About the Session
This session is part of the “Science of B2B” series, led by Kerry Cunningham, Head of 6sense Research and Thought Leadership. Episode 6 explores the concept of the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and the importance of focusing on the “In-Market” ICP in today’s B2B landscape. The discussion emphasizes how identifying accounts in their buying journey stage unlocks more targeted and effective marketing and sales efforts.
Agenda
The episode dives deep into the notion of the “In-Market ICP” and its role in improving the efficiency of demand generation efforts. Topics discussed include:
- The significance of focusing on the 5-10% of accounts that are “In-Market.”
- How intent data and AI can be leveraged to map ICP accounts to buying journey stages.
- Strategies to avoid randomly spending marketing dollars on accounts that aren’t in-market.
Takeaways
Takeaway 1: Focus on In-Market Accounts.
Only 5-10% of ICP accounts are likely to be in-market at any given time, so it’s crucial to focus resources on these accounts.
Takeaway 2: The Importance of Buying Journey Stages.
By identifying where accounts are in their buying journey, you can better tailor your marketing and sales efforts to each stage.
Takeaway 3: Customizing Engagement Based on Journey Stages.
By mapping accounts to their buying journey stage, you can customize your approach, reserving high-value resources for later stages.
Insights Surfaced
- Only a small percentage of ICP accounts are in-market at any time, and those are the accounts you should focus your efforts on.
- Intent data and AI can identify where accounts are in their journey, allowing for more efficient marketing.
- Avoid wasting demand generation resources on accounts that aren’t in a buying stage.
Key Quotes
“Five to ten percent of your market’s in market.”
“Today, if you don’t know which accounts are in which stage of your buying journey, by definition, you are spending your demand and ABM dollars against them at random.”
“When you know that they’re in market, that unlocks the ability to spend on those accounts.”
Future Topics
The next episode will continue to explore buyer behavior, particularly around how to better engage with accounts at the later stages of the buying journey, including leveraging AI to predict buying intent with greater accuracy. Future sessions will provide further actionable strategies to optimize go-to-market approaches based on research-driven insights.
