Target Account Selling

Target Account Selling, have you heard of it? Target Account Selling involves building strong relationships with companies that most closely align with your organization’s ideal customer profile (ICP). These prospects are most likely to convert, have the highest potential for increasing stickiness (ICP) over time, and will likely stay with your organization long-term. 

If you don’t have your ICP defined, now is the time to get started. Once you have your ICP defined, you will be able to create a list of target accounts based on your ICP and the characteristics of your top buyers. Not sure where to begin or how to put a list together? Let’s discuss this process in more detail.

Determine Your ICP & Building A List

To create a target account list of prospects with high value and a high potential of closing, you want to focus on the specifics of your ICP. There are a few questions that can help guide you to your ICP:

• Are there company sizes that are ideal or not ideal?
• Are there geographic locations that are the best to target?
• Are there specific industries that are a better fit for your product?

Now that you have defined the ICP, it’s time to build a list of target accounts for your Sales Team to go after. With your ICP in mind, this list shouldn’t be too difficult for you to create. When creating your list, it’s important to focus on quality over quantity. Ask your sales reps to dig in and do some research about the accounts you are potentially adding to the list.

There are a few questions that will help them in this step:

• How closely does the company match your ICP?
• What is the potential value of the deal?
• Are you able to gather all the needed information about the account?
• How likely are they to buy from you?

Reach Out To Target Accounts

You have defined your ICP and built a list of high-quality prospects with a high probability of closing and high-value potential. Next, it’s time to reach out to those companies. During this process, it’s important that your sales reps personalize each encounter. Show that thoughtful research has been completed ahead of time. Take time to build relationships with decision-makers and clarify the pain points your product will solve for the account.

What is the best way to reach out to your target accounts? Ultimately, this is a decision your team should make based on your historical success data. Whether it’s cold calling, email, or any other strategy you have developed, your team will decide which method is the best for them. Take into consideration that you have put a lot of work into defining your ICP and building the list of target prospects. You want to ensure that from the first outreach, every encounter is personalized. This will give you the best opportunity to build a long-lasting relationship with your prospects.

Recap & What’s Next

If you haven’t tried Target Account Selling, now’s your chance! If you’re still debating whether or not Target Account Selling will bring value to your business, let’s briefly review a few highlights to help you decide. The process involves focusing on companies that:

• Closely match your ICP.
• Have a high probability of closing with high value.
• Will likely stay with your organization for the long term, which is a win for you. 

Next week, we will discuss HR trends to watch out for in 2023. The workplace has evolved immensely over the past few years due to the global pandemic and unrest worldwide, and the workplace will continue to evolve. It’s important to keep informed on what’s going on and how these changes may influence your organization.