What you'll get
- 1 copy-ready blocks
- 5 min read
How to use it
- Step 1: Fill in one page for the quarter. If it does not fit on a page, the plan is too big for the team.
- Step 2: Hold the line at five accounts until one converts or is swapped out.
- Step 3: Review the five counts every Monday in fifteen minutes.
- Step 4: At quarter end, swap stalled accounts, update the proof lines and start a fresh page.
Selling to enterprise accounts as a 50-person company is a planning problem before it is a persuasion problem. Enterprises buy from small firms when the risk looks small and enough people inside want it, and both of those are built, not pitched. This one-pager is the plan: five accounts, one entry problem and one small first project each, the committee, the paperwork and five weekly counts, all on a single page.
The page
THE QUARTER'S PAGE
Our proof: [two clients like them, and what measurably changed]
Procurement pack: [security questionnaire, insurance, registrations, references:
ready / gaps and owner]
ACCOUNT 1 OF 5: [name]
Why them: [fit evidence, and a trigger with a date]
Entry problem: [the one problem we open with, in their words]
First project: [small, scoped, priced to be approved without a board]
Committee: [problem owner, budget holder, evaluator, procurement: names]
This fortnight: [two moves, each with an owner and a date]
(repeat for accounts 2 to 5)
THE FIVE COUNTS, EVERY MONDAY
Accounts worked [ ] Committees mapped, 3+ roles [ ] Committees active, 2+ in talks [ ]
Live conversations [ ] Pipeline value [ ]Why only five accounts?
Because research is the moat. A small firm cannot out-shout an incumbent, but it can know five companies better than any big vendor bothers to: the trigger, the committee, the words they use for the problem. Five is what a founder plus one seller can actually know this deeply in a quarter. Build the longer list behind it with the Target Account List Builder; the page holds the five that earn the hours now.
Why one entry problem and a small first project?
Nobody approves a platform from an unknown 50-person supplier. They approve a four-week assessment, a pilot on one site, a fix for the problem that is currently embarrassing someone. Enter through one problem, price the first project so the problem owner can approve it without a committee marathon and let the expansion argue for itself. The one project per account hack is this idea worked through; the Trigger Event List tells you when the door is open.
Why the paperwork line is at the top
Security questionnaires, insurance certificates and vendor registration sink small suppliers at the finish line because they started at the finish line. The pack is listed above the accounts so its gaps are worked in week one, not discovered in month four. Put procurement on the committee line of every account; meeting them late is how deals die politely.
Why those five counts
Signatures arrive on the enterprise's clock, which makes them a useless weekly measure. Movement is measurable now: accounts worked, committees mapped to three or more roles, committees with two or more people in conversation, live conversations and pipeline value. They are the same five numbers we report to our own clients, and they tell you by week six whether the quarter is working, long before a contract could.
Worked example (illustrative, not a real company)
Quaywise, a 40-person warehouse software firm, fills in the page. Proof: two mid-market logistics clients with measured dock-time savings. Pack: questionnaire answered, one insurance gap, owner named. Five accounts, including Northfield Logistics, trigger a new distribution centre, entry problem dock scheduling, first project a four-week scheduling assessment priced for a director's signature, committee mapped to four names including procurement. Fortnight moves: a note to Dana Whitfield on the trigger and a reference call offer from a current client. Monday's counts after six weeks: five worked, four mapped, two active, seven conversations, one assessment in legal. All names and details are invented.
Five mistakes to avoid
- Twenty accounts on the page. That is a mailing list wearing a plan's clothes. Five, worked, beats twenty, touched.
- Opening with the whole platform. The first yes an enterprise can give a small firm is a small one. Design for it.
- One contact per account. When they change roles, your quarter leaves with them. Three roles named before outreach.
- Leaving procurement until the proposal. The pack and the procurement contact start in week one.
- Judging the quarter on signatures. Judge it on the five counts; signatures follow on the buyer's budget cycle, not yours.
Why this works on named accounts
Common questions
Can a 50-person company really sell to enterprise accounts?
Yes, and small suppliers win enterprise work for specialist skill and attention. What they must manufacture is low risk: proof from the buyer's world, a narrow first project, several people inside who want it and paperwork ready before it is asked for.
How many enterprise accounts should a small company target?
As many as it can research properly, which for a small team is a handful at full depth per quarter, with a lighter second tier behind them. The limit is hours of genuine research, not ambition.
What should a first enterprise deal look like?
Small, scoped and referenceable: an assessment, a pilot, one site, one problem. Its job is not revenue; it is to make the second deal an internal expansion instead of an external sale, and to become the proof line on your next quarter's page.
Read next
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