How to Align Sales & Marketing Teams for Successful ABM Implementation
Account Based Marketing (ABM) is a marketing and sales strategy that targets specific accounts for relationship building. For executives looking to implement ABM in their organization, aligning sales and marketing from the start is key because successful ABM programs require close collaboration between sales and marketing teams to achieve optimum outcomes for the organization.
This article will provide an overview of the steps necessary to ensure a successful ABM program out of the gates. At its essence, ABM programs will work best if the sales and marketing teams:
- Have shared goals and metrics which drive all ABM activity
- Work together in the target account selection process
- Regularly share information and learnings, and
- Combine efforts in the creation of personalized content for target accounts.
Let's look at each of the areas in a little more detail.
Shared Goals and Metrics
Align the sales and marketing teams by establishing common goals and metrics that reflect the objectives of the Account Based Marketing (ABM) strategy. This could include targets for lead quality, pipeline velocity, conversion rates, and revenue generated from target accounts.
By having shared goals and metrics, sales and marketing teams can:
- work together to track progress and
- ensure that they are aligned on what success looks like.
This can help to avoid conflicts and ensure that everyone is working towards the same objectives, and more importantly, reduce internal friction thereby increasing the likelihood of success.
Target Account Selection
Make sure your sales and marketing teams are in sync by working together to prioritize accounts. This way, both teams will have a clear understanding of the ideal customer profiles and can collaborate to find the best prospects.
By working together to select target accounts, sales and marketing teams can ensure that they are targeting the right accounts with the right messages. This can help to improve the efficiency of the ABM program and increase the chances of success.
Regular Communication and Feedback
Establish frequent and open channels of communication between sales and marketing teams. Regular meetings, such as weekly or bi-weekly sync-ups, enable the sharing of account insights, content performance, and feedback, fostering a collaborative approach.
By communicating regularly, sales and marketing teams can stay up-to-date on each other's activities and share insights that can help to improve the ABM program. This can help to ensure that everyone is on the same page and that the program is running smoothly. Your ABM consultant can also facilitate these progress updates and help optimize your approach.
Content and Personalization Strategy
Develop a joint content strategy that addresses the needs and pain points of target accounts. Sales and marketing should work together to create personalized content for specific accounts, ensuring consistency in messaging and maximizing engagement.
By creating personalized content, sales and marketing teams can ensure that they are reaching target accounts with the right messages at the right time. This can help to improve the effectiveness of the ABM program and increase the chances of success.
Conclusion
By following these suggestions, sales and marketing teams can align their efforts and increase their chances of success with ABM. As ABM consultants ourselves, this is a roadmap that we have successfully implemented numerous times with our clients.
In addition to the suggestions above, there are a few other things that sales and marketing teams can do to improve alignment. These include:
Creating a joint ABM plan: This plan should outline the goals, metrics, target accounts, and activities for the ABM program.
Establishing a single point of contact: This person should be responsible for coordinating the activities of sales and marketing and ensuring that they are aligned.
Using a CRM system: This system can help to track account activity and share information between sales and marketing teams.
By taking these steps, sales and marketing teams can create a more effective ABM program and achieve their business goals. Account based marketing can be challenging to set up, but the results are often well worth the effort. ABM consultants can help with strategy or execution to take some of the workload off your internal team.
If you would like to learn more about our approach to ABM, please contact a member of our ABM consulting team today.
