Target account guide

Six steps to define the companies you want to win, identify their decision-makers and rank them by their actual potential. This is the method we apply when scoping each engagement.

Start with your best customers

Start with your current customers. List the ten customers that generate the most revenue over several years, with the least commercial effort. They provide the clearest indication of where to find the next ones.

For each one, record its actual sector, size, number of sites, country, procurement structure and the reason it selected you. Add the length of the sales cycle and the person who signed.

Then identify what they have in common. The common factor is often not the sector but a situation: a process, a regulatory constraint, a type of customer or a multi-site organisation.

To prepare

The list of your ten largest clients
For each one: activity, size, sites, country, who signed, why
The three to five common features

Describe the actual business activity

Activity codes do not accurately describe industrial companies. A company classified as a wholesaler may manufacture some of its products. A company classified as a manufacturer may primarily assemble and distribute.

Describe your targets by what they do: what they manufacture or distribute, the processes they use and the customers they serve. This description is then used to verify each company through its website and documents.

The more precise the description, the more accurate the final list will be. A phrase such as "manufacturers of medium-volume machined parts for the aerospace and rail sectors" is better than an activity code.

To prepare

A sentence describing your targets' activity
The processes, materials or equipment that characterise them
The customers they serve

Set the exclusion criteria

Exclusions prevent efforts from becoming too dispersed. Set a minimum size below which an account cannot purchase your offering, and a maximum size above which the cycle becomes too long for you.

Exclude incompatible sectors, countries you cannot serve, your direct competitors and accounts already in discussion with your teams. Also exclude former customers lost because of a dispute.

A well-maintained exclusion list also protects your reputation: no existing client should receive an initial approach as if they were unknown.

To prepare

Minimum and maximum size
Excluded sectors, countries and types of companies
List of clients, active prospects and competitors to exclude

Identify decision-makers

A target account without an identified decision-maker is not yet actionable. For each type of company, list the functions that make decisions, those that make recommendations and those that handle purchasing.

In a factory, an investment often involves industrial management, capital projects, maintenance and procurement. In a medium-sized company, senior management often remains decisive. In a group, the decision may be made at head office or on site.

For each function, record its concerns: costs, equipment availability, compliance and lead times. This will make it possible to tailor the initial approach.

To prepare

The functions that decide, specify and purchase
Where the decision is made: headquarters or site
What concerns each function

Add timing

The right account will not buy at the wrong time. List the events that trigger a need for your offering: site expansion, a new production line, regulation with a deadline, appointment of a new executive, change of supplier or acquisition.

These events are often public: planning permission, site opening announcements, recruitment, official texts and trade publications. Monitoring them makes it possible to contact an account when it is looking for a solution.

An account that fits the profile and is experiencing one of these events moves to the top of the list.

To prepare

The three to five events that trigger a purchase
Public sources for identifying them
The usual time between the event and the decision

Rank and review

Group your accounts into three tiers. The first includes accounts that resemble your best customers and are experiencing a trigger event. The second includes accounts that match the profile but show no recent signal. The third includes more distant accounts to monitor.

Focus your efforts on the first tier, nurture the second and review the third every quarter.

Review the ranking every three months based on new signals and feedback from your teams. An account that declines today may become a priority in six months.

To prepare

Three priority levels
A quarterly review
Feedback from your teams incorporated into the ranking

Other guides.

Guide · 11 min

Guide to international expansion

How to select a country, test demand and secure your first meetings before committing a team or distributor.

Guide · 9 min

Trade show guide

How to fill your diary before a trade show opens, hold productive meetings on the stand and convert contacts into opportunities.

Let's discuss your growth.

We are a commercial growth firm serving industrial companies and their ecosystems. Our role is to understand your offering, define the accounts to target and arrange discussions with their decision-makers.

An initial 30-minute discussionNo commitment. We will respond within 48 working hours.

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