Account based marketing (ABM) sounds great on paper—target high-value accounts, personalize your outreach, and win bigger deals. But if you’ve tried it, you know the reality: it’s easy to drown in spreadsheets, half-baked intent data, and tools that promise more than they deliver. This guide is for marketers and sales teams who want to cut through the noise and actually put ABM into action, using Leadonion to make the process less painful and more effective.
Let’s be clear: Leadonion isn’t magic, but it can help you find real opportunities, track engagement, and avoid the usual ABM busywork—if you use it right. Here’s how.
1. Start with the Right Accounts (and Don’t Overthink It)
ABM lives or dies by your account list. If you’re chasing the wrong companies, nothing else matters. Don’t get sucked into analysis paralysis or endless data purchases.
How to get started:
- Start small. Pick a handful (10–30) of accounts where you know you have a shot—existing customers, warm leads, or companies you’ve lost deals with before.
- Use what you have. CRM data, closed-won/lost reports, your own sales team’s gut feel—these are usually more reliable than “AI-powered” lookalike lists.
- Upload your list to Leadonion. Leadonion lets you import accounts directly, so you don’t have to mess around with CSV templates for hours. Just be realistic—don’t throw in 500 accounts and expect magic.
Pro tip: Don’t ignore the accounts that are already poking around your website or opening your emails. Sometimes the “hot” accounts are right under your nose.
2. Map Decision Makers—Skip the Org Chart Rabbit Hole
You need to know who actually cares about your offer inside each account. But you don’t need a LinkedIn stalker’s guide to the whole org chart.
How Leadonion helps:
- Find relevant contacts fast. Leadonion pulls in decision makers and influencers based on your criteria (department, seniority, etc.). It’s not perfect, but it’s less painful than hunting on LinkedIn all day.
- Filter ruthlessly. Don’t get distracted by every “VP” or “Head of” title. Focus on the 2–3 people most likely to reply.
- Enrich with intent signals. Leadonion can show you which contacts are actually engaging—visiting your site, opening emails, or showing up in intent data feeds.
What to ignore: Spending hours researching everyone with “Director” in their title. You want relevant, reachable people, not a phonebook.
3. Listen for Real Buying Signals (Not Just Vanity Metrics)
It’s tempting to chase every click and open as if it’s a buying signal. Most aren’t.
What matters:
- Website engagement from target accounts. Leadonion’s tracking pixels can tell you when someone from your account list is poking around key pages—pricing, product features, or case studies.
- Intent data with context. Leadonion aggregates intent data from multiple sources. This can be hit or miss, so don’t treat every “spike” as gospel. Look for repeated engagement or patterns, not one-off anomalies.
- Email/activity engagement. Opens are nice, but actual replies, meeting bookings, and downloads are what you want.
Pro tip: Set up Leadonion alerts for key activities (e.g., someone from a target account views your pricing page twice in one week). But don’t let your inbox become a graveyard of pointless notifications—tune your triggers to focus on what really matters.
4. Build Outreach That’s Actually Personal (Not Just “Hi, %FirstName%”)
ABM is supposed to be personalized, but most “personalization” is just mail merges with a company name. You can do better.
How to get it right with Leadonion:
- Segment by real behavior. Use Leadonion’s filters to group contacts by what they’ve actually done—visited certain pages, opened specific emails, attended webinars, etc.
- Craft messages that reference their actions. “I saw you checked out our pricing page twice last week” beats “Just following up…” every time.
- Don’t blast everyone. Send fewer, more thoughtful emails. Leadonion makes it easy to suppress contacts who haven’t engaged in months—use that.
What doesn’t work: Generic sequences. If your message could go to anyone, it’ll get ignored. Use info from Leadonion to make each touchpoint count.
5. Align With Sales—Or Prepare to Waste Your Time
ABM fails fast if marketing and sales aren’t on the same page. That means more than tossing MQLs over the fence.
How to use Leadonion for real alignment:
- Share account insights. Leadonion’s dashboards and reports actually make it easy for both teams to see which accounts are warming up and who’s engaging.
- Set up joint workflows. For example: When a target account shows intent, auto-assign a task to the right sales rep. Don’t assume anyone’s checking a dashboard for fun.
- Keep feedback loops tight. If sales says a lead is junk or dead, update your targeting. Leadonion lets you tag or suppress accounts so you’re not chasing ghosts.
Ignore: “Hand-offs” where marketing’s job ends at a form fill. ABM works when both sides own the outcome.
6. Track What Matters (And Don’t Obsess Over Vanity KPIs)
It’s easy to get lost in dashboards, but most ABM metrics are just noise. You want to know: Are target accounts moving forward, or not?
What to measure with Leadonion:
- Account engagement. Are your target accounts actually interacting with your brand in meaningful ways? Track repeat visits, replies, and meeting bookings.
- Pipeline movement. Are more of your target accounts moving to sales-qualified or opportunity stages? Leadonion can sync with your CRM to help show this.
- Influence, not just attribution. Sometimes ABM takes six months to pay off. Don’t expect instant ROI from every campaign.
What to ignore: Email open rates, impressions, or any metric that doesn’t tie back to pipeline or revenue. If it doesn’t help you win deals, stop reporting it.
7. Keep It Simple, Iterate, and Don’t Fall for Shiny Objects
The ABM software space is full of tools that promise to automate everything or “unlock” hidden revenue. In reality, the basics matter most.
If you do nothing else, do this:
- Focus on a manageable number of accounts.
- Track actions that matter (not just activity for the sake of it).
- Personalize your outreach based on real signals, not just names in a spreadsheet.
- Work closely with sales, and adapt quickly based on what’s working.
Leadonion’s value: It cuts out a lot of the busywork and helps you focus on what matters. It won’t do your job for you, but it does make it easier to see which accounts are worth your time and which aren’t.
Wrapping Up: ABM Isn’t Magic—It’s Just Focused, Persistent Work
Don’t let buzzwords or endless feature lists distract you. ABM is about picking the right accounts, paying attention to real buying signals, and showing up with messages that actually land. Tools like Leadonion can help, as long as you keep things simple and iterate as you go. The best ABM teams aren’t chasing every shiny new feature—they’re running tight, focused campaigns and getting a little bit better each month. That’s how you actually win.