When a company understands why growth is important, then the focus can be turned to how. One of the most overlooked sources of growth is the existing client base.
Most teams focus on winning and maintaining anchor accounts. But maintenance alone doesn’t drive growth. Without expansion strategies, even your strongest accounts will stagnate and decline. That’s where account-based selling becomes a growth lever.
Account-based selling can improve bottom-line results by 30 percent or more by expanding conversations and presenting a broader portfolio of solutions. This maximizes value within the customers who already trust you most. This can improve the predictability of forecasts and better insulate you from erosion over time.
Although the terms are often used interchangeably, account planning and account-based selling are related but distinct. One sets strategic direction; the other brings it to life. Account planning is the structured approach that helps you intentionally expand those relationships rather than simply maintain them.
Effective account planning focuses on:
- Unlocking growth opportunities. Your best clients are often your best prospects. A strong plan reveals new ways to serve them.
- Positioning your team as trusted advisers. The deeper your understanding of clients’ goals and pressures, the more value you can provide.
- Elevating conversations. Structured planning turns routine account management into proactive strategic discussions.
Many organizations have top-tier accounts representing significant revenue and loyalty. Yet those accounts often fail to grow because there is no intentional plan behind them.
If account planning sets the vision, account-based selling turns vision into measurable outcomes. It is the discipline of:
- Assigning clear account ownership and roles.
- Coordinating cross-functional resources.
- Mapping stakeholders and identifying new problems to solve.
- Executing value-based sales conversations with a variety of decision makers and stakeholders.
- Advancing new opportunities through the pipeline (not only maintenance opportunities).
This type of growth requires thoughtful navigation, long-term commitment between you and the client, and structured processes. Without an account-based selling model, opportunity becomes reactive instead of intentional.
Most organizations underestimate how much their clients are willing to invest, how many problems they can become trusted to solve and the risk of competitors stepping in to do it first. Account-based selling ensures expansion becomes proactive. It strengthens retention, increases share and protects against competitive threats while amplifying long-term revenue.
To build momentum this year, focus on:
- Identifying your top strategic accounts and clearly defining success.
- Refreshing account plans with current goals, risks and opportunities.
- Establishing ownership and accountability.
- Creating repeatable processes to surface and advance opportunities.
- Elevating conversations from transactional to strategic.
Account-based selling is a growth strategy that any organization can benefit from. For leaders committed to intentional expansion in 2026, the strongest place to start is with the customers who already believe in your value. ●
Amy Franko is CEO and LinkedIn Top Sales Voice at Amy Franko Associates
