How Can Account-Based Marketing Help Your Sales Team?

Many blogs and articles have already been written about Account-Based Marketing and how to implement it as a marketing strategy. I feel that one crucial element is missing from these discussions: alignment with the sales department. Account-Based Marketing can be very beneficial for your sales department, but how do you ensure that they embrace the approach and demonstrate commitment? After all, as a marketing team, we can only be successful with this strategy if the sales team believes in it.

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Marketing & Sales Alignment Through Account-Based Marketing

With Account-Based Marketing, you focus on a select group of companies where you see opportunities to grow revenue—whether with existing or new customers. One of the challenges is selecting the right companies.

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This is where collaboration with sales comes into play. In my opinion, it’s the sales team’s responsibility to select the right companies. As a marketer, you can certainly help them with this. We use the “black hole” analysis for this purpose. This analysis immediately reveals which customers offer opportunities for revenue growth. These insights are extremely valuable to a salesperson. Developing revenue with existing customers is one of the most important sales activities a salesperson can focus on to drive revenue growth.
As the marketing department, you can help them get off to a successful start. This begins by jointly selecting the companies and formulating objectives for which you’re both responsible.

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You can download the Black Hole model by clicking the download button.

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Download Black Hole Analysis

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Identify growth opportunities with existing customers

To begin the black holes analysis, you’ll need data from your ERP or inventory management system. It’s important that you can break down the data by product group. Examples include: filters, pumps, valves, and instrumentation. If you haven’t defined any product groups, you’ll have to allocate the revenue manually. You’ll also need information on who your competitors are for each product group.

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Personally, I would filter out the customers with lower sales potential to create a more manageable group. Based on this list of customers, you can use colors, for example, to indicate which product groups aren’t being purchased yet or where there’s still a lot of potential for your business. In a separate column, note who your competitor is for each of those groups. Do this collaboratively so that the marketing team is better informed about what’s going on with customers.

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From this list, select up to 10 prospects to work with. Account-Based Marketing is labor-intensive, so focus exclusively on these 10 prospects. In addition, specify your revenue and profit margin goals for each prospect.

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Putting Your Plan into Action

Once you've worked together to select prospects and set goals, you can get started on the implementation.

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Identify who the key decision-makers (DMUs) are, what their needs are, and who your (potential) competitors are. One model that can help with this is Mercuri’s Six Battlefields model. See the image on the right.

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This allows you to examine, from various perspectives, how your offering compares to the customer’s needs and to that of your competitors. A key takeaway here is: what are your USPs that the customer needs and that your competitors cannot offer?
It’s important to identify the customer’s needs and compare them with your offering and that of your competitors. You should also consider the drawbacks of your offering—that is, what the customer doesn’t need—such as high prices or mandatory services required when purchasing your product or service.

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The large area in the middle with diagonal stripes is the "me too" area, where you offer the same thing as your competitor. This could mean that you both meet certain needs, such as providing a 5-door car.

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You can use the results of the Six Battlefield Model during conversations with relevant contacts and in the content you share as part of your Account-Based Marketing campaigns.

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Need help implementing your Account-Based Marketing strategy?

Fill out the contact form or email me directly at casper.lucassen@tmcmedia.nl

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