10 Sources to research when building a B2B account strategy
Building and maintaining an account strategy is an ongoing effort that takes time and most important information as input.
The more intel you collect about your account, the better you will be able to tailor your sales pitch, understand the buying center and outrun the competition.
So, where to start looking you ask? Here are some ideas:
LinkedIn may be the first place to go when looking up your buyers. Although you will be likely selling to a larger buying center, still the decision is made by a group of individuals with individual needs and perspectives. Things you should have a look at:
Experience at current job: how do they self-describe their responsibilities?
Experience at former jobs: What have they done before? Anything particular that they seem to be proud of?
Shared connections: do you know their co-workers from previous opportunities
Press and Media Release
Leadership changes are typically announced publicly, as well as other useful information like financial statements or important product & partnership updates.
Their Competitors
Often people transfer within the same industry. Checking out your prospect’s competition in combination with LinkedIn connections may help you gauge how a manager builds their department, where they may invest next etc.
Financial Statements
Financial statements need to be public. Often they come with accompanying annual reports that contain interesting information about the organizational structure, strategic developments, and investments.
Your CRM System
This may sound like a low-brainer, but often data is spread across multiple accounts in the CRM or your predecessors made notes buried somewhere in the records that could be of help. It’s worth doing some digging!
Ok, maybe Google is a low-brainer, but hey, don’t forget to get to the news section of the search results, this may produce information about the account that their PR is not willing to publish on their press sites!
Crunchbase
Crunchbase is the leading destination for company insights from early-stage startups to the Fortune 1000. There you will find a nice boilerplate for the classic types of company information you need but also insights into funding stages and shareholders.
Glassdoor
Glassdoor is a great input to learn more about your prospect account from an employee perspective. But it also helps to review the job openings of the account to see in which departments HR investments are growing. You can even add future buyers to your account plan if they are currently getting hired, with the bonus that you will have the exact personal responsibilities and metrics they are measured by.
AngelList
If you sell to startups, AngelList is an essential researching tool that will help you understand the funding history of your prospect account. Strategic investors often take a share in major investment decisions, so this can be another source for buying center er information too.
Quora
Quora is a platform to ask questions and connect with people who contribute unique insights and quality answers. You are a B2B seller - you provide unique solutions. If you can find questions your prospect has - half the way is done!
