Account Profiling - How to Research Your Sales Accounts.

Account Profiling and Research

Understanding your prospective accounts is crucial to achieving success. By conducting thorough research on your sales accounts, you can gain valuable insights that enable you to tailor your outreach, differentiate yourself from competitors, and increase your chances of closing deals. In this blog post, we will delve into the importance of account profiling and outline eight critical areas that every salesperson should research before making contact.

Company Background

Start your account profiling journey by thoroughly researching the company's background. Gain an understanding of its history, mission, values, and strategic objectives. Explore their website, social media profiles, and press releases to gather as much information as possible. This knowledge will help you align your pitch with the company's goals and demonstrate that you have done your homework.

Annual Report and Strategy

Where is the business heading? What's important to them in the future? Where are they coming from and what are they telling the markets they will achieve? If you can tie your messaging to the big issues of the day - it's a winner.

Industry and Market Trends

Stay up-to-date with the latest industry trends and market conditions relevant to your prospect's business. By understanding the challenges, opportunities, and emerging trends in their industry, you can position yourself as a knowledgeable advisor who can provide valuable insights and solutions.

Key Decision-makers and Influencers

Identify the key decision-makers and influencers within the organization. Learn about their roles, responsibilities, and professional backgrounds. This knowledge will enable you to craft personalized messages and engage with the right individuals at the right time.

Competitive Landscape

Research the company's competitors and analyze their strengths, weaknesses, and market positioning. Identify how your offering differs from competitors and highlight the unique value you bring to the table. By emphasizing your unique selling points, you can differentiate yourself and demonstrate how your solution can address the prospect's pain points effectively.

Financial Performance

Review the company's financial statements, annual reports, and recent news to gain insights into their financial health and stability. Understand their revenue growth, profitability, and any recent investments or partnerships. This information will help you tailor your value proposition and demonstrate how your solution can positively impact their bottom line.

Recent News and Events

Stay updated on the company's recent news, events, acquisitions, or product launches. This knowledge will allow you to initiate conversations relevant to their current activities, showing your genuine interest and understanding of their business.

Existing Partnerships and Customers

Identify the company's existing partnerships and customer base. Understand the nature of these relationships and the value they bring to the organization. This information can help you identify potential synergy opportunities and tailor your approach accordingly.

Social Media Presence

Evaluate the company's social media presence across platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Look for engagement levels, thought leadership content, and customer interactions. Engaging with their content or sharing insightful comments can help you build rapport and establish credibility.

The Challenge For The Sales Team.

Researching and profiling your accounts sounds easy doesn't it? But it really is not that easy at all. It is also really time-consuming. Running an account profile (looking in all the various places you need to look - annual reports, LinkedIn, new stories etc) takes time - we find it can take 2 to 3 days for a large account. Finding the time to allocate 3 days to one account...is difficult.

Any salesperson will have competing priorities - lots of tasks that may seem more important than researching a new account. But it is one of the most important tasks that any salesperson can do. Putting these hard yards in makes the difference.

Viewpoint Analysis work with lots of technology vendors to do this hard work for them. We make sure that our team puts those hard yards in. It takes the pressure off the sales and marketing teams and they can trust our research as we are ex-sales. We work with the likes of Nexthink, Pluralsight, Bloomreach, Informatica, Orange Business Services - and many more. Take a look at our account research services for more information.

Conclusion

Account profiling is an indispensable step in the sales process. By conducting thorough research in these critical areas, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of your sales accounts and strategically tailor your outreach. By demonstrating your knowledge, highlighting your unique value proposition, and differentiating yourself from competitors, you increase your chances of successfully closing deals. Embrace account profiling as a key strategy, and watch your sales performance soar.