Collaboration- The success mantra for your ABM strategy.
After you have answered the 5 questions I shared in My musings on ABM – The 5 golden questions you can expect a good start for the strategy. But, when it is ABM, target accounts are few, large, & mostly the ones which couldn’t be cracked in the past (i.e. customer is not too keen to hear your story). Hence a good start is must, but not enough. And as scientific & structured ABM is, it is also one of the most challenging approaches to Enterprise Marketing. For a well-planned ABM strategy to succeed, it needs the most cliched word to be put in practice- COLLABORATION. The plan needs to rise above the doubts of sales & channel partners, or just get concluded within defined timelines, but also be able to fight competition’s tactics, deliver the committed RoI, on top survive tests of time (especially during end of quarters & financial year). And I feel ‘Collaboration’ is the one mantra that really helps win.
After answering the 5 golden questions and before getting into execution, get this Collaborative environment in place by forecasting for 3 ‘What If’ scenarios around the outcomes a strategy faces- success, eventualities and the time when you are still executing.
1) What if it worked?– Dream come true! Everything fell in the right place. You connected with right personas, at right time, with right pitch through the medium that each audience in target account (decision maker, influencer, user) preferred.
But being success ready can be a daunting task.
I remember getting some quick successes for an ABM Strategy where getting C level meetings for sales in large tech companies was the objective. So worked on concept of a docket that featured these organizations. The concept was appealing, relevant, & success came when it was least expected. Had I been ready with an answer to this ‘What If’ & had prepared the teams, I wouldn’t have stumbled.
These preparations are built around defined objectives, ranging from a call, meeting, demo, request for collateral, customer reference meetings, Bill of Material, proposal, etc. Depending on the objective, be ready with pitch, collateral, & most importantly prepare teams in your and/or partner organization. For example, for business meeting sales need to be prepared, whereas for technical presentation or demo the solutions or demo team needs to be kept in loop, and many such unique scenarios will emerge. Imagine all options as per your organization structure and processes. It just needs collaboration.
2) What if it didn’t work?– Nobody is ever prepared for this while building the ABM Strategy because it is a well thought, well collaborated & well executed strategy. But there are many things that can go wrong. From weak brand pull, unexciting pitch, incorrect selection of accounts, etc. But if all is right and yet things are not going your way, it could be because of the incumbent vendor & investments customer has made with them, causing the reluctance.
Whatever the reasons, there will be immense pressure to put ABM strategy to a Premature Death. But there are ways to sail through the rough patch. Starting with a periodic review with all stakeholder teams, inclusive approach to feedbacks and flexibility to accommodate ‘minor’ alternations in strategy, if required. This will give lease of life to the strategy that it needs at the dire moment. You are now equipped with a bit extra of real, relevant account-based information. Now you are executing the revised strategy with information and closer collaboration. Probability of success has been increased.
3. During execution priorities shift– The situation arises when you are confident as the strategy is progressing in the right direction but is yet to yield results, and suddenly business priorities (quarter end) changes. Tough reality of business that marketeers need to understand and accept. While it is a universal situation, it is highly evident in small to mid-size organizations.
There are 2 things that probably can help survive this ‘periodic shift’, (1) Schedule execution in a manner that the first involvement from sales (or other team member) is early in the quarter and they are definitely available. (2) Keep everyone updated on their roles & deliverable with tentative timelines, so that they make themselves available when the ABM strategy calls.
In ABM target accounts are dream accounts and target profiles are of leaders who generally don’t give vendors second chance, it is must that every individual delivers what is expected/ assigned to them. Mitigate errors, avoid delays in responding to customer, keep teams involved, take feedback, implement & improve and do remind team that ABM is not Marketing Strategy, but a Business Strategy. The success demands impeccable collaboration between teams – sales, pre-sales, solutions, services, demo, references, channels, etc and even HR & finance. Small preparations can convert a ‘well planned+ executed’ ABM strategy into a ‘successful’ ABM strategy.
Once ABM is able to sustain its time to make everyone accountable and in my next article I will cover how ABM is poised to change from ‘Account Based Marketing’ to ‘Accountability Based Marketing’.