If you’re running account-based marketing (ABM) and still treating all accounts the same, you’re wasting time and money. This guide is for sales ops, marketers, and anyone sick of spray-and-pray tactics. We’ll break down practical, real-world ways to segment accounts in Salesintel so you can actually target the right folks—without drowning in data or buying into every shiny feature.
Why Segmentation Matters for ABM
Let’s get something straight: ABM lives or dies by how well you pick and organize your accounts. Good segmentation means: - You don’t chase companies that’ll never buy. - You tailor your outreach, so it doesn’t sound like spam. - You can spot where to put real effort—and where to walk away.
Salesintel gives you a ton of data, but more isn’t always better. If you try to target everyone, you’ll end up reaching no one.
Step 1: Get Your ABM Goals Straight
Before you even open Salesintel, get clear about what you want: - Are you going after net-new logos or expansion in existing accounts? - Is this about big whales, or a bunch of mid-market deals? - Are you supporting sales, marketing, or both?
Write this stuff down. Share it with your team. If you skip this, your segmentation will be random, and so will your results.
Pro tip: Don’t let a tool dictate your goals. Salesintel is powerful, but it can’t tell you what matters to your business.
Step 2: Define What a “Good” Account Looks Like
Not every account is worth your effort. Use these filters to figure out what actually matters: - Firmographics: Industry, company size, revenue, HQ location. (Don’t get too cute here—stick to what’s proven to convert.) - Technographics: What tech do they use? (Helpful if you sell SaaS or IT, less so if you don’t.) - Intent data: Are they showing buying signals? (Useful, but don’t treat it as gospel. People research for all sorts of reasons.) - Past engagement: Have they interacted with your brand before?
What to ignore: Vanity filters (“Fortune 500,” trendy industries) unless your product really needs them.
Step 3: Build Your Segments in Salesintel
Here’s where you roll up your sleeves. In Salesintel, you’ll use filters and tags to carve up your target account list.
- Start with a broad filter.
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Example: U.S.-based companies, 200–2,000 employees, in healthcare.
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Layer on the “must-haves.”
- Tech stack: Using Salesforce or HubSpot?
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Recent intent: Downloaded a whitepaper or searched relevant topics in the last 30 days?
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Use exclusion filters.
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Knock out competitors, current customers (unless you’re upselling), or companies you know are a bad fit.
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Save and label your segments.
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Be clear: “Healthcare, Mid-Market, Salesforce Users – Q2 2024” beats “List 1.”
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Export or sync to your CRM/marketing tools.
- Double-check for duplicates and garbage data before you hand off to sales or launch a campaign.
Pro tip: Don’t create so many segments that you lose track. Three to five solid segments beat a dozen half-baked ones.
Step 4: Prioritize Your Segments
Not all segments are created equal. Here’s how to focus: - Score accounts based on fit and readiness (Salesintel lets you do this, but keep your criteria simple). - Test with small batches. See who actually responds before you roll out big campaigns. - Talk to sales. They’ll tell you if a segment is full of tire-kickers or real buyers.
What doesn’t work: Over-engineered scoring models. If your team can’t explain the scoring in plain English, it’s probably too complicated.
Step 5: Align Segmentation With Your Outreach
A great segment is useless if your message doesn’t match. For each segment, ask: - What problems do they actually care about? - What language do they use? - Who are the real decision-makers?
Use Salesintel’s contact data to target the right people—not just the generic “info@” inbox.
Pro tip: Keep your outreach specific to the segment. If you can swap company names and your email still makes sense, it’s too generic.
Step 6: Review, Clean Up, and Iterate
Segmentation isn’t set-and-forget. Accounts change, people leave, intent shifts. Every few months: - Revisit your filters—has your ideal customer changed? - Remove dead accounts or ones that never engage. - Ask sales and marketing what’s working and what isn’t. - Don’t be afraid to kill a segment if it’s not delivering.
What to watch out for: Getting attached to segments for emotional reasons (“But we want to sell to fintech!”) instead of looking at real data.
What Works—and What Doesn’t
Works: - Keeping segments simple and actionable. - Involving sales early—don’t build lists in a vacuum. - Using intent data as a signal, not a final answer. - Regularly cleaning and updating your segments.
Doesn’t work: - Chasing every flashy filter in Salesintel just because it’s there. - Segmenting so granularly that you have a bunch of one-account lists. - Ignoring feedback from the people actually talking to customers.
Keep It Simple, Stay Nimble
You don’t need a PhD in data science to segment accounts well in Salesintel. Know your goals, define what matters, build a few strong segments, and check in regularly. Don’t let “best practices” get in the way of what actually works for your team. Start simple, see what sticks, and adjust as you go. That’s how you get real ABM results—no hype required.