SAMPLE ACCOUNT PLAY

From account context
to a sales action.

Northstar Components: Fictional manufacturing group evaluating how to connect finance and operational systems after an acquisition.

Fictional account · Illustrative deliverables · No customer or performance claims

Download the complete sample (PDF)Compare programme scope

1. The account brief

Observed in the sample: Sample evidence: an acquisition announcement, an approved CRM account record, and integration-related website engagement.
Hypothesis to validate: Integration may be a relevant conversation. The acquisition and engagement do not prove a funded project, a buying timeline, or a specific stakeholder’s intent.
Still unknown: Budget, current systems, decision ownership, implementation timing, and whether consolidation is a priority.
Recommended next action: The account owner checks existing conversations and tests whether integration is relevant before outreach.

In live work, each observation also needs a source link, evidence date, account-match basis, and responsible owner. The fictional sample does not supply live company evidence.

2. THE MESSAGE MAP

One problem.
Three buyer questions.

These are sample message drafts for review. They do not assume a buyer has a confirmed project.

CFO

How would we compare consolidation cost with the cost of leaving systems separate?

If systems consolidation is on your agenda, would a worksheet comparing migration cost, reporting effort, and disruption help your finance team assess the options?

Useful asset: Cost-assumptions worksheet
Review gate: Finance owner validates assumptions; no savings claim is published without supporting evidence.

CTO

Which systems and interfaces would need to change, and what could interrupt operations?

If integration is being assessed, we can structure a discovery brief around the current interfaces, migration dependencies, and testing requirements. Which dependency would your team investigate first?

Useful asset: Integration discovery brief
Review gate: Technical owner checks product capabilities, dependencies, and security statements.

COO

What would change for the teams and processes that have to keep operating?

A process map can help compare where today’s systems add work and where a migration could disrupt delivery. Which operating process should the team map first?

Useful asset: Process and adoption map
Review gate: Operational claims stay provisional until the account validates the workflow.

3. The coordinated journey

Prepare the brief and role-specific assets; validate technical and commercial statements.
Approve the audience, permitted channels, account exclusions, and sales follow-up.
Offer a useful asset through an account page and agreed email or account-targeted placement.
Use a known interaction to choose the next step with the account owner. Stop generic messages when a relevant conversation starts.

Illustrative planning sequence: weeks 1–2 validate context and messages; weeks 3–4 prepare and review the journey. A live schedule depends on access, evidence, asset scope, and approvals.

4. The sales handoff

Account: Northstar Components

Why it matters: The sample account fits the agreed manufacturing segment. Integration activity and an acquisition provide a question to investigate.

What we do not know: Budget, project status, and buying ownership remain unconfirmed. Account-level activity does not identify a specific executive.

Suggested question: “Is connecting finance and operational systems a priority following the acquisition?”

Owner decision: Accept, defer, or reject the proposed action; record the reason and next review point.

5. The measurement plan

Measures and their limits
Measure	Decision it supports	What it does not establish
Accepted sales handoff	Was the suggested action useful to the account owner?	A buyer commitment or new opportunity.
Verified buying-role coverage	Which decision roles are known and meaningfully engaged?	The identity of an anonymous visitor.
CRM stage movement	Has the opportunity progressed from its starting state?	That the campaign caused the progression.

Record the starting account and opportunity state. Separate sourced and influenced pipeline, document missing touchpoints, and use the readout to decide whether to continue, adapt, or stop the play. This sample includes no measured results.

Try it with one account

Choose an account you are authorised to research. Write one evidenced observation, one hypothesis, one unknown, and one buyer question. Have the account owner review the proposed next action before expanding the play.

Download the sample and a blank account worksheet (PDF).

6. Acceptance checks before activation

Use this fictional play to test whether the handoffs are usable. The research reviewer checks that each observation has a source and that the hypothesis does not exceed it. The commercial reviewer checks the assumptions in the CFO asset. The technical reviewer checks dependencies in the CTO brief. The account owner confirms whether the proposed question fits the current relationship.

If a reviewer cannot validate a material statement, mark it unresolved and revise or remove the affected claim. Check the audience, channel permissions, account exclusions, next-step owner and starting CRM state before activation. An approved asset and an approved audience are separate readiness requirements.

7. Adapt the play to your own account

Replace the fictional facts with dated evidence you are authorised to use. Keep the observation, hypothesis and unknowns as separate fields. Change the buyer questions to match the actual business problem, then choose the smallest useful asset that helps explore it. Carry the account owner’s existing context into the journey and record the review decision before producing additional variants.

From account contextto a sales action.