The first of the seven steps in the Sales Process is Prospecting.

In this stage, you find potential customers also known as Leads and determine whether they have a need for your product or service – and whether they can afford what you offer. 

Evaluating whether the customers need your product or service and can afford it is now as Qualifying.

Account maps are an effective way of identifying these buyers because it is the process of cataloging and organizing the people that work at a particular target account. This will be a physical representation of the way an organization is set up.

This will help you visualize the authority that an individual at the company has as well as their particular position related to their team as well. You then can associate individuals at a company with your buyer personas to better understand what they care about.