Account Based Selling - Marketing Tips

[00:00:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Hello everyone again. I am Andy, coming to you from the United Kingdom.

[00:00:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Hello everybody, I'm Scott, coming to you from Canada.

[00:00:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And this is once again the Tea and Timbits podcast, Global Perspectives on Business

[00:00:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Development to Help You Prosper. This week we are going to be talking about...

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, we're going to be continuing our series on account based selling

[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_01]: and we're going to be talking about effective marketing campaign ideas.

[00:00:47] [SPEAKER_01]: But before we get into that, I understand you have a reflection, Scott, from your recent travel.

[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_00]: That's a story less of like an anecdote that sort of...

[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_01]: You were away, weren't you, in the States not long ago?

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I was down in Indianapolis last week. I was at a sales leader conference summit

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_00]: and it was time well spent. I've been to this event before.

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_00]: And I couldn't quite put my finger on it when I was on my way down there.

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_00]: I was like, I'm looking forward to it but I'm just not quite as excited.

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_00]: And honestly, it was me, not them. It wasn't anything to do with the content

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_00]: or the substance or the people or whatnot. It was just...

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_00]: I was on that plane, I was heading down and I was a bit burnt out and I got there and I was like,

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_00]: oh, I need to flip that switch. I need to go back into present mode.

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_00]: And I got there and I didn't have a friendly face in the room right away.

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I knew a few people that were going to be there as well and whatnot.

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_00]: And I just grabbed a water, I went to the bar and asked for a soda water and I just sat down.

[00:02:10] [SPEAKER_00]: And it was the most sort of freeing thing I think I've done in a long time.

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, no, just let go of this. You do not have to be there in the energy that this room has

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_00]: right now. And then that kind of perspective kind of carried through for the next two days.

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And there were some really good sessions and there were some people that were very

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER_00]: motivating and had some really good stories to tell about being out there and being ambitious

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and making good plans and going after your goals. And I was just like, no,

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_00]: no, can't get myself there in this moment right now. And then it dawned on me that like, boy,

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_00]: I've seen this before and you see it in other people sometimes. And I don't know why this

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_00]: was the epiphany of this moment for me. But I was like, sometimes when we are here trying to

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_00]: push and coach and encourage, it's just not the right moment. But it doesn't mean that

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_00]: we need to turn it off or turn away or find another time because I was still present.

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I just wasn't there with the right energy. So I was writing notes and I was taking down

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_00]: lots of thoughts. But it wasn't landing for me. I think the way most of the presenters were

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_00]: hoping. But I was taking away other sort of things about how to improve doing what I was

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_00]: already doing as opposed to like introducing new brand new learning. So I thought I'd share that story.

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_01]: That's very good. I think it is important to

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_01]: self-reflect and acknowledge that sometimes you're not going to be at the energy level that is

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_01]: what you're most familiar with or what may have been the case previously.

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Or what I sort of thought I needed to do.

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's right. There's no problem with being yourself and sometimes just not feeling it.

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_00]: But I mean, my energy things are also myself. I think that's why I felt so disembodied in the

[00:04:20] [SPEAKER_00]: moment. I was like, I'm supposed to be presenting myself differently

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_00]: a way I'm used to. And this was different for me. So there you go.

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Interesting. Speaking of events though, I mean that's actually one of the number one things

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_01]: that I had written down for this account based selling and marketing strategies.

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_01]: So we can just go straight into that to be honest.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_01]: I think you can take it.

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_01]: This is fun. I'm just going to carry on talking over each other. I'm going to let you go now.

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Sorry for anybody that's actually listening. I was going to put a little bit of context

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_00]: at the beginning of the episode to say we're doing things that we're talking about,

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_00]: tactics here again. We spent a couple episodes talking about the concepts

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_00]: and what it means to take this account based selling approach.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_00]: And then we thought, let's do a couple episodes on specific things that you can do to execute

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_00]: those concepts. Okay. So thank you. I said what I was going to inject. Carry on Andy.

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, it was nice to actually hear you say it without me talking over you. So thanks for that.

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_01]: So there's sort of three tasks under this event that I believe. So events is like kind of the

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_01]: I suppose the headline thing that you can do. But there's three specific areas that I think are

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_01]: most valuable that you can do in order to really develop the account based selling strategies.

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_01]: And number one is hosting a themed networking event. So around a specific industry,

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_01]: but a particular idea or something to get people in, get people engaged and get people focused

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_01]: on a certain thing. Not only does it then position you as an expert in that particular area,

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_01]: but also exposes you to people who are struggling with that particular thing and are looking to

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_01]: learn and are open to engaging and developing themselves. So this in itself can be very good,

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_01]: but also make sure that you're not the only person speaking that you have other industry

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_01]: experts there as well and give them a platform to share their own experiences.

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like we could do a whole episode on just how to build and execute your own event.

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe we should. Yeah, actually it would be a good idea.

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Because I intend to do this. It is something I dabbled with last year and going to this event

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_00]: that I was at, I was like no reason I can't put something together of a similar nature.

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, so yeah, I think that's a good idea. The thing that I do do along these lines,

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I think might sort of be in a similar headspace to how you want to execute a good event,

[00:07:27] [SPEAKER_00]: is have a very focused content campaign for the target account or usually when you're doing this,

[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_00]: you've picked a few accounts in a specific industry. Don't start that in my opinion until you have

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_00]: something to offer and so if you already have that collateral great but package it up make

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_00]: sure it's on its own landing page. If it's part of your blog, if it's in disparate locations,

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_00]: if you already have a white paper, build a landing page specifically to send people or otherwise

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_00]: package it up somehow so that in one destination they can see the aggregate of the thought leadership

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_00]: and capabilities that you have. So when we do this, we're like okay, we're going to call

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_00]: these kinds of companies in this area. We've got one case study. We've got a white paper.

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh boy, we actually haven't got any blogs about it. So we will then write at least three blogs that

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_00]: go along with it and then we'll probably do like a studio session like a recorded video podcast

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_00]: episode style piece of content to drop on the page as well. That takes probably another

[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_00]: couple of weeks, two or three weeks to put together but boy does it land more effectively

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_00]: when you have that package of content specific to who you're reaching out to.

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no it's really funny because actually at the bottom of my list of the events tasks that I had.

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Andy by the way is looking at his feet for his phone at the moment.

[00:09:12] [SPEAKER_01]: My phone has decided in both recordings last week and this week despite being on Do Not Disturb

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER_01]: to set off all sorts of alarms and notifications and everything as we record and it doesn't do it

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_01]: any other time but only when we're recording it seems. I'll start scanning those notifications.

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_01]: That's it. Maybe you're sabotaging the moment. Anyway, I had create a content series as actually

[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_01]: my next thing to support the events so yeah we're very much aligned on this and I think

[00:09:48] [SPEAKER_01]: certainly it's worth putting that effort in because you're trying to create something of

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_01]: value. You're trying to sell the event as another product essentially so making an effort to

[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_01]: package that in such a way that it is attractive and is interesting and adds value to the right

[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_01]: people and attracts the right people is what's going to make a difference. I think as well as

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_01]: another you know it's another task I had in my list but it's about sponsoring or partnering with

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_01]: already relevant events that are out there because aligning yourself with

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_01]: you know and your brand with something that is already taking place is actually also very

[00:10:28] [SPEAKER_01]: important and valuable and will help to drive a lot of traffic towards you. I really like that

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_00]: to extend on that. That was not on my list but should have been. Co-marketing so

[00:10:43] [SPEAKER_00]: you know it's you got me thinking about like just yeah showing up in somebody else's room

[00:10:50] [SPEAKER_00]: that helps you expand or amplify your message and reach a broader audience when you can

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER_00]: do what you're doing but add in another partner, channel partner, subject matter expert

[00:11:03] [SPEAKER_00]: outside of your own business then one it helps you amplify your reach. You get access in their

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_00]: network, 80 yours and so on and so forth but it adds credibility to your content.

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Not in a false way like in a genuine way it's like well this person wouldn't have even

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_00]: agreed to do this with me if they didn't feel like yeah I feel confident standing next to Scott

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_01]: or whatever. No that's right and also then I mean people then get to see you know you your logo,

[00:11:34] [SPEAKER_01]: your brand along the side maybe other people in the industry who are bigger more famous,

[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_01]: more well known than yourself but you're aligned with them they're going okay you know this is

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_01]: this is a viable alternative to those big boys or to those other people and you know or maybe a

[00:11:53] [SPEAKER_00]: compliment to them. I used to be a bit hesitant about that thinking like oh like you know who are

[00:11:59] [SPEAKER_00]: we to ask them or you know I've never seen them do that like I would disqualify them for them right

[00:12:07] [SPEAKER_00]: and and I was like remarkably surprised how willing some very large companies are

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_00]: to sit down and do a studio session or show up at an event or put out some content together

[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_00]: through their channel or whatnot yeah so I'm totally glad you brought that up.

[00:12:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah on that point as well though there's also a big advantage in having like a VIP event so

[00:12:36] [SPEAKER_01]: that you you know you invite some of these top people some of these you know

[00:12:40] [SPEAKER_01]: yeah top customers and top people in the industry and you get everyone together but it's very exclusive

[00:12:46] [SPEAKER_01]: and and those things can also help to strengthen relationships usually with existing customers

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_01]: but but also for prospecting as well right I mean I I get it like I get what you're saying like

[00:12:57] [SPEAKER_00]: the VIP exclusivity thing like some people do kind of like not they're not drawn to those

[00:13:06] [SPEAKER_00]: kinds of things but they still like one-on-one high touch intimate affairs and and so I think

[00:13:14] [SPEAKER_00]: it's just making sure that they know that like listen this is going to be a hand-picked you

[00:13:21] [SPEAKER_00]: know select group of people that we would like to you know workshop with yeah okay so that

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_00]: and that takes me to my another point that I had on my list which is now kind of a variant

[00:13:35] [SPEAKER_00]: of I think the themes that we've already talked about but that is producing executing offering

[00:13:42] [SPEAKER_00]: something that is actionable and by that I mean producing a workshop or

[00:13:53] [SPEAKER_00]: make some money yeah or something interactive that a tool that can be used and when we do this

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_00]: we will facilitate this and so it's it's an event but it's it's a it's a professional

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_00]: advancement opportunity as well and you come in to get some work done but you're following

[00:14:16] [SPEAKER_00]: this workshop format that we've set up and it gets you thinking and collaborating with

[00:14:20] [SPEAKER_00]: some other people in the in the room so that's a sort of a variant on the event idea but and it's

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_00]: a variant on the content idea because it is bringing that person into an active headspace into

[00:14:34] [SPEAKER_00]: into a workshop environment we can we can also offer some of these tools as just templates that

[00:14:42] [SPEAKER_00]: you know somebody can download as a fillable PDF and they can walk through it on their own and

[00:14:47] [SPEAKER_00]: and we probably have some recordings of delivering you know that that exercise before so they could

[00:14:55] [SPEAKER_00]: watch that and and go at their own pace if you will and that often has value at a different

[00:15:03] [SPEAKER_00]: point in the in the in the account based selling sort of lead prospecting process

[00:15:11] [SPEAKER_01]: do you in your workshops do you feel that there's a value in allowing people to

[00:15:17] [SPEAKER_01]: earn certification in something um i don't offer that um i i've toyed with it a few times and sometimes

[00:15:27] [SPEAKER_01]: it's it's very effective and other times people really don't care but i was just wondering what

[00:15:32] [SPEAKER_00]: your experience on that one well the funny thing is that we've got this workshop that we

[00:15:35] [SPEAKER_00]: delivered the strategic planning canvas and i've delivered it a few times and um and then i was asked

[00:15:42] [SPEAKER_00]: to deliver it and as part of the facilitation of a certified certificate program and and i didn't

[00:15:55] [SPEAKER_00]: realize until and then the the group that i had um been asked to do this for gave the

[00:16:02] [SPEAKER_00]: participants a certificate after and i was like hey wait a minute i didn't just try to think of it that

[00:16:07] [SPEAKER_00]: way so there you go somebody else has given a certificate for the workshop for the work that

[00:16:11] [SPEAKER_00]: you're doing uh there were other there were other facilitators and there were other workshops

[00:16:17] [SPEAKER_00]: throughout the course of the day but yeah it wasn't just me what about what about webinars

[00:16:23] [SPEAKER_01]: though i mean where did they sit for you i mean because we've talked about events we've

[00:16:27] [SPEAKER_01]: talked about workshops what about webinars what's your thought on that because i i personally

[00:16:33] [SPEAKER_01]: i think if you're going to do a webinar it shouldn't be a standalone thing it should

[00:16:36] [SPEAKER_01]: be part of a series it should be leading towards something it should be in some way associated

[00:16:40] [SPEAKER_01]: with an event or a workshop or something but i know there's also value in the standalone

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_01]: you know webinars but what's your perspective so i like what you just said i i don't think it

[00:16:52] [SPEAKER_00]: has to be just part of a series or part of an event but um i'm i'm doing one uh this week

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_00]: with our software partner and we're talking with a client on the call about you know the achievement

[00:17:04] [SPEAKER_00]: that they were able to recognize and it's a case study story but i like the format because it's

[00:17:10] [SPEAKER_00]: conversational and you kind of don't know where it's going to go um and um and and yeah we want

[00:17:18] [SPEAKER_00]: to we want to make sure that we get some new eyeballs and we can introduce ourselves to

[00:17:22] [SPEAKER_00]: some new people i think that um the just lower your expectations a bit on who's going to be

[00:17:31] [SPEAKER_00]: their live yeah um the value of doing this is that you now have a piece of archival content

[00:17:38] [SPEAKER_00]: that you can refer to and we can embed this conversation after we're done in the case study

[00:17:43] [SPEAKER_00]: story on our website and we can send it um as a as a as a lead prospecting follow-up when

[00:17:51] [SPEAKER_00]: we're you know reaching out to similar clients and and things like that so on its own it still has

[00:17:58] [SPEAKER_00]: value um but you have to be quite intentional and aware that the value you is probably going to be

[00:18:07] [SPEAKER_00]: unlocked outside and around the webinar itself and not like oh i'm gonna do this webinar i'm gonna

[00:18:12] [SPEAKER_00]: get 50 people to attend and i'm gonna follow up with all them and i'm gonna make one of them

[00:18:17] [SPEAKER_00]: my client like that doesn't happen no um and or if it does it's very rare or they've already had

[00:18:23] [SPEAKER_00]: several touches with you in your ecosystem and this is the one time that they decided like all right

[00:18:29] [SPEAKER_00]: it's time to give these guys a call on the flip side yes i agree that when you can make it part

[00:18:36] [SPEAKER_00]: of a series it is incredibly valuable um so in another channel we're doing and we're going to

[00:18:45] [SPEAKER_00]: an event um at um the end of the month and we started the month with a webinar so we knew

[00:18:52] [SPEAKER_00]: and we and we invited all the people that we thought would be in that room at the end of the

[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_00]: month and and so we're we're introducing who we are the partnership the offering in a webinar

[00:19:04] [SPEAKER_00]: we're talking about why it came together and how to get excited about it and we're kind of

[00:19:09] [SPEAKER_00]: teasing you know why you should come to the event but also we don't want to have to

[00:19:15] [SPEAKER_00]: start at the very beginning of the story when we are at the event um so it helps us

[00:19:20] [SPEAKER_00]: sort of complete the narrative uh from that from the record

[00:19:25] [SPEAKER_01]: very good as you look back on the series that we've done now on account-based selling

[00:19:31] [SPEAKER_01]: is there anything that you want to add before we sort of close that out i mean if you remember

[00:19:36] [SPEAKER_01]: we talked about account-based selling as a whole then we then we moved into how clients should

[00:19:41] [SPEAKER_01]: qualify you and you know how they do that um then last week we talked about the effective sales

[00:19:48] [SPEAKER_01]: tactics and this week we've been focusing a little bit more on the marketing side is there anything

[00:19:53] [SPEAKER_01]: you feel that we haven't covered that you'd like to cover before we close out this episode

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_00]: and this series um no i think that is probably been a pretty good um overview of the of the

[00:20:05] [SPEAKER_00]: subject matter i was most interested in doing this series so that i could put myself in the headspace

[00:20:12] [SPEAKER_00]: so that i could get better at doing this it was a completely selfish motivation to put this topic on

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_00]: as it helped and on the month i it's definitely kept me in the headspace thinking about how

[00:20:21] [SPEAKER_00]: to do it before it seemed like it's a lot of work and it's not going to be that effective

[00:20:27] [SPEAKER_00]: um but now uh i'm like no it's so much more robust um and so much more impact

[00:20:36] [SPEAKER_00]: so you know i think it will take a couple of months to sort of see the results uh for myself to be able

[00:20:43] [SPEAKER_00]: to assess the um value uh so feel free to follow up with me in uh in a couple months and see how

[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_01]: i'll be keeping a close eye on on your progress very good and any other listeners if you want to

[00:20:57] [SPEAKER_01]: get in touch with us or find out how scott's getting on with his account based selling progress um

[00:21:02] [SPEAKER_01]: you can find us on t and timbits dot com uh where there are many ways to subscribe to listen and

[00:21:09] [SPEAKER_01]: to get in touch with us all right thank you very much go thanks handy