In this ABM Done Right Podcast, Kristina Jaramillo (President of Personal ABM) shares why you should not focus just on in-market accounts. This is something that the intent data platforms like 6sense, Bombora, and others do not want me to talk about. In fact, in her book, “No Forms, No Spam, No Cold Calls – The Next Generation of Account-Based Sales and Marketing,” Latane Conant tells GTM teams to wait until there’s intent.
On page 14, she writes:
“Target accounts are essentially living under a rock. They’re not actively researching products and solutions and they’re showing no signs of intent. How to connect with accounts in the target state: Don’t. There’s no reason to waste any resources that aren’t even poking their heads out from under the rock.”
On page 18, she writes how the target stage should get zero dollars or effort.
Listen to the podcast below to see why Latane Conant and others that are just focusing on in-market accounts are wrong:
Here Are Kristina’s Key Points from This ABM Done Right Podcast:
- In essence, Latane, 6sense, and the intent data platforms are telling you to only focus on the 10-15% of the market that is looking for a solution you can provide, is most likely already looking at your competitors and have predefined needs. This market can provide you with quicker sales cycle when you leverage ABM in the right way and go beyond intent data and align with why there is intent. But, in-market accounts usually result in smaller deal sizes as in-market accounts usually have pre-defined needs and their own buying vision, which you had no control over. In many cases, they are seeing how they can get the features and capabilities to meet their pre-defined needs for the lowest price.
- You need a short-term pipeline where you get quicker sales cycles and a long-term pipeline where deals may take longer, but they offer the greatest revenue growth. This long-term pipeline is filled with accounts that are part of the 60% of the market that is indifferent or does not think they need your solution because no one has challenged their status quo state nor created a buying vision for them. No one took the time to align with their current business state and their strategic priorities nor show the unconsidered gaps and impacts to create urgency. No one took the time to reframe their thoughts or ideas. It’s these accounts that have a strategic priority that you can play a role in, where you should increase your personal relevance, build relationships across the organization, and co-create a solution that matches their considered and unconsidered needs. It’s with these accounts that you can build a real partnership that leads to greater deal sizes up front and even more customer lifetime value over time.
- Studies show that 70% of b2b tech vendors are using intent data platforms, which means your competitors are also chasing after the 10 – 15% of the market that is in-market. Why not also focus on the 60% of accounts that are stuck in status quo, create a buying vision and be a party of 1 as others ignore this market?
