Show me the money! Proving ABM’s worth to sceptical stakeholders

Mary-Anne Baldwin, Head of content, B2B Marketing

To ask questions live: glsr.live/ABM

The full report: Become an ABM champion: How to set and smash your targets b2bmarketing.net/abmtargets

The short report in partnership with McDonald Butler: The ABM Census 2019: Budget and ROI b2bmarketing.net/abmbudgetroi

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Are your demand gen-minded

stakeholders cracking the whip for

quick results?

You may have:

● Agreed to accounts that aren’t up to muster

● Found questions about ROI hard to answer

● Lacked foresight on your success metrics

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Demand Generation is a burning platform…

… but some stakeholders are too

scared to jump

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The 2019 ABM budget The 2019 ABM pilot guide The 2018 everything you The 2018

ABM case

& ROI guide need to know guide

studies

b2bmarketing.net/abmbudgetroi b2bmarketing.net/abmpilot b2bmarketing.net/earlystageabm

b2bmarketing.net/abminaction

› The average set up cost for ABM

› The typical costs per account

› How to measure the value of an account

› When to expect ROI

› Success markers along the way

Overview

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Costs and ROI

Typical costs per account

Costs vary depending on many things, including your ambitions,

accounts and the size of your company. The following acts as a guide:

One-to-one: Will be more intensive: £10-£50k each account

One-to-few: A cluster is more efficient. It provides economy of scale and spreads risk.

£30k-£50k across 5-10 accounts

One-to-many: May cover 100+ accounts: Normally 100% digital or tech-driven with low touch.

£50-£100k+ p.a

Estimated ABM costs

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Average Initial

set up costs =

£11,600

Estimated ABM costs

10

Average Initial

set up costs =

£11,600

BUDGET: 30%

+7% YOY AND

+10% FROM 2017

RESOURCE: 32%

+6% YOY AND

+12% FROM 2017

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When will I see ROI?…. Let’s compare

Conservative

timeframes =

12 months

Average timeframes =

9.8 months

How does this compare across sectors, sizes and

geographies?

▪ The UK takes 13.3 months, over double their US

counterparts

▪ Tech companies hit ROI the quickest at 8.7 months

▪ Companies over £100m in revenue take 12.8 months

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When will I see ROI?... Let’s improve

Conservative

timeframes =

12 months

Average timeframes =

9.8 months

You’re more likely to hit the 9 month mark if you:

▪ Pick accounts that are further into their sales cycle

▪ Pick accounts you know

▪ Don’t pick too many accounts

But it is about more than ROI

Hard metrics

• ROI / ROMI

• Revenue growth

• Increased deal size

• Pipeline/ SQLs

• Retention

• Win rates

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Measuring the milestones

“If you think about ROI, you’re driving yourself

toward short-term thinking. It’s the milestones

that matter in the early stages. Focus on

account performance and the results will

come.”

Michael Green, Director of Account Management, Capita

Soft metrics

• Strong, clean data

• Better alignment between

sales and marketing

• Better due diligence

• Clarity of vision & goals

• Improved perception of

marketing

The ABM Value Pyramid

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Hard KPIs

Soft KPIs

No. S&M meetings /

depart. feedback

Quality of accounts &

data

Open rates/ event

attendance/ clicks

Sales meetings &

pipeline

ROI

Despite most ABMers being 6 months or less into their programmes, solid results are being seen…

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What results are ABMers seeing so far?

54%

Improved sales

& marketing

alignment

39%

Growth in their

existing

accounts

34%

Improved win

rates for new

accounts

23%

Improved

customer

retention

When will I see ROI results?

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When will I see results?

Customer

insight

Mth 2

Due diligence

= 1

Targeted

Content

Mth 3

Sales ops

Mth 6

Due

diligence

Mth 1

19

Targeted

Content

Mth 4

Sales

Ops

Mth 8

Due

diligence

Mth 2

When will I see results?

Let’s dig deeper with Andy Bacon, lead advisor for Head-Start To ask your question visit: glsr.live/ABM

Mary-Anne.Baldwin@b2bmarketing.net

Questions for Andy… To ask your question, visit: glsr.live/ABM

The UK takes 13 months to deliver ROI against a global average of 9.8 months. Why is that and

what can we learn through those abroad?

We talked about recognising which accounts are valuable and I mentioned an account scoring

document you use. Can you tell us more about that and the philosophies and learnings from it?

How can you help your stakeholders move away from the fast-paced demand gen mindset

What advice do you have on selling the value of ABM beyond ROI (to stakeholders who only

care about the money)?

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Marketing