In Account-Based Everything, sales is required to work a limited number of select, highly valuable accounts at any stage in their buying process. This manifests itself, for example, in the move away from BANT budget, authority, need, time frame as the key measurement for the handoff between sales development and sales. If sales gets an opportunity to engage with the right person at the right account, they will make the most of it. An Account-Based Everything organization will enable sales with plays they can run to gauge need and time frame while adding value early in the buying process.
However, marketing often leaves the interpretation of that research and ensuing steps to the salesperson. Instead, marketing can work with sales to create valuable, compelling offers and plays to run. In the high-volume, high-velocity model, marketing works separately to generate marketing qualified leads for sales and moves on to go find more. In Account-Based Everything, barriers are dropped and marketing is part of the process of turning an account into a customer.
For example, mid-sales cycle marketing campaigns help lower sales cycle times. Every interaction with a target account should be as personalized as possible. For an experienced enterprise account rep, personalization is standard operating procedure. But delivering value and customization should not be limited to those that are good enough nor should it be solely the responsibility of the individual sales rep.
Marketing can design offers and plays that sales can easily use and customize. The focus in Account-Based Everything is to dedicate high-value touches against target accounts until they become customers. This does not mean "checking-in" voicemails and emails, but smart, personalized offers such as company-specific workshops. An alternative approach is to create high-value plays that are more likely to elicit buyer participation and engagement. Offer something of value such as a custom report presentation with insights relevant to that particular account or their peers.
Our research of organizations executing high-value, first-meeting plays found many attribute these plays to significant lift in their metrics, including:. With post-discovery plays, the company personalizes content based on insights gathered during discovery.
Post-discovery plays are extremely effective at engaging stakeholders early in the process. Examples of post-discovery plays include the following. For some of the most successful B2B sales reps, a best practice is to customize every prospect interaction.
Unfortunately, many sales reps use the same templates or approach regardless of the buyer. In an account-based scenario, the sales rep has to make every interaction count. Personalized, valuable experiences are critical. The following three plays are common to most B2B sales processes and can be customized to the buyer. In many cases, the entire sales process is the sole responsibility of the sales rep.
With Account-Based Everything, everyone, especially marketers, are focused on revenue versus marketing qualified leads, for instance. As a result, silos start to break down and marketing works with sales to identify areas where they can support the sales process. Many of the plays showcased in this post are the result of marketing supporting sales in the sales process. Supporting sales in their path to closing a deal should be part of that process.
The following three plays require marketing support and allow sales to continue to deliver the high-value, customized sales process that is required for Account-Based Everything success:.
Connect with the leading CSOs and Sales leaders to get perspectives on the emerging trends, insights, innovation, and more. September 02, Orchestration across marketing, sales and sales development In the high-volume, high-velocity model, marketing works separately to generate marketing qualified leads for sales and moves on to go find more.
Valuable and personalized buyer experiences Every interaction with a target account should be as personalized as possible. Sales plays Sales plays are broken up into four categories. Custom content plays Description: Custom content developed specifically for the target account based on research. Example: Sales development representatives SDRs for a SaaS company focused on F e-commerce and retail organizations research and create a custom research report using a template developed by marketing.
The research report is a giveaway during the outreach process and the call to action CTA is a meeting to discuss findings from the report. Developing the insights to offer these benefits can take years, not months. It is a commitment and a promise to work for your customer, and this requires changes throughout your company, not just within your sales department. Key account managers know how to give their key customers and themselves high growth rates and returns over the long-term, instead of just the highest price.
Key account managers should visit or call their key customers regularly so they can tailor their services to them and be sure they are on track to achieving their goals. You cannot just rely on a good product or service to keep your customers coming back for more. This means that you must establish and grow long-term relationships with your key accounts, usually by adding more value to the relationship you have with them. You cannot rely on short-term solutions to get you through.
Successful key account managers regularly plan business opportunities and strategies with their key customers.
With a normal sales approach, key customers are unlikely to view their account manager as more than a pencil pusher looking to boost their sales numbers. While they share much of the same language and concepts, key accounts differ significantly from sales relationships.
This dependence can be built in many ways including operational dependence through channel partnerships ; technological dependence through systems integration, business dependence through special terms and financing, and contractual dependence through multi-year contracts or automatic renewals. Developing strategic accounts works best when the strategic account manager takes on a consultative selling role and searches for opportunities to add value for clients by helping them save money, make money, or manage risk.
Sellers who strategically manage key accounts shape and create opportunities within their accounts and benefit by mitigating competition, reducing price sensitivity, and building deeper and higher-level relationships in the account. Tip: Strategic account managers must possess strong business acumen. These skills can be developed, but many require specialized training and coaching to become truly authentic, confident, and effective in the role.
Strategic account management is an important job that requires rigor and discipline. Think of it as running a business within your business. Account planning is important to help identify the resources that you need to achieve your growth objectives.
And, it is a collaborative process that requires involvement from the client to be valid. Too often, account plans are more fantasy than reality — many organizations go through an annual account planning exercise and then forget to execute the plan. As a sales leader, you need the revenue from your strategic accounts to achieve your goals. This means your SAMs need valid account plans, and you need to hold people accountable for executing their account strategies.
Identify the objectives, goals, and key performance indicators to track progress, just as you would manage your sales pipeline. Make sure your SAMs have what they need to meet their goals and help coach their strategic account teams to success. You should involve the client in the process to ensure that the plan is valid and actionable.
It is easy to get distracted from the fundamentals necessary for account management strategy execution.
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