Crush vs Salesforce's built-in Account Plan
This page is for people comparing Crush to Salesforce’s built-in Account Plan. When you finish it you should know when the native feature is enough and what Crush adds.
Salesforce Sales Cloud includes an Account Plan on the Account. That is a reasonable starting point if you have not invested in account planning yet.
Salesforce’s built-in Account Plan is a place to capture account notes, SWOT-style text, related objectives, and a basic Buyer Map.
Crush is a managed package for teams that run formal planning, map buying committees in depth, track whitespace, score plan completeness, and present the plan in Salesforce.
They can coexist. Native Account Plan objects do not replace or break Crush. A team can try Salesforce’s plan and still run Crush in the same org.
If you are just starting, native Salesforce may be enough. If you run QBRs, sell into a multi-threaded committee, or manage a strategic-account program, you will usually want Crush (or Relationship Map on its own).
What native Salesforce gives you
Salesforce changes this feature. The list below matches Salesforce Help and the AccountPlan objects as of September 2026.
- An Account Plan on the Account. An admin turns the feature on; it is not on every Sales Cloud license.
- SWOT-style text on the plan (textarea fields such as relationship strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats)
- Objectives as related Account Plan Objective records (name, dates, status, owner)
- A Buyer Relationship Map of contacts on that account or opportunity. Contacts typically need a seniority level and department group to appear.
- An Account Plan Whitespace Map on Sales Cloud Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Einstein 1 Sales (Spring ’25 and later): closed-won products, optional compare across the account hierarchy
- Reporting on the native Account Plan and Objective objects
- Plan-level sharing (Account Plan sharing)
Native SWOT text is easy to edit and weak for pipeline-style reporting. The Buyer Map is a contact view, not a full buying-committee product. There is no native completeness score and no Presentation Mode on the plan.
What Crush adds
Crush runs in the same org. It does not replace Accounts, Contacts, or standard reports.
Planning
- Objectives with stage, owner, and percent to goal
- SWOT as structured entries (four quadrants), not only a long-text box
- Key Dates
- Account Plan Score — completeness across plan components (default 60 points). It is not a measure of account health.
Relationships and whitespace
- Relationship Maps with users, leads, and placeholders; reports-to lines; influence and support; more than one map (Account, Opportunity, or Account Plan)
- The map sits on the plan, not only in a separate tab
- Cross-Sell Map — configurable rows, columns, and amount types, without a separate analytics product
- Key Stakeholders on the plan (a short list) plus the full committee on the map
Reviews and access
- Presentation Mode — present the plan from Salesforce instead of copying it into slides. Users select a template; admins build them.
- Team Members — plan-specific sharing
- Crush permission sets for who can create, view, or present
Reporting
Crush ships Salesforce report types for plans, maps, and related objects. Managers can inspect the same plan the rep uses.
Side by side
| Capability | Salesforce Account Plan | Crush |
|---|---|---|
| Lives in Salesforce | Yes | Yes |
| Basic plan fields | Yes | Yes |
| SWOT | Textarea fields on the plan | Structured SWOT entries you can report on |
| Objectives | Related Account Plan Objective records | Objectives with stage, owner, and percent to goal |
| Completeness score | No | Yes (not account health) |
| Whitespace / Cross-Sell | Whitespace Map (Sales Cloud EE+; closed-won products) | Built-in Cross-Sell Map (templates, amount types) |
| Buying-committee map | Buyer Map of contacts (account or opportunity; seniority + department) | Relationship Map (influence, support, users, leads, placeholders, multiple maps) |
| Presentation Mode | No | Present from the plan |
| Plan-specific sharing | Account Plan sharing | Team Members |
| Salesforce reports | Account Plan and Objective objects | Those plus Crush report types |
Packaging and commercial terms are not listed here. Ask your Prolifiq representative.
When native is enough
- You need a lightweight place for account notes and a simple stakeholder list
- The account has one buying center and one sales team
- Long-text strategy fields and limited reporting are enough
- You are not ready to run a dedicated planning process
When Crush is the better fit
- You run QBRs or executive account reviews and want the deck to stay in Salesforce
- More than one buying center, or you need a map per deal — not one account-wide view
- Expansion and Cross-Sell are part of the motion
- Committees are typically five or more people
- Managers need to coach on plan completeness, not only pipeline
If you only need the committee, Relationship Map is sold on its own. You do not have to buy Crush to use maps.
Next
- What is the Crush Suite?
- What is Relationship Map?
- Book a demo: ask your Prolifiq representative