0Every company, every sales department, every team and even every person have their own way of doing things. The diversity is what makes us all unique and each of us brings their own capabilities and knowledge to the table.
Even though the habits we develop and our results may vary, we often do the exact same things that our job requires. We send emails, answer and make calls, drink our coffee and go out to lunch.
Similarly, every sales department is different, but Account Based Selling has some practices that, in our experience, have been proven to bring positive outcome and make the most out of your sales efforts.
These are the seven practices that no serious Account Based Seller should go without:
1. Align Sales and Marketing
Nothing of the following six practices will work if you don’t align sales and marketing. You and your sales and marketing teams will waste time and money, each trying to get more credit for that new client when you could’ve been getting new clients (plural) if they’ve only worked together.
Marketing and sales are basically using the same method trying to attract a customer so why would you allow them to work separately?
Let Sales find the Ideal Buyer Profile and inform Marketing about what kind of content they should create. Then Marketing can send that same content over to Sales so that they can attract new customers and nurture relationships with the old ones.
Remember our story about Alex from Sales and Anna and Marco from Marketing?
2. Find Targeted Accounts
Since the funnel in Account Based Selling is flipped, finding Ideal Target Accounts will be more of a Sales’ job.
Sales reps know who your current clients are, what products and services they buy and how much they pay for it. Sales can determine similar type, size and revenue companies that probably need your product or service, but you just didn’t reach out to them yet.
In case your sales team doesn’t have time for such research – you can always outsource it to the lead generation agency.
3. Determine Who Are The Decision Makers
Once your Ideal Targeted Account is determined, you will need to dig a little deeper and find the decision makers within a company. And since you’re using Account Based approach there are probably at least 4 or 5 decision makers that you need to contact and with whom you need to establish a relationship.
Make sure you know exactly who these people are and to have their correct email address and maybe even phone number.
There are numerous ways to gather those lead lists, but we always recommend outsourcing your lead generation as the most effective and time saving option.
4. Create Tailored Content and Messaging
The best way to attract and maintain attention of those decision makers is to create content that shows your knowledge of the industry. Your expertise should be visible through articles, videos, webinars and eBooks that attack their problems and goals with tangible solutions.
Reach out to those decision makers with a simple email or email campaign and offer knowledge that can help them find a solution to their business dilemmas.
Make sure that your email messaging is suitable as well, since badly written emails end up in the spam folder instantly. Know exactly what it is that your prospects want to hear and try to mention it instantly in the subject line and opening sentence.
Don’t write epic emails explaining your career or company history, but be brief and easy to understand. Give out only enough information that won’t confuse them but will interest them in the purchase.
5. Develop Relationships
Once your team has established the contact with companies’ decision makers they have to make sure they develop those relationships and always stay at the top of their minds.
Teach your sales team to always be of help to the stakeholders, so that they never feel like they are getting a bad service. Also, asking a lot of questions can help you upsell or cross-sell.
Being a loyal service provider to your customer will not only ensure your purchase renewal, but also help you get recommendations to other similar companies.
6. Use Data For Future Prospecting
Unlike other methods, Account Based Selling will give you a thorough insight into what your customers expect and need from you. Learning how to communicate with them will help you develop your communication, content and messaging for you other clients.
Based on that experience you will know what products or services sell best, what needs improvement and what you should throw in the bin.
This data can also help you come up with new better solutions that will sell better and enable you to develop your business further.
Not only will it be easier for you to get their attention in the future, but you will most likely end up with a positive answer from your prospects.
7. Never Stop Testing
We mentioned this when writing about email, but it stands for all of your Account Based efforts.
Test your content, your CTAs, your products, your ads, your offers, your bundles, your timing.
Everything that you do can be tweaked so that it works even better the next time and the next and the next.
Round Up
Account Based Selling can be a demanding way of doing sales and marketing, but it is also very rewarding. With good strategy, planning and a dedicated team, as well as some Account Based Selling tools you will know at all times where your accounts stand, what you can do to improve and when it’s the optimum time for new sales and opportunities.
Get Started