๐ต๐ปโโ๏ธ ABM pilot (the 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-10 framework)
We share how to launch a succesful pilot ABM program and the role of marketing lead in the pilot
Earlier this year I had a call with a fellow VP of marketing who shared how they launched ABM.
They purchased a well-known expensive ABM platform, built a list of 2.5k accounts, targeted it with programmatic display ads and LinkedIn cluster content, and followed up with cold emailing from SDRs.
Guess what results that program produced?
Luckily, they decided to revamp it early. But most B2B companies usually continue stubbornly the program, wasting the budget and praying for the results.ย
Why does it happen?
This is what we are going to cover today.
3 phases of developing an ABM motion
The 1-1-1-1-10 framework for a pilot ABM program
The role of CMO in the pilotย
Let's dive in!
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What's included with the course access:ย
12 modules covering step-by-step ABM strategy development: goal decomposition, ICP, account list building, ABM team, warm-up and activation playbooks, reporting, scaling ABM and building a cohesive ABM & demand gen function.
Short explanation videos and "how to" examples. We believe it's better one time to see a practical example then listen to the theory hundreds of times.
5 orchestrated and ready-to-use ABM playbooks and a detailed explanation
Report dashboard for 4 types of ABM programs: new revenue, pipeline acceleration, expansion and churn prevention
Live case studies and examples of the campaigns we implemented with the clients of Fullfunnel.io in the past few years
17 templates to simplify your ABM strategy launch: ICP, revenue analysis, intent data tracking, account warm-up cadence, customer research, account scoring and prioritization, ABM budget planning and forecasting, account planning, reports, personalized offers, and many more.
Planning & Presenting a Pilot ABM Program to Execs and Sales Framework
Minimal viable stack recommendation and guidelines on how to use it to avoid ramping up budget and being pressured to show ROI for the purchased $50k software
3 stages of ABM motion
There are three phases to develop an ABM motion:
Pilot program (we recommend a quarter program)
Operationalization and scaling
We have a detailed guide about developing an ABM strategy. So Iโm going to focus more on pilot.
ABM Pilot
When the strategy is in place, you can move to plan the pilot program.
Follow the 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-10 framework.
This framework stands for:
1 market
1 vertical
1 SDR
1 marketer
1 source of intent data (check this guide where we explain how to use it)
1 warm-up tactic
1 tier
1 goal (expansion, net new revenue, acceleration, renewal)
10 accounts (3 buying committee members per account) max
Why?
The Pilot program is an experiment. You make hypotheses about your ICP, do preliminary account research and learn a lot about target accounts.ย
You need to apply learnings to improve account qualification criteria, account research process, and activation processes.
The goal is to launch a campaign fast with minimal resources to avoid losing momentum and trust from execs and sales.
The key to a successful launch lies not in a big budget or stack. It lies in a dedicated team that:ย
goes through all ABM processes manually
documents the processes
step-by-step develops an ABM center of excellence
sets up the right expectations
define leading and lagging indicators, and tracks them regularly
leverages what they already have without ramping up budget.
shares any small wins to keep the momentum.
documents pipeline/revenue results and presents the pilot deck to your stakeholders and sales.
This is how you win support and buy-in in the organization.
Don't do during the pilot:
Including lots of accounts in the pilot program, you won't be able to run ABM properly.
Adding a wish list of accounts instead of engaged accounts.
Allocating big budget (here is how to budget ABM)
Involving the entire sales team. You need 1 SDR who'll be your Champion in the sales team helping to scale the program later.
Here is a post where we cover typical mistakes that kill ABM programs.
Drive pipeline THIS quarter with a full-funnel ABM programs.
If any of these challenges sound familiar:
You are aligned in theory with sales but donโt do anything in practice aside from receiving wish lists from sales and sharing with them your marketing plan. In reality, you work in silos and miss the revenue targets and are being pressured by your executives.ย
You understand that your marketing and sales playbook is broken (mqls, gated content) but despite many attempts you donโt know how to fix it
Your outbound, paid ads and organic pipeline drastically decreased while CAC increased mostly because most of your market is problem unaware and not buying.
You lack brand awareness among target accounts and sales canโt get even a reply.ย
You clearly see that you're already behind your revenue targets
We can help.ย
We'll develop a custom full-funnel ABM strategy aligned with your resources, budget and stack and execute it together to drive results THIS quarter.
Role of ABM lead in the pilot program
Here is a checklist we recommend CMOs or ABM Leads to follow for a successful ABM pilot (aka POWERFUL checklist ๐).
1. ๐ฃ๐๐๐ก ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ถ๐น๐ผ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐น: ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ, ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐, ๐บ๐ฒ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐, ๐ฒ๐
๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ฏ๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ.
Don't tell your team: "We are going to implement ABM".
Show:ย
what are you going to achieve
what exactly you are going to do
who'll be involved
what is expected from them
Be clear and avoid ambiguity.
2. ๐ข๐ก๐๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ถ๐น๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ ๐๐ผ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐ธ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฟ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ณ๐๐น๐น ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ.
Explain to each of the pilot team members what their tasks and main responsibilities are, and how they contribute to the program implementation.
Make sure your team sees the full picture, not a piece of the puzzle.
3. ๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ฃ๐๐๐ฌ ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ธ ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐พ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ถ๐น๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ.
Ask everybody to submit ideas:
Why do they think this program might not work: what pitfalls and bottlenecks they foresee?
How do they think these bottlenecks might be handled?
What do they suggest making this program successful?
Refine your pilot program with the collected feedback.
4. ๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐ด๐ป๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ถ๐น๐ผ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ผ๐ฎ๐น๐, ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐, ๐ฒ๐
๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐บ๐ฒ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐.
Make sure both marketing and sales agree on the key program elements and their responsibilities.
Ideally, adjust the KPIs of the pilot team to avoid having controversial KPIs.
5. RUN weekly pipeline review, retrospective, and planning meetings with sales.
- Review account status and collected insights
Example.
Sales share insights from a call with the internal Champion and an introduction made by the Champion to one of the decision-makers.
Marketing reports that the account visited several case studies on the website and spent 15 minutes and actively engaged with the demand gen ads.
- Plan the next steps.
What can we do next as a team to influence every reviewed account?ย
Example:ย
Marketing will prepare a content hub including all relevant industry case studies and references.ย
The sales team will receive feedback from the champion and ask if there is anything else to add. They will then share it with a new member of the buying committee. Sales will start engaging with their LinkedIn content as well.ย
- Review leading indicators.
Did we hit our targets? If not, what slowed us down, and how can we eliminate it in the future?
Example:ย
Marketing produced 2 fewer posts because the content marketer was involved in another project.
- Retrospective.
Whatโs moving us forward and whatโs holding us back?
Define the things that work and discuss how to double down on them.ย
Define bottlenecks and challenges and discuss how to handle them.
- ABM pipeline update.
What accounts should be added and removed from the campaign?ย
Review the qualified and researched accounts that were added from the intent and engagement data sources. Define those that should be added to your program.
In the same way, review all the accounts that donโt engage, stopped responding, or were disqualified to remove them.
6. ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ง๐ ๐๐บ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐บ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐๐บ.
Every small win counts as it generates positive momentum and helps team maintain the program even if it doesn't produce immediate ROI or revenue.
7. UTILIZE existing stack and time, and avoid multitasking.
Don't bother the team with a new technology - there will be a learning curve, and it will distract them from the execution.
Make sure they focus on the program implementation and avoid useless meetings or being involved in multiple programs with completely different objectives.
8. LEAD by example and actively participate in the program execution.
The tribe follows its leader. Period.
โIn this episode of Fullfunnel Live we cover how to launch an ABM pilot.
The 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-10 framework
What your pilot program must include
The minimal viable stack
How to evaluate pilot performance if it didn't drive revenue
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