Reviewing Your ABM Account Selection

In my earlier newsletter, I gave a roundup on how to review your entire ABM process.

This week, let’s go deep on reviewing your account selection for ABM

Step 1: Revisit the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Your ICP shouldn’t be your wishlist of companies (yes we’ve said this 100 times, but people still don’t get it!!)

Metrics to Track:

• Customer attributes: Company size, industry, tech stack, budget.
• Engagement levels: How closely did the selected accounts align with your ICP in terms of engagement?
• Revenue contribution: Are the selected accounts contributing to long-term revenue growth?

Map out how the companies in your ICP list performed against your ABM efforts.

Especially track which accounts responded well.?

Figuring our common factors within the companies that are doing well will give you more insights that can improve your ICP criteria.

For eg: During our last review, we realized a considerable number of new logos have atleast one director of marketing, so we’ve added that as an ICP criteria.

You can use CRM data for this step; and ensure ICP still reflects highest value accounts that align with your offering

Step 2: Analyze Intent Data and Account Engagement

We’ll check how well effectively intent data was used to select target account

Scenario 1: Some accounts showed interest (visits, downloads) but didn’t convert.

These accounts may require further nurturing, or the timing may not have been right. Intent data shows current interest but doesn’t always guarantee immediate conversion.

What’s next: Create a retargeting or long-term nurturing strategy for accounts that exhibited high intent but didn’t convert.

Scenario 2: Accounts with low or no engagement despite strong intent data.

There could be a mismatch between the account's intent signals and your offering.

What’s next: Investigate the disconnect—whether it’s in your messaging, content, or the fit of the account with your solution.

Step 3: Assess Decision-Maker Targeting

Did your messaging reach the right decision makers?

Scenario 1: Engagement from lower-level employees but not key decision-makers.

You may have focused on the wrong individuals in the company.

Reassess your use of tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator to find higher-level executives in the decision-making chain.?

Scenario 2: High-level engagement but no conversion.

It’s possible that while you reached the right people, the content or offer wasn’t compelling enough for them.

?Customize your offers to directly align with C-suite concerns like ROI, growth, or efficiency.

Pro Tip: Ensure you’re engaging multiple stakeholders within each account. Look at role-based engagement and adjust your outreach strategy to focus more on decision-makers.

Step 4: Prioritize Accounts by Scoring

Here we evaluate your account scoring strategy / logic

If low-value accounts received significant attention while high-value ones were neglected, your scoring criteria may be misaligned with your ICP or your ABM goals.

Redefine scoring metrics like company size, intent, revenue potential, and level of engagement.

Metrics to Track:

• Lead-to-Customer Rate: How many of the top-scoring accounts converted?
• Scoring Accuracy: Compare closed-won accounts to their initial score to see if high scorers were the ones that closed.

Step 5: Talk to Sales

The entire ABM effort is to make life of Sales much easier. Get their 2 cents on what’s working well and what isn’t too.?

Common issues mentioned by prospects in ABM list, could be another way of identifying ICP profiles and their pain points.?

So that’s your 5-step Account Selection review guide.

By assessing how well your ICP aligns with closed-won accounts, evaluating engagement through intent data, targeting the right decision-makers, and constantly iterating based on sales feedback, you can ensure only the best fit accounts, get your most effort.?