Earlier this month at the AA-ISP Boston chapter meeting, Sangram Vajre and Trish Bertuzzi joined forces to discuss Account Based Revenue. It seems like everywhere I look lately, account based sales and marketing is being mentioned. I have to admit that I didn’t pay a lot of attention to it, but have been keeping tabs on the trend.
After the sales and marketing alignment, then the sales enablement trends, I felt a little weary of the next catch phrase being thrown about. If everyone else is doing it, that’s enough reason for me not to sometimes.
So going into the “Account-Based Whatever” I was a little skeptical. Is this yet another new trendy word and fad, or is there something real here?
That was my biggest question going to the discussion. What is it, what circumstances make this a good strategy, who can benefit, and what does it take to execute?
What is Account Based Revenue?
ABR is in its infancy says Trish, and while I can agree with that- it seems to me that ABR is an evolution of several recent trends including account targeting, sales and marketing alignment, and sales enablement, inbound…with one exception. (This is what I like about account based.) You decide where you want revenue to come from. This isn’t a strategy where you react to the market, but where you are putting all the cards on the table to go after the bigger accounts that are right for you. (in other words, everyone from the BDR to the CEO is a potential asset to gain entry into the account)
Wait, you mean potentially everyone in the company is now a salesperson? Finally! (don’t get too excited just yet- wait until you read about who this is right for)
Considering that organizations looking for growth are trying to do more with less, are faced with the undeniability that what worked yesterday and today won’t work as well tomorrow, plus the multiple people involved in making a decision- it's no wonder many marketers and salespeople are struggling to juggle all the moving parts. Trying to keep up and on top of it all creates inefficiencies- and there is a real cost to that. Aligning and focusing efforts where there is the greatest upside only makes sense. But it doesn't make sense for everyone.
Who is this a good strategy for?
It is not for every business, if you are not going after large enterprise deals where there is a buying consensus- it may probably doesn’t make sense for you according to Trish. There is a lot of work involved, so this is really an enterprise strategy. That doesn’t mean that you can’t do it as a smaller business, but only if you are selling up market into enterprise accounts and then it should be carefully considered.
Plus you will want to consider what sales means in your organization. If everyone is potentially involved in the sale, that means you will need to have a very strong and positive sales culture. If sales is a dirty word in your company, then you might want to consider the deep level of change you will have to undergo.
What does an ABR strategy involve?
ABR certainly isn’t something that you just start doing. It’s not just sales, marketing and service- it is all of them along with operations and leadership, research and development. All cards on the table. No silos.
As you can see from the above Bridge Group diagram, there is more than a little internal planning and preparation that you will need to do first. This includes, but is not limited to the following questions:
Account Selection: How do you decide which accounts to develop an ABR strategy around? Which data is important? There are different levels of data to be collected, and from different sources within, and outside, of your company. The key here is that you name the accounts and base your decisions on data, not gut or past experience alone. Rather than long lists of leads, it is short list of companies or tiered list of companies and the contacts within those companies. Not everyone is your customer- not even everyone who does X, or needs Y is. Be specific and be prepared to justify your reasons - with data.
Players & Responsibilities: Who does what? What will be the role of each person involved and how does it tie into the campaign as a whole? This is a multi-channel, integrated approach that involves everyone, it’s not enough to be on the same page, now you have to have your watches synchronized as you move into action.
Now- if everyone is involved, then who is in charge? The Account Executive needs to act as the quarterback. Or if you are not a sports fan like me, think of the AE as the maestro or conductor of an orchestra. Either way, the salesperson should be the one who owns the outcome, which means they are now not only going to have to help their buyer lead their team, but also their own team.
Account Insights & Plays: This means relevant conversations with peers instead of standard messages for anyone, by anyone. A big question to consider is; What can you do for them that no one else can? What is that message for each person, how will you engage with them, how will it be delivered and by whom?
Tools & Measures: There is no doubt that an account based approach is going to require a change in the way you market, sell and deliver. How will you measure progress is an important question too. Everything you measure should tie back into the data you used to select accounts and the strategies you are using to engage. For example, if one of the ways you are going to engage with your target accounts is to have your CEO hold executive breakfasts- there are many things you can measure to determine it’s effectiveness.
Strategy & Alignment: The things you would normally measure to determine if you are getting traction, or pipeline KPIs like demos, are less important than things like collaborative meetings and discussions about trends.
The good news is that executives and leaders are no longer in the box seats watching their team make the plays, nor are they the cheerleaders on the sidelines- they are now players too. And it’s not just sales, marketing or leadership in this team or orchestra, the people back stage (customer support and service) have roles and responsibilities for bringing in new customers. Now the quarterback has a lot of different plays he can run, resources to rely on.
What about ABR within a channel ?
Can you include your partners in your ABR strategy? That is going to depend on your relationship with your partners- whether you are a tech company who partners with service companies or vice versa. Hopefully you have already done the steps in understanding who your mutual buyers are and how you best help them. And you have aligned your value propositions together too right?
Do you know whether or not your audience and buyers like and will pay attention to your partners? How can you test that? For example, joint webinars, guest blog posts, social media interaction- now you are talking about involving marketing.
And how does the buying process of your mutual buyers line up to your sales process? Have you figured out yet how your sales processes align, or even documented what yours is?
The need for sales coaching at every level of the organization.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. The plays are still being written, the music still being notated.
There's a lot of preparation and planning and work that goes into ABR- if the person interacting with anyone in the buying consensus-whether it's the CEO, support or technical person or even salesperson-if they haven't mastered the basic sales fundamentals- will all of that work be in vain? If it's going to take everyone to make this work then everyone needs to up their game.
This is the other thing that I really like about the ABR concept- it absolutely forces an organization- at every level- to be centered on who their ideal buyers are and how best to help them. And if there is one thing that customers of large enterprises are demanding- it’s that.
Is your company ready to start an Account Based strategy? Is coaching right for your team to help them execute? Contact us to learn more!
