Account Record Types for B2B database segmentation

Sean_Richards
Level 5

Account Record Types for B2B database segmentation

I am writing to the community on this architentual issue, hoping some one has some ideas that could help.

First off, worth noting that we bring all contacts/leads into Marketo to run communications across our whole customer journey.

When I designed our SF instance I decided to use Record Types to handle the following Account types:

  • Suspect
    • These are holding places for account information. We might know demographic information about the account, but have zero contacts/leads. Think of them as bonus information that might be useful in prospecting.
    • Contacts should never exist under a Suspect Account and should be entered as Leads.
    • It is perfectly acceptable to have Leads that match a Suspect Account.
    • Does not have an oppty.
    • NEVER work a Suspect account, work the Lead.
  • Customer
    • An active customer
  • Lost Customer
    • Was once a Schoolbox customer but has since churned
  • Prospect
    • Qualified Leads are converted into Prospects with an Opportunity.
    • Prospects will be worked by reps through the Oppty stages
  • Prospect Re-engage
    • An account that was once a prospect and now requires re-engaging.
    • If we update the Oppty stage to Dead Lost, the account should change from Prospect to Prospect Re-engage.
    • Contacts under a Prospect Re-engage record will be treated and marketed to as nurtured contacts (just like leads)
  • Government
    • A Government department
  • Association
    • Industry Associations, Bodies or groups. e.g. ASBA, Catholic Diocese, Independent Schools Victoria
  • Partner
    • Partner companies
  • Supplier
    • A company that we do trade with that supplies us with goods and services.
  • Tertiary / Higher-Ed
    • University, TAFE, Tertiary Education, Higher Education. Not our target market
  • Vendor
    • A company that exists, that is neither a supplier or partner, nor any other type.
  • Competitor
    • A company we consider a direct competitor to Schoolbox



The benefits of record types is that they have page layout control and other configuration per type, but I can tell I’ve over done it.
Association + Government and Supplier+vendor are the same layouts, and yet have different record types.

Therefore, I am trying to seek input on how other B2B companies have handled this categorisation.

In our case we sell to schools, but also sometimes sell to a group buyer like a body that represents a group of schools.

Therefore, I am thinking we could reduce the record types to the following:

  • School
    • Add a “Lifecycle status”
      • Suspect
      • Prospect
      • Prospect Re-engage
      • Lost Customer
  • Enterprise
    • Add a “Sub-type category”
      • Association
      • Government
      • Group Buyer
    • Add a “Lifecycle status”
      • Suspect
      • Prospect
      • Prospect Re-engage
      • Lost Customer
  • Partner
  • Vendor
    • Is Supplier moved to checkbox
    • Is Tertiary is a checkbox
  • Competitor

The other option is to have no record types on Account.

If you manage/have managed a B2B instance, can you please share how you dealt with this?

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Sean

Sean Richards
1 REPLY 1
Grégoire_Miche2
Level 10

Re: Account Record Types for B2B database segmentation

HI Sean,

5 is still a lot of RT to manage. We usually group them by:

  • Client (that include prospects) or all size. Within those, the opportunities will have their own record types with various set of stages.
  • Partner
  • Supplier
  • Other (That should not be marketed to).

And often, we group suppliers into "Other"

-Greg