What is an account hierarchy in Salesforce (and why you should use it)

Introduction

Did you know that disconnected data can cost companies more than $15 million dollars a year?

And whether most companies know it or not, they likely have a sea of disconnected data living in their CRM.

Whether it’s hundreds to thousands of duplicate records, constant mergers and acquisitions, or even outdated or incorrect data — it can be impossible to get the bigger picture and the proper insights about your most important customers.

The solution is building a clear, connected view of your customers with account hierarchies.

But before we dive into how to do that and what account hierarchies can do for you, let’s start with the basics.

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What is an account hierarchy?

First things first. What exactly is an account hierarchy?

An account hierarchy in Salesforce is an organizational structure that creates a connected view of a company. Account hierarchies can help visualize the subsidiaries of a parent company, important contacts, opportunities, and other valuable information.

Why should you use an account hierarchy in Salesforce?

When it comes to leveraging an account hierarchy, the possibilities are endless.

Look at it this way. Large, complex enterprises are difficult customers to keep track of. The parent company can absorb more subsidiaries. The subsidiaries can go through mergers and acquisitions, acquiring even more accounts. And parent-child accounts can become grandchild and great-grandchild accounts.

Where does it end?

Eventually, it becomes harder and harder to answer simple questions, like which sales rep should this account belong to? Or even trying to find the connection between different accounts.

If enterprise companies are starting to feel overwhelming, don’t worry, account hierarchies are here to help.

For starters, have you ever asked yourself the following questions?

• Which accounts belong to the same corporate entity?
• How much business is my company doing with an individual set of accounts? Or even accounts that belong to the same family tree?
• How many sales reps are assigned to accounts within the same account hierarchy?
• Are there any overlaps in how sales reps are being assigned? Could we be doing it better?

If you’ve asked any of these questions, you could definitely benefit from an account hierarchy.

They can also give you important insights to help drive revenue, such as:

• Who are my largest customers by size, revenue, or products sold?
• Do I have any cross-sell and up-sell opportunities?
• Do I have any whitespace opportunities within my hierarchies?
• What’s the best way to focus our team’s marketing and sales resources?
• Are our sales territories evenly balanced?
• What has been sold, what hasn’t, and which accounts are most involved?
• Do I have any whitespace opportunities within my target accounts?

Companies can also go above and beyond traditional account hierarchies to sell more and get smarter insights based on their go-to-market strategies.

Stay tuned to our latest blog posts and we’ll show you how.