Major Account Planning Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Key Account Managers, Major Account Managers 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-073

Before you join: Participants should have practical B2B sales, account management or business development experience and familiarity with their organisation's sales process, CRM records and customer propositions.

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

Major accounts often represent significant revenue, margin and strategic access, yet many sales teams manage them through disconnected opportunity notes and individual relationships. This creates concentration risk, weak executive coverage, inconsistent value messages and late visibility of competitive threats. A disciplined major account plan turns account intelligence into coordinated action: whom to engage, what business outcomes matter, where growth exists, which deals need attention and how progress will be measured.

This five-day Major Account Planning Training Course equips participants to select and tier accounts, research customer strategy and financial drivers, map buying centres, conduct structured discovery and build evidence-based value propositions. Participants use PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, SPIN questioning, Value Proposition Canvas, MEDDICC and mutual action plans to shape account strategy and pursue qualified opportunities. The course also addresses commercial planning, negotiation preparation, account governance, executive sponsorship and CRM-based performance measures.

Instructor-led delivery combines concise briefings with account cases, facilitated group work, stakeholder-mapping simulations, business-case analysis and account-plan reviews. Participants apply each method to realistic B2B account situations and can bring anonymised details from a live customer account. They leave with a completed major account plan pack, including account analysis, stakeholder map, value case, opportunity priorities, governance rhythm and 90-day actions. The course is available in classroom formats in 50+ cities or live online, runs 08:30-16:30 over five days, and includes approximately 32.5 contact hours and a certificate of completion.

What you will be able to do

  • Classify strategic accounts using attractiveness, supplier strength and portfolio tiering criteria
  • Research account strategy, financial position, industry pressures and procurement context
  • Map buying-centre stakeholders, influence routes, relationship gaps and contact priorities
  • Conduct structured discovery using SPIN questions, problem statements and buying criteria
  • Construct quantified value cases using ROI, payback period and NPV assumptions
  • Formulate account strategies using white-space analysis, win themes and measurable objectives
  • Qualify opportunities with MEDDICC, mutual action plans and deal risk registers
  • Produce a governed major account plan with 90-day actions and performance measures

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Create credible account plans that guide daily selling priorities
  • Gain access to senior customer stakeholders through structured relationship mapping
  • Build stronger business cases for investment, renewal and expansion decisions
  • Improve forecast confidence through evidence-based opportunity qualification
  • Present account strategy clearly to sales leaders and internal specialists

For your organisation

  • Focus sales capacity on accounts with stronger strategic and commercial potential
  • Increase cross-functional coordination around priority customers and complex pursuits
  • Improve opportunity quality before proposal, pricing and executive resources are committed
  • Protect margin through quantified value selling and planned negotiation positions
  • Create comparable account-plan data for management reviews and forecast decisions

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can identify, tier and govern major accounts against strategic and commercial criteria.

  • Major-account economics: concentration risk, lifetime value, margin and cost-to-serve
  • Distinguishing strategic accounts from transactional customers using revenue, potential and fit
  • Tiering portfolios with an account attractiveness and supplier strength matrix
  • Account selection criteria aligned with corporate strategy and sales capacity
  • Roles, governance and decision rights in major-account management teams
  • Ethical boundaries, conflicts of interest and procurement integrity requirements

Participants can develop an evidence-based view of an account's strategy, finances and market context.

  • Building account dossiers from annual reports, procurement portals and CRM records
  • PESTLE signals linked to customer priorities, budgets and buying constraints
  • Porter's Five Forces used to assess account industry pressures
  • Reading financial statements for growth, liquidity, capital plans and risk
  • Identifying strategic initiatives through investor presentations, tenders and leadership communications
  • Triangulating public sources with seller intelligence while protecting confidential information

Participants can map buying-centre influence and build targeted relationship coverage plans.

  • Mapping buying centres with the DMU, roles, influence and information needs
  • Power-interest grids prioritising sponsors, blockers, users and procurement stakeholders
  • Stakeholder hypotheses tested through discovery rather than assumed from titles
  • Multi-threading relationships across executive, operational, technical and commercial contacts
  • Relationship maps showing formal reporting lines, informal influence and access gaps
  • Contact plans balancing customer value, cadence, ownership and agreed actions

Participants can uncover, validate and quantify account needs that support credible sales priorities.

  • SPIN questioning sequences that uncover operational problems, implications and desired outcomes
  • Discovery agendas tailored to finance, operations, IT, risk and procurement
  • Problem statements separating symptoms, root causes, constraints and measurable consequences
  • Jobs-to-be-Done interviews identifying functional, emotional and social customer progress
  • Quantifying pain with baseline metrics, process maps and cost assumptions
  • Confirming buying criteria, approval paths, deadlines and non-negotiable requirements

Participants can translate customer priorities into quantified value propositions and business cases.

  • Value Proposition Canvas connecting customer jobs, pains, gains and offerings
  • Outcome-based value messages tailored to stakeholder priorities and decision criteria
  • Value-driver trees linking solution features to operational and financial outcomes
  • Building business cases using revenue, cost, risk, working capital and compliance
  • ROI, payback period and NPV calculations with transparent assumptions
  • Evidence plans combining benchmarks, customer data, pilots and reference stories

Participants can define defensible account growth strategies, priorities and measurable annual objectives.

  • SWOT analysis distinguishing account strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
  • White-space analysis locating unmet needs, adjacent units and expansion routes
  • Growth choices assessed through Ansoff Matrix market and offering options
  • Competitive position mapped by incumbent strengths, switching barriers and differentiation
  • Win themes translating account priorities into distinctive, defensible supplier positions
  • Strategic account objectives written as measurable annual outcomes and milestones

Participants can prioritise qualified opportunities and plan joint actions that move deals forward.

  • MEDDICC qualification testing metrics, economic buyer, decision process and competition
  • Opportunity maps linking initiatives, stakeholders, value hypotheses and next steps
  • Mutual action plans assigning customer and seller commitments, dates and owners
  • Deal risk registers covering technical, commercial, legal and political exposures
  • Pipeline stages defined by verifiable customer evidence rather than seller optimism
  • Forecast categories calibrated using probability, timing confidence and deal dependencies

Participants can prepare proposals and negotiation positions that protect value and margin.

  • Proposal strategies aligned to evaluation criteria, scoring weights and compliance gates
  • Win-loss reviews extracting evidence from past bids, competitors and customer feedback
  • Negotiation preparation using BATNA, reservation points, trades and concession plans
  • Give-get matrices protecting margin while exchanging value for customer commitments
  • Commercial terms assessed for payment, liability, service levels and renewal risk
  • Executive presentations structured around decisions, evidence, options and requested actions

Participants can convert account strategy into coordinated actions, ownership and review discipline.

  • Account-plan architecture covering objectives, stakeholders, opportunities, actions and measures
  • 90-day action plans sequencing access, discovery, value validation and pursuit activity
  • RACI matrices clarifying sales, service, product, legal and executive responsibilities
  • Cadence meetings reviewing account health, opportunity progress and blocked actions
  • CRM hygiene standards for contacts, opportunities, next steps and forecast evidence
  • Leading indicators tracking access, discovery quality, value evidence and sponsor strength

Participants can run account governance routines and establish a practical post-course application plan.

  • Account reviews using red-amber-green status, decisions, owners and due dates
  • Executive sponsor briefings focused on customer priorities, asks and relationship risks
  • Cross-functional escalation paths for delivery issues, commercial exceptions and conflicts
  • Account health scorecards combining relationship, value, pipeline, delivery and financial measures
  • Quarterly business reviews structured around outcomes, evidence, commitments and investments
  • Individual application plans specifying target accounts, actions, support and review dates

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

What you take back to work

  1. Strategic account selection and tiering matrix
  2. Account research dossier template
  3. Buying-centre stakeholder map
  4. Quantified customer value case model
  5. MEDDICC opportunity qualification checklist
  6. 90-day major account action plan

Who should attend

  • Key Account Managers — need repeatable methods for growing strategic customer relationships
  • Major Account Managers — need stronger account plans, opportunity discipline and executive coverage
  • Business Development Managers — need to convert complex prospects into structured growth plans
  • Sales Managers — need consistent account-plan standards and coaching criteria for their teams
  • Strategic Sales Executives — need to coordinate multiple stakeholders through long sales cycles
  • Customer Success Leaders — need to identify expansion opportunities and protect high-value accounts

Skills and tools covered

Account portfolio strategyStakeholder mappingValue case developmentOpportunity qualificationCommercial negotiationAccount plan governance

Tools and standards

PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, SPIN Selling, MEDDICC

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings followed by account-based case work, group analysis, stakeholder-mapping simulations and facilitated reviews. Participants examine annual reports, account signals, buying roles, opportunity evidence and commercial scenarios. Teams build elements of an account plan, test value assumptions, prepare negotiation positions and run account review conversations. Trainers provide structured feedback against practical planning criteria. Individual application planning connects the methods to participants' named accounts, account portfolios and internal review processes.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical B2B sales, account management or business development experience and familiarity with their organisation's sales process, CRM records and customer propositions. They should be comfortable discussing revenue, margin, customer needs and commercial priorities. Experience managing named accounts or complex opportunities is useful, but formal key account management training is not required. No prior finance qualification, negotiation certification, advanced spreadsheet skills or specialist industry knowledge is required. Participants may bring anonymised information from one current account for application.

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 B2B sales, account management or business development experience. Familiarity with customer accounts, CRM records and commercial discussions is expected, but prior formal account planning training is not required.

Bring a laptop if possible, plus anonymised information about one current account or target account. Useful material includes account objectives, stakeholder details, opportunity notes, customer research and relevant CRM extracts.

The course is designed primarily for key account managers, major account managers, business development managers and sales managers. It also suits customer success leaders responsible for renewal, retention and account expansion.

General sales courses usually focus on individual opportunities, sales conversations or personal selling skills. This course focuses on the longer-term management of strategically important accounts, including portfolio choices, stakeholder coverage, account strategy, governance and coordinated pursuit planning.

Participants can apply the templates to a named account immediately after the programme. The account plan pack supports sales reviews, executive sponsor briefings, opportunity qualification, cross-functional coordination and quarterly business reviews.

The programme runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, providing approximately 32.5 contact hours. Time is divided across ten connected modules, with briefings, account cases, group work, simulations, plan development and structured feedback.

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

More courses in Sales

Sales Global Sales Leadership Training Course 5 days · from USD 1,100 · next 16 Nov Sales High-Performance B2B Sales Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Sales Key Account Management Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Sales Key Account Management and Business Development Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Sales Managing Long Sales Cycles Training Course 5 days · from USD 1,100 · next 16 Nov Sales Marketing and Sales Skills Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Sales Mini MBA in Sales Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Sales Mini MBA in Sales and Marketing Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov