Account-Based Selling Training Course

Duration 5 days 8 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Key Account Managers, Enterprise Sales Executives and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-S-068

Before you join: Participants should have experience selling B2B, public-sector or enterprise products and services, including customer meetings, opportunity management and basic sales forecasting.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Complex B2B, government and enterprise sales are rarely won through a single persuasive meeting. Buying decisions involve multiple stakeholders, formal procurement steps, competing priorities and long sales cycles. Account-based selling gives sales teams a disciplined way to focus effort on selected high-value accounts, build credible account intelligence, develop relationships beyond one contact and connect commercial proposals to measurable customer priorities.

This course teaches participants how to select and tier target accounts, research commercial triggers, map buying centres and create role-specific value messages. Participants use strategic account planning methods to identify whitespace, qualify opportunities, build win themes and coordinate internal specialists. The course also covers multithreading, executive engagement, mutual action plans, negotiation preparation, procurement strategy, account scorecards and quarterly business reviews.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with sector-relevant cases, group account planning, stakeholder mapping, discovery simulations and deal-review discussions. Participants apply the methods to realistic enterprise, banking, public-sector, technology and professional-services sales situations. Each participant leaves with a practical strategic account plan, account intelligence brief, stakeholder map, value hypothesis and 90-day action plan for use with a priority account. Successful participants receive a certificate of completion.

The course suits experienced sales professionals moving from transactional or opportunity-led selling into strategic account work. It is also relevant for account managers, sales leaders, customer success managers and commercial specialists supporting complex pursuits.

What you will be able to do

  • Select target accounts using a scored ideal-customer-profile and tiering model
  • Build account intelligence briefs from financial, market and trigger-event research
  • Map buying centres using power-interest analysis and multithreading plans
  • Develop value hypotheses using discovery evidence, quantified outcomes and proof points
  • Produce strategic account plans with whitespace, win themes and governance actions
  • Coordinate pursuit teams through RACI, opportunity stages and mutual action plans
  • Prepare procurement and negotiation strategies using BATNA, concession and give-get methods
  • Measure account progress through scorecards, pipeline inspection and quarterly business reviews

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Build credible strategic account plans for higher-value customer pursuits
  • Replace single-contact selling with mapped stakeholder engagement strategies
  • Present commercial value in customer outcomes rather than product features
  • Improve control of complex opportunities through evidence-based qualification
  • Prepare confidently for procurement discussions and executive account reviews

For your organisation

  • Concentrate sales investment on accounts with stronger strategic fit and growth potential
  • Improve buying-centre coverage and reduce dependency on individual customer contacts
  • Create consistent account-plan standards across sales, marketing and specialist teams
  • Increase forecast credibility through customer-commitment-based opportunity stages
  • Protect commercial value during procurement through planned concessions and tradeables

Course modules

8 modules over 5 days

Participants can select and tier target accounts using explicit strategic and commercial criteria.

  • Account-based selling principles contrasted with territory coverage and lead-led pursuit
  • Strategic account criteria scored by revenue potential, fit, access and urgency
  • Tier-one, tier-two and tier-three account segmentation using explicit service models
  • White-space analysis identifies divisions, use cases, spend categories and growth signals
  • Account selection hypotheses tested against win history and delivery capability
  • Sales and marketing responsibilities aligned through account pursuit service-level agreements

Participants can produce evidence-based account intelligence that identifies relevant commercial priorities and triggers.

  • Account intelligence brief assembled from annual reports, earnings calls and news
  • PESTLE analysis links external pressures to account-specific commercial implications
  • Trigger events prioritised: acquisitions, regulatory changes, leadership moves and transformation programmes
  • Financial statement signals reveal margin pressure, investment capacity and risk appetite
  • Research sources assessed for reliability, recency, bias and decision relevance
  • Insight briefs separate verified facts, informed assumptions and discovery questions

Participants can map buying-centre influence and plan engagement across multiple stakeholder roles.

  • Buying-centre maps distinguish economic buyers, users, technical evaluators and gatekeepers
  • Power-interest grids prioritise stakeholder engagement and influence-building actions
  • Organisational charts enriched with reporting lines, alliances, blockers and coaches
  • Multithreading plans reduce reliance on single contacts and informal champions
  • Persona hypotheses identify role-specific pains, metrics, risks and desired outcomes
  • Stakeholder engagement sequences match message, channel, timing and relationship maturity

Participants can turn discovery evidence into quantified value hypotheses and executive-level messages.

  • Value Proposition Canvas connects account jobs, pains, gains and offerings
  • Discovery questions expose operational constraints, commercial priorities and change consequences
  • SPIN Selling questions progress from situation evidence to payoff implications
  • Value hypotheses quantify revenue, cost, risk and time-to-value outcomes
  • Proof-point libraries match claims with evidence, references and implementation facts
  • Executive messages frame strategic outcomes without product-feature recitals

Participants can create strategic account plans that prioritise opportunities and identify winning actions.

  • Strategic account plans define ambition, baseline position, gaps and pursuit priorities
  • Relationship maps record stakeholder status, engagement objectives and next commitments
  • Opportunity whitespace translated into use-case hypotheses and qualification paths
  • MEDDICC assesses metrics, economic buyer, criteria, process, pain and competition
  • Win themes connect differentiated strengths to verified account priorities
  • Account plan governance assigns owners, milestones, review cadence and escalation routes

Participants can coordinate internal and customer actions to progress strategic opportunities predictably.

  • Mutual Action Plans align customer decisions, supplier actions, dates and dependencies
  • Contact strategies coordinate executive outreach, specialist input and marketing air cover
  • Opportunity stages tied to customer commitments rather than seller activity
  • Deal reviews inspect evidence gaps, stakeholder coverage, risks and next actions
  • Internal pursuit teams use RACI to clarify decisions and handoffs
  • Account communication cadences balance relevance, persistence, consent and response signals

Participants can prepare commercial strategies that protect value through procurement and negotiation stages.

  • Procurement maps identify sourcing stages, approval thresholds and contractual constraints
  • Negotiation preparation defines BATNA, reservation point, concessions and tradeables
  • Give-get matrices protect price, scope, payment terms and implementation commitments
  • Objection diagnosis separates stated concerns from underlying commercial or political risk
  • Consensus-building messages address finance, operations, technology and risk stakeholders
  • Commercial proposals link commitments, outcomes, assumptions, governance and measurement

Participants can monitor account performance and create a focused 90-day plan for priority accounts.

  • Account scorecards track relationship health, pipeline quality, revenue and retention
  • Leading indicators distinguish meaningful engagement from superficial meeting activity
  • Pipeline inspection tests stage evidence, forecast confidence and slippage causes
  • Quarterly business reviews assess delivered value, priorities and expansion opportunities
  • Loss reviews classify controllable gaps, competitor strengths and qualification errors
  • Ninety-day application plans specify target accounts, actions, measures and sponsors

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Strategic account plan template
  2. Account intelligence brief template
  3. Buying-centre stakeholder map
  4. Quantified value hypothesis model
  5. Mutual Action Plan template
  6. 90-day account action plan

Who should attend

  • Key Account Managers — need structured plans for growing complex strategic accounts
  • Enterprise Sales Executives — need stronger stakeholder coverage and opportunity control
  • Business Development Managers — need to convert target-account research into qualified pursuits
  • Sales Managers — need common account-plan standards and inspection methods
  • Customer Success Managers — need to identify expansion opportunities within major customers
  • Pre-sales and Solution Consultants — need to support account-specific value cases and win themes

Skills and tools covered

Strategic account planningStakeholder mappingValue sellingOpportunity qualificationMultithreaded sellingCommercial negotiation

Tools and standards

MEDDICC, SPIN Selling, Value Proposition Canvas, RACI

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce each method, followed by account-focused case work, group analysis, discovery and stakeholder simulations, and structured deal reviews. Participants examine realistic account information, including organisational structures, financial signals, procurement constraints and competing priorities. Facilitated discussion compares different pursuit choices and tests the evidence behind them. Individual application planning converts the methods into actions for priority accounts. Trainers adapt cases and discussion emphasis to the participants' sectors, account sizes and sales models.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience selling B2B, public-sector or enterprise products and services, including customer meetings, opportunity management and basic sales forecasting. Familiarity with CRM opportunity records, account hierarchies and standard sales terminology is useful. Participants should bring knowledge of one live or recently pursued account, although confidential customer information is not required. The course does not require prior formal account-management training, advanced financial modelling, marketing qualifications or negotiation certification. It is not designed for people with no customer-facing sales experience.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should have practical experience in B2B, enterprise or public-sector sales and understand the basic opportunity lifecycle. Previous formal account-management training is not required, but the course assumes familiarity with customer meetings and CRM-managed opportunities.

Bring details of a live or recent strategic account, such as its business priorities, stakeholder roles and current opportunities. Do not bring confidential documents or commercially sensitive customer data; anonymised information is sufficient.

It is designed for key account managers, enterprise sales professionals, business development managers and sales leaders managing complex, multi-stakeholder pursuits. Customer success, pre-sales and commercial specialists also benefit where they support growth in named accounts.

Key account management often concentrates on managing established customer relationships, while this course also addresses target-account selection and strategic pursuit development. Negotiation training focuses on bargaining conversations; this course positions negotiation within account research, stakeholder strategy, value creation and procurement planning.

Participants leave with templates and an application plan that can be used with a priority account. The account intelligence brief, stakeholder map, value hypothesis and mutual action plan can be adapted to existing CRM and sales-governance processes.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, with about 6.5 contact hours daily. The five days progress from account selection and research through stakeholder strategy, value development, pursuit control, procurement and performance management.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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