Recently on LinkedIn, Corrina Owens (Senior Manager of ABM for Gong) mentioned that GTM teams need to take a less is more approach when it comes to ABM. It needs to be less of a targeted demand gen function and more about very few accounts at any given time and giving hyper, personal attention to these accounts, the individual buying committees, and the human buyers. In the podcast below, Corrina, Eric Gruber (CEO of Personal ABM) and Kristina Jaramillo (President of Personal ABM) hold a roundtable discussion on what ABM should be – and what it has become instead.
When You Listen to the Podcast Above, You Will See How ABM Tech Vendors Confused and Diluted the Market on What ABM Practices and Processes Are.
Corrina talks about how the main selling point for Terminus, Demandbase, Madison Logic and the main ABM vendors is the targeted advertising approach. Unfortunately, it became the norm where sales and marketing leaders forgot the basic principles of what account-based marketing should be about in the first place. It’s not about the technology or the campaign. It’s about the interactions GTM teams are having and the experiences that are delivered across the buying committee and across the buyer’s journey. It’s about nurturing and developing stronger relationships with the human buyers in the accounts you want to win, protect and expand. In her rant below, Kristina shares additional information on how ABM should not be synonymous with ABM tech.
You Will Learn How Gong is Going Beyond Targeted Demand Gen with Their ABM Program
Eric discussed upfront how ABM should change sales and marketing motions and if you’re not changing motions then you’re just completing targeted demand gen to get accounts into the funnel or pipeline. Corrina shared how Gong is focused on internal alignment but also alignment with target accounts. To increase relevancy. They’re thinking about how they should nurture accounts from a marketing perspective, a sales perspective, and a product perspective (which is often missed), and a customer success perspective. The focus is on the health of the account and how they are progressing through the sales cycle and what the ACV looks like. Are tier 1 accounts moving through the stages faster? Are the teams driving connections and relationships across the buying committee?
In her rant below, Kristina shares additional information on how ABM should impact more than the pipeline.
You Will See How Gong is Taking a Less is More Approach and Becoming Personal with the 20% of Accounts That Can Deliver 80% of Revenue
Unlike many 1:1 programs that are just camouflaged one: few or 1: many programs, Gong is very intentional with each interaction where sales and marketing are focused on making a human-to-human connection that builds trust. There is a real reason behind the outreach and the content that is shared and there is relevance across all levels: industry, company, department, operational, financial, individual and customer. They think about each interaction as a mini selling conversation in the prospect’s mind. Unfortunately, too many sales and marketing teams lose that selling conversation.
