How to decide if you need an account-based marketing platform

Deciding if your company needs any marketing software application starts by answering a couple of simple questions. Deciding if your company needs an account-based marketing (ABM) platform is no exception. Assess your organization’s business needs, staff capabilities, management support and financial resources.

These questions will help you determine the answer.

1. Have we identified our account-based marketing goals?

   Implementing an ABM strategy can provide many benefits to the organization. The first step is determining what you want to achieve. Are you looking to increase upsell and cross-sell opportunities? Do you want to expand into a new market, territory, or geography? Will an account-based reduce the average time it takes to close a sale?

2. Can sales and marketing agree on the list of target accounts?

   Sales and marketing must agree on the accounts to target. They must be on the same page when choosing target accounts and when to add (or remove) them from the ABM program. Marketing’s definition of a high-priority account needs to match sales’ idea of a high-priority account. Key decision-makers must cooperate on target account definition and selection.

3. Do we have management buy-in?

   Account-based marketing is often championed by executives at the highest level of the organization. If it is not, getting their buy-in is key to success. A mandate from the top of the organization ensures that the ABM initiative will be funded adequately. A comprehensive forecast of return-on-investment and expenses is key to winning executive management support. Ask your chief financial officer for help in preparing any presentation involving spending and RIO. She will be a needed ally during management presentations.

4. Are we including all of the costs?

   Account-based marketing is a strategy, not just an investment in software. All stakeholders must understand the components of your ABM strategy. Hiring new team members or retraining current staff will be required. Both are expenses that should be included.
   Many account-based marketing software vendors offer an array of add-on professional services to help with strategy, onboarding and training.

5. Are we prepared to measure and report results?

   Agreeing on the definition of success for your account-based marketing program should be done prior to implementation. To maintain support of executive management, reporting must be consistent and understandable. Implementing ABM with new marketing software will be disruptive. Your goals should include some short-term achievements, in addition to the longer-term RIO. Those short-term results will establish credibility for the project.