - [Title]**
- **Role:** Champion
- **Influence:** High
- **Support:** High
- **Relationship:** Strong
- **Last contact:** [Date]
- **Key interests:** [What they care about]
- **How to engage:** [Strategy]

### Economic Buyers

**[Name] - [Title]**
- **Role:** Economic Buyer
- **Influence:** High
- **Support:** Medium
- **Relationship:** Moderate
- **Last contact:** [Date]
- **Key concerns:** [What worries them]
-  [Strategy]



[List key users with brief context]



  [Roles/departments not yet connected]
  [People we should strengthen ties with]

---






 [Product/Feature 1] - [Adoption level: High/Medium/Low]
 [Product/Feature 2] - [Adoption level: High/Medium/Low]


 [Key usage pattern]
 [Adoption blockers]
 [Power users]



  [High/Medium/Low] - [Evidence]
  [High/Medium/Low] - [Evidence]
  [High/Medium/Low] - [Evidence]


 [Positive signal 1]
 [Concern 1]

---






  Expansion / Upsell / Cross-sell
  $[Amount]
  [Timing/trigger]
  [What needs to happen]
  [Who drives this]
  [Target date]


[Same structure]




  [Type]
  $[Amount]
  [What would enable this]

---






  Churn / Competition / Relationship
  High / Medium / Low
  [What indicates this risk]
  [Actions to reduce risk]
  [Who's responsible]
  [In progress / Planned / Monitor]



 [Indicator 1] - Check monthly
 [Indicator 2] - Check quarterly

---






  [What we're trying to achieve]
 
 [ ] [Action 1] - [Owner] - [Date]
 [ ] [Action 2] - [Owner] - [Date]
 [ ] [Action 3] - [Owner] - [Date]
  [How we measure success]


[Same structure]

---





  [User check-ins, support tickets]
  [Champion sync, usage review]
  [Executive business review, roadmap discussion]
  [Contract renewal, strategic planning]



  - [Event/Meeting] - [Purpose]
  - [Event/Meeting] - [Purpose]

---





  - [Milestone: First deal, major expansion, executive engagement, etc.]
  - [Milestone]



  - [Decision made and impact]
  - [Decision made and impact]



 [Learning 1] - [What to do differently]
 [Learning 2] - [What worked well]

---




 Revenue: $[Current] → $[Target]
 Users: [Current] → [Target]
 Adoption: [Current %] → [Target %]


 Executive contacts: [Current] → [Target]
 Meeting frequency: [Current] → [Target]
 Advocacy: [Current state] → [Target state]

---




 [ ] [Action 1] - [Owner] - [Date]
 [ ] [Action 2] - [Owner] - [Date]


 [ ] [Action 1] - [Owner] - [Date]
 [ ] [Action 2] - [Owner] - [Date]

 [When to revisit this plan]

Save to: 05-Areas/Companies/[Company-Name]_Account_Plan.md

---

Step 5: Offer Follow-Up Actions

After creating the plan, ask:

"Account plan created! Want me to:

1. Update person pages with strategic context?
2. Draft email for stakeholder engagement?
3. Create tasks for immediate actions?
4. Schedule quarterly business review?"

---

Existing Plan Updates

If account plan already exists:

1. Read existing plan
2. Ask what's changed:
   • New stakeholders?
   • Updated opportunities?
   • New risks?
   • Progress on initiatives?
3. Update relevant sections
4. Preserve historical context

---

Integration with Other Skills

• Before creating: Run /customer-intel [company] for recent feedback
• After creating: Use /meeting-prep with stakeholders using this context
• For renewals: Use /renewal-prep with this plan as foundation
• Quarterly: Review and update alongside /pipeline-health

---

Example Output

This is a schema example, not a fictional account. Replace bracketed values only with evidence from the source ledger; leave missing values as Unknown.

# Account Plan: [Account name or Unknown]

**As-of date:** [As-of date]
**Account owner:** [Owner or Unknown]
**Plan status:** Draft for human review

## Source ledger
| Source ID | Source date | Scope | Freshness / limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| [Source ID] | [Source date] | [Contract, CRM record, meeting, or usage report] | [Limit or Unknown] |

## Account facts
| Field | Value | Source ID | Source date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract value | [Exact sourced value or Unknown] | [Source ID] | [Source date] |
| Renewal date | [Exact sourced date or Unknown] | [Source ID] | [Source date] |
| Adoption | [Configured measure or Unknown] | [Source ID] | [Source date] |

## Stakeholders
| Person | Evidence-backed role | Relationship | Last confirmed contact |
|---|---|---|---|
| [Name or Unknown] | [Role or Unknown] | [Observed state or Unknown] | [Date / Source ID / Unknown] |

## Opportunities, risks, and actions
- Opportunity: [Observed need and evidence, or Unknown]
- Risk: [Observed signal and evidence, or Unknown]
- Proposed action: [Owner / due date / evidence needed]
- Decision authority: [Human owner]

## Save boundary
- Exact target: [path]
- Preview confirmed by: [human / timestamp]
- Read-back result: [matched preview or failed; recovery action]