In sales, it’s ok to play favorites
Learn how to identify your top accounts, ella’s way
A common misconception in sales is that your top accounts are the most well-known brands or the ones with the biggest budgets. While revenue and reputation are factors, they’re by no means the only criteria for defining who your top accounts are. The first thing to remember in the process of identifying your top accounts: you’re looking for your best accounts—not your biggest ones.
Here are a few questions you should ask yourself:
Are they a good fit for your product or service?
Just because a customer has a big budget doesn’t mean they need to use it to buy every product or service you’re selling. Understanding your ideal customer profile—their pain points, organizational structure, business goals, etc.—will help you not only personalize the way you sell, but will also help you hone in on the customers who need what you have to offer the most.
How strong is your existing relationship?
Here’s the thing: in sales, you should always be relationshipping (check out that post for some of my other great advice). The strength of your relationship with a given customer is a key factor in determining if they’re a top account. If there’s a customer you know is a good fit for your other products or services, focus on that relationship.
Get to know them, engage with them (and not just when it’s time for renewal)—go above and beyond to make sure they’re getting the most out of what you’ve already sold them. Your top accounts will have one thing in common: you’ve done the work to cultivate a meaningful, mutually beneficial relationship.
Do they have growth potential?
Pro tip: the accounts you have that have already generated a big chunk of revenue aren’t necessarily your top accounts. Your top accounts may not be big right now—but they are demonstrating a growing need for your products and services down the line. Another good indicator of growth potential is a customer who needs to buy more than just one thing from you. Transactional, one-off sales—even high-dollar ones—are just that: one-off. A top account needs more from you, and on a recurring basis.
Do you share a business philosophy?
Customers with a vision, goals, and overall business strategy that’s closely in line with yours will have greater potential for revenue generation than other clients. If you’re on a similar growth trajectory you’re more likely to form a partnership that meets needs on both ends—for the long term.
Knowing who your top accounts are will help you grow your revenue in an intentional way—with the added benefit of reducing customer churn. And who doesn’t want to boost business growth while retaining customers and keeping them happy? That’s a great goal for any salesperson—and it’s achievable if you keep my advice in mind.
Time to get out there and identify those top accounts!