In this day in age, it’s all about automation. “I don’t want to think, just do things for me” is the prevailing mentality in a high-tech world. This way of thinking is also percolating into the business world, and it turns out we like it there as well.
Technology combined with knowledge and best practices allow companies to scale their ABM programs. This type of ABM is known as “programmatic ABM” or “scale ABM.”
So, what’s the value in doing 1-to-1 ABM if programmatic ABM is working for you?
I asked that very question to Rob Leavitt, Senior Vice President at ITSMA. He explains how you may need to think about ABM differently. In many ways, this goes back to why we started doing ABM in the first place. Have you forgotten?
If you want to do classic 1-to-1 the right way, Rob leaves us with the most important piece of advice to help you get started.
Enjoy.
TRANSCRIPT:
Brandon:
So, what’s the value in investing in real one-to-one ABM if you already have a good program up and running? Hey, guys, Brandon Redlinger here, director or growth at Engagio, and I have the pleasure of being joined by Rob Leavitt, senior vice president at ITSMA, welcome Rob.
Rob:
Brandon, thank you. Appreciate the opportunity.
Brandon:
Of course, always, always. Now, Rob works with a lot of enterprise companies out there and is one of the top leaders in ABM, so I thought this question is perfect for you, so give us your thoughts.
Rob:
No, it’s a great question, Brandon, because one of the big issues with a company’s marketing these days is how do we get to scale?
Recommended for You
Webcast, March 7th: NXT Stage Playbook: Finding the Winning Formula for Your Growing Brand
You know, how do we cover hundreds of companies, thousands of companies? We’ve got data, we’ve got AI now, we’ve got all these tools that let us get personal with a lot of accounts. The reality, though, is that, for most companies, there’s some version of the 80/20 rule.
A small number of your top accounts not only account for a huge amount of your revenue, but it’s really where you innovate. It’s where you develop and test new solutions. It’s the relationships that you rely on to help understand what’s happening in the market.
And so, if you think about the value to the business of those key accounts, as being really disproportionate, then there’s tremendous value in applying disproportionate marketing resources and ABM resources to those key accounts. You can get a lot more mileage than from the other, the next hundred.
Brandon:
Yep, so, how many are we talking here then? How many accounts should we be looking at?
Rob:
Well, typically, it’s pretty labor intensive.
You know, this isn’t all just digital email kinda connection. And so, and the other thing is, typically, the sales people, the sales leaders are your most senior experienced people. They know a lot about these accounts.
And so, you need to up your game. Most companies that we work with are running one-to-one programs for five, 10, 20 accounts, maybe 50 if they’re really big and have a lotta… But the way we look at it, you wanna put the equivalent of a full-time marketer on three or four accounts.
So, that’s where it gets really expensive. Never mind program money to do the kinda very personal kinda customized campaigns and activities with them. So, it’s hard to scale it in a huge way. But, again, the payoff can be really, really substantial.
Brandon:
Any last pieces of advice for those looking to really start to do that one-to-one?
Rob:
The first nine priorities with doing one-to-one is picking the right accounts. We cannot stress enough how important it is because it’s not just about an account that’s big, that’s in your sweet spot, where there’s a lot of opportunity. If you’re gonna put really personal attention, you wanna know that you really, really understand them, you have good relationships, you know who the people are. I mean, you’re talking about orchestrating a whole team to go work with them for the long term.
And so, you need the sales people and the account team to totally buy into this idea. It’s not something you hand to sales. Completely collaborative effort. So, really, really working up front to make sure that if you’re gonna do five accounts or 10 accounts, it’s the right five or 10.
Brandon:
Love it, awesome. Thanks, Rob.
Rob:
Alright, thanks Brandon!
