Killing ABM
The dark truth about ABM, real performance and costs, and the root reasons behind the failed programs.
In the last newsletter I’ve mentioned that we see a huge demand for ABM (account-based marketing). Despite general hype and obsession, there is a dark side of that motion nobody talks about.
Today I want to share:
The real ABM performance and the root reasons behind it
What companies consider ABM and what ABM really is
11 most common ABM mistakes that cost B2B companies $$ and lead to program failure.
Let’s dive in.
GET ACCESS TO A NEW FULL-FUNNEL ABM 2.0 COURSE
We created this course to give you a step by step framework on how to launch cost-effective ABM program and get the results. You’ll get a detailed checklist and will see real ABM case studies, not fantasy stories you can spot on LinkedIn.
What's included with the course access:
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
The Dark Truth About ABM
First, let’s talk about the current state of ABM nobody wants to talk about.
The dark truth about ABM (account-based marketing).
1. ABM IS OFTEN MISINTERPRETED AS A LEAD GEN IN A NEW WRAPPING.
A lot of companies look at ABM as a new way to do lead gen (1:many programs).
Upload a wish list of accounts to LinkedIn or the ABM platform.
Run programmatic display ads.
Track engagement.
Set up outreach cadences.
Rinse and repeat.
No surprise these programs fail (we’ll cover it below).
2. Technology-first + big budgets.
Majority of B2B marketers consider they need to buy an expensive ABM platform and allocate 5-6 figure budget to run ABM. When they fail to justify investments, companies lose trust in ABM and swith to old playbooks.
3. Generic content from ABM vendors and agencies.
Most ABM content you see is very generic: what ABM is, what ABM is not, how efficient is ABM, holistic account experience, but you never see:
Practical and actionable frameworks
Detailed case studies
Templates
Most content is created by ABM consultants who mystify it and positioning themselves as "people with the secret sauce". They deliberately misinterpret the content from other people by always saying what they missed or how they are wrong, and trying to build credibility that way.
4. Most B2B companies either fail ABM or are dissatisfied with the results.
Last year we ran a live poll on ABM strategy webinar asking 300+ B2B marketers "How are they satisfied with their ABM programs?"
98.5% told they are not satisfied with ABM performance, and 49% told they are frustrated!
5. Obsolete ABM theory.
Open any PDF or blog post about ABM planning, and you'll see standard advice:
Segment all accounts into 3 tiers and run:
a) 1:many program for Tier 3 (which becomes a wish list targeting with a generic content and messaging)
b) 1:few for Tier 2
c) 1:1 for Tier 1
Modern reality is far from the ABM theory.
Most marketing and sales teams simply don't have resources and time to do 1:1 programs aside from big enterprises where it's mostly account-based sales (or key account management).
There is no real alignment between marketing and sales on how to execute these playbooks. Everybody is busy, has own targets, so in most cases ABM becomes targeting the accounts sales are focusing.
ABM lists shouldn't be static, but dynamic based on engagement, intent, research and conversation inisghts.
6. ABM is siloed from awareness and demand generation programs.
Creating awareness among target buyers ≠ showing display ads and sending outreach.
Ask any sales rep about what is the #1 thing they want marketing to help with, and in most cases you'll here:
Creating awareness about our product, value proposition and associate it with jobs-to-be-done and challenges of target buyers.
ABM vs Demand Gen is a useless thread and one of the most common mistakes. You don't compare tires to motors as you need both to drive a vehicle.
You need a cohesive model where demand gen function:
supplies ABM team with engaged accounts for further nurturing and activation,
helps to accelerate deals
create awareness among other business units of existing clients for expansion
We’ll cover this model in the upcoming newsletters.
Now, everything that I’ve shared above leads B2B companies to deploy a “Frankenstein ABM” that always fails. Below are the most common misunderstandings and 11 typical mistakes that cost hundreds of thousands dollars.
Join our IN-PERSON ABM workshops in Amsterdam (30th Sep) and London (3rd Oct)
Join us in Amsterdam (30th Sep) or London (3rd October), for an in-preson practical workshop where you’ll take one of the ABM roles and work with your peers on ABM program planning under our guidance.
What you’ll learn and work on during the workshop:
How to align your leadership, sales and subject-matter experts on your ABM program and get their buy in
How to define the right clusters or verticals where you have higher chances to run a successful program
How to structure your ABM team: functions, roles and responsibilities
How to segment and prioritize accounts your ABM team should focus on by opportunity likelihood
How to create awareness among the buying committee members and engage them
How to identify accounts that are likely to become sales opportunities this quarter, warm them up and generate a sales opportunity
How to nurture and engage accounts that are not currently in market but might become sales opportunities in the next 6-9 months
How to personalize your interactions with prioritized accounts
How to track your program performance: reports and metrics
Minimal viable stack you’ll need to execute an effective ABM program
Save your spot below by clicking on the city where you’re interested in joining us.
What companies consider ABM and what ABM really is
Below I’ll break down what companies consider as ABM (I called it “Old way” to highlight that we must stop doing that way) and what ABM really is (“New Way” as the right behavior).
Or, as Declan Mulkeen nicely put it: I'd change the title of 'OLD ABM' to "WE CALL IT ABM BUT WE KNOW DEEP DOWN THAT IT AIN'T."
I review 7 key ABM pillars.
1. 𝐆𝐎𝐀𝐋𝐒.
Old ABM: We need more leads.
New ABM:
Focusing on new logos with a high probability to buy
Accelerating pipeline deals
Expanding business with existing clients
Preventing churn of the key accounts
2. Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
Old way: Broad firmographic + decision-makers aka “We sell to CFOs from the US-based helathcare organizations.”
New way:
More specific firmographics and technographics
Qualification criteria
Tier segmentation
Detailed Buying committee
Account enrichment (business insights, common connections, where account is in their journey)
Read a detailed guide about developing ICP for ABM here:
3. 𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐁𝐔𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆.
Old way: Sales wish lists + databases.
New way:
Check 1st party intent and engagement data
Define accounts that fit ICP and demonstrate a high level of engagement or interest
Read a detailed guide about account selection for ABM programs here:
4. 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍.
Old way: Vertical or job-role message distributed through programmatic, landing pages, and email outreach.
New way:
In-depth account research
Content aligned with the buyer's journey and buying committee
Personalization based on in-depth account research
See personalization examples from our programs and get a template in our Full-Funnel ABM course.
5. 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐌 𝐔𝐏.
Old way: Programmatic display ads + sales outbound cadence (that infamous 21-touch).
New way:
Multithreaded engagement with the buying committee on social and communities
1:few or 1:1 events
Content co-creation with the target buyers
Personalized content hubs
We’ll share more detailed examples in the future newsletters.
6. 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 & 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓.
Old way: Lead handover from marketing to sales when an account clicks ads, downloads gated content, or sign ups to the event.
New way:
Alignment on GTM elements: target segments, ICP, buyer journey, message, warm-up and activation
Joint playbooks that include interactions with the buying committee
Joint reports
Weekly ABM programs and pipeline review meetings
Read our guide about marketing & sales alignment here:
7. 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐒.
Old way: ABM success is measured by new leads only.
New way:
Revenue that is generated from new logos, existing pipeline (accleration) and existing customers (expansion)
Sales pipeline velocity and revenue metrics: ACV, win rate, sales cycle length
Leading indicators for every program
In the last section I want to cover the most common ABM mistakes that come as a consequence of a wrong understanding of ABM.
Read a detailed guide about measuring ABM here:
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11 guaranteed ways to KILL an ABM program
In the last section I want to share a list of the most common mistakes that lead to ABM failure. You can use it as a checklist.
11 guaranteed ways to KILL an ABM program...
1. RUN A PROGRAM TO 1000s ACCOUNTS.
Ask yourself: from these 1000s accounts how many of them are vendor aware? How many of them demonstrate buying signals?
It's not ABM, it's spray and pray.
2. BUYING AN EXPENSIVE ABM STACK FOR THE PILOT PROGRAM.
Software ≠ ABM. No expensive stack will help to fix a broken playbook I've described above.
3. TARGETING A WISH LIST.
Everybody wants to sell to the Fortune 500, but if these companies are not in market and don't prioritize the challenge your product solves, you program will fail.
4. LACK OF SALES BUY-IN AND SUPPORT.
ABM success heavily depends on coordinated actions of marketing and sales. If there is no buy-in and support from sales, you're likely to do "air cover" that won't convert into revenue.
5. LACK OF ACCOUNT QUALIFICATION CRITERIA.
Not all accounts that fit your firmographics are a good fit. You need to define patterns between lost deals.
Then, develop account qualification criteria to avoid spending time and money on accounts that will never buy from you.
6. TRYING TO GENERATE SALES OPPORTUNITIES WITH COLD ACCOUNTS.
Accounts that are not aware of you are very likely to ignore you. Instead of targeting cold accounts, identify accounts that are already "aware" of you and demonstrate product-need / buying signals.
7. LACK OF ACCOUNT RESEARCH.
Nobody cares about how your product helps X with Z. The buying committee members from your target accounts care:
How their jobs-to-be-done can be improved
How they can hit their targets
How it's aligned with the company's strategic goals.
8. TARGETING DECISION-MAKERS ONLY.
Guess how many cold emails and cold calls an average C+/VP of mid-size/enterprise organizations receive daily?
Your message is likely to be bulk deleted and call blocked by a gatekeeper.
9. LACK OF HUMAN INTERACTIONS WITH THE BUYING COMMITTEE.
Programmatic display ads and automated outbound is not a warm-up and activation.
You can warm up accounts only with:
meaningful engagement
content co-creation
micro-events, etc
where you'll have a chance to have 1-1 conversations with the buying committee members.
10. LACK OF LEADING INDICATORS.
ABM is not a silver bullet that can drastically decrease sales cycle. Make sure you have leading indicators to track program performance to avoid killing program too early that shows traction but doesn't generate revenue.
11. FOCUSING ON A NEW PIPELINE FOR A PILOT.
Generate new logos without proven playbooks is hard. To create a proof of concept you'll have higher chances for success if you run pipeline acceleration and expansion programs with accounts that are already aware of you.
ABM ≠ lead generation.
Don't be fooled that you can buy an ABM platform, prospect thousands of accounts with programmatic ads and automated outbound cadence.
ABM requires good GTM fundamentals and close collaboration between marketing and sales to:
Select accounts with a high probability to buy your product
Creating awareness and demand through manual engagement with the buying committee members and personalization
Thorough playbook planning and review
It requires a lot of manual work. But this is the only way to generate enterprise, 6-7 figure deals.
If you're interested in developing a successful ABM motion with your team, book a strategy session with us below.
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 don’t 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.
You understand that your marketing and sales playbook is broken (mqls, gated content) but despite many attempts you don’t 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 can’t get even a reply.
You clearly see that you're already behind your revenue targets
We can help.
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.
This is so generous from the authors. Thank you for sharing.