ABM Execution: Players on the Field

1. Tactical Execution: The tactics that you select for your program will vary wildly depending on your target market. However, there are some key concepts that apply broadly to the ABM approach:

• Buyer Intent signal detection - whether your market segment has a fixed target audience or your prospects move in and out of the buying process as their needs emerge and are satisfied, it is valuable to know which accounts are showing early intent signals.

• Low-cost digital advertising for ICP or potentially "in-market" accounts - for accounts deemed valuable either because they are always in your target ICP or because they are showing early intent, Marketing should execute digital advertising through search engines and social media like LinkedIn to confirm buying interest and move prospects along their journeys.

• Aggregate individual engagement scores at the account level - while it is interesting to see individuals research your solutions by visiting your website, downloading your content, or attending your events, real ABM signals are demonstrated when multiple people are demonstrating engagement.

• Attack high value target accounts with high-impact, multi-touch campaigns - the limited set of accounts that are deemed to be "in-market" for your products or services at any given time based on objective, aggregated engagement signals, is where the real work begins. The most effective ABM programs blend multiple touch-points (phone, email, direct mail) against multiple prospect contacts. Direct mail may include very high-impact, three-dimensional mailers with relevant messages that cannot be missed by recipients.

• Orchestrate response across go-to-market teams - the Marketing, Sales Development Representatives (SDR), and Account Management (AM/AE) teams must work together in a well-orchestrated way to attack each target account. Each player has specific role and will be carrying the ball at different times during the sales process.

• Monitor progress at the account level and refine - within the target account list, some accounts will fully engage and enter the formal sales process while others will remain at steady-state, and some will drop out completely. It is important to know where each target account is at all times, and use that data to periodically refine lists and realign tactics.

2. Target account research and mapping: For each target account (those deemed to truly be "in-market" for your products or solutions), the SDR and Account Management teams need to develop detailed account attack plans that include mapping key contacts to the buyer journey and overlaying your tactics to those contacts.

3. Monitor, measure and refine: This where Marketing Operations and Revenue Operations shine, with dashboards that show exactly where each account is on its journey, which are heading to a success path and which are not, how each member of the account team is contributing to advancing the target accounts, and how the target list will evolve.