This blog was updated on June 21st, 2018.
Turn your Dream Account List into Qualified Opportunities
Every sales team has that list of ideal target accounts posted up somewhere in their office. It may be an outline of the perfect accounts or an actual list of customers they are after.
So, you know who you want to do business with — that’s a good first step! Now you have to turn those target accounts into qualified opportunities.
Here are a few steps you can take to make those customer lists much more valuable for you.
Build a List of Contacts
People want to do business with people right? Knowing the right people to contact in your target accounts is extremely important.
In addition to company websites and industry associations, there are a number of new ways to build a list of contacts. Social media sites such as LinkedIn are extremely useful to get contact information or identify the key members of your target account.
Using list sources such as Zoominfo, Data.com, and Hoovers is also a great way to find a list of contacts that will fit your criteria. Personally, I like to run a simple Google search based on the company’s name and the title of the contact that I’m pursuing (ex: Gillette + Director of Research & Development). This will often deliver press releases or articles that a particular prospect had been quoted in, and you can then use that information in your prospecting.
But getting the name and number of the Director of R&D from a list source isn’t all you need to do.
Map the Account
Depending on the organization there may be a dozen people who have insight into the problems your software may be able to solve or who have influence in the decision making process. Instead of focusing on one contact in the company, think of all parts of the organization that are relevant to you.
We call this “mapping the account”. We create a map of additional contacts and gain an understanding of the organization and the decision making process.
Once you have a name of one contact you can pick up the phone and ask to be transferred to other members of their team until you find someone who can provide you with useful information.
Uncover Qualified Opportunities
Now that you have built a complete view of the organization you can start prospecting. You will have access to more opportunities based on how many viewpoints within the target account you are communicating with.
Using information gathered from one contact to aid your communications with another will also help you build credibility. For example, if you talk to a marketing manager about lead generation and they tell you that they aren’t driving enough leads through their website, then you can take that information to the Director or VP and talk specifically about SEO and driving inbound leads. It automatically speaks to a pain point you know they have and makes your product or service relevant to their business need.
These tips really just scratch the surface of building and prospecting target accounts lists. There are several different strategies to maximize your lead generation that may work for your specific business or for the specific accounts you are targeting. Knowing the different strategies is the best way to find out what works best for you.
