Moneyball is a book by Michael Lewis, published in 2003, about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its general manager Billy Beane. Its focus is the team’s analytical, evidence based, sabermetric approach to assembling a competitive baseball team, despite Oakland’s disadvantaged revenue situation.  Oakland was able to win as many games as the highest spending teams that year.

Sales teams are often faced with the same problem of getting more with less resources.  We have found 4 tips for hitting better results with less investment using Moneyball tactics.  As Bill Bean quite eloquently stated, ” If you challenge the conventional wisdom, you will find ways to do things much better than they are currently done.”

1. Challenge Conventional Wisdom Adapt or Die. 
   • Do you know who this buying committee is?
   • Do you have a relationship with them?
   • If the committee voted today, by member who would they vote for?
   • Do you know why they would vote that way?
   • Could you change the committee members vote if you had to?
2. Pick a Winning Strategy  “Managers tend to pick a strategy that is the least likely to fail, rather then to pick a strategy that is most efficient,”  Account Based Selling vs Demand Reaction
   • What customers are the most profitable and why?
   • What prospects look the most like these customers?
   • How can we share bite-sized success stories to gain mindshare?
3. Good vs Great for Sales,  “One absolutely cannot tell, by watching, the difference between a .300 hitter and a .275 hitter. The difference is one hit every two weeks.”  The numbers do not lie – once you have decided on a winning strategy demand execution.
4. Manage to the Metrics “Losing shouldn’t be fun. It’s not fun for me. If I’m going to be miserable, you’re going to be miserable.”
   • Touches 50 per day
   • Demos – 1 per day
   • Proposal – 3 per week
   • Pipeline – 3X Pipeline
   • Closes – Quota

“No matter how successful you are, change is always good. There can never be a status quo. When you have no money you can’t afford long-term solutions, only short-term ones. You have to always be upgrading. Otherwise you’re f****d.”

Account Based Selling is the methodology of focusing all of your sales efforts on a select number  of accounts because they are the most profitable and likely to buy your products and services.  Perhaps you have heard it referenced as a named or targeted account strategy.  What is the right number of accounts? According to a report by EverString and Demand Gen Report, 42% of companies surveyed try to keep their account list between 50 and 500.

For companies making the switch from a reactive lead generation to a proactive account based selling approach, it can be daunting. Keep in mind – the sheer quantity of leads will dramatically decrease.  But, companies with tightly aligned sales and marketing operations teams achieved 24% faster three-year revenue growth and 27% faster three-year profit growth than similar companies who did not. (SiriusDecisions.) Organizational focus is the key, while the “low hanging fruit” might be tempting, the named accounts are far more valuable long-term. A report by TOPO, commissioned by The ABM Leadership Alliance, found that companies that have implemented Account-based principles saw a 171% increase in their Annual Contract Value (ACV).

So – how can sellers use this new targeted approach for demand generation?

1. Use the News. Show your targeted accounts that you are in tune with them by referencing news stories or press releases about them. Follow up with those references by linking your solutions to helping with their stated objectives.
2. Go Wide. If you only have a certain number of accounts then increase your contact points with other department heads that may have some benefit to your solution.  Account Based selling is more about building a coalition of decision-makers than taking inventory of them.
3. Target.  Two ideas that work well for an ABS strategy is to have focused content for a specific company. Vidyard allows for video communication focused on a specific individual.  I have seen demos that show functionality geared towards just one person. These videos can be re-purposed as a customized webinar for a company instead of a broad audience.

Lastly, there is a new emphasis on effort when if comes to Account-based selling.  The opportunistic approach of reacting to inbound leads outside of your sweet-spot doesn’t scale.  Sellers need to understand that aligning their expectations with the company’s goals will help both parties long-term.