For me, productivity doesn’t hit until I’ve had my morning cup of coffee. In comparison, I like to think about ABM as a cup of coffee for sales. Using an ABM strategy will provide your sales team with the fuel they need to get the needle moving on pipeline, and here’s how.
1. ABM creates a shortened sales cycle
One way ABM acts as a shot of espresso is by shortening your sales cycle. Harvard University found that at least 25% of B2B sales cycles take a minimum of 7 months to close. Long B2B sales cycles create frustration for sales representatives and leave ample room for lost opportunities.
By identifying high-intent accounts early in the buyer’s journey, ABM shortens the sales cycle, earning you more MQA to SQA conversions and new business. Identifying accounts early in the buyer’s journey enables your sales outreach to be personalized with catered messaging and content even before a prospect fills out a form. Starting with a targeted list of accounts allows you to provide prospects a unique personalized experience from the get-go, helping eliminate time wasted prospecting unfit accounts. A survey done by CEB found that individual stakeholders who perceived supplier content to be tailored to their specific needs were 40% more willing to buy from that supplier than stakeholders who didn’t. Getting personalized content and messaging in front of the right buyers at the right time will significantly reduce the time it takes for your sales team to win deals.
2. ABM prioritizes quality leads over quantity
It shouldn’t be about counting the number of leads you have, but rather assessing their value to pipeline – ABM prioritizes quality over quantity. No matter how many MQAs are identified, it doesn’t matter if they don’t close or become SQAs. Rather than being in the dark, ABM lights up the funnel, providing a targeted list of prospects for warm outreach.
Using first and third-party intent, ABM can help to answer the burning question of who should sales reach out to right now? Hot or not?
In a webinar centering on the topic of intent, the evolution of buyer behavior in the past decade and its impact on the modern purchase journey is discussed. “Buyers are now waiting longer to raise their hands and show interest, beginning the purchase journey anonymously,” says Yee. In order to know what accounts (known or unknown) are showing intent, ABM paired with intent data can identify and influence buyers early enough to address pain points throughout the purchase journey. With more visibility into real-time buyer interests and behaviors, both marketing and sales teams are more equipped to engage key stakeholders and win over target accounts. Leveraging both ABM and 1st-party and 3rd-party intent will grow pipeline and make a real impact on revenue.
3. ABM aligns your marketing and sales teams
Marketing and sales both want the same thing, more revenue. So what’s with the disconnect? According to Forrester’s Research, only 8% of B2B companies have sales and marketing departments that are tightly aligned. Lack of unity and lead quality between sales and marketing has become a significant hindrance to revenue teams in the ever-evolving B2B landscape.
ABM provides visibility into key account insights to align marketing and sales with data-driven campaigns. Sales can be more productive because their TAM (total addressable market) is being prioritized with data, which means marketers focus their efforts on warming up accounts before activating sales plays.
In turn, marketers provide salespeople the confidence that they’re reaching out with the correct messaging, to the right people. Serving as the missing link between marketing and sales, ABM allows both to work together to plan messaging tracks, agree on intent-based campaign triggers, and reference the same reporting. A study done by SiriusDecisions found B2B organizations with tightly aligned sales and marketing operations grew their revenues 24% faster in a three-year period compared to those whose teams work separately.
These aligned and focused efforts between marketing and sales will help skyrocket productivity and pipeline growth through a data-driven market approach.
Marketing & sales alignment generates over 400 MQAs and nearly $5 million in target account pipeline.
“One big differentiator for us when it comes to account visibility has been the ability to layer real-time intent data into our audiences,”
Flexera’s Manager of Global Demand Generation.
Flexera armed with visibility into account insights was able to generate over 400 MQAs and nearly $5 million in target account pipeline. With a real-time intent integration, Flexera manages dynamic audiences and scales personalized campaigns for high-fit, high-intent accounts.
Simply put, the ultimate goal of any marketing and sales team is to increase sales conversions and revenue, and ABM makes that possible. See how ABM can be the productivity boost you’ve been searching for.
