5 Major Signals to Prioritize your Accounts

In last week’s newsletter we touched on the “Territory Plan” and the “Account Plan”. But how do you choose which accounts from your long list add into your account plan?

You do it with a scientific methodology called “Signals”.?

In this week's newsletter, we’ll briefly cover the 5 major signals or compelling events which can increase the significance of an account:

1. Buying Intent
2. Product Usage
3. Competitive Intelligence
4. Relationships?
5. Time

Buying Intent

This signal is like someone raising their hand in a crowded room, signalling their interest in your product or service. For example, they might be reading articles and blogs about your product or similar ones recently.?

Tools like 6Sense , Bombora , or DemandBase track when potential customers actively seek information about your offering or similar solutions. It's a golden opportunity because it indicates that key decision-makers within a company are keen to learn more about what you offer.?

If you get a signal like this, you must shortlist and focus on that account immediately.

Product Usage

Think of this as observing how someone interacts with your tool or product. There could be a company who’s tools or products align with yours in a way that it makes sense for integration.?

Also, If a company is using more of your integrated tools or your product, it's a strong indicator that your solution aligns well with their needs. On the other hand, if they're not utilizing your product effectively, it might signal a need for intervention or risk of losing them to competitors.

In that case, you need to give those accounts immediate attention to keep them from churning.

Competitive Intelligence

This signal is like seeing someone wearing your rival team's jersey. It's a warning sign when individuals within a company have ties to your competitors, whether through past employment or attending their events. This does not even have to be direct. That person could have past involvement with a competitor’s employees and their network.

This could be indicators that they are moving towards your competitors. And you can take this as a signal to walk away from those accounts. Because, if you keep working these account, that could mean the waste of your limited?

Relationships

People tend to stick with what they know and trust. When key stakeholders from a happy customer move to a new company, they often bring their preferred vendors along for the ride.?

Tracking these movements is like following a trail of breadcrumbs that leads to new opportunities. By identifying where your connections exist within new organizations, you can strategically position yourself to leverage those relationships and expand your business into new territories.

Time

Imagine being there when a new executive takes the helm of a company. And in the first 100 days executives will do an analysis of the people, process, technology and companies that need to change.

Then what they do is they go to board meetings to collect money or budget to make that change. And then by day 100, they'll deploy up to 70% of that budget to make those changes.

By understanding this "window of change," you can position yourself early to influence their decisions and secure a place in their budget plans.