Today I’m sharing ideas on how to approach each of the 9 core matrices (i.e. boxes) for account mapping solutions. I believe that we will see full-time dedicated roles to account mapping strategy in the coming months as companies start to really understand and leverage the value of this data. First, however, I need to get this off my chest...

DON’T IMPORT THE DATA.

Is it just me or is that eye contact intense?

*Cough*... sorry, what was I saying?

Oh yes… seriously. Do not import the data back to your CRM just yet. There may be a time and a place for that, but there are things you need to know about account mapping systems before you take this step.

I can’t say for sure but I imagine that most vendors won’t start with those warnings because integrations breed ‘stickiness’ and reduce churn and, therefore, are part of their implementation plans.

I don’t care if you’re working on Crossbeam, Reveal, PartnerTap, PartnerBase or some other platform I’ve not yet heard of yet. If you start by piping data back to the CRM without first developing and prioritizing a strategy for each of the 9 core matrices you are already leaving value on the table (and likely paying for it, too). You’ll wind up with technical debt around CRM integration, widget setup, and security.

If you’ve somehow managed to build some custom populations you may also get what appear to be duplicates in your data. Example: one shared customer looks like a Customer-to-Customer overlap in the CRM but is actually part of two populations, which is possibly not segmented well in the overall count on the Widget or in general reporting. But… I digress….

On to the topic at hand - What do you do?!

9-Box Strategy

Let’s pretend for a moment that you haven’t considered the larger implications of adopting Account Mapping tools. It certainly makes my article more relevant and we all know that’s what I’m here for. Just call me Toby Keith...

previously written about Spekit as a strong solution for enhancing Partner visibility in tandem with a widget for this reason.