Just the other day, somebody said to me, “ABM has become a cliché.” I agreed but then noted that while it may be a cliché, I regularly discuss the topic and will continue to do so. Simply because a topic has become a bit over discussed, doesn’t mean that it isn’t important. Account Based Marketing is relevant for a number of reasons including its ability to assist with sales and marketing alignment, its focus on the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), and the simple logic of placing your bets on the accounts and prospects with the greatest likelihood of driving revenue.
If you’ve missed out on the ABM discussion, the premise of Account Based Marketing is self-evident: Define who are your best customers, identify companies with similar attributes, then dedicate your sales and marketing resources towards selling into optimal prospects and selling more deeply into optimal accounts. ABM is based upon strategic focus in sales and marketing.
When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton supposedly said, “Because that’s where the money is.” This logic holds for ABM as well. Go where the money is.In truth, ABM is not a new concept. Research has long shown that satisfying your best customers is much more profitable then selling into new accounts. It is easier to expand your footprint at current accounts than find new ones. It is also easier to renew an account than to sell it the first time (assuming you deliver strong ROI and not empty promises). So, while companies have long worked to retain their best accounts, they lacked deep insights into account profitability and did a poor job of cloning their best customers. That’s because until recently, there wasn’t technology to go beyond simple peer searching or competitor lists.
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About the Author
Michael R. Levy, former Manager of Strategy and Competitive Intelligence of Infogroup, is the principal of GZ Consulting, a US market research and competitive intelligence consulting firm. He focuses on information services including sales intelligence, CRM, data hygiene, and marketing automation. Michael is also the author of "2017 Field Guide to Sales Intelligence Vendors".
