g in t e It’s called k o r t a c i m r c t i n r t ‘business-to-business’ ce n - ce ad - e t l n t I m ou r c a ro c not ‘business-to-lead’ P F a In every complex business-to-business deal, You also need to track the aggregate level there are many buyers involved: the decision- of engagement across the account and know Sales has always used an account-based maker, the end user, the influencer, the CFO, when that engagement level changes. approach. Now marketing is getting on board. the procurement department and so on. Gartner research has found that on average, Because, in B2B, you’re never just selling 12 to 14 individuals participate in larger to an individual. technology purchases. Each of these people has different motivations IT – 8 LOB – 8 and pain points. Each is rewarded differently, Average and each evaluates your products or services Number of Influencers from a different perspective. 16 To support selling into a large account effectively, it’s critical that your team understands how each Enterprise Data & Web IT Enterprise Servers/ Desktops/ software Analytics apps Cloud Services software Security Storage Networking Laptops individual fits into the larger account and has a sense (SaaS) (non Sass) of the relationships, influences and connections IT 12 10 10 10 10 8 8 6 6 5 that bind them together. LOB 11 9 9 9 8 9 7 6 5 5 That means your marketing team needs to understand the context of the account relationship to decide TOTAL 23 19 19 19 18 17 15 12 11 10 how to interact with any new person that comes into the system. IDG Enterprise Role & Influence of the Technology Decision-Maker survey, 2014 6