You generated 100 MQLs. Sales only closed 7 deals. Management is now asking questions. Sales teams are drowning in unqualified leads, unable to reach revenue targets, and pointing fingers at each other.

The smarter approach to this problem – one that has eluded most B2B brands for some time – is Account-Based Marketing (ABM). However, here lies the problem: ABM is implemented wrong by most of the companies. Many marketers add emails to their sales processes while referring to them as ‘programs’.That’s not ABM. That’s lead gen with a fancy dress on. 

If done right ABM shortens deal cycles, increases average contract values and creates that kind of pipeline that doesn’t vanish the moment a sales person goes on holiday. If you are working with an agency specific to B2B marketing or building this in-house, here is the actual design. 

Why Traditional Lead Generation Is Leaving Revenue on the Table 

Think of your last 20 leads that are brought to you by the sales team.How many of your marketing qualified leads (MQLs) were truly qualified? Of those, how many had decision-making authority over the budget for purchasing from your company AND had timelines that match your sales cycle? Chances are that the answer is lower than we would like to admit. 

You met your MQL targets. All the colors are green on reports. The problem is that pipeline quality tends to fade quietly and then it takes two times longer than necessary to close the deals. The average conversion rate from MQL to SQL across industries is 13% – meaning that 87% of MQLs do not meet qualifications to become SQLs. ABM solves this issue by flipping the funnel upside down – you begin with the right accounts and then build demand within those target accounts.

Your First Action Item: Create a Laser-Focused Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) vs. a Dream List

Using your top 20 closed/won transactions in the last 18 months, analyze these deals and their trends. You should review the following factors; industry, company size, technology stack, geography, method of team structure and what triggered them to purchase your product or service.

Next, work this magic on your worst customers also. Many accounts cancel or dispute most or all bills, or simply never maximise use of the product.

The two-dimensional ICP creates two pathways which determine which targets you should pursue and which targets you should disqualify. It helps you save both time and money. 

Second Move: Use Intent Data to Prioritise Accounts That Are Actually Ready 

Your current ICP targets which accounts to pursue but not every account needs your immediate attention. Intent data changes the game. The intent data platforms such as Bombora and G2 and LinkedIn’s help you to identify which companies conduct active research about your product’s relevant topics before they complete a form or schedule a demonstration. 

Focus on accounts that are engaged with your company in some way through earlier touches by the sales team, possibly through larger, promotional initiatives (content marketing) and that are experienced with this level of account-based outreach. When your sales rep approaches a person based on their previous level of engagement with your brand rather than trying to contact them cold, they’re 7x more likely to convert. A recent study from GlobeNewswire found that marketing to customers with intent will convert 7X more than over-the-phone sales calls made to cold lists. GlobeNewswire 

Move #3: Develop Personalised Messages and Custom Communication

Creating traditional custom ABM programs is a recipe for failure – using the same letter or template each time you send out a direct mail piece will create fake personalisation. Consider that all you have done is add “[insert business name]” to the subject field of the email.

Everyone can identify a false level of personalization almost immediately. To avoid similar occurrences in your future ABM programmes, conduct a weekly meeting to monitor the history of ABM accounts and to gauge their ongoing level of engagement with the company. At each meeting, review your ABM account list and determine: How many accounts opened our last 3 emails? How many accounts clicked? Which accounts have not opened or clicked on any emails recently? Where are your sales representatives currently in a sales process with each account? BTo modify your next action based on the current status of your prospects, you should refrain from using a single “playbook” since doing so keeps you in a static environment and doesn’t utilize what your prospects have been up to. This keeps you agile instead of running the same playbook regardless of where prospects actually are. The team should examine which target accounts have engaged with content and which accounts have opened emails and which sales representatives currently have conversations and which actions should be taken next. This practice results in major effects that determine the success of ABM programs. 

Stop sending mass emails. Take the time to spend 15 minutes understanding account X and what account X is trying to accomplish this upcoming quarter. After you do that, write a message that supports that account. That’s personalization. Everything else is spam with a company name inserted.That sense cannot be derived from automation alone but the quality of the thinking that automation is based on. 

Fourth Move: Get Sales and Marketing on the Same Account List 

Here’s what breaks ABM programs: Marketing is running a LinkedIn campaign to Account A’s VP of Ops. Sales will be booking an appointment with the CMO at account A without any prior rapport built up. Therefore, the CMO at Account A receives conflicting information from the two departments. As a result, both departments are wasting valuable time by targeting the same account without having any prior communication or coordination with one another. Since neither team communicates with each other, the prospect receives a confusing and disjointed experience. This is why alignment is required for successful implementation of ABM – single account list, communicated strategy and daily communication. ABM provides an operational framework for implementing your company’s strategy to enter the marketplace.

The Last Move: Assess essential elements instead of choosing metrics that look appealing

Forget about vanity metrics; you don’t care how many people opened your email. You care about whether the company you’re trying to engage in is engaging in the way you want, and if your sales pipeline is increasing and whether your deals are closing faster.

Track those four numbers, and you’ll know if your ABM is working. Everything else is noise.Your ABM program needs to focus on account engagement rate, pipeline influenced from targeted accounts, average deal size from ABM vs non-ABM accounts and sales cycle from ABM-sourced deals.

These are the numbers that tell you if your ABM strategy is working or not.

Why the Right B2B Marketing Agency Partnership Accelerates All Of This

Companies need to develop their entire ABM program because they need to create their entire operational structure for building their ABM program from scratch. The company needs ICP research and intent data infrastructure and content production capabilities at account level and the ability to execute campaigns through multiple channels and create a revenue reporting system which links to actual revenue. The majority of in-house teams lack the necessary resources to achieve maximum operational capacity for all required skills. 

A B2B marketing agency that has a strong understanding of ABM can provide value through its work by providing complete marketing solution systems which include strategic planning, technology and teamwork.