How to Align Sales and Marketing for ABM

Samuel Hall
May 1
8 min read

Updated: May 8

For Account-Based Marketing (ABM) to work, sales and marketing must collaborate closely. Misalignment leads to wasted resources, missed opportunities, and lower ROI. Here’s how to ensure both teams work together effectively:

Set Shared Goals: Focus on revenue-driven targets and unified KPIs to measure success.
Build Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) Together: Combine sales insights with marketing data for accurate targeting.
Select Target Accounts Jointly: Use both teams’ expertise to prioritise high-potential accounts.
Use Shared Dashboards: Track metrics like engagement, pipeline progress, and campaign performance in real-time.
Communicate Regularly: Hold daily stand-ups, weekly planning sessions, and monthly reviews to stay aligned.
Leverage Tools: Integrate CRM systems, automate workflows, and use platforms like ABM Answered for tailored solutions.

Mastering ABM: Aligning Sales and Marketing for Success

Setting Up Team Alignment

Bringing sales and marketing teams together requires a clear plan that focuses on shared goals and cooperative workflows. Here's how you can achieve that. Start by agreeing on common objectives, then create unified customer profiles and work together to choose target accounts.

Creating Common Goals

The backbone of team alignment is setting objectives that both sales and marketing can work towards. Avoid separate metrics that isolate the teams. Instead, integrate goals like lead generation and deal closures.

To align goals effectively:

Set revenue-focused targets where both teams play a role.
Define shared KPIs to measure progress.
Clarify accountability for each team.
Agree on mutual success metrics for account engagement.

Plan quarterly objectives and review progress monthly to stay on track.

Building ICPs as One Team

Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) are more accurate when created collaboratively. By combining marketing’s data with sales’s hands-on experience, you can ensure the profiles are both practical and data-driven.

When developing ICPs together, focus on:

Sales’s insights from their direct interactions with successful accounts.
Marketing’s data on engagement trends.
Feedback from customers to refine profiles further.
Analysing past wins and losses to spot patterns.

With tools like ABM Answered, teams can share updates in real-time and keep ICP documents current as new insights emerge.

Selecting Target Accounts Together

Choosing the right accounts works best when sales and marketing join forces. Sales can offer insights into account potential and relationships, while marketing brings data on digital behaviour and market trends.

A collaborative approach to account selection should include:

Weekly meetings to review accounts.
Shared criteria for prioritising accounts.
Regular checks on account engagement levels.
Joint plans for campaigns tailored to specific accounts.

Use tools like ABM Answered to keep everyone on the same page and track progress with target accounts.

Consistency in communication and the use of shared tools are essential for aligning teams. By holding regular check-ins and following clear processes, both teams can stay focused on shared goals while using their unique strengths to achieve better results.

Daily Teamwork Methods

Once team alignment is in place, daily practices ensure collaboration becomes a habit.

Building a Shared Results Dashboard

A shared dashboard allows teams to monitor progress together in real-time. Focus on metrics that are important to both sales and marketing to keep everyone aligned and working towards the same goals.

Here are key elements to include:

Pipeline metrics: Track opportunities created, deal stages, and conversion rates.
Account engagement: Measure content interactions, website visits, and sales touchpoints.
Revenue impact: Analyse influenced revenue and deal closure rates.
Campaign performance: Monitor account-specific campaign outcomes and ROI.

Automate data collection from your CRM and marketing tools to keep information accurate. Use visuals like charts and graphs to make trends easy to spot, and highlight actionable insights.

Setting Up Team Communication

Consistent communication ensures teams stay aligned and focused on shared goals. Establish a structured approach to meetings and updates.

Your communication plan might include:

Brief daily stand-ups and weekly joint planning sessions.
Monthly strategy meetings to dive deeper into campaign performance.
Quarterly reviews to evaluate overall alignment and progress.

This structure keeps everyone on the same page and reinforces shared objectives. Platforms like the ABM Answered community can also help teams connect, exchange ideas, and tackle common challenges together.

Creating Account-Specific Campaigns

Using shared metrics and regular updates, craft campaigns tailored to individual accounts. Combine insights from sales and marketing to create highly relevant strategies.

Here’s a simple three-step process:

1. Research and Planning

Stay updated on recent developments.
Gather insights on key decision-makers.
Review past interactions and engagement.
Identify current challenges or pain points.

2. Campaign Creation

Develop customised landing pages.
Offer personalised content.
Use account-specific messaging.
Design tailored outreach sequences.

3. Performance Management

Track daily engagement levels.
Collect feedback from the sales team.
Adjust campaigns as needed in real-time.

To make your account-specific campaigns even more engaging, tools like ABM Answered’s personalised video games and battlecards can provide interactive and effective solutions for your target accounts.

Tools for Team Alignment

Using Data Tools for Decision-Making

To ensure smooth collaboration between sales and marketing teams, it's crucial to use tools that provide real-time insights. A well-integrated tech stack allows both teams to make decisions based on shared data, improving overall efficiency.

Here are some key elements of an effective data-sharing setup:

CRM Integration

Link your marketing automation platform with your CRM for seamless data flow.
Keep data synchronised in real time to avoid gaps.
Set up automated alerts for major account activities.
Add custom fields to track metrics specific to account-based marketing (ABM).

Data Visualisation

Create dashboards that display both sales and marketing KPIs.
Include account engagement scores for a clearer picture of activity.
Track how content performs across different accounts.
Monitor accounts as they move through various buying stages.

These tools lay the groundwork for better collaboration and enable teams to use platform-specific features effectively.

Automation Tools

Set up workflow triggers based on account behaviour to streamline processes.
Automate task assignments to ensure nothing falls through the cracks.
Create alerts for key account events that require immediate action.
Enable automated reporting to keep both teams informed.

ABM Answered Resources for Teams

Beyond general data tools, ABM Answered offers specialised resources designed to improve team alignment. These tools focus on solving common challenges and enhancing collaboration.

Video Library SolutionsABM Answered provides access to a library of over 1,000 short-form videos. These videos feature expert advice from experienced account-based marketers, offering practical tips for resolving alignment issues and building stronger teamwork.

Interactive ToolsThe platform also includes a range of interactive resources, such as:

Personalised video games to help create engaging, account-specific outreach content.
Battlecards for crafting consistent messaging strategies across teams.
Reddit Research Tools to dig deeper into account-specific insights.

Community CollaborationABM Answered fosters a collaborative environment where team members can connect with peers and industry experts. This community offers opportunities to:

Share alignment challenges and get actionable solutions.
Network with marketers who have tackled similar issues.
Contribute to tool development through the platform's incubator programme.

For teams seeking tailored solutions, the incubator programme allows them to design custom tools and workflows that address their unique needs.

Tracking Progress and Making Improvements

Key Metrics to Monitor

To ensure your ABM strategy stays effective, it's crucial to track both immediate indicators and long-term outcomes. Here are the numbers that matter most.

Engagement MetricsUse a weighted scoring system to measure account engagement:

Website interactions: 40%
Content downloads: 30%
Sales interactions: 30%

This scoring system helps identify buying signals. For instance, engagement scores exceeding 200% of the baseline often suggest strong purchase intent.

Pipeline MetricsKeep an eye on how accounts move through the pipeline using integrated dashboards. Focus on:

Metric	Target	Review Frequency
Pipeline Velocity	34% faster contact-to-opportunity conversion rates	Weekly
Account Coverage	Engage multiple decision-makers	Monthly
Follow-up SLA	Stick to agreed response times for high-intent signals	Ongoing

In the UK, sales cycles are 15% longer than in the US, so consistent monitoring of pipeline progression is essential.

Revenue MetricsEvaluate business outcomes with metrics like:

ABM-influenced revenue growth
Customer lifetime value – ABM accounts have been shown to deliver 23% higher returns.

These metrics should guide discussions during team reviews to turn data into actionable steps.

Reviewing Team Progress

Regular reviews help transform daily insights into effective strategies.

Weekly Check-insHost 30-minute stand-ups to address key points like top-performing accounts, pipeline bottlenecks, and content performance.

Monthly In-Depth ReviewsSet aside 90 minutes with a structured agenda:

Dashboard Review (15 minutes)Compare performance against targets to identify trends.
Account Analysis (30 minutes)Analyse 2–3 strategic accounts showing unusual engagement patterns.
Resource Planning (20 minutes)Make informed decisions about resource allocation based on engagement data.
Action Planning (15 minutes)Define next steps with clear responsibilities and deadlines.

Continuous AdjustmentsAdopt a systematic approach to keep improving:

Remove accounts with fewer than two engagements per month after three touchpoints.
Conduct quarterly "health checks" to refine outdated KPIs.
Adjust your content strategy based on performance data.

For example, a UK tech company cut data discrepancies by 68% by introducing mandatory sales notes for disengaged accounts, which significantly improved team alignment.

Leveraging Technology

Integrated dashboards are essential for tracking progress. Use real-time visuals like engagement heatmaps, pipeline velocity trends, and SLA compliance to support your review sessions.

This method can deliver real results. Take Charlesgate Real Estate as an example: after introducing weekly ABM reviews in early 2024, they generated over £3.5M in ABM-sourced revenue in Q1 alone.

Conclusion: How Sales and Marketing Alignment Drives Results

When sales and marketing teams work together effectively on ABM (Account-Based Marketing) initiatives, organisations see clear benefits. Improved account targeting, streamlined communication, and smarter resource allocation all highlight the impact of this collaboration. Building on earlier alignment strategies, this approach ensures every effort contributes to ABM success.

When both teams are aligned, they create a cycle that boosts overall performance. Companies implementing shared accountability, unified engagement scoring, coordinated account selection, and integrated dashboard tracking have seen measurable improvements in key metrics.

Tools like the ABM Answered library, featuring over 1,000 video solutions for ABM challenges, can help teams adopt strategies that have already proven successful.

Here are the main areas to focus on for maintaining long-term alignment:

Focus Area	Implementation Strategy	Expected Outcome
Shared Goals	Develop unified KPIs and metrics	Clear priorities, less conflict
Communication	Hold regular cross-team reviews	Quicker responses to accounts
Resource Allocation	Plan collaboratively	Better campaign performance

FAQs

How can sales and marketing teams collaborate to create and maintain Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) for ABM?

To create and maintain effective Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) for Account-Based Marketing (ABM), sales and marketing teams must work closely together to align their goals and insights. Start by jointly analysing existing customer data to identify common traits among your most valuable clients, such as industry, company size, and challenges they face.

Regular communication is essential. Schedule recurring meetings to review and refine ICPs based on evolving market trends and feedback from both teams. Use shared tools and platforms to ensure everyone has access to the same up-to-date information. Collaboration not only ensures the ICPs remain relevant but also strengthens the overall ABM strategy.

What are the benefits of using shared dashboards to track ABM metrics in real time?

Shared dashboards offer several key advantages for tracking Account-Based Marketing (ABM) metrics in real time. They create a single source of truth for both sales and marketing teams, ensuring everyone is aligned and working towards the same goals. By providing instant access to up-to-date data, these dashboards help teams make quicker, more informed decisions.

Additionally, shared dashboards encourage transparency and collaboration between departments. Sales and marketing can easily identify what’s working, spot areas for improvement, and adjust strategies accordingly. This unified approach fosters a stronger partnership, which is essential for executing effective ABM campaigns.

How can regular communication and structured meetings help align sales and marketing teams in an ABM strategy?

Regular communication and structured meetings play a crucial role in aligning sales and marketing teams within an ABM strategy. By creating dedicated time for collaboration, both teams can share insights, set shared goals, and ensure everyone is working towards the same objectives.

These meetings foster transparency, encourage feedback, and help resolve potential misalignments early. Over time, this consistent collaboration strengthens trust and improves the overall effectiveness of your ABM campaigns.