Question 1

What is a dead account in a CRM?

Accepted Answer

A dead account is a CRM record that no longer represents an active, reachable company — one that has shut down, been acquired, gone bankrupt, rebranded out of your market, or become permanently unresponsive. Dead accounts inflate pipeline numbers, distort forecasts, and waste rep time on companies that can never convert. According to Gartner, B2B data decays at 22.5% per year.

Question 2

What's the difference between a dead account and an inactive account?

Accepted Answer

An inactive account has no recent sales activity but the company still exists — it may still be a viable target. A dead account means the company itself is gone or fundamentally changed: acquired, dissolved, or permanently closed. The distinction matters because abandoning an inactive account is a sales mistake, while continuing to work a dead account is a waste of time. DeadAccount.ai identifies only true dead accounts so reps don't discard live opportunities.

Question 3

What types of accounts does DeadAccount.ai flag as dead?

Accepted Answer

DeadAccount.ai flags six categories: (1) Dissolved companies formally wound down or struck off; (2) Acquired entities no longer operating independently; (3) Bankrupt companies; (4) Permanently closed businesses; (5) Rebranded companies that have exited your market; (6) Zombie accounts — domain is live but the company has no employees or activity. Every flagged account includes a plain-language reason and supporting evidence.

Question 4

Does DeadAccount.ai use live data or static databases?

Accepted Answer

DeadAccount.ai uses live data. Each scan runs AI agents with real-time web research at scan time — not a periodically updated snapshot database. This means results reflect current company status, including very recent acquisitions, closures, or funding events. Static enrichment tools like ZoomInfo or Apollo are updated on fixed cycles; DeadAccount.ai researches each account fresh when you run a scan.

Question 5

What is CRM data decay and why does it happen?

Accepted Answer

CRM data decay is the gradual degradation of account and contact records due to real-world business changes — companies shut down, get acquired, relocate, rebrand, or go through leadership changes, and none of these events automatically update your CRM. Gartner reports 22.5% annual decay for B2B data. In volatile markets, rates can exceed 70% over three years. The result is stale records that mislead pipeline forecasts, waste rep time, and distort territory design.

Question 6

What is account tiering in B2B sales?

Accepted Answer

Account tiering is the process of ranking accounts by their likelihood to close and strategic value. DeadAccount.ai uses a T1 / T2 / T3 framework: T1 (Priority) accounts show strong buying signals; T2 (Watch) accounts are viable but show slowdown signals like hiring freezes or funding plateaus; T3 (Archive) accounts are low-priority for the current period. Dead accounts are flagged and excluded. Tiering helps reps and sales managers allocate time to the accounts most likely to generate revenue.

Question 7

What is the difference between T1, T2, and T3 accounts?

Accepted Answer

T1 (Priority) accounts are active companies showing strong buying signals — recent funding, hiring, growth, or strong ICP fit. These should get the majority of rep time. T2 (Watch) accounts are active but show caution signals like a hiring freeze or funding plateau — worth maintaining but not pursuing aggressively. T3 (Archive) accounts are active but low-fit or low-signal for the current period. Dead accounts are excluded from the active tier stack entirely.

Question 8

How does DeadAccount.ai detect dead accounts technically?

Accepted Answer

DeadAccount.ai runs six specialized AI agents per account: Graveyard (dissolution and closure signals), M&A (acquisition and merger detection), Funding (runway and funding history), HQ (address changes and office closures), Industry & ICP (SIC codes, NAICS codes, and fit scoring), and Duplicate (redundant CRM records). Each agent uses real-time web research. Results are synthesized into a tier score and a plain-language reason.

Question 9

How long does it take to tier a sales territory?

Accepted Answer

Most territories complete in minutes. DeadAccount.ai processes accounts in parallel across six AI agents, so scan time scales efficiently. Compare that to the 2–4 weeks of manual CRM cleanup that sales ops teams typically run before quarterly planning — DeadAccount.ai replaces that entire process.

Question 10

How do AEs use DeadAccount.ai to prioritize their territory?

Accepted Answer

Account executives export their account list from their CRM as a CSV, upload it to DeadAccount.ai, and get back every account tiered as T1 Priority, T2 Watch, T3 Archive, or Dead — with a reason for each. AEs use this to start each quarter knowing exactly which accounts deserve attention and which to deprioritize or remove. T1 accounts come with signals like recent funding, hiring activity, or strong ICP fit — so reps can open their first call with context instead of cold research.

Question 11

What do I need to upload?

Accepted Answer

A CSV with company names is enough to get started. The more context you include — domain, industry, region — the more accurate the tiering.

Question 12

Can I share the tiered list with my manager or SE?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every scan produces a shareable report with tier assignments and the reasoning behind each decision — useful for QBRs, territory reviews, and alignment with SEs or overlays.

Question 13

Can DeadAccount.ai improve quota attainment?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Research from Validity and Plauti shows 27% of rep time is lost to bad data — 546 hours per rep per year (McKinsey/IBM). Concentrating rep activity on T1 accounts — those that are active, funded, and ICP-fit — directly improves pipeline velocity and close rates. Removing dead accounts also produces cleaner forecasts, which improves sales manager decision-making on where to apply support and resources.

Question 14

Is this only useful for CRM cleanup?

Accepted Answer

No — most AEs use it at the start of a new quarter to baseline their territory before building their outreach plan. CRM cleanup is the organizational byproduct. The immediate value is knowing where to spend your time.

Question 15

How does DeadAccount.ai work for a team of AEs?

Accepted Answer

With the Team plan, a sales manager uploads the full territory — all accounts across all reps — in one CSV. DeadAccount.ai scans every account in parallel and returns T1 / T2 / T3 / Dead breakdowns per account. The manager can review rep-by-rep breakdowns, reassign accounts from dead books to live ones, or distribute the territory by CSV.

Question 16

How many accounts can I scan at once on the Team plan?

Accepted Answer

The Team plan includes 1,000 account scans per month. Most teams of 5–10 reps with 50–150 accounts each complete in under 20 minutes. If you need more volume, Enterprise pricing is available with custom scan limits.

Question 17

Can I assign accounts to specific reps inside the tool?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can either upload a pre-assigned CSV with rep names mapped to accounts, or use the territory split feature to distribute accounts across your AEs based on scan results.

Question 18

What does each rep see?

Accepted Answer

Each AE gets their own tiered account list — T1 (priority), T2 (watch), T3 (archive), and Dead — with the AI's reasoning for each assignment. They can immediately see which accounts to prioritize and which to stop working.

Question 19

How does DeadAccount.ai help sales operations teams?

Accepted Answer

Sales ops teams use DeadAccount.ai to automate territory design and CRM hygiene. Instead of manually researching and cleaning account lists before each planning cycle, sales ops uploads the full account list as a CSV, runs a scan, and receives every account tiered and dead accounts flagged. This eliminates weeks of pre-quarter data cleanup and provides a consistent, repeatable tiering methodology across the entire sales org.

Question 20

How often should sales ops audit accounts for dead records?

Accepted Answer

At minimum once per quarter, ideally aligned with territory planning. High-velocity teams or those in markets with frequent M&A activity benefit from monthly scans. B2B data decays at 22.5% per year (Gartner), meaning a CRM that was clean at the start of the year has lost nearly a quarter of its accuracy by year end.

Question 21

What is the ROI of removing dead accounts?

Accepted Answer

27% of rep time is lost to bad data, equivalent to 546 hours per rep per year (McKinsey/IBM). For a team of 10 reps at $120K OTE, that is approximately $1.6M in wasted selling capacity annually. Removing dead accounts and tiering the remaining book concentrates rep activity on accounts that can close, directly improving pipeline velocity, forecast accuracy, and quota attainment. DeadAccount.ai starts at $7/month — the ROI case is clear for any team larger than one rep.

Question 22

How much does DeadAccount.ai cost?

Accepted Answer

Starter is $7/month (20 account scans) for individual AEs. Pro is $20/month (200 account scans) and adds Industry & ICP scoring with SIC and NAICS codes. Team is $79/month (1,000 account scans) for multi-user teams. Enterprise pricing is available for large teams with custom volumes and SLA guarantees. Annual billing saves approximately 20% on all plans.

Question 23

What's the difference between Starter, Pro, and Team?

Accepted Answer

Starter (20 scans/month) is designed for individual AEs who want to tier their own territory. Pro (200 scans/month) adds Industry & ICP scoring with SIC and NAICS codes — useful for reps who care about ICP fit alongside health signals. Team (1,000 scans/month) is built for sales managers running territory scans across multiple AEs, with rep-level breakdowns and territory assignment tools.

Question 24

Does annual billing save money?

Accepted Answer

Yes — annual billing saves approximately 20% on all plans compared to monthly billing.

Frequently Asked Questions

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