Episode #55: Why ABM Doesn’t Work (and How to Fix It) - Andrei Zinkevich
Hint: it's more than just cold email and display ads
At a recent event with about 300 attendees, there was a poll asking the audience how they felt about their ABM performance.
98.5% said they weren't satisfied.
If you've ever built an ABM program, this statistic may not surprise you. There are few motions where the hype and the reality tend to be so far apart.
Why is that? What are people getting wrong about ABM? And how do you make it work?
ABM expert Andrei Zinkevich provides some very concrete and detailed answers to these questions in today's episode.
Per Andrei, here are five critical mistakes most companies make when it comes to ABM
1) Too much volume / overly broad targeting
If your list includes hundreds or thousands of accounts, you can’t do real ABM.
It’s just cold outbound with display ads.
You can’t “scale” ABM like a digital program by pouring more dollars in. (Although you CAN scale it by creating a playbook that works and replicating it across multiple cross-functional teams.)
2) Purchasing an expensive ABM platform too quickly
It’s better to focus on low-tech lean pilots to prove out your efforts before investing in an unproven motion.
Otherwise you create pressure to show value quickly which may sink your program. You can always upgrade your stack later.
3) Targeting a wish list
It’s tempting to target the cool logos you want vs. accounts that you know have a proven need for your product (which may not be the same).
With true ABM you put an exceptional amount of effort into each account you target, and so you need to focus on the accounts with the highest revenue potential for that to pay off.
You should seek to replicate your fastest + highest-value deals within a specific vertical and understand their detailed buying committee structure—who are the exact buyers, who are the power users, who are the champions, who are the decision makers, etc.
4) Lack of account research
It’s not enough to just run accounts through some AI automation to pull together easily accessible data.
It’s about discovering the essential information you need to know about those accounts to create a truly personalized offer (and not just a landing page branded with their logo).
You get this information by building relationships with the buying committee themselves.
5) Lack of leading indicators
There is an inevitable delay between program launch and results.
So you need to define expectations and what metrics you’ll look at before the revenue or pipeline targets you care about.
Remember, your goal is to get into consideration set when the account is ready to buy. So these indicators could be things like an uptick in engagement from your target accounts.
Thanks to Our Sponsor
Many thanks to the sponsor of this episode - Knak.
Knak is a modern, slick, and beautiful email and landing page builder that integrates directly with your marketing automation platform.
Click below to learn more and get a special offer just for RevOps FM listeners.
About Today's Guest
Andrei Zinkevich is co-founder at Fullfunnel.io, an agency that transforms B2B tech and service-based companies from siloed sales and marketing to full-funnel account-based marketing and demand generation.
He's also co-host of the Full-Funnel B2B Marketing Podcast.
Key Topics
[00:00] - Introduction
[01:43] - Core mistakes of most ABM motions
[13:47] - The pillars of ABM
[29:09] - Creating awareness within target accounts
[36:11] - Moving from awareness to sales discussions
Thanks to Our Sponsor
Big thanks goes out UserGems for sponsoring today’s episode.
We all know running outbound is a huge pain—you need to manage a dozen different tools and data sources and it takes ton of manual work to keep it all going.
UserGems solves that with one platform to capture signals and automate next steps with workflows and AI.
You get a library of the most impactful signals in one place, automated playbooks to make sure your team executes consistently, and Gem AI to create personalized messaging for each prospect.
So stop wasting time and start targeting your most promising buyers with less headcount. Click the link below for a special offer just for my listeners.