Expanding existing customer contacts (account growth) is extremely important in sales. It's not only about gaining customer contacts, but also recognizing the opportunity for a deal with existing accounts and winning it, as well as being able to identify up- and cross-selling opportunities. In this blog, you will learn everything you need to get started on your account growth initiatives, and you will receive concrete guidelines for account-based prospecting.
There are two main approaches to account growth in sales; account-based prospecting and lead-based prospecting. Here are the main differences:
Account-based prospecting is a highly personalized approach that focuses on a whole company rather than just an individual stakeholder. This does not mean, however, that the individual is not important. With account-based prospecting, the salesperson will address several individuals within a company, drawing focus to both their specific needs and the needs of the entire company. Account-based prospecting targets a range of high-quality accounts and treats each account as its own market. Therefore, it offers a holistic view of each targeted company.
Lead-based prospecting puts the sole contact person at a company in the center, often ignoring the surrounding context (other departments, work colleagues…). The problem with this approach is that, if there is poor communication within a sales team, multiple people from the same company could be considered leads. As a result, several salespeople could be offering various solutions to the same company, each of them contacting different stakeholders without knowing about each other’s sales efforts.
Account Growth and Account-Based Prospecting
Account-based prospecting offers many advantages over lead-based prospecting, especially in terms of upselling and cross-selling, and thus also for account growth.
Purposely addressing several people in a company can help you increase the scope of the deal. It provides you with a holistic view of the company's problems for which you may offer solutions. A short example: You are in contact with several employees of a company, and they all work in different departments. You probably know what Bob from the marketing department needs, but also what would help Anna, from the sales department. You have insights into cross-departmental pains & gains and can offer solutions that not only help one person in the company but everyone else as well and thus the entire company itself.
This approach also results in up- and cross-selling opportunities. You can sell a solution to Bob from the Marketing department, and also to Anna from Sales. For you, this means a larger deal, for Bob and Anna it is a holistic, cross-departmental solution that not just helps them, but their entire company.
Another advantage is customer retention or quality customer relationships. After closing a deal, you will have established a stronger relationship with more members of a company and not just with a single representative. In addition, account-based prospecting gives you a holistic view of the company, helping you understand the needs, wishes, and problems of the company.
A Guideline for Account-Based Prospecting
Before starting with account-based prospecting, you should ask yourself the following questions:
What is my TAM (= Total Addressable Market) like?
Which industry should I focus on?
Which companies could become my customers or accounts?
Which people within these companies can I talk to about my solutions?
People who may be interested in your solutions have the potential to become high-value accounts. Try to identify multiple personas and address them through multiple channels. Examine the company/account as a whole and try to figure out the best way to "enter" this high-value account.
If your company has been around longer, you should start by evaluating your pipeline:
What deals have you won in the past?
What helped you close those deals?
Which people were involved in the process of closing those deals?
Evaluating your pipeline allows you to outline your ideal customer and know what that persona looks like.
Sales Enablement and Account-Based Prospecting
Sales enablement can help you grow your accounts. With the right sales enablement strategy in place, you can equip salespeople with tools and technology, scale the workflow, help them define personas, and design a tailor-made message.
An open and communicative culture of discussion in the company and an established feedback culture are important factors for general success in sales and account-based prospecting.
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