What is account-based selling?
Account-based selling, or ABS, helps sales teams focus on and get business from a few key, high-value accounts. Account-based selling usually starts with the sales team making a list of accounts they think they can win and focusing on those accounts. The sales team makes a unique sales plan for each target account once they’ve been found. With account-based selling, the sales process is better matched to big, complicated organizations’ needs and buying habits, so more money is made from fewer accounts.
On the other hand, traditional lead-based selling means trying to sell to as many people as possible without thinking about their needs or whether they will likely be interested in your offer. Account-based selling is a more focused and personalized method that may work better for sales teams that want to get big companies to buy from them. Doing right can lead to more wins, bigger deals, and happy customers.
ABM stands for “Account-Based Marketing,” ABS for “Account-Based Sales,” and ABSD for “Account-Based Sales Development.”
The selling method based on accounts
The ABS Model is a way to sell things that focuses on going after important customers and making the sales process fit the needs of each one.
In the past few years, account-based selling has become popular as more businesses look for ways to target and win over big, complicated accounts. This way of selling is based on the idea that every account is different and needs a different method. Account managers make sure that each target account has a plan that is unique to them. They work closely with other salespeople and the marketing and product teams.
All sales team members need to be able to work together and talk to each other a lot, and they also need to know a lot about what each target account needs.
Setting up an account-based sales process (ABSP)
A sales method called the Account-Based Sales Process (ABSP) is based on selling to big accounts. The main difference between ABSP and other sales methods is that account managers look at the customer as a whole, learning about all the important people in the company and making sure their pitch fits each one.
ABSP’s goal is to make more money from big accounts, and how it does this should be changed to fit the needs of each account. To set up an account-based sales method, follow these five steps:
- Make a list of your perfect customers: You must know your dream customer before going after the correct accounts. Think about the size of the company, its business, and its location.
- Look into the companies that fit your dream customer. Once you know who that person is, it’s time to look into the companies that fit that description. Find out as much as possible about the people in each group who make decisions.
- Make targeted account plans. You can make targeted account plans now that you know who you’re selling to and what they want. Making a sales plan specific to each company and figuring out how they make decisions is part of this.
- Put together dedicated account teams. If you want to succeed with ABSP, you need teams only responsible for managing interactions with big accounts. Sales, marketing, and customer success professionals should be on these teams.
- Use account-based metrics to measure success: Finally, you need to use account-based metrics to measure its success. Key performance indicators (KPIs) like customer term value and churn rate must be tracked.
What makes account-based selling work?
Account-based selling is a direct way of selling where a business or sales team targets a particular group of accounts instead of trying to sell to everyone. Sometimes, this method works well, but it’s not always the best choice. If you want to know if account-based selling is right for your business, read through these points.
You only have a few target accounts.
It works best to use account-based selling when you only have a few accounts you want to sell to. For those with many possible customers, it might be harder to concentrate on a small group of accounts.
The accounts you want to target are high-value ones
It works better to use account-based selling when the accounts you want to reach are high-value ones. According to this, they can bring in a lot of money for your business. Account-based selling might not be the best way to go if you sell to small businesses or individuals.
You Have a Sales Team That Is Focused on Your Target Accounts: Account-based Selling needs a sales team focused on selling to your target accounts. This group should know much about the people you want to reach and their needs. Using an account-based selling approach might be tricky if you don’t have a dedicated sales team.
You have the tools to back up an account-based selling strategy
A lot of time and money needs to be spent on account-based sales. If your company doesn’t have the resources to support an account-based selling plan, it might not be the best way to run your business.
You are selling to big businesses.
When you’re selling to big businesses, account-based selling usually works best. These groups usually have the money and need your goods or services. Account-based selling might not be the best way to go if you sell to small businesses or individuals.
Setting up an account-based sales process
For a long time, sales teams have been trying to figure out how to sell to big accounts in a way that works. The old way of getting many different decision-makers involved in a company doesn’t always work and can waste time and effort. Account-based selling, or ABS, is a new way to sell that is becoming more popular because it helps you target and organize your sales to large accounts.
Account-based selling has many benefits, such as spending more time on critical accounts, making better use of resources, better communication between teams, higher win rates, lower customer acquisition costs, and bigger deals on average.
But there are also some problems you must consider when using an ABS selling approach. These include making sure that the sales team works well with other areas, that the sales team has the right skills and knowledge, and that account plans are made.
Setting KPIs based on accounts
KPIs for sales based on accounts
You must monitor the right KPIs if account-based selling is part of your sales plan. Several KPIs can be used to check how well an account-based selling plan is working, but these three are the most important:
“Account Engagement” tells you how involved the team is with involved customers. Do they regularly try to get to know you and build relationships? Do they go out of their way to find new opportunities?
Account Conversion Rate
This shows what portion of new accounts turn into actual customers who pay.
Account Lifetime Value: The average amount of money each account brings to the relationship. How to Set Up Your Sales Team for Account-Based Sales
There are a few different ways to set up a sales team for an account-based method of selling. The most usual way to do this is to set up dedicated account teams, with one team’s job being to go after and win a specific account. You could also have a single sales team that handles all accounts, but this team is usually broken up into smaller sub-teams, each with its main account.
There are a few essential things to remember when setting up your sales team for account-based selling, no matter which way you go. Everyone on the team needs to know a lot about the account they’re working on. This means ensuring they get all the information and tools they need. Second, it’s essential to make a clear plan for how to find and win accounts. Everyone on the team should know what to do and follow this method. Lastly, tracking how well your account-based selling is going would be best. Critical measures like win rate, deal size, and closing time can be used.
Because you followed these tips, you can set up your sales team so that they can go after and win critical accounts.
How to Make Content Work for Account-Based Selling
As account-based selling has become more popular over the past few years, more and more businesses are looking for ways to use it in their sales strategy. Content is essential to account-based selling because it helps you find and qualify potential customers, build relationships, and eventually make sales.
You can improve the buyer’s journey and close more deals with content if you know how to use it right. In account-based selling, here are some ways to use content:
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Use content to find possible customers and make sure they are good fits.
Figuring out who your potential buyers or target accounts are is one of the first steps in any account-based selling strategy. This can be hard, especially if you’re selling to a large group of different people.
Content is a great way to find people who might become buyers. People who interact with your material are probably good prospects. You can reach more people and get leads that are more likely to turn into sales if you create valuable content for your target market.
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Use material to get to know people who might buy from you
Once you know your possible customers, the next step is getting to know them. Giving potential buyers helpful information through content can be a great way to do it.
You could write a blog post or white paper about the benefits of your software and how it can help businesses solve specific problems if you sell software to businesses. You can build trust and relationships with possible customers by giving them helpful information.
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Get more business by using the material.
Finally, you can use content to close more sales once you have a relationship with a possible customer. You can do this by tailoring the material to the needs of the accounts you want to reach.
For instance, if you want to sell your software to a specific account, you could include a case study in your sales plan about how your software has helped other businesses solve similar problems. You can improve your chances of closing more business by providing relevant and targeted content in the right setting.
A platform for selling with an account
Another name for an account-based selling platform is a sales and marketing platform that lets businesses sell to specific accounts. Account-based selling platforms let the marketing and sales teams work together to find and go after the best chances. They also let everyone see how each account is doing and what they are doing.
Most account-based selling platforms come with several features, such as:
- Managing accounts and contacts
- Managing leads and opportunities
- Scoring accounts and assigning territories
- Tracking engagement
- Creating plans
- Making screens that can be customized
An app can be beneficial if the sales and marketing teams want to improve account-based selling. Account-based selling platforms can help teams find and go after the best chances by letting them see the progress and activity of each account. Many account-based selling systems have tools like lead and opportunity management, account scoring, and territory assignment to help the sales and marketing teams work together better. Teams can also change their account-based selling tool to fit their needs with customizable dashboards.
