5 Advantages of Moving Your B2B Sales Process Upmarket Bigger accounts with multiple contact points lead to more profitable opportunities.
By Danny Wong Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
It's easy for sales teams to focus on small businesses. There are plenty to pitch, and they're less intimidating to approach than large enterprises. Even experienced sales teams can fall into this trap. What's more, staff members are nervous about giving up smaller clients and the revenue each adds to their book of business. They're hesitant to change the sales strategies they've successfully used for so long.
Related: 4 Sales Strategies to Increase Your Average B2B Deal Sizes
However, you need to let go of these fears if you truly want your sales team to thrive. Moving your B2B sales process upmarket and focusing on enterprise accounts holds important advantages for your company.
1. Increased revenue.
Think about the Pareto Principle. Applied to business, it means that 80 percent of your revenue comes from 20 percent of your customers. Focus your efforts on key accounts, and you can see how quickly your revenue will grow. Your average revenue per account will skyrocket because high-energy, low-growth clients no longer bring down your numbers.
This revenue growth will occur for several reasons. Most enterprise clients provide a regular stream of revenue throughout the fiscal year, depending on your business model. Concentrate on the larger accounts within the group, and you'll have more success upselling and finding growth opportunities among those big customers. Providing a higher level of service also allows you to charge a premium and increase your margins.
2. Expanded networking opportunities.
Larger accounts with more employees offer a greater number of contacts with whom your sales team can connect. This provides your team a great deal of stability. One person's decision to change positions or leave the company won't make the account vulnerable to loss.
Here's another benefit of organizations with a variety of potential contacts: They're easier to prospect. If there's a single key contact and he or she isn't receptive to your sales pitch, your team is dead in the water. Multiple contacts give your team a variety of ways to break into an account.
Related: How I Made $24,000 in 4 Weeks of Cold Calling
3. Highly sought-after references.
Referrals are one of the most important ways to drive revenue. A recent study reported relatively high conversion rates for 71 percent of respondents who had implemented a referral program. Similar studies have shown that customer referrals are among the highest-quality leads a sales team can generate.
Moving your sales process upmarket enables you to target far fewer accounts. To find success with a more selective pool of customers, you must provide personal and customized service. Coincidentally, that's precisely the type of relationship to build with prospects and buyers if you want to drive referrals in the first place. As you shift your mindset and sales attitudes to accommodate enterprise customers, you'll experience dramatic changes in how well those same customers treat you. Consequently, they'll reciprocate by referring your services to their peer companies.
4. Predictable sales growth.
Take the time to analyze your sales goals. You'll realize it's much easier to create accurate revenue models with a fewer number of large accounts than with many smaller ones. Your sales team members will have a highly targeted pipeline and detailed plans for each of their accounts. This makes it simpler to forecast growth. You won't need to adjust your strategy for smaller clients, who tend to have more sporadic buying patterns.
5. Full use of resources.
Chasing small businesses is extremely difficult. There are 28 million of them in the United States alone. Many of them won't be in the market for your products or services, and a good share of those that remain might not be a good fit for your company. If you don't expend your efforts where you stand to see the greatest return, you'll waste time and money reaching out to leads that aren't worth it.
Related: Winning Sales Strategies from National Champion Alabama Roll Tide Football Coach Nick Saban
Beyond that, running down so many leads does not give your sales and marketing teams the opportunity to optimize their efforts. Pursuing larger accounts allows time to develop a targeted plan for each account. In the end, you'll waste less time and money converting each customer.
