1. CLIENT DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Client account
Client company
Date
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2. How to use this template
Simply replace the text in grey italics with your own account details
Please feel free to add/modify the slides to suit the specifics of your account
This template can be used many times for different clients
I’d love to know how this is template is helping you in your business so please drop me a line at or find more resources at
I hope it comes in handy!

3. Content Objectives of the plan Account facts
Client overview & financial goals
Strategic objectives & market overview
Our company’s strategic approach
Resource plan & scope of work
Project status
Relationship building
Client map
Client contact plan
Client challenges and agency actions
New business opportunities
New business action steps
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4. 1. Objectives of this plan
To identify client challenges and account growth opportunities
To form an action plan for developing the client relationship
To create one document that encompasses key client information that serves as a:
Resource for any new company starters
A presentation format to use when reviewing progress on the account
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5. 2. Account facts Client Client name Brand Brand name Product
Product name (if different)
Business area
Area of the business (if applicable)
Key client contact
Name of key client contact
Global/US/EU/Asia Pac/UK account
Coverage
Forecast 20XX
£ XXXXXXXX
Business scope
What has the company been asked to cover in the contract
Pitched
Date pitched
Agreement
Is this agreement a project basis, Company of Record (CoR)

6. Client overview

7. Client overview Client company £ [Derma Crema] revenue £30,250,000
[Derma Crema] products
Health & Personal care products
Business area
Dermatology
Brand
[Rosaceali] sales target
£500,000 (launch year)
[Rosaceali] actual sales
£350,000
Majority of sales driven by
Online purchases in year 1
Importance of this brand to the company
High
Other notes
Sales were slow in first quarter due to delay in manufacturing. Customer demand for the product has been high due to integrated marketing campaign

8. Client lifetime value to agency
Lifetime value calculation
Average project sale
Number of purchases per month
A x B = A B C
C x 12 months (value per year) D
Average length of relationship E
D x E F
Number of referrals from a client per year G
Value of customer (assuming referred customer buys the same as referring customer)
F x G
Total lifetime value of client
F + H

9. Account categorisation
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10. [Derma Crema inc] categorisation
Growth potential
High
2nd tier
1st tier
4th tier
3rd tier
Low
Available budget
Low
High

11. Brand’s strategic objectives & market overview
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12. Strategic objectives Area Detail Market situation
Market is dominated by brand leader Skin inc. with its product Facex and 50% market share. Three other direct competitors in the market making up 30%.
Objectives
3 year plan: to obtain 5% market share by 20XX with monthly gross sales of £XXXX and year 2, 15% market share with monthly gross sales of £XXXX and year 3, 20% market share with monthly gross sales of £XXXX
Competitive position
Rosaceali’s unique formulation is of superior quality with supporting clinical data. It contains a cover element in 3 shades so women can stop using a treatment cream and a cover up stick and just use one product with combined benefit.
Strategic approach
Rosaceali will be sold 100% online in year 1 with an aggressive marketing campaign both on and offline.
Target audience
Young women years with rosacea
Target insight
Women with rosacea currently use a treatment cream and a cover up stick. They would like one product for both.

13. SWOT [Rosaeli] Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Strengths
Superior product to competitors
Unique formulation supporting clinical data
Weaknesses
Unknown brand
Small marketing budget in year 1
Opportunities
Pre-sales interest from prospective targets high
Threats
Main competitor begun aggressive marketing campaign

14. Scope of work
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15. Scope of work Project category Forecast budget
1. Customer insight research £X
2. Pre-launch strategic workshop, competitor review & launch plan
3. Brand strategy, logo & brand guidelines & global brand toolbox
4. Media plan, promotional launch plan & tactical campaign development & roll out

16. Our current approach
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17. 5. Our company’s strategic approach
What is our current strategic approach for achieving the client’s objectives?
What have we proposed as possible solutions?
How are we thinking about their business on an on-going basis?
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18. 6. Resource plan & scope of work
Forecast breakdown, resource plan and financial scope of work
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19. 7. Project status Include current campaign/project status report
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20. Relationship building
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21. 8. Relationship building
Often one person in the agency holds the relationship with several individuals at one client company
This can be risky as it puts a lot of responsibility on one person and if anything goes wrong with the relationship, or if they decide to leave the account could disappear
The aim therefore is to spread the risk by matching different contacts on the client side with the same level contact on the agency side
The client mapping exercise will help you identify which clients are supporters and blockers and who is best to manage the relationship at every level.
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22. 9a. Map client advocates High support High influence Low influence
Passive supporter
Active supporter
High influence
Low influence
Passive blocker
Active blocker
Low support

23. 9b. Map client advocates High support High influence Low influence
Tom Jones
Lorraine Parsons
Mark Miles
Bob Lowe
High influence
Low influence
Current spend is defined as the amount of available budget the client has e.g. if the client has a low spend this means a small budget.
Growth potential is defined as how much potential there is to cross-sell additional services to the client e.g. if there is a very good chance the client will buy more agency services, the growth potential is high.
Bronze: As there is little budget and no opportunity to grow the account, this is the lowest agency priority. Senior account handlers should not be spending time here.
Silver: Although there is a high current spend, there are no opportunities to grow. Consider this account being managed by the Account Executive
Gold: Despite a low current spend with the agency, this account has the potential to grow further. Therefore, the account team should seek ways to cross sell.
Platinum: This client is the top priority as there is a high current spend and high potential for growth.
Sam Smith
Amanda Anderson
Low support

24. 9c. Plan to strengthen & secure
High support
Nurture
Leverage
High influence
Low influence
Current spend is defined as the amount of available budget the client has e.g. if the client has a low spend this means a small budget.
Growth potential is defined as how much potential there is to cross-sell additional services to the client e.g. if there is a very good chance the client will buy more agency services, the growth potential is high.
Bronze: As there is little budget and no opportunity to grow the account, this is the lowest agency priority. Senior account handlers should not be spending time here.
Silver: Although there is a high current spend, there are no opportunities to grow. Consider this account being managed by the Account Executive
Gold: Despite a low current spend with the agency, this account has the potential to grow further. Therefore, the account team should seek ways to cross sell.
Platinum: This client is the top priority as there is a high current spend and high potential for growth.
Update
Activate
Low support

25. 9e. Plan to strengthen & secure
Influence
Support
Activity
Actions
HIGH
LEVERAGE
Ask for testimonials, referrals & introductions
LOW
ACTIVATE
Ask for feedback/client-agency relationship review meeting and brand plans
NURTURE
Gather information, invite to social event
UPDATE
Keep updated

26. 9d. Client preferred social styles
Task
Driver
Direct to the point
Can be outspoken
Proves value from results
Firm, business-like
Analytical
Specific, concise
Clear, logical
Systematic, bottom-line
Ask
Tell
Amiable
Values relationships above all
Prefers harmony
Supportive, reliable
Expressive
Animated, invigorating
Gets bored easily
Informal, casual
People

27. 9f. Plan to strengthen & secure
Name
Role
Influence
Support
Social style Jo
Bob
Sally
Mark
Action
Lorraine Parsons
BUD
Very high AM x
Jo to ask Lorraine for introduction to Procurement
Sam Smith MD
low D
Bob to call Sam with project update
Mark Miles MM
high AD
Mark to speak to Jo about lunch
Amanda Anderson MA E
Bob to introduce client services director

28. Client contact plan
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29. 10a. Client contact plan
A great account person finds out how their client would like to be contacted, how frequently and the best way to make contact (face-to-face, , phone, mobile etc)
Remembering client details such as their hobbies, children’s names etc is also a very nice personal touch and can go a long way to developing the relationship
Therefore, it’s advisable to capture some of this information somewhere so you can remember it (see next page)
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30. 10b. Client contact plan Client name: XXXXX Contact details: XXXXXX
Preferred time and method of contact: XXXXX
Other details: XXXXX
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31. 10c. Client contact plan Frequency Type of contact Who When Daily
Call, , meetings as required
AM / AE
As required
Weekly
Phone call: discuss projects
Follow up summary
Every Friday am
Monthly
Face to face status meeting
AM / AD
1st Monday
Quarterly
Pro-active idea: align with strategy
20th Jan, 20th Jun, 20th Sept, 10th Dec
6 monthly
Half year planning update
Relationship-building entertainment e.g. non-work team building activity
Team
June 2018
Annually
Relationship evaluation review & planning meeting
CSD / AD
December 2018
Post-project
A post-project evaluation
AD / AM
Birthdays, Holidays
Card, call, drink, invitation
To be completed

32. Client’s challenges & our action plan
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33. 11. Client challenges & agency actions
During both formal (client/agency relationship evaluations and meetings) and informal (social events) interactions with clients you can ask great questions to uncover their challenges; both business and personal
Great account people then help their clients address these challenges – even if your own agency’s services don’t directly solve them – as this creates trust:
e.g. support your client by sending them relevant information gathered from external sources or the competitive environment (hint: set up Google Alerts to receive latest related news from the web), create networking opportunities for your client or introduce your client to useful contacts, provide education and learning opportunities via case studies or open days etc.
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34. 11. Client challenges & agency actions cont.
Areas of potential challenge:
Financial
E.g. share price/value, revenue, profit, productivity, competition
Customers
E.g. reputation, satisfying needs, complaints
Internal environment/processes
E.g. managing staff issues/innovation/regulations/operations
Learning and growth
E.g. improving performance, building knowledge
Personal impact
E.g. work relationship challenges, targets & incentives
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35. 11. Client challenges & agency actions cont.
Top client issues/challenges
Potential agency action to address client issue
Short:
Issue 1: Aggressive competitor activity threatening market share
Issue 2: Client is very busy and under-staffed which causes him to miss approval deadlines for your campaign
Issue 1: Be the first with news about competitor activity from external media sources, present competitor review and develop counter promotional campaign
Issue 2: Offer to work from his office at peak campaign approval times
Medium:
Issue 1: Staff turnover is high, morale is low
Issue 2: Current ad campaign has already run for 8 months
Issue 1: Introduce your client to an HR specialist consultant or suggest an internal staff survey to identify key issues
Issue 2: Develop ideas for follow-on ad campaign
Long-term:
Issue 1: Attracting good staff is difficult
Issue 2: Client looking to raise her profile in the industry
Issue 1: Propose a low-cost social media recruitment campaign focussing on reaching the target audience more effectively
Issue 2: Identify potential industry magazines that accept editorial and offer to draft an expert piece

36. 12. New business opportunities
Client name
New business opportunity
1. Sam Smith, Marketing Director
Counter promotional activity
2. Mark Miles, Marketing Manager
Develop ideas for follow-on ad campaign
3. Lorraine Parsons, Business Unit Director
Social media recruitment campaign
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37. 13. New business action steps
New business opportunity
Action steps
1. Counter promotional activity
1. Present idea of setting up a way to monitor the changing competitor activity and developing a counter-promotional campaign idea
2. Set up Google Alerts for relevant key words e.g. competitor company & brand name
3. Send daily alerts to client with additional comments & identify any ‘quick win’ activity the client could take e.g. informing senior management team/attending any relevant events
4. Formulate a competitor analysis summary with key findings & suggested actions from all the news
5. From the insight identified, develop a promotional campaign brief and present to client for sign-off
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38. 13. New business action steps cont.
New business opportunity
Action steps
1. Develop ideas for follow-on ad campaign
1. Present idea of developing follow-on campaign
2. Carry out a strategic review (bit.ly/1uGxcOT) for the latest ad campaign
3. Include any market research regarding campaign effectiveness/impact on sales & how the customer and the market has changed/evolved
4. Identify latest market insight
5. Draft a creative brief and present to client for sign-off
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39. 13. New business action steps cont.
New business opportunity
Action steps
1. Social media recruitment campaign
Present idea of running a social media recruitment campaign to attract suitable staff
Review client’s current recruitment activity
Identify the key audience the client wants to attract and where they are currently on line
Carry out research; how are the audience thinking, what are they saying, what are their opinions/thoughts? (check out forums). Run a social media report using client’s corporate brand/product brand name to find out how their brand (s) are currently perceived.
Develop ideas for how the client could reach this audience using social media & what messages they would respond to
Facilitate a client workshop to crystalise findings and thinking into actionable social media plan
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40. Notes & next steps
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41. Notes & next steps Include other notes and next steps
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42. CLIENT DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Client account
Client company
Date
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