ABM Done Right - A Personal ABM Podcast

As ABM has become synonymous with ABM tech, many GTM teams are not seeing maximum returns from their ABM tech investment as they continue to struggle to move high-value accounts to revenue. Many GTM teams are seeing accounts go dark and we've been seeing reports of 10%+ drops in enterprise deals (the ones that ABM should be focused on!) In this podcast, Liz Ronco from Madison Logic joins Personal ABM CEO (Eric Gruber)( to discuss why ABM tech clients are failing to get the greatest returns from their ABM tech investments as pipeline accounts go dark. They cover:

Despite marketers saying that spray and pray is dead, it is alive and kicking -- just in a different form as it's more targeted. Teams are still spraying messages and content out to their ICP hoping that it sticks instead of aligning with future and existing customers. There is no differentiation between a targeted demand gen motion and an ABM motion. Deanna Shimota joins Kristina Jaramillo and Eric Gruber on this ABM Done Right Podcast to discuss: The difference between ABM and demand gen How the two functions should support each other How to build a strong demand gen powerhouse that builds a pipeline of strong tier 1 accounts that ABM should move to revenue faster at a higher ACV How an ITSM firm used ABM to accelerate accounts to revenue

In this ABM Done Right Podcast, Mandy Cole (Partner at Stage 2 Capital) joins Kristina Jaramillo and Eric Gruber to discuss: 1. How the economy is not the main reason for why companies are seeing 10%+ drops in enterprise deals -- but instead is that GTM teams are not limiting sales execution risk. The economy is only magnifying the issues that exist across the buyer's journey and customer lifecycle and showing the cracks that teams ignore when companies are in growth mode and buying. 2. Where misalignments are occurring and how sales and customer success teams are not having the right interactions and delivering the right experiences to high-value accounts. 3. How the traditional 1: few and 1: many outbound approach and a company's desire to scale is adding sales execution risk. 4. Why GTM teams are adding sales execution risk by how they are selecting key accounts to prospect, nurture and close. Plus, much more...

Matt Dixon (Wall Street Journal bestselling co-author of The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience, The Challenger Customer and The JOLT Effect, a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review and Founding Partner at DCM Insights) recently joined Kristina Jaramillo and Eric Gruber on the ABM Done Right Podcast. During this podcast, you will learn why ABM and the Challenger Sale go hand-in-hand, why accounts go dark and how GTM teams can win against the status quo -- and indecisiveness.

Gallup studies show that 82% of B2B customers are indifferent, disengaged or actively looking to replace a vendor. Yet, many companies still put a greater emphasis on building a pipeline vs. protecting and expanding key accounts. In this podcast, customer success expert, Kristi Faltorusso, joined Kristina Jaramillo to discuss the state of customer success and how account retention and expansion is an organization-wide issue.

As many teams struggle with driving stage progression (accounts going dark), increasing win rates and ACV (many companies are reporting 10% drops in enterprise deals), protecting and expanding key accounts (82% of b2b buyers are indifferent, disengaged or actively looking to replace a vendor), we asked Steve Richard (SVP of Revenue Enablement at MediaFly) to join us on the ABM Done Right Podcast to discuss: Know your number and what it takes to get there. In many cases, ABM is being implemented without the teams taking a good look at the business -- and seeing where there are gaps and where do we need to change interactions/experiences/motions so we can get to the number that leadership wants. You'll learn what teams need to look for to see what we need to fix and prepare sellers for. Why sales enablement is not enough. You'll see the gaps in most sales enablement programs, how revenue enablement differs from sales enablement and how we need revenue enablement and account-based enablement to drive ARR, GRR, and NRR. We also talk about what revenue enablement and what account-based enablement should look like. The key areas where sellers need help. We discuss key challenges that sellers and customer success teams have with multithreading, influencing internal conversations, driving stage progression, and getting larger ACV. You'll see how you can enable teams to accelerate high-value tier 1 accounts to revenue at a higher deal size. Driving GRR and NRR We discuss how most customer success teams are managing accounts vs. being in protection/expansion selling conversations. We talk about the challenges that customer success teams have -- and where the gaps lie in their conversations/interactions that have them losing the interest of the C-suite and VPs after the close. We also discuss ABM for customer marketing and how teams go onto customer calls thinking they'll be able to upsell/cross-sell, and the conversation quickly turns to saving the account for renewal and why this is happening.

As GTM teams are building pipelines with ABM but are struggling with accounts going dark (especially after sales engagement), Spencer Wixom (former SVP of Sales and Marketing and Chief Customer Officer at Challenger and current CEO at The Brooks Group) joined us on the ABM Done Right Podcast to discuss: 1. The fundamentals that's needed for account-based selling that most organizations (both traditional and SaaS firms) are missing. 2. What is absent in most sales teams' communications and in their behavioral profile that is limiting success in account-based selling with tier 1 enterprises that are stuck in status quo. 3. How most sales enablement does not support sales teams and account-based selling -- and the account-based enablement that's needed to win the selling conversation and the internal buyer conversations that GTM teams are not part of. 4. Why buyer groups disappear -- and do not move forward in their buying journey 5. How leadership, sales, marketing and customer success teams can drive greater alignment with key future and existing strategic customer accounts.

There is confusion in the market on what intent data is -- and it's purpose. In this podcast discussion with John Steiner (CMO at Tech Target) and Bill Henry (SVP of Field Sales at Tech Target), you will learn: 1, Where the confusion lies and why it's happening. 2. What teams need to think about before they invest in an intent data platform - failure to do this will minimize the returns you get from intent data and ABM. 3. How GTM teams are not putting the right processes in place to prioritize, segment accounts -- and how they lack the processes to leverage intent in a way that allows sales and marketing teams to deliver more relevant buyer experiences. 4. How GTM teams are not using intent data to create new greenfield opportunities that are not yet showing intent, to prioritize where opportunities exist within specific parts of your portfolio, to prioritize accounts within an ABM list and to protect and expand key accounts. You'll see how marketing does not have precise enough intent data to enable sales to have the right interactions for each bucket. 5. Why teams need more than account-based intent and why the intent data they are using in isolation is meaningless. 6. How we should be using intent data as a springboard vs. something to react to and how GTM teams can increase their industry, company, persona, personal and customer relevance. 7. How you need to keep sales requirements in mind when looking into intent data platforms and in building out your intent data strategy -- and how you should enable sales to leverage intent data to capture more revenue.

Most companies have dived into ABM tech and other platforms that promised a path to greater growth with more focus and partnership with sales leaders. However, ITSMA, Tech Target and others report that only 17% have a mature stage 4 program and 69% of ABM programs under-perform when it comes to revenue growth. Most GTM teams are still trying to build the foundation. Unfortunately, even though we live in the experience era, GTM teams are creating disconnected experiences, wasting sales and marketing dollars and creating an anemic sales pipeline that goes dark after engagement. They’re not thinking about how they make their future AND existing customers feel with each interaction and each touchpoint along the journey and lifecycle. In this podcast, Etai Beck (CEO of Folloze) joins Eric Gruber (CEO of Personal ABM) to discuss why experiences are disconnected and how to improve buyer and account experiences across all touchpoints (social, digital, email and live). After you listen to this podcast, sign up the webinar with Etai where we'll go into greater detail on how to improve buyer experiences: http://personalabm.com/improving-buyer-experiences-webinar

Most ABM teams and the marketing firms they are using are rushing into ABM and retrofitting ABM into existing processes vs. changing interactions and experiences across the buyer's journey and customer lifecycle. While marketing may be more targeted now than ever - and the focus is on high-intent ICP accounts that are more likely to buy, there is very little change in how teams go-to-market. Then companies wonder why accounts go dark, sales cycles are too long and deal sizes are lower than expected. They wonder why they struggle to protect and expand key strategic accounts and why there isn't significant business revenue improvement from ABM. The problem is that ABM is being used to fix the pipeline vs. fixing the red in the business (the red that RevOps should be looking for and identifying). In this podcast, Peter Mollins (CMO of Set Sail) and Eric Gruber (CEO of Personal ABM) talks about the role that RevOps should play when it comes to ABM.

Kristina Jaramillo and Eric Gruber - (the hosts of the ABM Done Right Podcast) have mentioned many times that ABM is not really about accounts. It's about the human buyers in the accounts you want to win, protect and expand. This is why we need to stop thinking about campaigns and think about the moments we're creating along the buyer's journey and customer lifecycle. We have to think about the interactions we're having, including our social interactions. In this episode of the ABM Done Right Podcast, Kristina speaks to Justin Fordham (Head of ABM for 360Learning) about how to take a more humanized approach to LinkedIn to build relationships across target organizations. Some of the key points from this podcast is: 1. Narrow the team's focus as many companies are throwing all ICP accounts at BDRs, which is impossible to scale without templatizing - and templatizing removes the personal relevance and authenticity that's needed to make connections. 2. It's on leadership to train BDRs and sales teams how they should think about humanizing the sales approach on social platforms like LinkedIn -- and many are not doing this as it's all about scripts, templates and getting things out fast that does not work in enterprise sales. 3. There is limited segmentation and a lack of relevance and intention on social platforms (from LinkedIn profiles, to content to messaging) to target accounts that show buyers how sales and marketing understands their specific needs, challenges, gaps, strategic priorities, and customers. Too many teams just scratch the surface - they are not getting industry, company, rank, personal, customer relevance and connecting the dots. 4. Teams need to use LinkedIn to build relationships across organizations and create a buying consensus. This includes leading with insights learned from other interactions and having social content that is written specifically for target accounts so you can influence internal conversations that many sales and marketing teams are losing.

Account-based marketing and selling became a must for cybersecurity firms and others looking to drive higher-value deals in an undifferentiated, crowded market. In fact, 92% of B2B marketers have some kind of ABM strategy or program in place as companies dove into ABM tech and other platforms that promised a path to greater growth with more focus and partnership with sales leaders. However, ITSMA, Tech Target and others report that only 17% have a mature program and 69% of ABM programs underperform when it comes to revenue growth. GTM teams are building pipelines with ABM but…. In this webinar, James Kessinger (CMO of Hushly) and Eric Gruber (CEO of Personal ABM) discuss:

Long sales cycles, low win rates, low deal sizes, limited impact to ARR, GRR and NRR. What's causing this... Misalignment with accounts and buyers as there is a lack of customer research. There's a lack of data so there are misaligned messages, content, interactions and experiences. In this podcast, Vladimir Blagojević, cofounder of FullFunnel.io, discusses with Kristina Jaramillo and Eric Gruber 17+ ABM data sources that should be leveraged for creating the ICP, prioritizing accounts and guiding content, messaging, GTM motions, and prospect interactions. Here Are the Key Points to Remember From This Podcast: 1. One of the key root causes for sales and marketing misalignment is that most teams have a vague and broad ICP that was not driven by ABM data and account intelligence. This vague and broad ICP is why sales and marketing teams are wasting resources, energy, and dollars on accounts that have low predictability of closing and why teams struggle to increase their ACV. By collecting the right ABM data, Personal ABM clients are seeing a minimum of 2-3X average deal sizes. One of Vlad’s clients saw a 10X increase in deal sizes where they were almost getting 7-figure wins. 2. Many GTM teams use intent data for prioritization. But they do not use enough intent data sources to get the complete story. Studies from Intentsify show that the most successful companies using intent data are using 3 or more sources of intent data. You will learn about all of the different intent data sources and why 1st party data is the most important and most reliable. 3. Many GTM teams are reacting to intent data and sharing content based on where the intent was vs. using it as a springboard and uncovering the why behind the intent. They are not collecting the data that’s needed to hypothesize what’s going on inside target accounts so you can align with the prospect’s story and vision to have a differentiated social, email and live conversation. 4. Account intelligence should guide content, messaging and interactions. During the podcast, you’ll hear how a conversational AI firm struggled with accounts like Bank of America, TD Bank and JP Morgan Chase going dark because sales and marketing were telling generic “industry” stories vs. the individual bank’s story. They didn’t align with each bank’s AI maturity, situation, challenges, gaps, and impacts. 5. How your podcast should be a source for prospect data and intelligence. We previously showed how our ABM Done Right Podcast helped us engage and win accounts like Uniphore. Here Are the 17+ ABM Data Sources That Were Covered in This Podcast: · 1st party intent data · Review sites like G2 · B2B media · Bidstream data · Co-op data · Trending data · Relationship info · Engagement info · Revenue analysis · Key account analysis · Customer research · Your own podcast · Firmographics · Technographics · Employee profiles · Account research · Buyer research · Changes and events

As Kristina Jaramillo and Eric Gruber have mentioned many times on the ABM Done Right Podcast: ABM is about changing the interactions teams are having and the experiences they are delivering across all channels and across the buyer's journey and customer lifecycle. This includes each touchpoint and each interaction. In this ABM Done Right Podcast. Eric Gruber and Impactable's CEO and CMO will discuss full-funnel ABM using LinkedIn and how you can win, protect and expand accounts using social. Here's a Recap of the Learnings You Will Uncover: 1. The fundamental "setup" mistakes that many teams are making when implementing LinkedIn ads as part of their ABM program. 2. Why GTM teams are challenged with accounts going dark after initial engagement with LinkedIn ads. 3. How LinkedIn ads are not being used to build trust with the human buyers in target accounts. 4. How teams are not using LinkedIn ads to drive demand across buying organizations and limiting deal sizes. 5. What it means to be intentional with your ad campaigns and how you need to think about: 6. How account intelligence should guide your full-funnel LinkedIn ads, content and outreach. 7, How too many teams focus follow-up outreach based on intent or what prospects engaged on within the ads vs. why there was intent. 8. How many teams are too short-term focused instead of staying on the human buyers' minds longer with a purpose including: 9. How prospects should use video LinkedIn ads to create the human connection with target accounts and get key insights that can help you segment and prioritize key accounts. Plus see the video assets you should be using and when.

In this podcast, Julija Noskova (a GTM and Growth Marketing Consultant) shares the ABM lessons she learned from working as a VP of Marketing for Medallia, SoftChoice and other companies. These lessons include: 1. ABM requires change management across the organization, otherwise, you're just doing marketing as usual just more targeted. This includes changes in mindset, measurement/KPIs, how we go to market, the content we create, the interactions teams are having, and the experiences that are delivered. 2. Alignment is not enough - ABM requires greater integration across the marketing organization and across GTM teams. We need to work together to win, protect and expand accounts as 1 team as ABM should start and end with revenue. Demand gen fixes pipeline issues - ABM fixes issues across the buyer's journey and customer lifecycle to impact ARR, GRR and NRR. 3. Most content does not support ABM or sales as it's not driven by account intelligence, it's not aligned with where customers are, it doesn't reframe prospect's thoughts or ideas, it doesn't make an emotional connection, it doesn't build a business case, it doesn't teach for differentiation and it doesn't help with sales conversations including taking risk off the table to overcome indecisiveness. 4. Most ICPs are not effective. ICP is supposed to be for your most ideal customers where you can get the greatest revenue growth, the strongest margins, and have the greatest impact. It's the ones where you have the best differentiation and the best stories so you do not have to worry about others winning on price. But most ICPs are too broad, they do not start with revenue and there isn't organization-wide alignment on what the ICP is. 5. Too many organizations are treating all ICP accounts the same - they lack processes for selecting, segmenting and prioritizing key accounts. This is why 2/3 of ABM organizations only do 1: few and 1: many programs vs. having a balanced ABM program. 6. Field marketing roles need to evolve. As field marketing and ABM should closely align since both should be focused on accelerating high-value accounts to revenue, Julija transitioned her field marketing team to strategic account marketers. 7. ABM requires a middle enablement layer between sales, marketing and customer success teams. Sales enablement is not enough as teams need it at the account-level. 8. While ABM supports a small portion of the accounts that sales and marketing target, the impact is far-reaching. As ABM requires change management and a stronger focus on interactions and experiences vs. campaigns, teams should be gaining lessons that can be applied across all sales, marketing, customer success and GTM motions.

ABM Needs to Be Personal to Drive Enterprise Account-Based Growth – Not Just Personalized, When you have complex solutions, lengthy sales cycles, accounts going dark after sales engagement, high annual contract value and “at risk” enterprise accounts, you need a more personal account-based approach that focuses on the individual social, digital, email, and live interaction. You need less automation, more humanization, and more relevance across all levels to tackle the group of struggling moments that sit at the center of every enterprise deal (before, during and after the close.) Moments just waiting to be listened to, understood, catered to, solved and reframed. These are moments that most sales, marketing and customer success teams are ignoring as they focus on scaling vs. driving account-based revenue growth with the accounts that matter the most to the bottom line. On this podcast. Kristina Jaramillo (President at Personal ABM) shares: 1. How in most cases, you have one chance to win, protect and expand accounts you want. One communication misfire and one wrong interaction will result in unresponsiveness and inaction. 2. How GTM teams engaging in account-based approaches often speak at accounts with the same messaging and do not consider that value is different for each account and each person within those accounts. 3. What personal account-based sales and marketing looks like as most 1:1 programs are camouflaged 1: few and 1: many programs. 4. What GTM teams need to do to build a personal experience 5. How to go from personalized experiences to more personal interactions

In Blue Ocean Strategy, INSEAD business professors W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne argue that the solution to business growth and success is to operate in an uncontested market. They use the metaphor of a blue ocean to represent an uncontested market, and they contrast it with a red ocean, a marketplace where fierce competition has stained the water with the blood of the combatants. According to Kim and Mauborgne, crowded markets and red ocean strategies tend to produce minimal profit margins, while blue ocean strategies lead to more profitable growth. In this podcast, Kristina Jaramillo shares how teams should be taking a blue ocean approach when it comes to ABM.

In this quick, 9-minute podcast, Kristina Jaramillo shares why a call center conversational AI firm was challenged with accounts going dark. As you will hear, the content, messaging and outreach did not align with where target accounts were in their AI and digital transformation journey. Our client wasn't aligning with the strategic priorities of the organization and showing target accounts their specific unconsidered gaps across the organization that would impact the achievement of the business vision. They weren't showing the impact their specific gaps would have on the different divisions, omnichannel operations, eCommerce, their GTM. product management, sales enablement, finance, customer service, customer experience, and customers. As Doug Landis mentioned in a recent Forbes article: “When selling to larger companies you must come to every social, email and live conversation with a point of view about their business...You have to know what they are focused on as those strategic initiatives for the business will trickle down to every department across the organization.” You need to show the role you can play in their strategic initiatives and the impact you will have, otherwise, you will just be another item on their list of things to do eventually. You'll also hear how a VR tech firm targeting the Fortune 1000 with solutions to help with employee training and engagement was failing to align with target accounts and the C-suite.