Account-Based Growth

The Global 2,000: 10 years of targeting your key accounts

Robert Hollier

June 7, 2021

Working deep in the global 2,000 gives us a unique insight into how each of these firms operate, their unique context, and, most critically, how they navigate buying cycles for large investment decisions.

The Global 2,000: 10 years of targeting your key accounts

At Momentum ITSMA, we’ve spent a decade working deep in the global 2,000 – helping our clients to shift perceptions, build relationships and grow revenue.

Working deep in the global 2,000 gives us a unique insight into how each of these firms operate, their unique context, and, most critically, how they navigate buying cycles for large investment decisions.

This enables us to become the secret ingredient for vendors looking to sell into to the world’s biggest brands – such as when we enabled SAP to land their largest global deal ever or helped Microsoft bridge a $54m revenue gap in Europe.

But, as much of our work on our client’s most valuable accounts is behind closed doors, we’ve not been able to share our insights more widely. So, two years ago we decided to codify this knowledge into an index called the Momentum ITSMA CBX™ provides a rolling index into the global 2,000, investigating how they’re making $3m+ buying decisions and exploring which sales and marketing strategies are working. You can download the latest wave of the report here.

What’s differing in 2021? Start with active listening.

Most companies on this year’s Forbes’ Global 2000 list have seen their market values drop compared to previous years, and first-quarter earnings for 2021 show the dramatic impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

Hospitality and airlines have been brutally hit, seeing demand drop lower than after 9/11. American Airlines lost a staggering $2.2bn in the first quarter, dropping down in the Global 2,000 from number 372 on the list to 967th.

American Airlines lost a staggering $2.2bn in the first quarter, dropping down in the Global 2,000 from number 372 on the list to 967t

Forbes’ Global 2000 list

In financial services we’ve seen China dominate with their big four state owned banks making this year’s top 10 and the largest US company, JPMorgan Chase, falling one pace to number 3.

And it comes as no surprise to see the most innovative ecommerce firms growing faster than their peers, with upward movement for Walmart, Amazon, and Alibaba.

There are also some overnight successes emerging, with firms fresh from IPOs like Saudi Aramco, Slack and Zoom making the list. The shifts caused by the Covid-19 pandemic create a unique landscape for vendors to navigate the growth conundrum – and there is a real opportunity to partner with accounts on what they do next. The latest data from the Momentum ITSMA CBX ™ tells us 57% of firms value new ideas and

insights from suppliers, rating this as extremely or very important, so taking new ideas for innovation into your top accounts could be a quick way to creating a relationship for the future.

However, to do this you first need a proper understanding of these accounts’ challenges. And that’s where we come in. We can provide the insight you need to better understand the global 2,000,  sharpen your engagement, and create opportunities to grow your key accounts.

To discover more about how we can power your growth strategies, click here.