account based marketing: make your crm payoff & get those targeted accounts

ACCOUNT-BASED MARKETINGMake Your CRM Payoff . . .

and get those targeted accounts!Created & Presented

byJoe L. Slade, Jr., CEO & Laura Patterson, CEO The Slade Group VisionEdge Marketing

(c) 1999-2014 The Slade Group and VisionEdge Marketing. Not for reproduction or redistribution without permission.

Improve Opportunity Creation & Accelerate Your Revenue

You, like many companies, use a CRM platform. Perhaps you excel leveraging this tool. Or maybe you are still trying to crack the code.

Either way, this information is for you. It focuses on how you can use effective targeting and the supporting data in your CRM system to improve opportunity qualification and accelerate acquiring targeted customers.

(c) 1999-2014 The Slade Group and VisionEdge Marketing. Not for reproduction or redistribution without prior permission.

Key Actions! Deploy Best Practices. Be Customer Centric. Align Around the Customer

Buying Process. Develop an Actionable

Opportunity Scoring Model. Identify Your Opportunities. Tell Your Story. Customize Your Messaging. Set Your Metrics, Measure

and Report.


4 Best Practices

Use a customer-centric as you deploy a targeted opportunity management process.

Develop a unique scoring model around the customer’s buying process.

Prepare and use a decision process that allows Marketing and Sales to work in sync to accelerate revenue generation.

Develop the resources needed to deliver offerings and protect your value stream.


Customer Centricity

Can you answer these questions about your customers?

Who are they (psychographic, demographic, persona)?

How can they be segmented (needs based ideally)?

Quantity in each segment? What, when and why? How do they buy? Who does the buying? Who is the influencer? What triggers the buying

process? What are their criteria?


Map Customer’s Buying Process

Six behaviorally-based stages in

the journey . . . Contact Connection Conversation Consideration Consumption Communication


Align Around the Buying Process

Aligning around the buying journey Reduces ambiguity –

behavior is observable and measurable.

Clarifies what is a qualified opportunity.

Defines where the stages are in the process and who owns them.


Develop an Actionable Opportunity Scoring Model

Build a scoring model around fit AND behavior.

Determine when an opportunity is sales worthy AND ready.

Decide how to pass the baton and log it into the CRM system.


Identify Your Best Opportunities

Use your scoring model to: Create agreement between Marketing and Sales on

best opportunity characteristics and identify key account characteristics.

Gain clarity on who & where targeted accounts are. Describe your major accounts in psychographic

terms. Project and forecast the value of these accounts so

you can align human capital and financial assets to attract and capture these buyers.

Use your CRM data to map locations, channels and lead nurturing path to meet these buyers.


Tell Your Story

Build content, touch points and channels that drive conversion across the Six C’s

With your story . . . Show how you create

and sustain trust. Demonstrate your

competence. Let others validate. Make your prospects the

hero! Show how you can exceed their needs.

Keep it real.


Be Relevant. Customize Your Messaging

Speak to customer needs and interests

Deliver value Entertain Inform Give hope Fit your language

to their hearing


Timing is Everything

Start with relevant content. Deliver your messages where and how it

matters to the customer. Reach out to influencers who buyers

respect. Devote enough dollars to “appear to be

there even when you’re not” in that channel.

Check with the market to affirm its perspective . . . often enough but not too much.


Make it Count!

Set common metrics and performance targets.

Use a tracking device outside the normal CRM process for targeted accounts.

Use benchmarks to establish your targets.

Track your target’s progress along the buying journey.

Have a plan for dormant or “indecisive” prospects.

Measure, monitor and report.


Marketing & Sales Are Partners Marketing needs to understand the

quantity, quality, value, velocity, conversion and win rate of marketing-generated opportunities.

Sales and the account team will understand, own and track all assets associated with account nurturing.

You can ask for help on handling change, distractions or other “change agents”.

Collaborate on how to convert a new customer into a sustainable relationship.

Make the effort to plan the details of the customer experience at the start!


Indicators of Your SuccessHow do you know if it’s working? Watch for these indicators: Improved:

Best Practices Sharing Forecast Accuracy Communications Win Rate

Increased: Revenues Margins

Reduced: Admin Burden New Rep Ramp-up Time Sell Cycle


Celebrate!

Celebrate your wins! Learn from your losses. Use wins and losses to

drive insights and improve.

Create! Yes that’s right. It’s vital to segment time for both marketing and sales to create new differentiators and testimonials.


Learn More

We drive the concept-to-execution processes that create and sustain long-term value through integrated marketing strategies for companies operating in regional, national and global markets. This involves not only complex project management success, but also direction of diverse technical and creative talents and teams.

We have developed and use a superb model for C-leaders to directsuccess through all their growth stages. Ask and it’s yours.

Since 1999 Laura and the VisionEdge Marketing team has helped marketers improve and prove the value of marketing.

By leveraging VisionEdge Marketing’s expertise in data, analytics, metrics and process, marketing leaders and their teams are able to accelerate revenue, make marketing more relevant to the C-Suite, measure their contribution and impact to the business and transform marketing into a center of excellence.

Free white paper in Resources section at www.visionedgemarketing.com “Don’t Waste Your Bullets”.

LAURA PATTERSONFounder & CEO, VisionEdge Marketing

JOE SLADEFounder & CEO, The Slade Group


http://www.visionedgemarketing.com/