Revenue leaders aren’t tolerating big Account Management teams that are more like delivery and support. Everyone is being asked to drive revenue for up-sales / cross-sales now.
Here’s what we’ll explore this week:
- Death to Account Managers, all hail Account Growers.
- How Account-based Sellers plan their Territory using DRIVE.
- The 4 key questions within any Account Plan.
Death to Account Managers, all hail Account Growers.
Look at a Balance Sheet. Most people in an organization sit on the Liability side. Managing accounts with no real contribution to revenue growth I would consider a:
Cost of Goods Sold
- Cost of Delivery
= Liability
Revenue leaders aren’t going to tolerate that anymore.
If only 20-30% of Account Executives are going to drive +80% of the sales impact, AND it’s 6x cheaper and easier to sell to an existing customer… you met CRO’s are making the shift fast.
In fact, EVERY sales kick-off SKO that I’m a part of in 2024 is to develop a prospecting muscle within the Account Management team.
Even if every Account Manager who manages a $1,000,000 portfolio created a 10% up-sell / cross-sell, that $100,000 turns that Account Manager from a liability to an asset and covers each AM’s operational expenses.
If you’re a CRO, get ready for a major transformation in 2024 as your peers convert their Account Managers into Account Growers.
How Account-based Sellers plan their Territory using DRIVE.
Situation:
You’re a CRO with 20 AE’s and AM’s. Each seller has a territory or portfolio of 150 accounts. Each quarter your team shows you their Pipeline Coverage of the 10-15 open opportunities in the CRM.
But what does each portfolio TAM actually look like?
- Who do we know?
- Who don’t we know?
- What’s moving forward 1 year from now, and what’s regressing?
Opportunity:
You have an opportunity to gain a full 360-degree view of every portfolio, making up your TRUE Total Addressable Market. Remove the storytelling. Remove the subjectivity. See what’s NOT in your CRM.
Resolution:
Your sellers can stand confidently in your QBR and defend the TAM of their portfolio:
Park – No commercial relationship.
Reverse – Churn, Canceled, Competitive Intel tells us we’re going nowhere. Told us NO.
Neutral – Stagnant relationship. Trapped in the Dead Zone.
Drive – Growth Opportunity. Showing signs of moving forward.
Develop your Macro to Micro Total Addressable Market for EVERY account within each of your seller’s portfolios. Get the big picture.
The 4 key questions within any Account Plan.
“If you can’t say it on one page, you don’t know the topic well enough” – Ronald Reagan.
Don’t overcomplicate things. Every seller on your team needs to have 5 Accounts that are their TOP 5. Each has its own account plan. EVERY Seller should have a Top 5 Accounts, with their own Account Plan.
What’s inside an account plan?
4 Questions:
WHY? – Why Account A vs. B? Why Today vs. Tomorrow?
WHAT? – What intelligence/insights have we learned to impact our engagements, and storytelling, and move this account forward?
WHO? – Who do we know? Who don’t we know? Who do we need to get to know?
HOW? – How do we engage this account in a Bold & Different way?
FREE RESOURCE – Activity & Pipeline Gap Calculator
Does each of your sellers know the exact number of conversations they will need to have next month to highly influence Pipeline Creation?
Have they accounted for the headwinds and tailwinds?
- Leads from Marketing
- Leads from the BDR team
- Leads from Channel Partners
What is their ‘Self-Sourcing’ GAP?
How many opportunities do they need to self-source?
How many conversations will be required to create enough opportunities to win?
