Our client is a world leading provider of enterprise software solutions, with revenues in excess of US$1 billion. Its software is an integral part of the technology infrastructure at over 80% of Fortune 500 companies.
The inflexion point
In 2016, our client established an ABM programme to build visibility for emerging technologies, and drive growth in its largest accounts. It successfully built an award-winning ABM programme as well as an effective executive sponsorship and engagement approach led from a global ABM Centre of Excellence (CoE).
Following internal changes in 2023 and ongoing market uncertainty, executive management challenged the marketing teams to move from ‘good to great’. It was time to review every programme aimed at priority customers to ensure that all campaigns were reinforcing the company’s value proposition, delivering the outcomes that internal stakeholders needed, and ultimately driving sustainable growth.
Our engagement
Inflexion Group was asked to partner to help evolve the programme. The brief was to:
- Benchmark the current approach
- Recommend how the ABM programme could be refined
- Align ABM within the vertical marketing approach
- Help the CoE be more effective and efficient
- Enable the regions to deliver best practice ABM
Over a two-month period, the Inflexion team conducted a thorough ABM diagnostic and programme review, making clear recommendations as to how the CoE could drive more value from both the ABM and Executive Engagement programmes.
Working closely with the CoE, Inflexion Group designed and delivered a range of initiatives to build on those programme elements that were working while introducing new capabilities that were grounded in the company’s systems, processes and go-to-market approach.
Together, the partnership delivered:
- Strategy development and programme design: defining new programme objectives and introducing a blended ABM strategy and tiered Executive Engagement model with data-driven account selection based on the 80:20 rule to determine tiers of priority accounts.
- Outcome-based customer journeys: defining the role of ABM and Executive Engagement in driving outcomes at each stage of the ABM journey.
- Improved measurement and reporting: redesigning the process, enabling more quantifiable reporting on the value the programmes are adding to the business for each stakeholder group.
- Evaluation of infrastructure and tools: against the core pillars of insight, measurement, activation and operations, for both current and future needs, introducing additional platforms where necessary.
- Reinvigorating the ABM community: strengthening the team through training, mentoring and enablement sessions, sharing best practice and supporting on-going skills development.
“The Inflexion team brought an external perspective and provided best practice guidance throughout, working as a true partner. Making the decision that our successful, long-standing programme needed to change was quite daunting, but in a relatively short period of time, real improvements were achieved. This helped our ABM-ers become stronger partners to their account teams by demonstrating the impact they are having through clear outcomes and reporting.”
Senior Director, Global Marketing
Key outcomes
The refresh of the ABM and Executive Engagement programmes is already delivering several benefits.
- Better orchestration of marketing activities for 150+ priority accounts in four tiers across the world, delivering a more connected, personalised experience for customers based on deep customer insights.
- Over 50 ABM-ers equipped to work together more effectively as a community; sharing and re-using best practice from around the globe.
- Carefully integrated ABM and executive engagement plans, ensuring precious resources are used more effectively to drive global efficiency.
- A tighter working relationship and more outcome-based conversations between ABM-ers and sales.
- Improved internal perceptions of the programme’s value through clearer reporting of the outcomes achieved for key stakeholders right across the organisation.
