If your company is considered business-to-business (B2B), you are most likely trying to establish relationships with other companies in the hopes to make transactions with them. In order to be successful at this, you'll need to find an effective business model that works for your company. One of the most popular ways to do this is through account based selling. But what exactly does this sales model entail?
In order to help you better understand, here are the answers to four frequently asked questions when it comes to account based selling.
What Is Account Based Selling?
First of all, there are different names for this particular sales model. You may have heard account based selling referred to as:
- Account Based Marketing (ABM)
- Account Based Sales (ABS)
- Account Based Sales Development (ABSD)
No matter what you call it, account based selling means that the goal of your company is to pursue a specified number of accounts that are considered high in value. Besides finding new accounts, other goals of account based selling include developing relationships with stakeholders and identifying opportunities to upsell.
Who Should Be Included on the Sales Team?
When it comes to account based selling, you're going to need a diverse and dynamic sales team. This team will be in charge of acquiring high-value customers along with shaping account strategies and designing content to build relationships with stakeholders. The sales team should consist of the following:
- Account executive
- Sales development representative
- Marketing specialist
- Support representative
If your team is trying to target multiple industries, you may also want to include an industry marketing specialist and a product manager.
What Key Metrics Should Be Used?
With account based selling, it's important to track and assess the status of the sales model. Being mindful of certain metrics will help you decide which areas require more work, along with whether or not you are meeting your goals.
Here are the types of metrics you should be focusing on:
- Coverage
- Awareness
- Engagement
- Reach
- Influence
When it comes to sales, your key metrics should include both activity-based and outcome-based sales metrics.
How Should Account Based Selling Be Implemented?
In order to implement this type of sales model, here are some steps to take:
- Begin with a review of your best customers
- Define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and buyer personas
- Develop a strategy for effective content
- Create your target account list and segment them into tiers
- Figure out your key metrics and know how you're going to track them
While you're doing these steps, you're also going to want to gradually be shifting more of your sales team over to account based selling. Reach out to a company like Signal Butte Financial Corp for more information.
