1. Don’t start with engagement or execution

At Avention we like to say “Execution without proper account selection wastes effort. Engagement without sales and marketing alignment wastes opportunity”. I see too many companies jump straight into execution and engagement without first making sure they have the right accounts and contacts and making sure their sales and marketing teams are on the same page. How will you even know what message to convey to the prospects, let alone how to measure the impact, if you aren’t aligned from the beginning?

2. Align sales and marketing teams

This is a critical and crucial step, and I think almost every blogger in this series has mentioned it. If these two teams don’t agree up front on target accounts and contacts, approaches, and goals, it’s very unlikely that the result to the bottom line will be large enough to sustain funding such programs. One of the key first steps in making sure these teams are aligned is making sure they are working from the same data set for accounts and contacts. This real-time, single view of the customer/prospect is key to making timely joint decisions.

3. Invest in data

It’s probably no surprise this would be in my top three, but it is absolutely imperative. If you are working on assumptions or guesses in this day and age, you are simply cooking up a recipe for failure. Everything can now be analyzed and measured, and your ABM programs should be no exception. Take the time to clean your data, go through a match and append process to make sure your data is up-to-date, and take time to analyze your current customer base and find look-alikes that will yield the best ROI for your company.

The bottom line is, spend the time to do the legwork. Align your sales and marketing teams and invest in your data so that you are building your Account-Based Marketing program on a solid foundation. It may take some extra resources and effort up front, but you will reap the rewards at scale if you do it right.