Best Practices For Account Management

Stop wasting your team's time. So many Sales organisations are still running like it's 2020. Low automation, low alignment, high amount of manual, repetitive and no value-add work. ❌ SDRs are busy with: → Going after accounts they believe are valuable → Manually scraping company and contact information → Blasting emails to cold accounts → Running call sprints as the magic bullet for meeting creation → Manually entering their findings to the CRM ❌ AEs are busy with: → Scraping together information about deals, meetings and use cases → Using Sales methodology as a necessary burden of CRM entry → Running poorly qualified Sales meetings with non-ICP prospects → Hunting quota through quantity, not quality Good RevOps teams are operating in smarter ways for a while already. They transitioned from a supporting role into a true GTM Engineering function. The result is highly automated & AI enabled selling based on clearly defined ICP, triggered by signals and driven by relevant & personalised messaging. But it's your responsibility as a Sales leader to allow that team to drive that way without being afraid of loosing control or the magic of Sales itself. How does this look like? Moving all guesswork, manual labour and low value tasks outside of the Bowtie and into a clearly defined, self improving workflow which is feeding your team the best accounts, in an enriched manner, at the right time with the right message. ✅ SDRs will: → Be fed with relevant inbound leads according to your ICP → Navigate one central tool for their workflow → Not think of CRM entry, but adding value, quality and scale to their day → Convert lower amount of leads at higher rates into meetings ✅ AEs will: → Prepare and run educated, impactful meetings with a couple of clicks → Use tools to improve their selling and customer experience vs. admin → Facilitate AI in every piece of account action (review, next best action, ..) → Achieve higher ACV outcomes with high-retaining accounts I know: This is more difficult than just plugging a few things together. It requires a shift in how we organise our GTM functions and how we execute. Start today by being thoughtful of every manual action your team is performing, every piece of process which different people run differently, every tool in the tech stack which could be run centrally and to facilitate AI capabilities to surface learnings, guidance and acceleration. What did I miss?

One bad conversation can stall a deal.  (Let's fix that.) Here's the trap even the best can fall into: ✅ You said, “Can I get 15 minutes?” ❌ They heard, “You’re just a name on my calendar.” ✅ You said, “Here’s our pricing page.” ❌ They heard, “You’d better be ready to commit.” ✅ You said, “Do you have any questions?” ❌ They heard, “I’m done talking, it's your turn to buy.” In client development, tone is strategy. And the difference between pressure and partnership? Just a few words. Because the real challenge isn’t getting time  with a client. It’s making that time count. Here are 12 proven phrases to build trust  (without sounding like a sales rep): 1. “How have things been going with [X]?” → Feels personal, not transactional. 2. “What’s your thinking around [this topic] these days?” → Opens a door, not a pitch. 3. “What would success look like if everything went right?” → Focuses on their goals, not gaps. 4. “What’s one thing you’d love to improve in 90 days?” → Specific, hopeful, and actionable. 5. “What feels risky or fuzzy about this?” → Makes doubt safe to share. 6. “Want to sketch some options together?” → Co-creates instead of prescribes. 7. “Want me to mock up a few paths forward?” → Shows flexibility, not a fixed pitch. 8. “Want to hear how others tackled this?” → Adds value, zero pressure. 9. “What would need to shift to make this a priority?” → Respects their timeline, invites partnership. 10. “Would a custom version be more helpful?” → Tailors the next step to them. 11. “Great point, can we unpack that together?” → Builds trust through collaboration. 12. “What’s the best way I can support you right now?” → Puts their needs first, signals partnership. These phrases do more than sound better. They feel better. Because they reflect how great BD actually works: 👉 With empathy 👉 With curiosity 👉 With clients, not at them Try one this week. It could turn a stalled deal into a deep conversation. Which one will you lead with? 📌Follow Mo Bunnell for client-growth strategies  that don’t feel like selling.

Yesterday, I watched a rep waste 6 weeks chasing a $15K deal while a $400K opportunity went cold in the same territory. Here's what happened. New rep gets 47 accounts. No system. No framework. Just "go sell something." He did what 90% of reps do … chased whoever responded first. Big mistake. After 15+ years building territories, here's the exact 4 step system that turns any territory into a revenue machine: #1 Foundation security Visit all Tier 1 accounts ($1M+ potential) within 30 days. These represent 80% of your quota. Assess relationship health, competitive threats, and expansion opportunities first. #2 Intelligence gathering During every discovery call collect: current usage, integration challenges, team growth plans, budget cycles, decision maker org chart. Pro tip: Always connect with the IT/Operations team. They influence 60% of buying decisions and know where the real pain points are. (Just don’t get stuck here) #3 Opportunity matrix Look for accounts doing $150K with you but $1M+ with competitors/in-house. High service volume = high sales potential. (adjust these numbers accordingly based on your ARR) #4 Land and expand Never try to replace everything at once. Week 1-2: Identify competitor/in-house gaps. Week 3-4: Lead with complementary solutions. Week 5+: Prove value with wins. Week 7+: Expand footprint. Priority scoring formula: 60% time on High Value + High Probability (existing customers with large expansion opps) 30% time on High Value + Lower Probability (large accounts with competitor/in-house entrenchment) 10% time on everything else This system helped teams increase territory performance 40%+ in 90 days. Check out the carousel for more details how this works. — Sales leaders! Want to run better QBRs?! Check this out: https://lnkd.in/gW9ApfMZ

5 steps framework I use to personalise my cold emails (when I’ve 0 info on my prospects)👇 By segmenting your audience, You have data to personalise. We call these soft variables: - Company size - Company’s growth stage - Recipient’s career stage - What the company does - Who the company sells to - How the company goes to market - What technology they use - The types of customers they have - Where they live Even without deep personalization, Your segmentation can help you to run effective outreach. - - -> Step 1: Work with what you have Work with soft variables. e.g. 1 “When I’m talking to sales leaders working toward their Series A ….” e.g. 2 “When I talk to sales leaders at growing software companies,” It shows your readers you: - understand their position - can relate to their challenges - are used to their environment This builds familiarity and rapport. It can be applied to any industry, company, or prospect role etc… - - -> Step 2: Show them you know them Bring up problems/challenges you tend to see within your prospect’s industry (based on a similar stage of growth). e.g.1 “They tend to be dealing with…” e.g.2 “They tend to be struggling with” - Use tentative tones - Put yourself in your readers’ shoes about their problem - Leaving room to be wrong Use unsure tones and words like: - “I could be wrong,” - “looks like,” - “I suspect,” - “are starting to.” - - -> Step 3: Focus on two problem statements Present 1 or 2 problem statements using broader issues to resonate better with your prospects e.g. 1 "They're struggling to see what's driving email performance," e.g. 2 "Reply rates have gone down, and results seem stagnant." - - -> Step 4: Build credibility Connect the problems you’ve just presented with how you’ve helped other customers in similar situations. e.g.1: “We helped [similar company] go from A to B in [time]” Share how you helped solve those problems for your existing customers. Keep it concise and simplify the details. The next and final step brings it all together: - - -> Step 5: Ask if those problems are a challenge Ask your prospects if the problems you shared are ones they struggle with. (Remember to be unsure!) e.g.1: “Is this a challenge for you right now?” e.g.2: “Realize I may be off, but is this a priority?” - - It’s an excellent way to end your email. It invites the reader to respond and engage with you. It’s an effective CTC (Call-to-Conversation) Even with 0 information to deeply personalised your cold emails You can still show your prospects you have done your homework about them And build rapport.

Levels of relevance in sales messaging: - Level 0: Your product - Level 1: Persona - Level 2: Persona + Industry - Level 3: Persona + Industry + Company - Level 4: Persona + Industry + Company + Individual Note: Please skip level 0. The #1 debate amongst sales leaders is whether to be industry-specific or not in their messaging. With rare exceptions, how you communicate with your buyer should ALWAYS include industry-relevant language. Why? 1) Buyers are already skeptical of salespeople. This is one more thing you can do to show them you know their world. 2) Low conversion rates in cold emails/calls can almost always be traced back to super generic messaging So in other words, your messaging should always be at level 2 on the relevance scale. Here are a few tried and true messaging strategies: ✅ Create clusters across your account list Let's say you sell into manufacturing and hospitals. When doing outbound, split those accounts up so you can speak to them in a one-to-many fashion that still addresses their personas and industry-based challenges. ✅ Go level 3 & 4 where it counts These extra two layers of relevance are a lot of work. You need to find unique things about their company and themselves as individuals. Reserve this work if: - Your ASP is ~$20k+ - You sell mid-market/enterprise - You need meetings with senior execs ✅ Nail levels 1 & 2 The more dialed in the messaging is, the less pressure you have to really customize the message. Upgrade your messaging by: - Uploading transcripts of sales calls with those personas/industries into ChatGPT - Uploading marketing content into ChatGPT - Use ChatGPT to find industry trends ✅ Keep industry-based messaging simple You don't need to be an expert in a bunch of different industries. But you should be using their language. Examples: - Call centers call their sales reps "agents" instead of "reps - Professional services firms use "clients" instead of "customers" Little things like that are easy to do at scale and make a big difference. ~~~ Agree or disagree that most messaging should be industry-specific?

How I get genuine feedback from my clients (5 game-changing questions you haven’t asked yet) In business, the feedback you receive feels like a well-rehearsed script hastily delivered. It's a phenomenon I call the Echo Chamber Effect - where the feedback we receive is just an echo of what we want to hear, not what we need. Here’s what happens: You think you're ticking all the boxes: - client satisfaction, - exceptional service, - open communication… And then, out of nowhere, you're out of a job. Or - your services are abruptly canceled. You’re blindsided. But were you? Or did you just ask the wrong questions all along? Here are 5 powerful, open-ended questions that you should ask: 1.) “𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨?" This invites honest critique, not just polite nods. 2.) “𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦/𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵?" This encourages the respondent to offer insights you might have overlooked. 3.) “𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘮𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩?" This is a collaborative invitation, making the respondent a partner in problem-solving. 4.) “𝘐𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴; 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺?" This question not only seeks feedback but also fosters a vision of shared success. 5.) “𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘺?" This helps gauge the perceived value and authenticity of your service or product. Remember, it's not about interrogating. It’s about engaging in a meaningful dialogue. P.S. What other questions would you add to this list?

I bootstrapped Flowd from $0 to $4M ARR in just 4 years. These are the 5 key metrics I obsess over: 👉 Customer LTV (Lifetime Value) If you have 2+ years worth of company data, you should have averages for your customer lifespan. Use this metric to generate a general CPA goal and steer your acquisition strategies accordingly. 𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲: If your LTV is £50k, you might be willing to spend 10% of that on marketing to find a new customer. 👉 Revenue Per Head The best services are made up of great operators — you need a lean team of killers, not a bloated team of people coasting in their roles. More people = harder to control quality which ultimately leads to weaker performance. 👉 Churn Rate Very simple. Track how many clients have cancelled vs are active. Look at this metric quarterly or yearly — tracking it monthly will lead to too short-term decision making. 👉 Revenue Per Client You don’t want any clients making up more than 10% of your overall revenue. Putting all your eggs in one basket is a risky strategy and can quickly lead to cashflow issues if the client churns. 👉 Staff Retention In service-based businesses, clients pay for the way your people deliver the service. If it’s a constantly revolving door, clients get a poor experience that ultimately leads to higher churn. 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲: This also means you need to ensure you are hire people that can actually do the job - not everyone is going to be a good fit for the company. Hopefully the above is valuable to other people growing B2B businesses. I'm also curious to know. What other growth metrics you are tracking?

CRM in 2026. Customer Relationship Management or C-Suite Revenue Manager or both? Busy day in Sydney talking on the importance of customers management and stakeholder engagement. After a few years implementing, using, and managing users of CRM a few things have become very clear. One- ask the actual users what they would like to see to make them more productive and closer to their customers and leaders before launching one. Two - then ask the leadership what reporting is important and aligned to strategy not reporting just because you can. Thirdly - ensure you are taking advantage of agentic ai to assist in important but often time consuming tasks including meeting notes, transcripts. Fourth - ensure you have a close relationship with the implement or of your CRM. Not only the vendor of choice. I mean the people that will actually do the work on your systems. And yes, do train your people how to use it. Not once, but as much as it takes to get everybody up to speed. Lastly, updating or implementing a new CRM is a great time to get your data in shape. Some of this above may appear basic to many of you but trust me the amount of CRM’s I see costing millions, used by 50% of the team actively with data taken to Excel because leaders don’t trust the output is frightening. But is doesn’t have to be this way. #salesperformance #CRM #keyaccounts

I’ve built and led sales teams from scratch. And there’s ONE channel I see revenue leak over and over again... (and it’s not that £50k event you spent scanning badges at a stand…) It's here.. Yep.. surprise surprise it's LinkedIn. Every team I look at, it’s the same pattern. Strong outbound. Decent process. But then you open the team on LinkedIn… and there’s no surface area. The problem is your outbound is a single touchpoint. Your LinkedIn presence is the environment that touchpoint lands in. And most teams optimise the first and ignore the second. If you want this to actually move pipeline, it needs to be treated like part of sales execution: 1. Stop thinking “posting”. Start thinking “account exposure” Your reps shouldn’t just post into the void, they should be visible around the accounts they’re targeting. That means: • commenting on ICP posts consistently • engaging before outreach (not after) • showing up in the same feed as their prospects You’re building recognition before you ever send a message. 2. Tie content directly to live deals Most content is generic because it’s disconnected from reality. Your best content is already in your pipeline: • objections that keep coming up • questions prospects ask on calls • where deals get stuck f it’s happening 5+ times in conversations, it should exist on LinkedIn. 3. Build “minimum viable profiles” across the team You don’t need creators, you need profiles that answer, fast: • what do you understand? • who do you help? • how do you think? Recent activity matters more than old experience. If someone lands on the profile and sees nothing recent, you’re back to zero. 4. Align posting with outbound waves Most teams treat these separately. Better approach: • rep warms up a segment (engagement + content) • then outreach starts • then content reinforces during follow-ups You’re not relying on a single moment anymore. 5. Don’t isolate this to SDRs Here is the BIG mistake. Your AE gets checked before the call, your manager gets checked mid-deal, if visibility drops at any stage, trust drops with it. This needs to be across the WHOLE sales chain. 6. Measure leading indicators differently You won’t see this purely in “likes”. Look at: • connection acceptance rates • reply rates by rep • speed to first response • profile views from target accounts • conversion rate • and of course inbounds (yes DO add UTM links on each sales rep profile) 7. Prioritise comments over posts early on Everyone focuses on posting. But comments: • get you in front of the right people faster • attach you to existing conversations • build recognition without needing distribution Most teams are still trying to win inside the sequence. The edge right now sits outside of it. If your team has no presence on LinkedIn, every outbound starts from zero. If they’re visible in the right places, outbound becomes a conversion layer, not just an entry point. That’s where the difference is 👌🏼

You probably track result metrics. But do you track the levers behind them? Everyone wants to grow key metrics: AOV, LTV, etc. However, most dashboards stop there. They show what happened, not what to fix. Here’s what you should be managing: → AOV ↳ Average Discount ↳ Cross-sell Success Rate → Gross Profit ↳ COGS ↳ Net Return Impact → Conversion Rate ↳ Add-to-Cart Rate ↳ Checkout Completion Rate → CAC ↳ Product Page View Rate ↳ Ads CTR → Repeat Purchase Rate ↳ Time Between Purchases ↳ Email Click Rate → CSAT ↳ On-Time Delivery Rate ↳ Ticket Resolution Time → Organic Traffic ↳ Coverage Issues ↳ Keyword Rankings No one grows AOV by watching AOV. And growth comes from managing what’s underneath. This cheat sheet is a reminder: If you want to grow this… manage that. 📌 Save this. Share it with your team. Which of these levers do you track today?