The data show that B2B marketing and sales have been undergoing a gradual transformation away from lead-centric practices, toward practices that are better aligned with how buyers buy:
- Sixty-four percent of B2B revenue teams have adopted an account-based (ABM/ABX) practice,
- Seventy-two percent of marketing teams prioritize accounts that produce multiple leads,
- and, 83% of organizations use buying signals other than form-fill leads to detect in-market buying groups.
These three practices align to the reality of how B2B buyers buy and are central to how marketing teams are becoming more effective. The data also show that organizations that engage in these and related advanced practices enjoy better financial performance.
| Reality | Buyer-Aligned Practice |
|---|---|
| For most organizations, the number of companies that are potential buyers outstrips the resources available to address them. When marketing and sales address different cohorts of accounts, precious revenue is lost, and resources are wasted. | Align the entire revenue team on the best-fit set of accounts to target. |
| The average B2B buying group has 10 members who have more than 4,000 digital and human interactions across their lifecycles. | Focus buyer identification, engagement, and measurement strategies on buying groups rather than individual leads. |
| Buyers speak with sellers only after they have done their research and chosen a preferred vendor. | Use buying group signals to detect and enable buying groups from the earliest stages of their buying journeys. |
How a B2B organization aligns with these best practices can vary based on factors such as average deal size, size of the addressable market, the type of solution offered, and numerous other factors.
However, for each of these three practices there is an essential principle that can act as a guide, even when particulars about a market and solution vary. Together, these three principles can guide marketing teams to develop effective go-to-market practices, no matter the particulars of their offering and market.
We have codified them as the Three Principles of Modern Marketing.
For many, these will sound like the three principles of account-based marketing. They are. Crucially, though, these three principles do not apply solely to account-based marketing practices. Instead, they apply to virtually all B2B marketing practices.
Principle 1: Marketing and sales must focus efforts against a mutually agreed-upon set of accounts.
To be effective, the entire revenue team must focus their time, attention, and budgets on mutually agreed-upon cohorts of accounts, which are assessed to be the best-fit prospects to become profitable customers.
This principle forms the backbone of account-centric or account-based practices (hereafter referred to as “ABM” or the “ABM approach”). However, it should form the basis of all B2B revenue generation practices.
For organizations selling to large accounts, which number in the dozens to hundreds, this means aligning on sets of accounts that have been identified by name.
For organizations selling to smaller accounts, where the set of best-fit accounts varies over time, each account need not be named in advance. However, the criteria by which accounts are selected should be known and agreed-upon in advance.
Further, large addressable markets should be subdivided into segments. These segments are typically established for geographic regions, products, and the size of prospect accounts. Where possible, these segments should also consist of accounts that are identified by name for the revenue team members responsible for marketing and selling to each segment.
In all cases, the set of accounts that will be targeted by both marketing and sales should be the subject of an explicit agreement between marketing and sales.
Principle 1: Key Questions to Answer
#1
Is there an explicit agreement between marketing and sales on which segments and accounts the revenue team is going to invest in converting?
#2
Is there an explicit agreement concerning how accounts are segmented and prioritized for marketing, selling, existing-customer treatments?
#3
Are all go-to-market practices targeted to the agreed-upon accounts and segments?
Principle 2: Revenue team processes must be tuned to identify and engage buying groups, not just individuals.
B2B purchasing decisions are made by groups, not isolated individuals. Our research has shown that 65% of B2B purchases are made by buying groups of five or more individuals.
The key to successfully identifying buyers who are in-market lies in recognizing and responding effectively to signals from these buying groups. Multiple studies have also shown that 70% to 80% of buying group members who visit vendor websites do so anonymously and can only be identified by their account.
When organizations align their efforts against a mutually agreed-upon set of accounts, initial success will be indicated in two ways:
-
- a surge in anonymous website traffic from anonymous accounts and
- multiple form-fill leads from the same accounts.
However, it is common today that organizations with an ABM practice are tightly aligned to Principle 1, but not yet aligned to Principle 2. For example, less than 40% of marketers that have an ABM practice de-anonymize their web traffic.
To realize the benefits of more targeted marketing practices, revenue teams must adopt processes and technologies to detect and respond appropriately buying groups.
Crucially, intent data, form-fill leads, and anonymous web traffic should not be viewed as independent signals. Instead, they should be seen as different facets of the same signal: buyer interest. Their best use occurs when they are merged using AI to create a single, reliable signal of buyer interest.
Principle 2: Key Questions to Answer
#1
Does the revenue team recognize and treat an account differently when multiple members of a buying group show interest?
#2
Does marketing de-anonymize anonymous web traffic and use the results to prioritize prospects delivered to SDRs/Sellers?
#3
Do SDRs and sellers multithread into each and every account where they either prospect or respond to buyer inquiries?
Principle 3: Revenue teams must monitor buying groups from each of their targeted accounts throughout their entire buying journeys.
Buyers don’t engage with sellers until they are more than two-thirds of the way through their buying journey. Yet by the time they do, 84% of buyers have selected their preferred vendor, and 78% of buyers have mostly or completely established their requirements. To compete effectively in this environment, organizations must continually monitor buying signals from their targeted segments and accounts.
Further, revenue teams must know which buying groups are in the early, middle, and late stages of their journeys. This approach allows revenue teams to effectively deploy the right type and level of resource to enable buyers while optimizing revenue productivity.
Principle 3: Key Questions to Answer
#1
Does the organization utilize intent data to identify in-market buying groups?
#2
Does marketing use intent data to target and inform marketing tactics?
#3
Are marketing and sales tactics aligned to buying journey stages?
Where To Begin
Many revenue teams are already aligned at least partly to all three of these principles. Few organizations are fully aligned against all of them.
Teams that have already aligned on accounts should assess buyer identification practices (see our Buyer Experience Study) to ensure that their systems and processes are recognizing and responding to buying signals.
Teams that have already centered their demand capture processes on buying groups should ensure that they know which buying stage each of their accounts is in, and that they are aligning their tactics to those journey stages.
As business conditions change, ensure that new practices and processes align to the Three Principles.
For a thorough discussion of how and why to move on from lead-centric practices, see our report, The Lead-Based Approach Has Failed Us: It’s Time to Move On.
