Sept. 19, 2023

Death of the "Static" Account Plan: The 6 Pillars of ABS w/ Ulrik Monberg

Death of the "Static" Account Plan: The 6 Pillars of ABS w/ Ulrik Monberg
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Season 1

Episode SummaryIs your CRM just a graveyard for contact info? In this episode of Thoughts on Selling, Lee Levitt sits down with Ulrik Monberg, CEO of ARPEDIO, to solve a problem plaguing sales teams: Why do "Account Plans" end up as static documents stuck in a drawer?

Ulrik identified that most tools store data but fail to guide behavior. He built ARPEDIO to bridge this gap. We discuss the shift from Account Planning (a document) to Account-Based Selling (ABS) (a process) and how the Strategic Account Manager (SAM) must evolve into an "Orchestrator" of cross-functional value.

Memorable Quotes:

  • "Account plans are static, stale documents... Account-Based Selling is a living, breathing process."

  • "Selling is all about helping the customer to find different—more effective, profitable—ways of doing business."

  • "We focus on building a learning organization... leveraging tribal knowledge."

3 Actionable Takeaways for Leaders:

  1. Orchestrate, Don't Just Sell: The modern SAM must act as a conductor, pulling in product, success, and execs to co-create value. Silos leave revenue on the table.

  2. The "Good Data" Mandate: AI is only as good as its context. Ulrik warns that unstructured CRM data leads to "hallucinated" strategies. Codify Best Practices first, then scale with AI.

  3. Audit Your "6 Pillars": If ABS fails, audit Ulrik's keys: Process, Value, Orchestration, Data, Tech Stack, and Leadership. A broken link (e.g., Tech not supporting Process) is usually the culprit.

Key Topics & Timestamps:

  • (00:00) – Intro: Why CRM fails to guide behavior.

  • (04:20) – ARPEDIO Defined: Assess, Reflect, Plan, Execute.

  • (10:15) – Static vs. Dynamic: Why "living" account plans win.

  • (16:40) – The 6 Pillars of ABS: Process, Value, Orchestration, Data, Tech Stack, Leadership.

  • (28:30) – The SAM as Orchestrator: Engaging the "customer's customer."

  • (35:00) – AI in Account Strategy: From "Generative" to "Strategic."

  • (41:50) – Building a Learning Org: Capturing tribal knowledge.

About Our Guest:Ulrik Monberg is the CEO/Co-Founder of ARPEDIO, a platform making Account-Based Selling actionable in Salesforce. He helps organizations move from "data entry" to "value creation" and is a thought leader on Strategic Account Management (SAM).

About the Host:Lee Levitt is a seasoned sales performance consultant, sales coach and the Principal of The Acelera Group.

With decades of experience in Sales, Sales Leadership, Sales Enablement, Revenue Operations, and Sales Performance Management, Lee helps enterprise organizations build disciplined, replicable sales operating systems.

He is the voice behind the Thoughts on Selling™ brand, covering the intersection of deal mechanics and the "Inner Game" of selling.

Related Episodes:

  • Ep [Prev]: Escaping the Sales Treadmill w/ Pete Smith

  • Ep [Prev]: The Unicorn Model is Dead w/ Amos Bar-Joseph

  • Ep 25: When Sales People Do Their Homework w/ Deb Berman

Resources & Links:

Keywords:Account Based Selling, ABS, Account Planning, Strategic Account Management, SAM, KAM, Salesforce, CRM Strategy, ARPEDIO, Sales Orchestration, Value Selling, B2B Sales Process, RevOps, Sales Methodology, Cross-Functional Selling, AI in Sales.


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