At The European ABM Forum in Amsterdam, Ingrid Archer and Robert Norum presented a framework that challenges how most B2B organisations think about account-based marketing (ABM). Here is what it means in practice, and why trust in B2B is the thread that holds it together.

Together, they opened the event with their keynote titled Shift left, shift right: The new ABM playbook for 2026.

The argument they made is simple but uncomfortable. The buyer journey that ABM aims to influence begins earlier than most teams realise. And it continues far longer than most strategies account for. 

The shift left, shift right framework extends the B2B buyer journey in two directions: earlier, to shape the shortlist before buying begins, and further right, to build trust long after the deal is signed..

What follows draws on that keynote, a pre-event conversation the authors had with the B2B Marketing Forum, and Ingrid Archer’s broader research into trust in B2B as a commercial driver.

The moment most ABM programmes activate is already too late

Most ABM programmes fire when intent signals appear. A target account starts searching. Engagement spikes. Marketing responds.

The problem is that by that point, buyers have often already formed their view of the market. And decided which vendors belong on their shortlist.

Research by 6sense supports this. B2B buyers complete an average of 61% of their decision process before contacting a vendor. The eventual winner is on the initial shortlist in 95% of cases. That shortlist is built on familiarity with the brand, recommendations from peers, thought leadership and analyst coverage. All of this happens long before any intent signal appears.

“Buying starts even before people start buying.”  – Ingrid Archer

If your ABM programme only starts when intent signals appear, you may already be too late.

Shift left: shaping the shortlist before the process begins

The first part of the framework is about moving earlier. Not earlier in the campaign timeline, but earlier in the buying process itself. Before the formal evaluation begins. Before the RFP lands. Before the budget is approved.

In practice, this means regularly sharing a clear point of view with the accounts you want to win; one that speaks to the problems they face and the results they want. This is not brand advertising for its own sake. It is targeted narrative-building for a defined list of accounts.

One of the things Ingrid Archer hears most often when she talks about this is: “We don’t have a brand budget.” But that is the wrong frame. If you define a list of 50, 100 or 250 companies that are mission-critical for your business, building visibility with those specific accounts becomes very manageable. You do not need a mass-market brand campaign. You need a focused narrative, consistently delivered to the right people.

The second dimension of shift left is buying group coverage. Most ABM programmes, even mature ones, confuse account engagement with full buying group coverage. Getting a couple of leads from a target account does not mean you have that account covered. If the buying group is 10 or 15 people, it almost certainly does not.

Shifting left therefore means two things. Earlier engagement, and more precise communication across multiple stakeholders

“My approach is role-specific rather than account-generic. I speak a different language to a CFO versus a CIO.” – Ingrid Archer

The trust layer that makes shift left work

The reason shift left matters is not purely tactical. It is about trust in B2B.

Credibility is not built at the point of purchase. It is built in the months and years before. And in today’s environment, that has become more important, not less.

The Edelman Trust Barometer 2026 shows that 70% of people globally are hesitant or unwilling to trust someone who differs from them. In B2B purchasing this translates directly. Buyers retreat into trusted networks. They rely on peer recommendations. They form views of vendors based on signals that have nothing to do with that vendor’s own content.

Dentsu’s Superpowers Index 2025 confirms that trust is the number one driver of B2B brand preference for the third consecutive year, ahead of price and product features.

The shift-left work, thought leadership, storytelling, engaging the buying group, is not just campaign activity. It is trust-building. And trust, once established, is what puts you on the shortlist before the formal process begins.

Shift right: what happens after the deal matters just as much

The second half of the framework addresses the other direction. Shift right is about what happens once a contract is signed. And why most organisations still treat this phase as someone else’s problem.

Post-sale is where trust in B2B is either deepened or eroded. Onboarding, adoption, value realisation, expansion. Each of these is a trust moment. Each one shapes whether a customer stays, buys more, and recommends you to others. That last part matters more than most organisations realise. Customer advocacy reaches the next shortlist before you have sent a single campaign.

The structural obstacle is familiar. Marketing, sales and customer success operate with different KPIs, different timelines and often different definitions of success. That is not just an efficiency problem. It creates a rough experience that buyers notice and remember.

Our view on what is ultimately at stake goes beyond retention numbers.

“It’s not about customer retention. It’s about trust retention.” – Robert Norum

Trust retention leads to expansion, advocacy and referrals. Those outcomes feed directly back into the shift-left work at the beginning of the next buyer journey. The two directions are connected.

Forrester’s Global Total Experience Score Rankings 2025 puts a number on this. Companies that align their brand experience and customer experience achieve up to 3.5x more revenue growth than those that do not.

What this means for ABM strategy in 2026

The shift left, shift right approach is ultimately about one thing: building trust before buyers come to you, and deepening it after they sign. It is not a new methodology to layer on top of existing ABM programmes. It is a recalibration of where those programmes should focus their energy.

For most organisations, that means three changes:

1. First, extend the activation window. Stop treating intent signals as the starting gun. Build visibility and credibility with priority accounts in the months before intent appears, through targeted thought leadership, community presence and role-specific content.
2. Second, map the full buying group and cover it. Not just the economic buyer. Not just the initial contact. Every stakeholder who will influence the shortlist and the final decision.
3. Third, close the loop between acquisition and customer success. The post-sale experience is not a handoff. It is a continuation of the same trust-building process that won the deal. Organisations that do this make it easier and less costly to win the next deal.

The B2B buyer journey does not begin when intent spikes. And it does not end when the contract is signed. The organisations that act on this will find themselves on shortlists they never had to chase.

Ingrid Archer is co-founder of SPOTONVISION and the European ABM Forum, and writes regularly about B2B marketing, account-based marketing and customer experience. She presented the shift left, shift right framework as the opening keynote at the European ABM Forum in Amsterdam on 26 March 2026, together with Robert Norum, Propolis ABM & Demand Strategy Expert at B2B Marketing.