Skills you should have before taking this course:

For beginners, intermediates, and senior B2B leaders interested in building more strategic, collaborative sales and marketing alignment, this course is appropriate. We will move into advanced concepts once the topics have been covered.

• Students should have a basic foundation in B2B sales and marketing strategies, processes, and metrics. As the saying goes, you’ve got to know the rules before you break them.

Your full course curriculum:

Account based marketing

Lesson 1

A little red car with some problems.

The way a mid-sized tech company thinks about demand generation has been changed by a little red Ferrari.

Topics are covered.

• Learn what’s wrong with conventional sales, marketing, demand generation, and how it all slows growth and builds walls between the people who should be collaborating.
• Understand the three different types of ABM, how to best assess your company’s needs, and why a blended approach is very likely the best approach.
• Avoid three deadly ABM mistakes.

Lesson 2

You should plan your pilot.

Getting executive and cross-functional alignment and planning a solid pilot program are two of the most important steps. We will explain why these steps are important, and how to get the team to do them right.

Topics are covered.

• How to gain (and maintain) executive sponsorship for ABM.
• How to bring in sales, customer success, and other vital stakeholders as enthusiastic co-owners of the program.
• How to plan the right size pilot: Big enough to be material; small enough to be manageable.

Lesson 3

Absolutely perfect for the ideal customer profile, account selection, and tier strategy.

People think account selection is easy. They are wrong. You will waste time and money if you make mistakes here. Maybe a long time. We will make sure you start well.

Topics are covered.

• Blending qualitative and quantitative approaches to develop a powerful Ideal Customer Profile
• Selecting the right accounts (and ensuring all stakeholders are fully on board with the decisions)
• Tiers and clusters. There’s much more to it than simple industry segments.

Lesson 4

Research, journey, and channels.

You need to determine who, exactly, you need to engage and what approach and message are most likely to appeal to them after you have your account list and tier and cluster strategy.

Topics are covered.

• Determining how many contacts you need in each account, and what roles they are in.
• Data sources and manual research approaches to capturing the right names and contact information.
• Insight research, buyer intent, social listening… how deep should we go?
• Channel and cadence planning.

Lesson 5

Enhancing and scaling.

You still have a lot of work to do after your pilot is in the market. It will be inefficient and ineffective regardless of how well planned and built it is. In terms of testing, measuring, and communicating, you have to keep your foot on the gas. It was a lot of communicating. How many companies have gotten off track in the early days of their ABM journey will be discussed.

Topics are covered.

• Maintain focus and momentum once your pilot is in-market.
• Build a predictable, repeatable cash machine.
• Ensure effective ongoing communication to lay the foundations for scaling ABM post-pilot.

Lesson 6

Tools and careers for ambo.

There are hundreds of jobs that require experience, but not enough skilled and experienced people to fill them. How do you get started? How do you find good people in a competitive market? Is ABM a core competency for any B2B marketing career?

Topics are covered.

• Build a good understanding of the ABM technology landscape, and how and when tools can help you enhance your impact.
• Continue your learning with a wide range of ABM content from those shaping the industry.
• Explore some different approaches to building your team and enhancing your ability to accelerate and de-risk your ABM programs.
• Accelerate your career trajectory as an ABM practitioner and leader.