Bring all your teams together to define your goals.
Work out the timeline, budget, and the key performance indicators (KPIs) you will use to measure your success. Make sure you have the backing of all of your internal stakeholders, so every client has a seamless experience from that initial connection to sale.
Build your perfect team.
New to ABM? Try creating a small task force with one marketer and one salesperson – together they can create and publish content for accounts, as well as manage and close business deals. They can also work together to generate ideas and find any potential teething issues with your strategy.
Research your ideal set of target accounts.
This is crucial to success – spend time researching which accounts you want to pursue and create personas of your ideal client. What sector do they work in? What’s the size of their business? What’s their turnover? How many people do they employ? What are their specific pains, gains and motivations – and how does your product or service help them solve their challenges?
Review your findings and pick your ideal set of high-value target accounts to invest your time and resources in.
- Start generic and work your way into the specifics, so pick target accounts based on a particular industry or geographical location.
- Hop onto LinkedIn and set search alerts for your ideal customer profile.
- Create a CRM workflow that filters incoming qualified leads based on your criteria and tag them as an ideal client type. (Incidentally, as a HubSpot Partner, automation, workflows and tiering are kind of our thing…)
- Review major companies and leads who are using and engaging with your inbound content but don’t have a deal attached, yet.
Finalise your account plans.
Once you’ve settled on which accounts you want to go for, build a plan for them. Your marketing and sales teams will work together to map out the potential leads within each account they’ll need to aim for, as well as the content they need to create to pique their interest and engage with them.
Attract your key contacts in each target accounts.
Figure out where they’re most likely to find solutions to their problems, and make sure your company is front and centre in those spaces! Use tailored communications to maximise your relevance and ensure that target audience know how you can solve their problems. Think outside the box, it doesn’t have to be just a bunch of emails:
- Ask for some lovely, positive referrals from your existing clients.
- Find which social media platforms they’re on and join them there. Take part in conversations they’re a part of and share relevant content you’ve created.
- Get networking. Head to any events they may be attending and strike up a conversation.
- Slide into their LinkedIn DMs.
- Share industry content such as blog articles, whitepapers, opinion pieces, podcasts, or video series. Add them to your website and social media — plus any channels your target clients use.
- Put on an industry-specific event and invite those important contacts.
Build up a strong relationships with that account’s buying committee.
Once you’re on their radar, start building those relationships. This may be a slow-burner – it often takes months and even years to develop these bonds. Remember to set the tone for the work you intend to create for them, and surprise and delight them at every turn.
Measure. Review. Repeat.
Keeping checking in to see whether your tactics are translating into success stories and review your ABM results regularly. Does anything need finetuning or overhauling? Learning and adapting to what’s working (and what’s not), you can make your ABM one killer strategy that will set your business up for years to come.
