Build Connections That Matter: How Account-Based Selling Can Help Build Lasting Customer Relationships

Are you struggling to get noticed by the right decision-makers? Are your sales teams doing tons of activities, but you’re not getting any traction? 

Sales is always changing, and what worked before may not work now. When automated email tools were new, companies saw a huge ROI because not many businesses used them. Today, with nearly every business using them, email clients often categorize these mass emails as “promotions” or “spam”, meaning your emails rarely reach your customers, limiting your ability to build relationships.

You need to shift your focus from quantity to quality. How well do your sales reps know your prospects and customers? How well do they know their challenges? Do they know how to solve their problems effectively? These are just a few questions that can lead to more meaningful relationships with your prospects and customers, leading to higher win rates and happier customers. 

What is Account Based Selling?

Account Based Selling (ABS) shifts the focus from a broad, often inefficient approach to a targeted strategy. Instead of hoping your message sticks somewhere, ABS ensures that your efforts are concentrated on a select group of high-potential accounts, where personalized engagement can make all the difference. 

By zeroing in on these key accounts, your sales team can build more meaningful relationships that will lead to revenue growth.

But how do you make this transition and what does implementing ABS actually look like on a day-to-day basis? 

In this article, we’ll explore the best practices for successfully adopting ABS. From understanding and prioritizing your target accounts to leveraging the right technology, we’ll guide you through actionable steps that can help you maximize your sales potential.

What’s Different About ABS?

Let’s start by looking at a typical day in a traditional sales environment. Your sales team begins their morning with a long list of leads, most of them have had little interaction with your brand. 

They’re trying to reach as many people as possible. They’ll attempt to do so by cold calling, sending out generic emails, and delivering standardized pitches to leads who may or may not be interested. 

Each lead is treated the same, with minimal personalization because there’s little time to properly research individual needs. Many leads don’t engage, and those who do often don’t convert because at this stage, there’s nothing to make your sales reps stand out. 

Now, let’s contrast that with how a day would look with an ABS strategy.

Instead of starting with a long list of generic leads, the focus shifts to a carefully selected group of high-potential accounts. 

Sales teams thoroughly research these accounts, understanding each account’s pain points, industry trends, and the key decision-makers involved. 

They use tools like OrgChartPlus to identify, manage and understand stakeholder relationships to advance sales and grow accounts.

With this knowledge, they can personalize their outreach, whether it’s a custom email, a targeted call, or a tailored proposal. Throughout the day, every interaction they have is intentional and relevant, aimed at addressing the unique needs of these key accounts. 

Rather than spreading your efforts thin, you’re building meaningful connections that have a higher likelihood of leading to long-term, profitable relationships.

1. Understand Your Target Accounts

Now we’ve covered what ABS is and what it looks like, let’s get into our best practices. For a successful ABS strategy, you need to understand your target accounts which comes from identifying high-value accounts, prioritizing for maximum impact, gathering useful insights and applying those insights in a meaningful way.  

Identify High-Value Accounts

The first step is to carefully select the accounts that offer the most promise. This isn’t about volume, it’s about precision. Look at your current customer base and identify which clients generate the most revenue or have the potential for significant growth. 

Factors like company size, industry, and alignment with your product or service should guide your selection. If your product excels in the financial sector, those accounts should be at the top of your list. 

Alternatively, if your offering supports companies undergoing digital transformation, target businesses in that phase for maximum impact. 

The identification process takes time, but when done right, it can have a huge impact on your conversion rates, leading to more wins. 

Prioritize for Maximum Impact

Once you’ve identified a list of potential high-value accounts, the next step is to determine which ones to focus on first. Not every account will have the same immediate potential, so it’s important to prioritize based on factors such as revenue potential, strategic fit, and engagement history. 

An account with a strong alignment with your product and an engaged history might take precedence over a larger account that’s less familiar with your brand. This thoughtful prioritization ensures your sales team invests their time and resources where they’re most likely to succeed, targeting the accounts that can deliver the most significant returns.

It’s also important to prioritize accounts where you may already have a warm lead, such as a previous user of your product, a previous employee of your company, etc. These types of relationships can lead to warm introductions, which are always more favorable than reaching out cold to a prospect. 

Useful Insights

Understanding your target accounts goes beyond surface-level information. You need to learn the specific challenges, goals, and pain points of each account. This means gathering insights from various sources, including industry reports, news articles, and even social media accounts. 

Focus on understanding the industry trends that are influencing their decisions, the initiatives they’re currently pursuing, and the key decision-makers who will be involved in the buying process. 

For example, if one of your accounts is preparing for a major product launch, use this to inform your outreach. Even if your solution can’t help them with that specific topic, you can use it to break the ice with your prospect. 

Apply Your Insights 

With a solid understanding of your target accounts, the next step is to translate these insights into personalized engagement strategies. This involves messaging that directly addresses the unique needs of each account, demonstrating that you’re not just another vendor but a partner who understands their business. 

Whether it’s sending a tailored case study, customizing a proposal, or scheduling a meeting to discuss specific challenges, your outreach should feel bespoke and relevant. 

By leveraging these insights effectively, you’re improving your chances of closing deals and building the foundation for long-term, profitable relationships.

2. Leverage Technology to Improve Your Account Management

As with every strategy, the right tech stack can make all the difference. With ABS, you want to use tools that make it easier to manage accounts, personalize outreach, and track results. 

Here’s some examples of how you can leverage technology to make your ABS approach more effective. 

Single Source Of Truth – Your CRM

Your CRM system isn’t just a digital Rolodex. It’s the key to your ABS approach. By centralizing account data, helping with personalized outreach, and informing your decisions with rich data, your CRM is the backbone of your entire sales process. 

By centralizing data, like your customer’s past purchases, key decision-makers, and specific pain points discussed in previous meetings, you equip your sales team with the insights they need to craft targeted engagements. 

For example, before an important pitch, your CRM should be set up so that your reps have immediate access to a comprehensive overview of the account’s history, including any concerns or objections raised in past interactions. This ensures that your team’s message is always relevant and that they can address specific needs head-on, improving the chances of advancing the relationship. 

Using your CRM to track how different stakeholders within an account interact with your content can also help you target your outreach. 

For example, if a CFO of a target account has consistently engaged with resources on cost reduction, your next outreach should directly address these financial concerns. You might reference a case study that highlights how your solution has delivered ROI in similar scenarios. 

This level of personalization, made possible by using your centralized data, not only helps your outreach make a real impact, but also strengthens your positioning as a partner who truly understands the account’s unique challenges.

You have to be proactive and quick to respond if a prospect reaches out to you. If your CRM alerts you that a key decision-maker from a high-priority account has started opening emails about a specific product feature, this could indicate a shift in their priorities. 

Your team can respond immediately by organizing a call to discuss that feature in detail, potentially accelerating the sales cycle. Maybe the CRM data shows that an account has gone quiet, it might be time to re-engage with a new value proposition or address potential concerns. 

By using these insights, your team can stay ahead of the curve, ensuring that your ABS efforts remain aligned with the evolving needs and interests of each account.

Automate Routine Tasks, Not Relationships

In ABS, if you skip the personalization then you’re setting up for failure. While automation can certainly be efficient, it should never come at the cost of the targeted engagement. The key is to use automation strategically, in ways that support your personalization efforts rather than replace them.

Automation excels at handling repetitive tasks like scheduling follow-up reminders, or tracking email opens. These are tasks that, while necessary, don’t require a personal touch. By automating these, you free up your sales team’s time to focus on what matters: the personalized interactions that build relationships. For example, after a meeting with a key decision-maker, your CRM can automatically set a reminder for the sales rep to send a tailored follow-up email a few days later. However, that email should be crafted personally, drawing on the specific details of the conversation and addressing the unique needs of the account.

The human element is irreplaceable.

Use automation to enhance your sales team’s ability to engage with each account, every interaction should be thoughtful and impactful.

Bridging Strategy and Execution

Creating an ABS strategy is one thing, but implementing it effectively is another. Plan2Prosper from Sales Methods is built directly on top of your Salesforce, to help you bring your ABS strategy to life through real-time data and actionable insights. No integrations needed! 

With Plan2Prosper, you can keep your strategy aligned with your clients’ goals by tracking progress, visualizing outcomes, and making informed adjustments. This ensures that your ABS approach is not only well-planned but also dynamically executed to achieve the best results.

3. Multi-Touch Campaigns

The more touch points you create with key stakeholders across different platforms, the higher your chances of building meaningful relationships and getting that sale. This section will explore the power of multi-touch engagement, provide tips for executing it effectively, and illustrate its impact with a practical example.

The Power of Multi-Touch Engagement

Multi-touch campaigns are designed to reach your target accounts through a combination of channels like email, social media, phone calls, and more. This approach is powerful because it meets your prospects wherever they are, whether they’re checking their inbox, browsing LinkedIn, or answering a phone call.

Multi-touch engagement combined with the personalization of an ABS strategy makes your messaging memorable. Each touchpoint reinforces your brand and your value proposition, keeping your solution top-of-mind for the account. 

A prospect might not respond to an email, but seeing a relevant post from your company on LinkedIn could prompt them to think more seriously about your offer. By using multiple channels, you increase the likelihood that your message will resonate, bringing the account closer to conversion.

How to Execute a Multi-Touch Campaign in ABS – and What to Do If It Doesn’t Go as Planned

A multi-touch campaign engages key stakeholders through various channels, ensuring that your message is consistent, and personalized. 

But what happens if your efforts don’t yield the expected results? 

A lot of ‘how to’ guides are idealistic. We’ll walk you through executing a multi touch campaign but also give you advice on what to do if things don’t work out! 

Email

Start your multi-touch campaign with a thoughtful, personalized email. This email should directly address the account’s specific pain points and offer a clear, compelling solution. Use insights from previous interactions or industry knowledge to create your message. The goal is to make your email stand out. Remember, no-one likes to be sold to. 

If your email doesn’t get a response, send a follow-up email. Ideally spaced about a week apart. Shift your approach by offering additional value, such as a relevant case study or a whitepaper. If you still don’t receive a response, consider pivoting to another channel. Persisting through the same channel without a response can come across as spammy. 

LinkedIn

Make sure you are connecting with key decision-makers on LinkedIn. Engage with their content, and create your own that will resonate with them. This can range from case studies, to ultimate guides, even top tip carousels. Keep your solution top-of-mind.

If your connection request is ignored, or if your posts don’t generate engagement, don’t give up. 

Content is your 24/7 salesperson, and consistency is key. Stay on their radar without being overly pushy. If social media doesn’t yield results, it may be a sign that your messaging needs to be adjusted or that you should explore different channels.

Phone Calls

The goal of this call isn’t just to pitch your product. If the prospect takes your call, get them talking. There is no better insight into your accounts’ pain points than straight from the source. Remember, ABS is a marathon, not a sprint. You don’t have to make the sale on this call. 

What if the decision-maker doesn’t take the call or just shuts you down? 

Respect their time and preferences. 

Offer alternative ways to connect. If phone calls repeatedly go unanswered, consider whether this is the right communication method for this account. You might shift to a more passive strategy. 

Summary

Focusing on quality over quantity is crucial for building meaningful relationships that will increase revenue. Account-Based Selling offers a targeted approach by concentrating efforts on high-value accounts, allowing for more personalized and impactful engagement. 

Unlike traditional sales strategies that spread resources thin without much return, ABS prioritizes strategic relationships with accounts that have the potential for significant growth. By deeply understanding your target accounts, leveraging the right technology, and executing multi-touch campaigns, your sales team can move beyond generic outreach to build lasting partnerships that matter.

Ready to take your sales strategy to the next level? 

Plan2Prosper is fully native to Salesforce and helps to bring your ABS strategy to life. With real-time insights and dynamic account planning, Plan2Prosper ensures your team stays aligned with client goals, driving meaningful results. 

Contact us today to arrange a free demo and see how Plan2Prosper can transform your account management approach.