If I was an AE selling software to home services contractors, here's how I'd build my account list. First, I'd have Claude pull a list of businesses in the sub-verticals I'm selling into (e.g. HVAC, electrical, and plumbing contractors in the Northeast). That would probably return tens of thousands of businesses… the problem is I don't have the bandwidth to work that many. I need to prioritize and figure out which filters get me to the ones where I have the highest chance of winning. To do that, I'd first apply basic ICP filters. Let's say I only want companies in business at least two years, with a website and a Google Business Profile with at least 10 reviews averaging at least three stars (I only want businesses doing well with good customer feedback, because my hypothesis is those businesses have a much higher chance of growing near-term). I'd also confirm they're still in operation. Many Google profiles still exist for permanently closed businesses, so this is an important (and often overlooked) filter. Now I want to go deeper and look for growth. I want to upsell these accounts on my other products later, and businesses growing quickly are more likely to need them in the future. Review velocity is a great proxy for growth, so I'd start there - how many reviews a business received in the past 30 days vs previous months. More reviews = more customers served = business growth. The other proxy I'd look at is hiring signals. Does the company have a career page with open postings? Are there active job posts on other job boards? If a business is hiring for multiple roles, they have high demand and are in growth mode. After filtering out the accounts that don't fit, I've trimmed my list from tens of thousands down to a few thousand. That's still too many to work in a quarter, so now I need to get really granular. I'd run a filter to see which FSM they're using (e.g. ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, etc.). If my product only integrates with certain FSMs, businesses not using those won't be a strong fit. Now I'm maybe down to several hundred accounts. Still too many, so I'd apply one last filter (debatably the most important): is the business focused on commercial or residential work? If my software only serves residential contractors, every commercial business on my list is a call I shouldn't be making, even if they pass every other filter. Filtering to residential-focused businesses means my pitch has a higher chance of resonating. After all these filters, I'm left with a real list of accounts in my territory, aligned with my ICP, that I KNOW I have a right to win. As AEs, we only have so many hours in a quarter. Half the battle is going after the right accounts. The other half is getting in touch with the right people at those accounts. In the next few days, I'll focus on that second piece: maximizing the conversations you can have with decision-makers at these businesses. Drop a comment if there are other account filters you'd add!
free advice from one of the sharpest AEs in the game - take notes
prioritizing and DQing accounts is one of the most important steps for improving rep efficiency, great list!
Was just talking about SMB account scoring on a call. The thing that makes it so difficult compared enterprise account scoring is access to fresh, accurate data. Easy to do when the account is on sales navigator, harder to do when it's Joe's Plumbing. If only someone had that SMB data 👀