B2B Market Research to Scale Your ABM Efforts

“Insight without action is delusion.” This quote from Conversica CMO Sonny Dasgupta sums up the challenge facing most Sales and Marketing teams these days: There’s just too much intent data and not enough time or resources to reach prospects at scale.

The issue was recently discussed in the webinar: “Nothing Is Wrong with Your ABM Strategy, But Your Execution is Failing,” moderated by Drew and featuring Sonny as well as James B. Stanton of Empyrean and Jon Russo of B2B Fusion Group. The dialogue was centered around the results of a research study that Renegade conducted on behalf of Conversica, which you can read about below.

Behind the Study

From Conversica: “Renegade is a terrific market research partner from start to finish. From conception to crafting the questionnaire to analyzing the data, to writing, designing and even presenting the report, their dedicated team, insights and deliverables are simply top-notch and make the entire process a delight.”

This unbranded, 40+ question study was carefully designed to identify the current state of the relationship between sales and marketing, quantify the impact of MarTech and ABM, and identify any gaps and opportunities.

Fielded in July/August 2021, 227 people were surveyed across the US from 20+ industries and at various levels. All respondents were currently engaged in ABM, defined as currently selling to a defined target or account.

In addition to the webinar covering the results of the study, the report also generated an impressive amount of PR coverage (see below) via support provided by Renegade’s PR partnership with Merritt Group.

• ABM Trends: Survey Finds Marketing-to-Sales Execution Gap Is Hampering Personalization at Scale for Account-Based Marketing Success
• The ABM Report: Survey Finds Executional Gap Between Marketing and Sales is Hindering Personalization at Scale for Account-Based Marketing Success
• MediaPost: Sales And Marketing Cool: Both Believe The Other Side Is Doing Fine
• MarTech Series: Survey Finds Executional Gap Between Marketing and Sales is Hindering Personalization at Scale for Account-Based Marketing Success
• CMSWire: A Framework to Operationalize Your Account-Based Strategy

B2B Market Research Results: “The New Sales and Marketing Divide”

Where both “sides” used to tend to point fingers, ABM has aligned Sales and Marketing teams in an unprecedented way. As in, the majority of both Sales-side and Marketing-side respondents believe in ABM’s ability to convert more pipeline (87%), to close more deals (86%), and to deliver intent data that Sales can use (83%).

While there are still some remnants of the old divide, the research found that the primary obstacles to effective execution are the inability to personalize engagement at scale and the underuse of intent data.

Sales and Marketing leaders are even aligned on this challenge: 96% agree that personalized communications are the most effective, and the majority agree that feasibility is a major challenge to personalization at scale.

The numbers also show that there is a notable drop-off in personalized communication as prospects move through the sales cycle, and that manual research for Sales teams takes up a considerable number of working hours.

Insight into Action: Rev Up your ABM with Conversational AI

The research results make it clear: Leaders agree on the power of ABM but are falling short on execution. 1:1 may be easy, but 1:Many is making it difficult for companies to ABM at scale. And as any good research study will do, this one points to a solution for Sales and Marketing teams that want to squeeze all the value out of their ABM—Conversational AI.

A lack of resources is creating fragmentation, missed opportunities, longer sales cycles, and a poorer buyer experience. Conversational ABM to bridge the gap and deliver personalized engagement at scale. Keep in mind that Conversational ABM is not here to replace BDRs, SDRs, and the like; it’s here to help humans do their jobs better.

As Sonny shared in the webinar, “Conversational ABM is doing three things: It helps you engage with your customer, it’s accelerating your deal cycle, and it finally helps you deliver an iconic customer experience. At the end of the day, that’s how you get better ROI on your ABM investments and better revenue predictability.”

You can watch the webinar in its entirety below.