t f o elopmen t Based v oun c art 7c Top down or bottom up? PThe WHO ASales De There’s a lot of debate about whether an account penetration strategy should be top down (starting with the most senior executives) or bottom up (starting with actual product users or middle managers who need to get approval from above). There are pros and cons to each: the top down approach tends to lead to bigger deals but at a slower deal velocity. Bottom up can progress quickly but can more easily hit road blocks or find themselves locked into a departmental solution rather than an enterprise-wide one. One of the best things about Account Based Sales Development is that you can combine both strategies in one outbound program, reaching out to the most senior decision-makers with strategic messages while targeting the pain points of the more junior buyers. 42