t Based t elopmen T v oun c c art 8 A f Who does the research P The WHAoSales De Who has responsibility for account research Whichever approach you choose, someone - the SDR? The Account Exec? Marketing? has to own the research function and be accountable for it. So much depends Sources of insight The answer varies by company – and may on this insight. Where do your researchers get also vary by account tier. We like this simple their information? A few sources: structure (but we’ve seen many others work too): • The company website • Annual reports Tier 1 – AEs are responsible for creating and • SEC filings maintaining the account plan (with quarterly • Analyst reports updates), but Marketing plays a BIG role • Press releases in helping and supporting. • Blog posts • Investor relations Tier 2 – SDRs and Marketing coordinate on the • Industry media profile. This will often be led by the SDR team, • Financial press unless company has a dedicated Account • Influencers and bloggers Based Marketing function. • LinkedIn • Speeches and conferences Tier 3 – SDRs are the primary owners of the • Product and technical literature research, with help from Marketing and various tools. Possibly with a specialized research role In general, researchers are that does nothing but account profile building resourceful people who quickly (an example of even greater specialization become black-belts in Google. in the SDR function). 55