Since it's typically too high-touch for B2C products, this highly personalized strategic sales prospecting process is mostly used in B2B sales.
To deliver a tightly integrated buying process and after the sale, account-based sales requires a company-wide buy-in and collaboration between not only salespeople but also marketers and people in finance, customer success, and product development.
In order for account-based sales to work, everyone must align around shared goals and ideal customer profiles.
Account-based selling can significantly boost your ROI, but it can also cause more harm than good if it doesn't fit your company.
To determine if ABS is the right fit for you, you should examine your current sales and marketing strategy.
It depends on:
- The products you sell
- The size of your average deal
- The length of your sales cycle
- The type of customers you serve
For example: If you're selling a $35/month short-term transactional product to small to midsize companies, ABS isn't for you. Costs will be too high, and ROI will take too long.
However, ABS is perfect for companies with long, complex sales cycles and minimum five-figure investments from their customers.
It's difficult to interpret behavioral data from one individual as an indication of a company's readiness to buy, especially if that individual isn't the decision-maker. By focusing your efforts on high-value accounts that are likely to be successful with your product, you won't waste precious time on unsuitable accounts.
By targeting high-value accounts, you can also create highly personalized messages for a higher close rate. As a result, you will quickly develop expertise in selling towards the type of businesses you target.
