As every sales manager knows, the buying process is getting more complicated, with double-figure numbers of decision-makers involved in even small and medium-sized deals. Propeller Group’s Chief Growth Officer Jody Osman believes there are two ways for organizations to respond. They can either stubbornly push on with a one-size-fits-all approach, or embrace the complexity and build meaningful engagement strategies for all of the personas involved. As far as he’s concerned, it’s not really a choice at all.

“Historically, I’ve seen a lot of sales and marketing approaches where they might have a theme that’s personalized to the sector, but that’s about it,” he says. “I think the key thing is having communication that’s relevant to each different stakeholder. It’s important to be on all of their radars early doors, rather than being an afterthought when it comes to the sign-off process. When we start a program, we really try to understand what the challenges and trigger points are going to be for each persona we’re talking to.”

Generating this kind of detailed understanding at scale can feel challenging, which is why Jody is equally passionate about smart targeting around Ideal Customer Profiles. As he explains in his appearance on the LinkedIn On the Road interview series, this is the crucial enabler of dealing with complexity – and it’s one that too many sales and marketing organizations miss.

“You have to narrow your focus because you can’t apply the same approach to every company that’s out there,” he explains. “The frustration is that people don’t spend enough time getting the targeting right at the outset. Why waste time going after the wrong companies? For me, it’s very much about applying and really focusing your efforts on the accounts that are going to provide meaningful success for your business. That’s what enables multi-threading, looking at lots of decision-maker roles and building relationships.”

Once the account focus is in place, sales organizations can leverage the potential of AI to personalize their approach far more quickly than in the past. “LinkedIn’s Account IQ is very useful for being able to summarize a company’s key objectives, look at how they make their money, look at their key challenges,” adds Jody. “It gives you the bullet points you need to personalize your approach, which previously would have taken a fair amount of searching to get.”