You’re likely to throw a wry smirk as you read the following advice, but take note – the first step in any successful ABM programme is to create a clear and full agreement on what ABM means to your business.
It’s an obvious statement, but far less apparent is how to achieve this alignment, or how easily it can be destroyed.
“People struggle to describe ABM in a coherent and unified way. That’s because it exists differently in every organisation,” says Andy Bacon, the lead advisor for B2B Marketing’s ABM Head-Start programme.
While you can cherry-pick your flavour of ABM there is no off-the-shelf solution for any of them – simply a nuanced approach that leaves it subject to interpretation. “It’s a programme that needs to be tailored to how your business goes to market, its organisational structure and its offerings,” explains Andy.
To convince your board, executives (and perhaps partners) that a ‘spray and pray’ demand generation approach is limited, you’ll have to pitch a more palatable alternative – one that includes clear, measurable and achievable objectives that sit as much with marketing as they do with sales.
‘Know thyself. Know thy ABM strategy’. That’s your motto to live by, just don’t live it alone. The earlier you make friends with sales the better. That’s not just because you need to work as collaborative allies, but because you need a unified mission statement that you can sell to the board and beyond.
Account-based strategy
“The biggest areas of conflict between sales and marketing are building trust versus managing expectations,” says Andy. And in this, you will need to find a balance.
Too many marketers pitch ABM to sales rather than making them their pitching partner. That leaves marketers over-egging their promises in a desperate attempt for others (both sales and the board) to see the value of ABM. “Marketing is so keen to create buy-in that they are prone to oversell ABM. It also doesn’t know what it’s up against so may mismanage expectations,” says Andy.
The alternative is a complete lack of buy-in from sales, which manifests in locked accounts and an over-protective distrust in what marketing might do with them. “Sales will either ring-fence its accounts or fire hundreds your way expecting you to manage them all,” Andy surmises.
“The biggest problem with ABM is that it has marketing in its name,” he adds, while arguing for a rebrand to the rather more inclusive ‘account-based strategy’. “It’s not about what marketing is going to do, it’s about what sales and marketing are going to do together.”
Andy’s three core tenets of successful account selection
Account value:
Don’t be lured into selecting an account just because it’s a big brand, focus on what that account means to your business. That means putting a number against its existing pipeline and volume of potential business. This marks the difference between the sales person’s dream deal and marketing’s due diligence on the real business opportunity.
Achievability:
You need to assess how realistic it is to achieve your objectives with this account. How likely are you to win or retain your business with this account? Do they have a complicated buying unit and do you know how to engage with the people in it? What’s your competition and how deeply entrenched are they in this account?
Co-operation:
Are your chosen accounts already engaging with you? If they don’t know you, or don’t like you, you’re bound to have an uphill struggle. You also need to measure the likelihood of having support from those within your own company. If you chose an account that was ‘owned’ by an uncooperative member of sales you may find they become your biggest blocker.
Account definition: Your route to success
According to Andy, one of the most effective ways to secure water tight alignment across the company is to nail your account definition, yet too many people drift over this process with a cursory nod to their biggest clients or prospects.
“There is a lot more to this than most people think. When accounts aren’t properly selected you get a loss of alignment and poor motivation,” he says.
Poorly selected accounts means you’re less likely to gain results, which can demotivate everyone involved. Conversely, delivering some quick wins is the best way to boost internal morale and buy-in, and this should be factored into your account selection. Choose accounts that will allow you to secure some success in the first quarter or so. A ‘win’ doesn’t have to be ROI but could mean improvements in your net promoter scores or other engagement metrics.
While ABM can be used to win deals with new businesses, Andy advises that the best place to start your ABM practice is by retaining and growing your existing accounts, in particular those you already know a great deal about.
“Under a grow and protect strategy you will clearly have more data on how that company is working with you,” Andy highlights. “Strategic ABM is really all about knowing what the business wants to achieve in the next few years – it relies on intent data to find out how to help them on that journey.”
Ask yourself whether you have a right to win the business. Do you have proven knowledge, experience and expertise in this account? If not, it might not be the best fit for ABM.
The information audit
While it’s advisable to pick accounts that you already know, don’t kid yourself about the amount of information you may still need to uncover. Once you’ve selected your accounts, you need to carry out an audit of what you know about them already plus any new information that has to be gleaned.
The five ‘whats’ behind your information audit
- What information do you need to have?
- What information would you like to have?
- What information do you already have?
- What are the gaps between these three?
- What are the sources from which you can find information to plug those gaps?
What you need to know
- What are company’s challenges and needs?
- Which of your competitors already sell to them?
- How happy is this account with its current suppliers?
- Is this business growing, restructuring or changing in any significant way?
- Where are they on their sales cycle?
- What’s the size of the decision-making unit (DMU)?
- Who’s in the DMU?
- Who’s the key purchasing influencer (both on paper and in practice)?
