Best of LinkedIn: Account-based Marketing CW 06/ 07

00:00:00: Provided by Thomas Allgeier and Frennus, based on the most relevant posts on LinkedIn about account-based marketing in CW six and seven.

00:00:07: Frenness is a B to be market research company working with enterprises to optimize their campaigns with account an executive.

00:00:12: insights far beyond AI.

00:00:15: this edition has brought you buy our partners btb marketing and spotting vision BtoB marketing agency.

00:00:20: don't miss there.

00:00:21: conference The European ABM forum On twenty sixth March.

00:00:24: twenty twenty six find the link to conference In the description below.

00:00:29: It's good to be back and today we're looking at a stack of insights that Quite frankly, serves as a bit of reality check for the industry.

00:00:37: We're doing deep dive into top ABM trends from calendar week six and seven to twenty-twenty-six.

00:00:41: A

00:00:41: Reality Check is putting it mildly.

00:00:43: I mean looking through these posts The first thing that really hit me was just sheer exhaustion with easy button.

00:00:49: For last few years everyone promised if you bought the right tool ABM would run itself.

00:00:54: But content from two weeks screams opposite!

00:00:57: ABM isn't campaign turn on.

00:00:59: It's becoming an entire operating model

00:01:02: Exactly.

00:01:02: The era of campaigns in a box is get.

00:01:06: if there's one headline here, it's that we're shifting toward signal driven orchestration.

00:01:12: Okay

00:01:13: And interestingly while everyone was talking about AI the smart money isn't using it to just write more spammy emails.

00:01:21: They're using it as a structural enabler.

00:01:23: the plumbing not just the copywriter.

00:01:25: Let's get into that plumbing because I think a lot of listeners might still be treating ABM as you know Demand Gen with a better target list.

00:01:33: Pick one hundred companies, spam them.

00:01:35: call it account base Right

00:01:36: which is the fastest way to burn your addressable market.

00:01:39: Absolutely.

00:01:40: and that brings us to our first big theme ABM as a business strategy not just a marketing tactic.

00:01:46: There was a story shared by Declan Mulkeen about ping identity That really illustrates this.

00:01:50: I saw that one.

00:01:50: It's the classic eyes bigger than you're stomach problem

00:01:53: right?

00:01:54: So Ping Identity initially tried to scale their ABM to eighty seven Target accounts.

00:01:59: Now, eighty-seven doesn't sound like a massive number.

00:02:01: Yeah But they had one person running.

00:02:02: it just won

00:02:03: One person for eighty seven accounts.

00:02:05: that's though That's impossible.

00:02:06: I mean if you're doing real ABM Like with custom content research multi threading You can maybe handle what five ten accounts

00:02:14: exactly and that's why it failed.

00:02:16: It Just became noise.

00:02:17: the personalization wasn't there because it physically couldn't be.

00:02:21: so They did something that takes A lot of courage.

00:02:23: What's that?

00:02:24: The scale down to scale up.

00:02:27: They cut the list from eighty seven all the way down to thirty six.

00:02:31: Wow, that is a hard conversation to have with a VP of sales!

00:02:35: Hey you know those fifty accounts you want us to target?

00:02:37: Yeah

00:02:38: we're deleting them.

00:02:38: it is but the results justified by focusing on just thirty-six account.

00:02:43: they completely shifted the timeline.

00:02:45: okay they stopped treating like quarterly campaign and started seeing as twenty four to thirty sixth month journey.

00:02:52: They move from coverage to genuine relationship building.

00:02:55: You know, Mason Johnston took this even further in his posts.

00:02:58: His approach is well it's almost radical.

00:03:01: He suggests picking just ten dream accounts.

00:03:03: But here's the kicker that I think will stress out every sales leader listening

00:03:07: Go on

00:03:07: you connect with everyone at the account but you do not pitch.

00:03:10: That Is The Hardest Discipline To Master.

00:03:12: So what are

00:03:12: you Even Doing If You Aren't Pitching Just Hanging Out?

00:03:16: Your Positioning Mace's Strategy Isn'T?

00:03:18: You Connect You Engage You Add Value But You Wait.

00:03:22: You wait for a specific signal, A funding round.

00:03:25: A vendor evaluation before you make a commercial move.

00:03:28: So it's about being the first person they think of when their ready

00:03:31: Exactly Instead of trying to force them be ready When your need hit a quota.

00:03:35: This all lines up with what Christina Jaramillo is arguing right.

00:03:38: She says ABM requires total mindset.

00:03:40: shift It not just net new

00:03:42: Right its bout aligning brand Demand and then land and expand motions.

00:03:48: If you only treat ABM as a legion tool, You miss the expand part which is often where The real revenue.

00:03:55: But to do all this To wait for signals and play the long game?

00:03:59: You need total alignment between sales And marketing on Which accounts even matter

00:04:03: and that's usually Where the fist fights happen.

00:04:05: totally Marketing wants the flashy logos Sales once the quick wins.

00:04:10: Bev Burgess from inflection group had A solution For This list.

00:04:13: war didn't she?

00:04:14: She did.

00:04:15: She suggests a joint prioritization model.

00:04:18: It's basically a version of the GE McKinsey matrix.

00:04:22: I love a good matrix.

00:04:23: How does she apply it here?

00:04:25: It forces both teams to score accounts based on data market attractiveness competitive strength fit instead of just You know gut feelings or politics.

00:04:35: so it removes the emotion,

00:04:36: it does.

00:04:37: if an account lands in that top right quadrant It's an ABM target.

00:04:41: If he doesn't

00:04:42: Simple as that.

00:04:43: Okay, so let's assume we make peace.

00:04:46: use the matrix.

00:04:46: We have our list now.

00:04:48: We need to filter it.

00:04:49: this moves us to theme two Strategic targeting.

00:04:52: Yeah, because having a list is one thing knowing who to ignore Is another.

00:04:56: this

00:04:56: where Mike Coon came in with some really practical advice.

00:04:59: He argues that ABM success isn't about how many people you reach it's about How Many You filter

00:05:03: out and he listed what ten specific filters they went way beyond just revenue or industry.

00:05:08: yeah These were specifically mentioned.

00:05:09: negative personas.

00:05:10: right.

00:05:10: so filtering outs students consultants are even lower-level employees Who will never influence the deal.

00:05:16: but he also highlighted technology presence.

00:05:19: This one seems obvious, but I bet half of marketers skip it.

00:05:22: They

00:05:22: do!

00:05:23: He says if you sell software that integrates with Salesforce and the target company uses HubSpot why are you spending money on them?

00:05:33: It's just lead waste, as he calls it.

00:05:35: You're paying to market people who literally cannot buy your product

00:05:39: Exactly.

00:05:40: Now speaking of Who To Target There was a very controversial point raised by McLeod-Mario.

00:05:48: We are all trained target the C-suite right?

00:05:50: The CFO and the CIO The decision

00:05:52: maker.

00:05:53: And McLeode basically says stop doing that.

00:05:55: Yeah But they sign checks.

00:05:57: Why would I ignore person with budget?

00:05:59: Because they are ignoring you.

00:06:00: Think about a CFO at a Fortune-Five Hundred company.

00:06:03: They're just getting battered with cold emails and LinkedIn ads, they've developed total banner blindness...

00:06:08: So you are just noise?

00:06:09: You're part of the nice!

00:06:11: MacLeod's argument is that if you target the C suite directly….

00:06:14: …you're bidding against the entire world for attention to someone who isn't looking.

00:06:19: Who do we go after?

00:06:20: You target layer below – payments manager, treasury analyst or researchers

00:06:25: The people doing actual

00:06:26: work.

00:06:26: Exactly these are the people actively building business case.

00:06:30: McLeod's logic here is brilliant.

00:06:33: The manager wants to look smart to their boss,

00:06:35: okay?

00:06:36: If you arm that manager with data and insights they will sell your solution to the CFO for you.

00:06:42: It's like the hero complex.

00:06:44: You make the manager the hero of this story And they drag you into the deal.

00:06:47: precisely if the payments manager puts you on the shortlist the cfo Will eventually visit your site via direct traffic.

00:06:54: You win the builder, you in the boss.

00:06:56: That

00:06:56: makes a ton of sense and I guess to execute this...you need a system.

00:07:01: Dan Rosenthal released his twenty-twenty six playbook And he touched on how to build this target account list inside the CRM.

00:07:08: Yeah

00:07:08: dan's point is that your ideal customer profile shouldn't just be a guess?

00:07:12: You should be mining your crm for closed.

00:07:14: lost enclosed one data.

00:07:16: So look at your past mistakes and successes right.

00:07:19: Look at the deals you lost.

00:07:20: Why did you lose them?

00:07:21: look At The Deals You Won, what do they have in common use that to build a dynamic list In the CRM not some spreadsheet.

00:07:28: That's outdated and weak.

00:07:30: okay.

00:07:30: so we Have the strategy.

00:07:32: We have the list were targeting the mid-level managers.

00:07:35: now when Do we actually reach out?

00:07:37: this brings us To theme three signal driven execution because

00:07:41: we can't just cold call thirty six Accounts every day for two years.

00:07:44: no you'll get block.

00:07:45: you need A trigger Walking.

00:07:47: Gerusino broke this down into tiers of intense signals, which I found super helpful.

00:07:51: Walk us through the tiers!

00:07:53: So tier one signals are like high urgency.

00:07:56: We're talking a verified funding announcement, a merger or leadership change in the specific department you sell to.

00:08:02: That's

00:08:03: it.

00:08:03: drop everything and call.

00:08:04: moment.

00:08:04: Correct same-day outreach.

00:08:06: but then you have Tier four signals things like generic social activity or someone visiting your homepage.

00:08:12: Right, Joaquin argues that if you have a sales rep call his CEO just because they visited the home page once You look desperate.

00:08:20: Yeah That's a signal for a marketing nurture sequence not a sales call.

00:08:24: But there is a trap here with Signals isn't their ace?

00:08:26: live us dropped to stat?

00:08:27: It made me Just double take.

00:08:29: he was talking about third-party intent data The eighty

00:08:31: seven percent false positive rate.

00:08:33: yeah eighty seven Percent.

00:08:35: that basically renders the data useless doesn't it?

00:08:37: It almost does.

00:08:38: I mean, if i told a sales rep that nine out of ten of their hot leads aren't actually looking they'd never log into the dashboard

00:08:44: again.

00:08:45: So is he saying we should just scrap third-party intent entirely?

00:08:48: Not necessarily scrap it but stop treating as gospel.

00:08:52: His point is content.

00:08:54: consumption doesn't equal buying intent.

00:08:56: Okay

00:08:57: Just because I read an article about Ferrari doesn't mean im buying sports car.

00:09:00: I might like cars.

00:09:02: He suggests prioritizing first-party signals, your own website data.

00:09:06: Your event attendance because that shows actual interest in

00:09:10: you.".

00:09:10: That's a crucial distinction—interest in YOU not just the topic!

00:09:14: Right and Timmis Dodd had great tactical tips for handling those First Party Signals.

00:09:19: on LinkedIn he says if an ICP prospect comments on your post For The Love Of Everything do NOT pitch them immediately.

00:09:26: Oh we've all have it happen.

00:09:27: You leave us support of comment And five minutes later there is a DM.

00:09:31: Thanks for the comment, here's my calendar link.

00:09:33: It just kills the vibe instantly!

00:09:54: they stopped optimizing for warm accounts and started optimizing strictly from meetings.

00:09:58: And it's interesting because warmth is so subjective, there was a score of eighty-warm

00:10:02: notes Exactly!

00:10:04: But a meeting is binary you either have or don't.

00:10:07: Their logic was if we can get a meeting the pipeline will take care itself.

00:10:12: So they focused all their signals on just getting that first conversation.

00:10:15: I like that.

00:10:16: It simple

00:10:16: Okay.

00:10:17: to manage these signals funding news website visits LinkedIn comments You need technology.

00:10:22: You can't do this on a notepad.

00:10:24: This leads us to theme four, AI as a structural enabler...

00:10:28: And notice we're saying Structural!

00:10:30: This is about asking ChadGPT to write a limerick of software.

00:10:33: Oh

00:10:34: god!!

00:10:34: This is all about solving the match rate problem.

00:10:37: FIVOS Arresti and Varun Anand were talking about Clay's new ad tool.

00:10:42: This technical detail but it has huge implications for your budget.

00:10:46: Can you explain the match rate issue for listeners who might not be in

00:10:56: to LinkedIn.

00:10:57: But most people create their LinkedIn accounts with their personal Gmail or Yahoo addresses, right?

00:11:02: Right?

00:11:02: So LinkedIn looks at your business emails can find them and you end up with a thirty-to forty five percent match rate.

00:11:08: so You're losing over half of audience before even spending dollars.

00:11:11: exactly clays new waterfall enrichment finds the Personal email associated.

00:11:15: that Business prospect matches That And suddenly they are seeing ninety percent Match rates on linkedin and Over sixty percent on meta.

00:11:22: thats A massive efficiency gain.

00:11:24: It means you can actually provide that air cover, showing ads to the specific humans your sales team is calling.

00:11:38: I saw that she claimed her AI agent Claude essentially replaced our SDR

00:11:46: a lot and it's usually an exaggeration but she was really specific about the tasks.

00:11:50: She was, this wasn't just writing templates!

00:11:52: The agent with scraping ICP profiles detecting those buying triggers we talked about...and actually booking meetings.

00:11:58: And Faraz Ahmed calls this AI native ABM.

00:12:02: But he made a distinction that I think is key.

00:12:04: He called at context layer.

00:12:06: That's the magic phrase.

00:12:07: The AI isn't just hallucinating email copy, it is sitting between external data like clay and internal data like Salesforce.

00:12:15: The context layer feeds the AI facts.

00:12:17: So the prompt becomes something like use our closed one fintech deals from twenty-twenty four to write a sequence for this specific CFO based on funding news yesterday?

00:12:27: It's moving from generic automation to hyper specific relevance.

00:12:30: But with

00:12:31: all these tools Clay, Salesforce, AI agents can get messy.

00:12:34: Amber Chemis addressed.

00:12:36: the HubSpot versus Apollo debate.

00:12:38: The Battle of the Titans?

00:12:39: She says it's not.

00:12:40: neither, she uses a body metaphor.

00:12:42: Hubspot is the brain—the system-of record.

00:12:45: Apollo is muscle —the reach and speed…

00:12:48: And you need both!

00:12:49: If you try to make the muscles do their thinking...you get bad data.

00:12:52: If your brain does heavy lifting....you move too slow.

00:12:55: Okay we've got strategy, targeting, signals,...and tech stack.

00:13:00: How did we pull this into coherent play?

00:13:02: Let us look at theme five Execution Playbooks and Measurement.

00:13:06: Alex Vaca laid out a ninety-day, two dollar REM pipeline playbook.

00:13:10: that was Exhausting, just to read.

00:13:13: Chuckles!

00:13:14: It was intense but it was a masterclass in integration.

00:13:17: Walk us through the steps...it started with really big lists, surprisingly That

00:13:20: did.

00:13:21: Step one he built high potential list of twelve hundred and two hundred fifty accounts.

00:13:25: But-and this is key He didn't start cold emailing them.

00:13:29: Step Two was content creation.

00:13:30: He didn's guess what to write.

00:13:32: Listened for last one hundred sales calls To find specific pain points.

00:13:36: That is gold mine.

00:13:37: everyone ignores Actual customer complaints

00:13:39: Exactly.

00:13:40: Step three, he ran paid ads to those twelve hundred and fifty accounts addressing those specific pains.

00:13:46: And then step four He only did warm outbound To the handraisers who engaged at the ad.

00:13:51: So it filters itself?

00:13:52: Yes.

00:13:53: But Vladimir Blagojevich added a crucial reality check to these kinds of playbooks.

00:13:58: He argues that you can't just hand These warm leads to a generic BDR.

00:14:02: Who's juggling five other tasks?

00:14:04: A lead is a lead right Not

00:14:05: an ABM.

00:14:06: Vladimir says you need a dedicated sales rep.

00:14:09: If the BDR only has five hours of week for this program, it will fail.

00:14:13: ABM requires constant personalized engagement.

00:14:16: maybe twenty touches across different channels.

00:14:18: You can't automate trust...you need human whose sole job is nurturing these accounts.

00:14:22: That's

00:14:23: real resource commitment and that brings us to final hurdle Measurement.

00:14:27: How do you prove this is working so that you don't get fired before year two?

00:14:30: Sam Cuhnley shared a dashboard concept and Sam's advice is bold, ignore impressions, ignore clicks.

00:14:36: The vanity

00:14:36: metrics

00:14:37: Right!

00:14:37: He focuses entirely on net new revenue expansion revenue and funnel velocity.

00:14:42: Are we actually making money?

00:14:43: But wait... Otso Carvenin had warning about measuring revenue too early.

00:14:48: We just said it was the twenty-four month journey.

00:14:50: If I look at revenue in Month Two It will be zero.

00:14:53: Exactly Otso says, if you demand pipeline immediately.

00:14:57: You will kill the program right before it starts working.

00:15:00: So what do you track

00:15:02: in?

00:15:02: The first few months of a pilot?

00:15:03: you have to look at leading indicators.

00:15:05: Are they commenting our key decision-makers visiting high intent pages?

00:15:09: We need to track engagement to prove the strategy is alive

00:15:12: even If the revenue hasn't hit the bank out yet.

00:15:14: It's a

00:15:15: balancing act.

00:15:16: You need the leading indicators To keep your job and the lagging indicators to grow the business.

00:15:20: perfectly

00:15:20: put.

00:15:21: so let's wrap this up.

00:15:22: What does all mean when you look at together?

00:15:24: You know, if I look at weeks six and seven as a whole the one word takeaway is maturity.

00:15:30: ABM has grown up.

00:15:32: it's no longer a hack or software tool.

00:15:35: you buy its discipline.

00:15:37: It requires narrower lists deeper data stricter filters in a lot more patience.

00:15:42: Its about doing less but do better.

00:15:45: I want to leave this listener with final thought.

00:15:47: we talked alot AI agents and data matching, and automation.

00:15:51: But as AI makes average outreach cheaper and easier to produce the volume of noise in our inboxes is just going to explode.

00:16:00: It's already happening.

00:16:01: A

00:16:01: hundred bad emails will become ten thousand bad emails And the only thing that we'll cut through that noise Is genuine relevance.

00:16:09: So... As you build this tech stack We discussed Ask yourself Is this technology building a wall between me and the customer or is it building bridge?

00:16:16: If its just a wall of automated spam, you've already lost.

00:16:20: That's question everyone needs to answer!