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The Power of Account-Based Selling: A Strategic Approach to Targeted Sales

In this episode of Scaling with Sumeru, Mike McLaughlin, Growth Partner at Sumeru, and Rex Galbraith, CRO at Consensus discuss Account Based Selling and how it can be a powerful technique to durably scale enterprise SaaS businesses. They emphasize the need to take a bottom-up approach and consider the performance of the best team member as a benchmark for estimating the entire team’s capabilities.

Together they explore the fascinating shifts in sales psychology, where the emphasis should be placed on prioritizing good revenue over simply meeting quotas. Rex shares some insightful coaching on leadership experience to achieve a strategic and successful growth strategy.

Join us as we discuss:

  • The importance of creating both ideal and non-ideal customer profiles
  • Metaphorical comparison of forecasting with a microscope vs. a telescope
  • Differences between account-based selling and traditional inbound marketing
  • Friction between sales and marketing teams
  • The shift in focus from SMB to enterprise pre-sales market

What is Account-Based Selling?

“Account-based selling, or ABS, is a transformative sales strategy that focuses on engaging high-value accounts with personalized efforts,” Sumeru’s Mike McLaughlin explained during this podcast episode.

“ABS differs from a traditional lead-based sales model, in which marketing creates a large number of leads at the top of the funnel. Then, those leads are then qualified down to a typically much smaller number that enters the sales pipeline.

“Acount-based selling inverts that model by starting with a narrow list of target accounts that meet a company’s ideal customer profile–also known as ICP. The company then focuses all of the efforts of the go-to-market teams on engaging those accounts, building relationships, and ultimately closing deals.

“ABS is closely related to Account Based Marketing, or ABM, which aims to target specific accounts by relying on marketing-driven initiatives. We like to use the term account-based selling, as it indicates that the full go-to-market team, particularly the sales team, is involved from the outset in defining target accounts, building the go-to-market strategy, and executing tailored plans for individual accounts.”

Looking to learn more about how Sumeru can help you scale your business? Connect with us at hello@sumeruequity.com.