Davis Potter managed ABM programs for Google, and Pegasystems and is now managing Scale.AI’s ABM program. The program at Scale is very new (almost 4 months in from the start), and he’s focusing first on the 1:1 with the company’s most strategic accounts before going for scale.
As many teams first focus on 1:few and 1: many, listen to this podcast with Davis, Kristina Jaramillo, and Eric Gruber to see why Scale.AI is taking a counter-intuitive, personal 1:1 ABM approach first.
Here Are Some of the Reasons Davis Potter Provided for Why He Started with a 1:1 ABM Approach
- Scale decided to start with 1:1 after looking at the business to see what would make the most sense from an ABM perspective. Given that they have several existing accounts that hold a ton of weight in terms of potential revenue growth and where the companies stand in the total addressable market, it made sense to use ABM to create a stronger alignment with existing accounts.
- 1:1 ABM highlights the power of real ABM. It showcases how ABM is not just about landing pages and ads and that it’s truly about the multi-touch, long-standing interactions that sales and marketing teams are having with future and existing customers.
- Scale is selling and marketing specific use cases – not just technology. This means that Davis, marketing, and the sales team need to align with the specific strategic priorities of their key accounts and target the 1 to 2 business units where they can have the greatest impact. The content and messaging need to be relevant to the specific strategic priorities and the unconsidered gaps that can impact the achievement of the strategic vision. The content and messaging need to show the role that Scale.AI can play in their prospects’ businesses and their strategic priorities. Scale.AI needs to personally become relevant as there is no way to just personalize the alignment that needs to take place to land and expand key accounts.
- When you start with 1:few and 1:many ABM programs – you are simply doing targeted demand gen. ABM should change sales and marketing motions, their interactions with key accounts, their social/email/live conversations, and the experiences they deliver. When you start off with 1: few and 1: many, you are still pushing out content and messaging. It’s still marketing as usual – just more targeted. It’s still a spray and pray approach – just more targeted. When you take a 1:1 approach, you focus on individual interactions and how you will get key accounts to revenue and existing accounts to greater revenue. It’s the lessons you learn from the micro-interactions that will drive greater results from your 1: few and 1: many demand gen programs that source the pipeline.
- With 1:1 programs, you can go very deep within the buying groups vs. 1: few and 1: many. When you touch so many accounts, how can you focus on the 25- 50 individuals that really can have an impact with multiple opportunities and within your ABM program? How do you track the engagement between those key individuals and who are the detractors, and who are your champions? How do you change the perception of the buying committee if you’re not coming to every interaction with a POV about their specific business? And how do you create greater engagement between the key players and influence internal conversations that sales and marketing are not part of?
- 1:few and 1: many ABM programs are focused on campaigns vs. interactions. As a result, most GTM teams do not have complete account intelligence. They may have intent data, but there is no understanding of why there is intent so teams can align with the companies based on strategic priorities vs. what teams were searching for. Most teams do not have an account plan that they continue to optimize over time based on individual interactions as 1: few and 1: many programs are focused on campaigns and what they’re going to push out next in the next quarter. Teams are not planning on how they will build and evolve buyer relationships over the next year to engage, nurture and close the 20% of accounts that can deliver 80% of their revenue growth.
- 1:1 ABM programs require teams to go beyond alignment and become integrated, so each move is calculated and orchestrated. By starting with 1:1 product marketing, community marketing, email marketing, growth marketing, field marketing, sales, and customer success teams are coming together fast to achieve joint business goals – and this has accelerated the team’s success where the company now wants to scale their ABM program. Having a cross-functional team that works together is the most important thing you must have when executing ABM. You’re not going to get the needed integration with a 1: few and 1: many programs. This is why many teams are now talking about accounts going dark after sales engagement as one of their biggest ABM challenges.
Want More Reasons For Why You Should Put a Greater Focus on 1:1 ABM? Check Out This Additional Podcast with Clari’s Tyler Pleiss:
