ABM for Account Expansion

 we're going to review how to build strong relationships and advocates and how that will help expand your business organically.

Part of this will be through a use case of chasing your champion, and honestly, it's one of the most complex parts of any sales process you have. Connecting with the right people and getting your foot in the door.

If you can get an in, and if you can follow that champion, if you can get an advocate within that account, then you're already well on your journey to winning. 

So with that, we're going to dive into the synergy and internal systems you need to run this campaign effectively and then actually jump into what's the playbook to chase your champions.

Building Internal Synergy and Process

We all know it works best when we are all striving towards a common goal, but it starts with getting your organization aligned with how you define success.

It's very easy to say, okay, we have a revenue, and you've got bookings that's fantastic, but in ABM, it takes a while to run these plays. There have to be little steps along the way that you're using to measure your success. 

Also, how do you attribute that success? Are you doing it based on departments, or are you doing it through a better way of just looking at it, which is the overall pipeline and influence and where you are in the overall buyer's journey?

Because one thing we often get challenged by is this back and forth between marketing and sales and success. Especially in this use case where it's easy to say hey, we're going to do this over here. Then you need to be participating in this area. Ultimately it should be about creating a win, win, win situation.

Getting your organization ready for success

A multi-touch attribution model can...

- Unify the departments instead of dividing them

- Provide better insights into your metrics

- Reduces your CAC/CAP

- Shorten your sales cycle

- Increase your internal time savings

Extra tips:

- An Attribution tool is key

- Keep a close eye on your campaigns

So again, getting your organization ready for success works the best when you're working towards the same goal. A multi-touch attribution model is one of the best ways to do this, or as near as you can tell if you can see your first and last touch. It will be the best way to unify your departments instead of dividing them in the process.

On top of this, you'll also get better insight into your metrics and which part of this process is succeeding, which part of this process probably could use a little help, and where you're going to get your overall time-saving.

When you have everyone aligned and moving towards the proper goals, then you're already a step ahead and making sure that you're going to get the campaign off to a successful start.
 

The ABM Chase Playbook

So you've got your overall org situated. Let's assume that we accomplished that huge task and got everyone on the same page. Next, you want to identify that unified measurement of success. A lot of times, it's revenue. Next, you want to start identifying your champion. 

Who are your active users? Who's already an advocate of your organization? or maybe even someone who sent you a few referrals while they've been there...

Identifying your champions

+ Active User

+ Advocate for your organization/service

+ Possibly sent referrals previously systematic alerts for champions updates

+ Job changes

+ Title changes

+ Contact data updates

Find your NEW champion at your old account.

Key data for ABM Chasing Champions

Unified measurement of success

Identifying your champions

+ Active User

+ Advocate for your organization/service

+ Possibly sent referrals previously systematic alerts for champions updates

+ Job changes

+ Title changes

+ Contact data updates

Find your NEW champion at your old account.


News Alert & Congratulations

Notifications of New Deals

The first thing is again about alerts and congratulations, so your first action item will be to create a list of all your team champions. This will expand your org people to those that have already been promoting you, people that are sending you the things, maybe they also have a high NPS score, or you're seeing them as active users.

+ Create a list of all of your key champions

+ Add it as a saved search in SalesIntel

+ Sign up for notifications for changes to contact data

When you put a system or tool into place centered around champion data, you'll get notifications of any changes to that contact data. This is where step one comes in.

That alert comes through in the process of email notification. You'll get a signal saying, "hey, information has changed with this client." Or, if it's a list that you save, you'll need to dig into what exactly changed in the data. 

Sometimes the phone number has been updated, which is great; you need to be able to continue to contact them. Sometimes it is the job title change, which is very important, and other times they've gotten a promotion. Do this, and every step of the way, you'll be able to get the most accurate and current information for your champion account.

This is also a great way to answer who the new point of contact is? You'll want to be able to reach out to someone in case this person does move because that is very important. We are chasing the champion, but we also want to ensure we continue our relationship at our existing account.

We're Better Together

The Power of Success, Sales & Marketing

First, it's just getting accurate data and knowing how best to contact them. Sometimes that's a LinkedIn profile or a mobile phone number depending on your relationship with this person.

There are people we connect with really quickly, so it could be as easy as calling up someone at the organization on their phone and just having a conversation. Then other people were just in your sales process or pipeline once upon a time.

So depending on your pre-existing relationship with this person, you'll have an idea of the best path forward.

Your very first message shouldn't come on full swing. Building on that previous relationship and adding value to their transition is priority number one. Sometimes this isn't a direct value add or isn't a direct sale because they just got there, but that's okay.

+ It's not about you, yet

+ Building on a previously held relationship

+ Add value to their transition

A New Path to Discovery:

+ Success: Champion's previous company's usage of your product/service

+ Success: What did they like most about you?

+ Sales/Marketing Ops: Is their new organization actually a good fit for you?

Anytime you've joined an organization, you know, in the first couple months, you're really just trying to get your footing, and you want to understand what's going on in the org and what's needed.

Sometimes it's very easy to see the specific needs and that this is something they would immediately benefit from, and sometimes it's going to be "Thanks so much. I appreciate you reaching out to me. I'm just trying to get my footing for now."

Either way being present and caring in their journey does nothing but help reinforce that relationship with your champion.

Building Up Your Champion

Adding Value

Now it's time to start building up your champion. You already have an advocate in the organization; this is your time to add value and make this a much easier conversation in the long run.

This is when the conversation becomes "can I help? is there any material that can start this conversation in your organization?" and you open things up for more solution-based interaction.

You've identified a pain point, and they've been at the organization long enough to understand what's going on there. So this is where you can start to truly equip the champion with materials you both will need to succeed.

Equipped with:

+ One pagers & battle cards

+ Short videos

+ Pertinent case studies

And these are again nothing surprising, and you're one-pagers are your battle cards. If you're being compared with a particular competitor and you can get some information to the right eyes, you can show results and how you are getting them.

Any case studies where you've been able to help a similar organization with a similar problem is one of the best ways to do this. What this is is equipping that advocate within that organization with the right tools. So, if you're brought into the conversation, the groundwork has already been set. One of the most important things to remember for yourself in this process is that it's an marathon, not a sprint...

Nurturing the Account

Supporting Sales

So once you've identified that this account is a match and you're in the process of gaining the information you need while rebuilding the relationship, you need to be telling your marketing org immediately.

This is where they can start to provide air cover and nurture the account from a high level, so while you're working with a specific contact and maybe one or two decision-makers, marketing will be able to provide a multi-channel approach to this organization.

That's through things that we know very well as marketers, PPC campaigns, email marketing, and some direct mail campaigns.

We're better together:

+ Multi-channel approach

+ Target larger buying center

+ Direct Mail Campaigns

Depending on the size of the org and the opportunity, it is always in your best interest to work together on these touch points. This allows you to steer the conversation while building in the information.

If you're providing value, you're building in information, your champion is advocating, and then you have marketing sprinkling in bits over the top of this, you are in a really sweet spot with that org and the relationship you're nurturing with them.

Session Recap and Key Takeaways

In any ABM-driven approach, it's essential to have clear targets and goals through data management and nurtured relationships. Setting your org and teams up for success is fundamental. The higher level of information you have to communicate, the better off you will be!

We all want to see long-term and consistent success for ourselves and our customers. One of the best ways to get there is to have a plan. Take this outline and build YOUR structure for success!

If you would like to learn more about ABM or anything that comes along with it, check out our  ABM-A-THON On Demand.