Comments on: Bad Times Call For Good Sales Account Profiling

By: Russian Translation Service

Russian Translation Service — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:07:17 +0000

I often read your blog and always find it very interesting

Have a nice day
kaley fandrew
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By: Neil Sequeira - ReadyContacts

Neil Sequeira - ReadyContacts — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:04:39 +0000

Completely Rob. If marketing can get involved with the profiling process it leaves inside sales to focus on connecting with more qualified prospects and selling.

By: Neil Sequeira - ReadyContacts

Neil Sequeira - ReadyContacts — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:02:25 +0000

Trish I agree pre-call planning is important and as an inside sales person you need to know the answers to the questions before you make the call. The point here is do you really want your inside sales team to spend their time doing the pre-call research or do you want them to focus their time on calls connecting with the buyers? For example, if an inside sales person had account profiles delivered to them which clearly state whether the account has held budget for the product they are about to pitch, they wouldn't have to spend time going after those.

By: trish bertuzzi

trish bertuzzi — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 09:53:40 +0000

2 things came to mind when I read this post...

First, I completely agree with account profiling as an inside sales strategy. Second, no decision maker in this market is going to sit on the phone with an inside sales rep and allow them to ask the kind of open ended questions listed above. They just don't have the time anymore to invest in those kinds of conversations no matter how much we want them to.

So, what is the answer?

Account profiling as pre-call planning. Know the answers to the questions before you make the call. Teach your inside sales reps how to use the data at their disposal to form the foundation of the conversation before they pick up the phone. Create a Playbook for them with various scenarios around market drivers, give them the buyer personas that you are targeting with enough detail to understand what is probably happening in that person's world right now. Craft voicemail messages, elevator pitches and benefit statements for each buyer persona. Arm them with the tools for an intelligent buyer conversation not for a seller conversation.

Net/net - account profiling is a big YES but with the responsibility for the conversation on the side of the seller not the buyer.

By: Rob Leavitt

Rob Leavitt — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:04:57 +0000

I absolutely agree on the need for more serious account profiling (and better practices in bad times generally). I would also suggest that, especially with the most strategic accounts, that marketing folks get directly involved in the profiling process so they can provide much more tailored marketing support for strategic account development. All this enables more of a “solutions approach” where sales can talk more about business challenge and potential solutions rather than just pitching products — which won't work well these days even with the more qualified prospects.

By: Internet Marketing Email » Blog Archive » Bad Times Call For Good Sales Account Profiling | ReadyContacts ...

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:48:12 +0000

[...] Neil placed an interesting blog post on Bad Times Call For Good Sales Account Profiling | ReadyContacts …Here’s a brief overviewSales account profiling or building detailed first hand intelligence on target accounts can really give the inside sales team the kind of ammo they need to alter their message and sales pitch based on what they know about the account, … [...]