Account Based Selling - What is it?

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't. Hello everybody, I am coming to you again from Toronto. I'm one of your hosts Scott.

[00:00:24] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm the other host, Andy coming to you from the United Kingdom again.

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Good to see you. Welcome to the Tea and Timbits podcast, global perspectives on business development

[00:00:35] [SPEAKER_00]: to help you prosper. We're starting another theme for this month of September. Happy New Year, by the way.

[00:00:41] [SPEAKER_00]: I always feel like September is the start of a new year. A kid's going back to school.

[00:00:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I see, okay. Yeah. And summer time has ended and you're sort of transitioning into this new start of things.

[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm always down on you if you share that or not, but it always feels like that to me.

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_01]: It is a bit of a feeling of a fresh start, isn't it? As soon as you move into this, you know, this sort of last bit of the year.

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, you can embrace it in one way or another. You can either go, oh, you know, it's a wind down now towards Christmas or no.

[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Now it's the big push towards the end of the year and getting ready for the new year but finishing on a high.

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's kind of about your attitude, I think, and maybe that will lead us a little bit into what we're going to talk about today.

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_00]: There you go. So we are starting a new theme for the month of September about account-based selling.

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to get into that theme and kick it off in this episode.

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_00]: So before we do that, what's on your mind that you'd like to share before we get into our conversation?

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_01]: I just had a quick story. I wanted to share about a company that I had done some work with previously.

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_01]: It's a story that's somewhat related to the theme that we're going to be talking about obviously. So I thought it would be a relevant one to have a discussion around.

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_01]: But essentially, this was a company, it was a few months back that we were working together.

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_01]: And the idea for them was to improve their sales by not just going out with cold calls and so on.

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_01]: They were trying to think more strategically about having a sort of it, what was it they say?

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_01]: It was a campaign that would make a politician blush.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Was there was that theme?

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes. I started to remember that.

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_01]: You're trying to sell?

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_01]: No idea. I think I've given away too much already, so they'll know who I'm talking about.

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, anyway, so they built this campaign and the reason they did this was to sort of target a specific niche of customers that they felt that just by reaching out through cold calling wasn't going to give them or wasn't giving them the outcome or the success that they were hoping for or that they were expecting.

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_01]: The challenge there was of course reframing the mindset of the sales team.

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Ironically, a sales team who were quite comfortable doing outbound sales calls but they weren't so keen about doing other things and changing what they were comfortable with.

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_01]: So the marketing department spent a lot of time with them and the sales director who was relatively new in and had this new approach.

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_01]: He had worked a lot in the campaign based marketing before and so he was transitioning to the account based selling mindset, which was not going to go into too much detail because that's what the episode is about.

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_01]: But he basically helped them to sort of show up at the conferences in a very different way to be meeting with people in a very different way to be strategically targeting a specific list of people.

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_01]: A specific group of individuals and knowing exactly who they wanted to talk to within those companies understanding those challenges and even then changing the actual outbound sales calls that they were doing because they didn't stop that.

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_01]: They just changed the way that they were doing it.

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_01]: They focused on five accounts, just five and the whole team were focused on going after these just five main accounts and.

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_01]: They had a success before out of those five so pretty successful, pretty successful process and as one came in and was handed over onto the delivery team they then you know added another one into the basket so they constantly had five that they were working on.

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_01]: But of those initial main five that were the sort of top level new logo clients that they were looking for.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, four out of five of those they got through introducing account based selling mindset and procedures at a very very high level early on and yeah these aren't the biggest company and they were playing up against some very very big companies but those other companies who look at their competitors they were.

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_01]: They were more famous in the market more well known for delivering that solution but they were approaching it in the traditional way and by.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, the way that they approached their their prospects they were able to win these you know these top companies in the industry away from some of their competitors.

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_00]: That's interesting.

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_00]: So I think that's a good segue into what we were going to be talking about we are going to talk about here.

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Which which is that account based selling structure, which I'll be honest was was sort of an unfamiliar concept for me until relatively recently like something I've been using only for a few years.

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Can you tell us what it is.

[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, of course. So account based selling.

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_01]: It's a highly targeted as I sort of hinted to in the story there.

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_01]: It's a highly targeted approach that is very strategic towards sales focusing on engaging specific high value accounts with a very personalised approach.

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's really breaking down those barriers towards not only the company as a whole trying to get your product in there but you are you're focusing on individual challenges you're focusing on the.

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_01]: The entire organisation you're not just trying to get one person one decision maker not that there is such a thing really anywhere but you're not just trying to get one decision maker to go yes I'm going to sign this contract you understand that the.

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_01]: The impact of your solution has wider reaching impacts and so therefore you are selling in a different way but you are selling to everybody throughout that organisation you have a broad and strategic approach to introducing your product into there.

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's very very.

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm a focused I suppose but also very personalized and relevant.

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_00]: So I skipped at the beginning of the episode usually we sort of establish some context of you know what we're hoping people take away from what we're about to talk about so I'll just add that at this point which is.

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that this is a you know relatively more modern you know by relative terms concept it was probably being done along but wasn't given a label.

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_00]: And even for people who do it on the regular this is might even be the only way that they sell.

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm hoping that through this kind of conversation we just kind of really bring the intention forward again introduce this to some people who may not be as familiar and I think over the balance of the next few episodes as well we're going to get into.

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_00]: How to get the most out of that conversation.

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Some very specific tactics on what you can do in the account based selling approach and some marketing that would that would work for this kind of an approach but today I think it's more about just establishing the definition.

[00:08:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Of what that isn't and how you go about implementing this within your organization within your sales team or improving and refining that that approach.

[00:08:30] [SPEAKER_00]: And adding to the added you think that that's a good summary of what you're looking to achieve here to Andy.

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Not completely I think anyone who's not doing this or not thinking about this and there needs to be an element of this in your business it may not be.

[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean in the development of these face exactly I mean, perhaps like higher and be to see experiences you're looking at that.

[00:08:53] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean from a B to C perspective I think there is a relevance to this it's just approaching it in a very different way but there is a relevance to this I mean the things that that are you know more successful in the you know in the consumer world are those targeted.

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_01]: You know approaches that make people feel engaged that give them that emotional connection and make them feel that they have a relationship with the company that they're going to be buying from.

[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_01]: And that's not really any different when it comes to business to business you know but it's just a slightly different type of relationship and a different type of emotional engagement that you're looking for.

[00:09:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Because it's more from a professional perspective as opposed to an individual personal perspective but you know we are still selling to individuals when we're doing business to business and you know a personal.

[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Connection with someone building a strong relationship with someone is very important still so whilst I'll discuss and will be focused on business to business I think there are elements of what we talk about that will be relevant for the consumer market as well.

[00:09:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah I think I get what you're where you're going there I think I'm going to consume my market it's it's hard to say it's a count base but certainly personalized and targeted experience have value.

[00:10:05] [SPEAKER_00]: So so bringing it back to the B to be experience.

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that the big struggle here in my mind is well how is this different than just having a list of ideal customers on your target prospect list so I know that I want to sell to manufacturers and distributors.

[00:10:28] [SPEAKER_00]: And I can acquire a list of said companies in my market or geography or wherever and so rather than just put out general marketing and thought leadership and hope that they see that and and inbound calls happen.

[00:10:43] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm doing some outbound activity here that's targeted and intentional towards you know at least the list of companies in my perspective target industry or market.

[00:10:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that that's a count base selling correct me if I'm wrong and if in so you're shaking you had no but so how does a count base selling take it beyond the list of potential customers that you know at least need or could use what you have to offer.

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean typically in the approach that you've alluded to there what would be the case is that you you produce a long list of customers which you know take you already beyond many companies anyway.

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_01]: You then would.

[00:11:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Typically have a similar approach you go okay manufacturing businesses this is the what they need this is why they need it these are the challenges they're facing.

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER_01]: I will reach out to all of them and have the same same discussion essentially.

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_01]: When it comes to account based selling it is very much about this hyper targeted.

[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry hyper focused targeting of the of the company so there's a it's very time consuming which is why a lot of people don't do this because you need to really deeply research each individual client each individual prospect.

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Understanding those accounts and tailoring your approach to each individual one.

[00:12:03] [SPEAKER_01]: So then you're you know once you've done that initial high level research it's then about personalization it's about you know building a specific and relevant message for them.

[00:12:16] [SPEAKER_01]: And making sure that you are delivering that to the key touch points within the business that you have.

[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_01]: focused on and that you have developed these messaging for so it's really not only about doing that research at the high level understanding the company and the companies challenges and the industry and the industry challenges but it's understanding.

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_01]: How each department is affected by that it's understanding how each role within those departments is affected by the challenges that they could potentially be facing all that they are facing.

[00:12:46] [SPEAKER_01]: And then it's about tailoring a message to help them with understanding those challenges and overcoming those challenges.

[00:12:56] [SPEAKER_01]: But another key aspect here is that this is not just a sales thing so account based selling is not just about sales it is a cross functional collaboration within your business it has to be something that involves all of the departments that have a commercial role so sales marketing.

[00:13:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Customers success and even finance and so on they all need to be on board that you are focusing on this you know that it's going to take time.

[00:13:19] [SPEAKER_01]: They know what you're doing they know why they're doing it and they are putting the time and resources and the effort into actually supporting that sales effort.

[00:13:27] [SPEAKER_01]: As I mentioned there's a multi touch element to this as well.

[00:13:31] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's not just about finding you know people who are in that decision making team it's about understanding across the organization who you should be talking to.

[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And not just reaching out to the monotellophone but reaching out to the members and reaching out to them on social media or reaching out to them.

[00:13:47] [SPEAKER_01]: You know at events you know inviting them to webinars inviting them to other types of events and so on building personal relationships with these people as well so that you become very trusted by them and that's not through.

[00:14:02] [SPEAKER_01]: You know through trying to manipulate people or trying to sell them or trying to trick them into anything it's about genuinely adding value to them to help them succeed in their job to overcome these challenges giving them information.

[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Providing them with updated ideas thoughts.

[00:14:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Being a thought leader in an industry is really important but you have thoughts and you've got to lead them you know with it so you can't you can't have one without the other.

[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_01]: And this again starts to build that trust build and starts to build these you know.

[00:14:35] [SPEAKER_01]: I suppose strong business partnerships and relationships and people start to trust you and they believe that you not only are actually in it to help them but you're in it to provide you you are the person best place to provide the solution to the challenges that they have in their business.

[00:14:49] [SPEAKER_01]: But finally, and most importantly this is the most important part.

[00:14:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Is measuring the success of everything that you're doing and optimizing everything that you're doing to then adjust it and make sure that you are getting that continues success that you're constantly using data to make decisions about how you're taking actions what you're doing what you're following up on and what the next steps would be.

[00:15:12] [SPEAKER_00]: And when you just measure by the pipeline progress.

[00:15:18] [SPEAKER_01]: You be looking at the levels of engagement you'll be looking at the levels of interaction you'll be looking at you know how people are interacting with you know with the information that you're sharing with the discussions that you're having with you know how that is progressing within the organization because very often.

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_01]: If you engage with someone in an organization you make them feel that you are providing them value they will often talk about that within their organization.

[00:15:44] [SPEAKER_01]: So when you reach out to someone else in your organization in a similar role, they probably already heard of you or heard about you and they feel familiar with you as well.

[00:15:54] [SPEAKER_00]: So I guess you know when I, because it is still reasonably fresh in my mind about sort of implementing this kind of an approach in my business and.

[00:16:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I think when I sort of started getting the coaching and hearing the concept about how to do this, it's still felt quite nebulous was like do some research about the company like what am I going to read their like quarterly report and my going to.

[00:16:22] [SPEAKER_00]: And and I think as we just sort of started to walk down the path.

[00:16:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you need to have that general understanding of their business and their economic situation and the quarterly report but that's like 10% of it right.

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's looking at where do they show up in the market what are the products that they sell who are their competitors.

[00:16:49] [SPEAKER_00]: What are the economic indicators for their market, who and then it's applying your experiment and then it comes down to you know okay so I understand them and that tells me.

[00:17:00] [SPEAKER_00]: What some of their potential pain points are so I build a hypothesis that that means they're probably having a challenge with this thought of the other thing.

[00:17:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm clearly well not maybe not clearly but in our case it made a lot of sense to go after customers into Jason spaces or the same industry as clients that we already had.

[00:17:21] [SPEAKER_00]: So then you're able to apply your experience and say oh well we solved a problem like this for somebody else and you probably have the same situation or something like it.

[00:17:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And you can build up a story of empathy there to say like I bet you know it sucks when you have to do x y and that and they you've immediately got their attention and then you can sort of switch into some questioning around sort of for yourself validating validating that challenge and it was a bit of an incremental.

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm kind of getting in attack that's which I think will get more into on another conversation but it was an incremental process and layering in a lot of what you just said you're not going to kind of go behind the curtain get all this work done do all this research get all your you know multi-faceted team ready and then make your first call.

[00:18:08] [SPEAKER_00]: You're going to you're going to have an idea of your target and you're going to do some outreach and you might even have a call or two and you might just kind of you know test the waters explore.

[00:18:18] [SPEAKER_00]: validate for yourself that there might be an opportunity there there might be some of that business pain that you anticipate because you don't want to get do far ahead of yourself only to discover that yeah they had that pain last year and they've already gone and found somebody else to.

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_00]: to solve it for them so part of your research I think needs to be some preliminary lighter touch conversations to the extent that you can do some networking and and uncover that.

[00:18:47] [SPEAKER_00]: before you what I would say launched into this wholesome approach of like okay yeah let's put let's get them to our next event let's let's book them for an assessment you know and do some of those higher touch higher engaging things that you might think of as a as a more.

[00:19:04] [SPEAKER_01]: form part of your account based sales approach absolutely right this is one of the key things you know with that first step is making sure that your.

[00:19:15] [SPEAKER_01]: your targeting companies that have the biggest potential value for your business and that you can provide the biggest potential value to them.

[00:19:26] [SPEAKER_01]: you know you are talking about building.

[00:19:30] [SPEAKER_01]: what's the term and mega deal with these companies you know you're not talking about just you know selling number one or two widgets you're talking about.

[00:19:37] [SPEAKER_01]: becoming an integral part of the solution that helps their business to succeed which will in turn of course help yours to succeed as well and if they don't have any and you don't have a solution matches what they are needing or you know struggling with.

[00:19:51] [SPEAKER_01]: then there's no point pursuing it to the to the next stage and building up all of this other personalization and you know involving the rest of the company it needs to be.

[00:20:01] [SPEAKER_01]: that research set here's you said going in understanding these accounts and understanding if there is a reason to continue and if there is then starting that process of tailoring your approach.

[00:20:11] [SPEAKER_00]: you know.

[00:20:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean somebody was also giving me some advice recently though that you need to kind of build a roadmap of engagement and you need to understand all these broader opportunities and bigger things but sometimes.

[00:20:24] [SPEAKER_00]: and what is going to develop into a more significant longer term relationship in a more serious way.

[00:20:34] [SPEAKER_00]: don't scare them off upfront start with a later in get you know get some trust established do an assessment do a plan and let that evolve into.

[00:20:44] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean it's a that is part of that research process it's.

[00:20:50] [SPEAKER_01]: building up a relationship getting to know those people you know getting to know is there even an opportunity here can we work with these people can you know can we you know start to do business and it doesn't mean that you have to wait until the end of this whole process before you start working with them.

[00:21:03] [SPEAKER_01]: but it just means that you know it's it's not a short term sell one thing and move on it's very much an ongoing growth.

[00:21:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm really mind saying good and great approach.

[00:21:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Awesome.

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_00]: All right well hopefully you know anybody listening has sort of given some thought to whether this should fit into their model their strategy and if they're doing it.

[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_00]: um gives you some reflection on whether or not there are some approaches that we mentioned that can refine the way that you are doing it.

[00:21:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for the chat Andy.

[00:21:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you very much.

[00:21:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Good for you.

[00:21:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks.

[00:21:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[00:21:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Please check us out at tintimbits.com and find us on LinkedIn we very much appreciate your feedback and and building future episodes on that so thanks again everybody.