In a previous ABM Done Right Podcast, Joel Harrison, discussed how ABM should drive business and GTM transformation. It should change how you think about the business, how you structure your teams, how you package your solutions, how you think about your product roadmap, how you communicate your value, how you engage buyers across named accounts and much more.
In this podcast episode, Marta George joined Eric Gruber and Kristina Jaramillo to discuss how they are winning with their big bets, including the change management that needed to take place. You’ll also learn about the 1:1 and 1:few programs they execute, how they select their big bets and how they needed to scale back to scale up the revenue impact that ABM can have on Ping Identity.
Key Insights From This ABM Done Right Podcast:
- Your big bets are not your TAM. They are selected accounts that sales, marketing, customer success and leadership teams strongly believe that they will drive the growth for the company. Ping Identity does not GTM as an open market when it comes to ABM. They’re taking an account-based GTM approach that focuses on creating the account experiences that are needed to drive the greatest revenue streams possible YoY from their selected accounts. It’s about driving greater customer lifetime value. It’s about NRR. Ping is betting on the accounts that will deliver the greatest long-term profitability and growth.
- When Marta started ABM with Ping Identity, there was a moment where the teams saw ABM as a “golden goose” that was going to lay “golden eggs” and bring a fast result. She had to change their mindset and help teams see that ABM is not a “quick win.” It’s about how they can take transactional relationships and turn them into strategic relationships where they have the C-suite and VPs engaged and where GTM teams expand beyond the “technical people.” They needed education to the top level all the way down. Marta and her team spoke to the CRO and sales leadership (VPs and Directors) on down and explained that ABM is not a transactional prospect win. It’s a customer win – how are they going to land and expand the accounts that will become Ping’s biggest strategic partners. They needed to take everyone involved on a journey and help them understand the “why” behind the ABM program, the changes that will be required, how it will positive impact them and the company and what will be needed to drive success with the ABM program. The teams need to understand “why” a change is necessary. This should be part of your ABM readiness program. Click here to learn more about our ABM readiness programs.
- Marta and her team didn’t retrofit ABM on top of existing content, messaging and processes. They didn’t just make ABM about better targeting with campaigns. That’s just targeted demand gen. They needed to realign with customers as the previous focus was on net-new. They had to understand why accounts churn and see how they needed to change their content, messaging and integrate the teams together to have an account-based GTM motion that focuses on existing customers. They wanted to improve the account experience that all teams – sales, marketing and customer success was delivering to customers. They needed to become customer-obsessed.
- Rather than grouping 1:few programs by industry, revenue size etc, Marta and her team grouped 1:few accounts by their challenges, situations and the common denominators where a message may flow through. Now, Marta is taking a hybrid approach to 1: few.. While the 1:few programs may start as 1: few at the top of the funnel for existing customers with a common thread, the messages become individualized to each account as the challenges impact the organizations in different ways. The promotion around the 1: few content assets are individualized.
- Their 1:1 programs are a full pod motion where account directors/managers, marketing, customer success, sales, sales engineers, and renewals teams work together to orchestrate touchpoints, interactions and account experiences. It’s about telling the account story. It’s driven by the specific challenges that the accounts are facing, where their gaps are, where their strategic priorities lie and how the gaps will impact the company and its initiatives. It’s not driven by the product that teams want to sell. It’s about how Ping Identity can fill the gaps – not what they can close in the next 6 months. It’s about the long story. Click here to read our article on 1:1 ABM programs.
- When selecting big bets, Ping identity took into consideration the health of the accounts, opportunities for margin growth, where is ARR today and what is the ARR potential. They let financial data, account data and account stories guide the selection process. They needed to make sure the chosen accounts were worth the investment. They needed to make sure the accounts that were chosen aligned with their GTM and business goals. The account selection process was intentional.
- To drive greater revenue growth, Marta and her team scaled down the ABM program and redesigned the program and the account experience to drive the desired revenue growth with their customers. Too often, teams try to scale activities, scale outreach, and focus on more accounts, but the more they scale for efficiency – the less relevant they become to future and existing customers and the less effective they become. To scale up the impact on revenue that ABM has, Ping needed to scale down the program and do it smarter.
Here Are Additional Resources to Help You Win with Your Big Bets Using ABM
• Click here to read our article on why teams are not ABM ready to win with their big bets.
• Click here to see the signals beyond intent you should focus on to select your big bets.
• Click here to listen to our podcast with Nancy Carlyle Harlan on how UiPath created the greatest revenue streams possible YoY with ABM.