If you work in B2B, you know the drill: marketing wants new leads, sales wants deals, and somehow the two never quite agree on who the “right” accounts are. That’s where account-based marketing (ABM) tools like Demandbase come in. But software alone won’t fix the disconnect—alignment takes real work. This guide is for marketers and sales teams who are tired of the blame game and actually want to use Demandbase to focus everyone on accounts that matter.
Step 1: Get Honest About Your Target Account List
Before you touch any settings in Demandbase, make sure you know who you’re actually trying to reach. This is where most teams mess up—they skip the hard conversations.
- Start with sales: Ask your reps who they really want to talk to. Not just “Fortune 500” or “tech companies,” but specific industries, company sizes, and job titles.
- Look at your data: Who’s actually closed deals in the last year? What do your best customers have in common?
- Trim the wish list: If your target account list has 5,000 names, it’s a spreadsheet, not a strategy. Focus on accounts with real potential.
Pro tip: Don’t just import a random list from LinkedIn. That’s how you end up chasing ghosts.
Step 2: Build and Sync Your Account Lists in Demandbase
Now that you know who you’re after, it’s time to make Demandbase work for you.
- Import your agreed target account list into Demandbase. Use their bulk import tools—don’t waste time hand-adding accounts.
- Segment your list: Separate accounts by vertical, deal stage, or territory. Demandbase lets you filter and tag accounts, which helps avoid the “everyone gets every lead” problem.
- Sync with your CRM: Make sure Demandbase talks to Salesforce or whatever CRM you use. If these systems aren’t in lockstep, you’ll be fighting a losing battle.
What works: Keep lists tight and up to date. Review them quarterly—things change, and so should your focus.
What doesn’t: Don’t try to “boil the ocean” by targeting everyone. Demandbase is only as good as the focus you bring to it.
Step 3: Set Up Shared Alerts and Reporting
One of Demandbase’s strengths is surfacing who’s actually showing interest. But if only marketing sees the data, you’re back to square one.
- Create shared dashboards: Set up views in Demandbase where both marketing and sales can see which accounts are engaging, what pages they’re visiting, and what content they’re downloading.
- Set up alerts: Use Demandbase’s alerting features to notify both teams when a target account hits key signals (like visiting your pricing page).
- Agree on what matters: Don’t drown folks in notifications. Focus on intent signals that actually mean something (e.g., repeat visits from the right department—not just someone accidentally clicking a link).
Pro tip: Have a recurring meeting (biweekly is fine) where both teams look at the same Demandbase dashboard. No finger-pointing, just “what’s working, what isn’t?”
Step 4: Orchestrate Campaigns That Actually Reach Sales Targets
Now that you know who and what, it’s time for the “how.”
- Personalize outreach: Use Demandbase’s audience segmentation to create ad campaigns and emails that speak to specific accounts or industries. Blanket messaging is a waste of your budget.
- Share campaign plans with sales: Before you launch, make sure sales knows which accounts are getting targeted content or ads. They can time their outreach or follow up more effectively.
- Use engagement data: When an account starts responding (opening emails, clicking ads, visiting your site), pass that intel to sales right away. Demandbase can automate some of this, but you’ll still need a human touch.
What works: Tight, coordinated campaigns where marketing warms up accounts and sales is ready to pounce.
What doesn’t: Running campaigns in a vacuum. If sales doesn’t know what marketing is doing, you’re just creating noise.
Step 5: Score and Prioritize Accounts Together
Demandbase offers account scoring based on intent, engagement, and fit—but a model is only as good as the reality on the ground.
- Customize your scoring: Don’t just use Demandbase’s out-of-the-box scoring. Work with sales to define what high-priority really looks like.
- Regularly review and adjust: Scoring should evolve as you learn what signals actually lead to pipeline. If you see a mismatch, tweak the rules. Blindly trusting the machine is how you miss big deals.
- Prioritize action: Make sure both marketing and sales are focusing their time on the same top accounts. If your #1 account for marketing is #47 for sales, talk it out.
Pro tip: If you’re not sure your scoring is working, look at closed/won deals and work backward. Are those accounts getting high scores? If not, fix it.
Step 6: Close the Loop—Share Wins, Losses, and Learnings
Software doesn’t align teams—conversations do. Demandbase is a tool, not a silver bullet.
- Review wins and misses: After a campaign, sit down with sales and look at which target accounts progressed (and which didn’t). Use Demandbase data to see what drove engagement—or what fell flat.
- Document learnings: Keep a running list of what worked for each segment or campaign. Demandbase makes it easy to export reports—use them for real talk, not just C-suite presentations.
- Iterate: Don’t be afraid to drop accounts that aren’t engaging or change tactics if something bombs. ABM is a process, not a one-off project.
What works: Honest feedback loops and willingness to ditch what isn’t delivering.
What doesn’t: Sticking to the plan just because it’s “what we agreed.” The whole point is to get better over time.
If you only remember one thing: keep it simple, keep it focused, and let Demandbase do the grunt work while you and your teams stay in sync. Don’t expect instant magic—start small, learn fast, and keep iterating. That’s how you actually get marketing and sales aligned around accounts that matter.