A Guide to Account Based Sales

Marketing and sales have stayed the same for a long time. Cold calls and outbound have been proven tried and true but we might be entering a new time for the industry. Account Based Sales and marketing is interesting because it's fit the tools and strategies of the modern world we live in. It's focused on metrics and using them to target key accounts that we now have a better chance of being closed.

The account-based sales model is still new but it's the best form of outreach that we've seen in a long time. It's made better by solutions like ours at Poseidon that allow you to target the right companies at scale, while also being highly personalized in the process.

The account-based sales model is one in which each company is treated as its own market, with significant resources allocated to persuading them to become customers. This model requires a lot of resources, so it may not be suitable for everyone. In this article, we'll explore the account-based sales model in more depth, help you determine if it's right for your company, and provide guidance on how to get started if it is.

How do Account Based Sales help Sales and Marketing Teams?

The account-based sales model is one that focuses on selling to entire companies, rather than to individual leads. This model is highly personalized and takes into account the specific needs of each company. It is usually used in B2B sales, as it is too time-consuming for B2C products. It's focused on long-term results and not quick wins because there's an emphasis on high-value engagement across multiple platforms.

Needing buy-in across a company means getting all the key decision-makers together during the sales cycle. It takes more time but when done right, account based selling delivers an incredible experience to every account you have in your CRM. It also aligns marketers and sales reps under a common vision of how to reach out with their message.

Sales reps don't find themselves alone with an account-based selling approach because the entire sales team is dedicated to the sales outreach process. This means targeted companies are hit with highly personalized messages, but that load is distributed between sales and marketing departments. This alignment between sales and marketing is key to the selling strategy, but it's easier to achieve than you would expect.

You'll hear the account-based model be referred to in a few different terms, such as account-based sales (ABS) or account-based sales development (ABSD). These focus, as the names imply, on sales teams that are focused on accounts. The most well-known account-based model is account-based marketing (ABM strategy).

How to Create a Target Account List

With an account-based sales process, you're targeting high-value accounts with personalization in your messages to address their pain points. Each salesperson needs to know what these target companies look like, which means defining an ideal customer profile or ICP is really important.

One reason that account-based sales have increased in popularity is the availability of new technology to help execute this model. Once you have created your ideal customer profile, you can use account identification software to create dynamic target lists of companies that match the profile. The target list will automatically update as new companies become a match and some companies no longer meet the criteria.

Consider an Account Based Sales Strategy

Taking an account-based approach can be a game changer for B2B sales teams. It's a high-touch process, but it aligns sales and marketing strategy in a way that the industry hasn't seen before. This selling model makes sales calls go smoother because multiple stakeholders were involved in the process. By focusing efforts and resources on top accounts to target, you're also creating better habits for your sales approach.

The tools for account-based strategy are also quite impressive. What we can do at Poseidon can is a game changer for account-based selling frameworks. We help minimize sales efforts and equip your marketing and sales teams with insights into buyer personas. Because this approach is used in a social selling environment, we also leverage LinkedIn Sales Navigator to amplify your results and find the best customers in the process. Your sales professionals need the best tools like what we have at Poseidon to close more deals. Selling involves a lot of moving parts and having a centralized place for your account-based selling process is important. We provide that and more. reach out if you're interested in improving your account based marketing and sales efforts.