Account based sales is a very effective sales and marketing strategy. Focusing on the most important accounts and people connected to those accounts can make a huge difference in the success of a company and the company’s revenue. Most marketers know that implementing account-based sales is a great idea, but many are unsure of how to start and what strategies are the most effective.
Read on for five ways to make your account-based sales strategy an effective and efficient one.
Create a Target Account List and Segment Accounts as Small as Possible
As a team, decide which accounts you want to focus on. Break this list into different priorities, and micro-segment these accounts into the smallest segments you possibly can. The smaller, more segmented, and a prioritized list will help you create a marketing plan. For instance, the highest priority accounts should be the first on your implementation plan. After you have created an effective marketing strategy for the highest priorities and put the necessary resources into that strategy, you can move to the next tier of priorities.
Sales and Marketing Should Be Working Together
Sales enablement is a very important factor in the success of account-based sales. Tear down any walls between the two departments and encourage them to work more closely together. Set goals that both departments can work toward by sharing ideas and information. Empower both departments to create content by making all information about each client available at all times.
Develop Highly-Targeted, Personalized Content
As the point of account-based sales is to treat each account as its own market and each decision maker as individuals, it is extremely important to create individual content. Each micro-segment and individual in that micro-segment should be seeing and receiving highly targeted and personalized content. Without personalized content, account-based sales will be much less successful.
Create a Team for Each Primary Account
Once you have your sales and marketing departments working as a cohesive unit, break the unit into segments. Each segment of marketers and sales reps can focus on a single target account. This strategy will allow your teams to really dig deep, research each B2B customer to a level they never have before, and become experts on targeting those individual accounts. This should lead to improved customer relations and increased revenue.
Implement Mobile and Social Marketing Strategies
In a mobile and socially driven market, do not ignore the need for content and marketing strategies in these areas. Determine where the members of your target accounts are active and develop a plan to meet them on their preferred platforms. Also, with so many B2B consumers doing business and making purchases on their phones, developing a mobile strategy is as important as building a website and a social media presence.
If you have yet to put account-based sales into practice for your business, now is the time to discuss it with your sales and marketing teams. Consider the benefits that this sales strategy can provide your company and weigh those benefits against the effort and resources required to implement it. After you agree that the time and effort are a small price to pay for such benefits, start developing your account-based sales plan using the strategies above.