It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day hustle of generating new leads and closing deals. However, if your marketing strategy lacks focus, you'll find yourself chasing low-value leads and getting nowhere with your prize prospects.

To make headway with those high-value accounts, you need to prioritise more high-investment strategies. But this can feel risky, even when the payoff is proven. Resource intensive strategies like account-based marketing require you to devote a lot of time and effort to a relatively small number of prospects. It can feel safer to go wider, rather than deeper.

Selecting the right accounts is only half the battle. And identifying your target audience within each account is only the first step to building relationships. The wrong approach could result in you bouncing between departments, or focusing on people who cannot make a purchase decision. No-one wants to fail because they've misunderstood their buyer's motivations and level of interest, or internal power dynamics.

Solid customer research is the key to increasing your chances of success. So, in this article, we’ll be looking at two frameworks you can use. You’ll learn how to create an account plan that identifies the important players in your most valuable accounts, and ways to increase the likelihood of getting their buy‑in. 

The Importance of Executive Buy-In

B2B business purchases are complex, with multiple individuals and layers of decision makers involved.

It's highly unlikely that a single person will decide whether to buy your product or service. And the person who evaluates your offer probably won’t be the same person making the final call on buying what you're selling.

Think of your initial contact as a foot in the door. If your marketing efforts perform well, they will become a cheerleader for your business within the company. However, you need to do your homework and understand the network of influence and power to support those internal advocates. When you have already primed their key decision makers to say yes, you make their job of selling on your behalf a lot easier.

There are the people who hear about your business, become interested, and bring it to the buying committee's attention. There are people whose opinions influence which products or services a company uses. Then there are the top-level executives whose approval or disapproval can make or break a deal.

You will need to cater for them all, creating two types of buy-in: individual and organisational. Both are important and affect how quickly you can close a sale, the price you can negotiate, and whether you will  keep your potential customer’s loyalty long-term.

To do this, you need to understand the role each buyer plays, as well as the level of support they will provide, and his or her influence within the company. You will also need to create support within upper management for your solution, and buy-in from department heads.

Let’s look at two frameworks for formulating a plan to achieve that: stakeholder analysis and influence mapping.

Stakeholder Analysis

Conducting a stakeholder analysis is a first step to understanding who has an interest in your business and what that interest means. It can help you identify who the key decision makers are, how they are likely to respond to your proposal, and whether there are any other parties involved in the purchasing decision.

Stakeholder mapping also helps you to better understand your target audience. How does each person feel about your product or service? What are their expectations, and what needs does it fulfil for them?

You can start your research online. For example, a company's website and its professional social profiles can give you a better understanding of the operation, as well as each contact's role within it. Articles and interviews may also provide further information about points of view and motivations that relate to your goals.

However, there is no substitute for networking. Schedule meetings, and ask the right questions to gain insight you won't find online. Seek to understand the company's culture, its direction and plans, and get a sense of how people work together.

Each person will have different levels of influence and power when it comes to making a decision about your brand’s offerings. Understanding those levels is essential so you can prioritise your resources effectively. You might find it helpful to create a matrix, placing each key stakeholder in the right category so you can target your actions.

Low Power / Low Interest: 

In the bottom-left quadrant of the power interest grid are the people who have low interest in your offer and little influence on the purchasing decision. 

You don't want to focus your resources here, however you should keep these people informed if they opt in to newsletters. Use marketing automation to respond to any interactions in a timely and relevant manner. Work to develop the relationship. They could become more influential within the organisation and become a supporter in the future.

Low Power / High Interest: 

These people won’t be able to make a purchasing decision on their own, but their interest can make them powerful allies. Keep these people informed and consult with them on their areas of interest. They might be a useful source of insight and information, so don't overlook them when doing your research. 

High Power / Low Interest:

The objective with people in this quadrant is relationship building and sensemaking. Get to know these people, and take an interest in their areas of expertise so you can cultivate lasting relationships with them. Try hyper-personalised content that shows you understand their needs and concerns. Ask for their feedback and target ABM tactics to increase their awareness of and interest in your offer.

High Power / High Interest: 

In the top-right quadrant are your key contacts. The aim is to convince and convert. These people should be the focus of your high-investment tactics and 1-to-1 ABM efforts. 

Do a deep-dive into their interests, pain points, and motivations. Where there are natural points of connection with your offer, make sure they know about it. Create ways to engage, consult with and invite them in regularly. When they're ready to make a purchase, you want to be the first brand that comes to mind.

Influence Mapping

Once you've completed your stakeholder analysis, you will know who the most important contacts are and which individuals need more relationship development from your team.

While you've got the ball rolling, it's the perfect time to go deeper with an influence mapping exercise.

Influence mapping goes further than a buyer persona. It helps you find out more about the interests of your key prospects, and the people or sources that influence them. This information helps you find areas where your interests intersect, and to figure out new tactics for developing a relationship.

As we've already seen, no one makes a decision in isolation. Even CEO's decisions are influenced by other people. They listen to their colleagues and advisors, the industry press, podcasts, the PR strategy of your competitors, and more. 

High-level execs are also notoriously difficult to get in front of. So, understanding these networks of influence could be vital to the success of your marketing communications strategies.

The key to building trust and influence with high-level execs is to become an unmissable resource that adds value to their lives and business.

During your stakeholder analysis, you will have uncovered useful information about each VIP's interests, needs, and motivations. Go deeper on this.

When you find areas where their interests intersect with your offer, create content designed to connect. If they have questions about your industry, create content that provides an answer. If they're looking for inspiration, provide it. When they're facing challenges, help them to see how your offer solves it. 

Having a clearer picture of where they turn for information, inspiration, and advice is what allows you to become unmissable. When you understand their information ecosystem, you can make a communication plan for becoming part of it.

Find out who helps to educate them about their problems at the awareness and consideration stages? Who helps them evaluate the options on the market? Do they network with one of your customers, or someone who uses one of your competitors? Or do they belong to a group that has experience with your brand?

Cultivate connections with their trusted sources of information and speak to their needs through those channels. Reach out to the influencers, experts and thought leaders who help your prospect to make decisions.

Finally, it’s important to note that your connections need to be authentic, and also relevant to your brand. For example, if you sell a software service but try to build a relationship with your target over their interest in crochet, you’re wide of the mark! 

Instead, think about shared business interests or workplace philosophies. Attempts at building a relationship that cross the line will feel worse than forced. They’ll come across as creepy and stalkerish. 

Build Your Channel Strategies with 1827 Marketing

So there you have it: a quick run-down of two research strategies you can use to make the most of your B2B marketing resources, targeting high value accounts.

B2B sales and marketing can be a complex process, but if you take the time to do thorough research and understand your target audience, it will pay off in dividends. 

At 1827 Marketing, we understand the importance of highly targeted marketing strategies. We are a team of digital marketing experts who help B2B companies create and manage campaigns that build relationships and grow sales.

We’re always happy to discuss how we can help your business. Book a call today.