Published: 23 February 2022
Account tiering is an often misunderstood component of sales strategy. Even when used aptly, many CSOs use linear tiering to set a range of high- to low-touch engagements. To drive situationally specific and more productive sales interactions, CSOs must consider the nonlinear tiering alternative.
Chief sales officers (CSOs) often default to traditional, linear tiering strategies that rely on subjective criteria — like sellers’ preference or “gut instinct,” which lead to less prescriptive engagements.
Customer account-tiering decisions must cascade from strategy to execution, yet many sales organizations miss the opportunity to align tiering decisions with other aspects of sales planning and deployment.
As part of their sales design and deployment, CSOs should:
Adopt nonlinear tiering to clarify engagement strategies by contrasting tiering strategies and exploring the benefits of each customer stratification approach.
Cascade nonlinear tiering decisions to sellers and sales planning efforts by leveraging strategic tiering
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