Introduction:

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a highly effective marketing strategy that targets specific accounts, rather than a broader audience. However, one of the biggest challenges faced by marketers in ABM is lead qualification. Qualifying leads is the process of determining whether a lead is a good fit for your product or service and has a higher chance of converting into a customer.

Importance of effectively qualifying account-based marketing leads:

The process of lead qualification is critical for ABM as it helps to:

• Identify high-quality accounts that are more likely to convert into customers


• Save time and resources by focusing only on relevant accounts and contacts


• Improve conversion rates by targeting accounts that are more likely to make a purchase


• Ensure that sales and marketing efforts are aligned towards the same goals

By effectively qualifying account-based marketing leads, you can improve the overall success of your ABM strategy and achieve your marketing goals more efficiently. In the next sections, we will discuss some tips and best practices for qualifying ABM leads without wasting time.

Step 1: Define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Defining your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is the first step towards qualifying account-based marketing leads without wasting time. An ICP is a hypothetical description of a company that would benefit from your products or services. Your ICP should help you to focus your marketing efforts on those prospects who are most likely to become high-value customers.

What is an ICP?

An Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is a detailed description of the type of company that is most likely to benefit from your products or services. It includes both firmographic and demographic details and may include the ideal job titles and decision-making roles that you want to target.

The benefits of creating an ICP

• Focus: An ICP helps you to focus your marketing efforts on those prospects who are most likely to become high-value customers.


• Efficiency: You can use your ICP to identify the best channels to reach your target audience and create custom messaging that speaks directly to their needs.


• Lead Quality: By creating a well-defined ICP, you can increase the quality of your pipeline, which will lead to better conversion rates and higher ROI.

How to Make an ICP for Your Business

1. Review Your Customer Base: Look at your existing customers and identify those that are most profitable for your business. Identify common traits that these customers share such as industry, company size or job titles.


2. Research Your Market: Once you have identified your profitable customers, research your market to identify other companies that match your ICP. Study their websites, social media content, and marketing activities to identify trends and patterns.


3. Create Your ICP: Use the insights you have gained from reviewing your customer base and researching your market to create a detailed ICP. Make sure it includes both firmographic and demographic details, as well as any ideal job titles and decision-making roles you want to target.

By establishing a clear ICP, you can help ensure that you're targeting the right prospects with a tailored strategy, allowing you to maximize your marketing budget and increase your ROI.

For more information on how ExactBuyer can help with your audience intelligence needs, please visit our website.

Step 2: Identify Target Accounts

Identifying and prioritizing target accounts is a crucial aspect of account-based marketing (ABM). It allows you to focus your efforts on the accounts that are most likely to convert and maximize your return on investment. Here are some ways to identify and prioritize target accounts:

Leverage Firmographic Data

Firmographic data includes information about a company, such as its industry, size, revenue, location, and number of employees. By leveraging this data, you can identify companies that are a good fit for your product or service. You can use online databases or tools like ExactBuyer to gather and filter firmographic data to prioritize your target accounts.

Leverage Technographic Data

Technographic data includes information about a company's technology stack, such as the software and hardware they use. This data can help you understand the company's needs and pain points, enabling you to tailor your messaging and offerings. You can use tools like BuiltWith or HG Insights to gather technographic data about your target accounts.

Leverage Intent Data

Intent data includes information about a company's behavior and actions, such as their online searches, website visits, and content consumption. This data can help you identify companies that are actively researching solutions in your domain. You can use tools like Bombora or TechTarget to gather intent data and prioritize your target accounts accordingly.

• Collect and analyze data from multiple sources to identify accounts that meet your ideal customer profile.


• Prioritize the accounts based on factors such as revenue potential, existing relationships, and level of engagement.


• Develop personalized messaging and content for each target account to increase relevance and engagement.

Step 3: Create a Scoring System

Creating a scoring system is a crucial part of account-based marketing. It allows you to track and quantify the engagement of target accounts so that you can determine which accounts are more likely to convert into customers. Follow these steps to create an effective account-based marketing scoring system:

Determine Your Scoring Criteria

The first step is to determine the criteria that you will use to score your target accounts. These criteria can include factors such as the size of the company, the number of employees, the industry, and the level of engagement. Determine which factors are most important to your business and assign them a numerical value.

Assign Point Values

Assign point values to each criterion based on its level of importance. For example, if the size of the company is a critical factor for your business, you may assign a higher point value to this criterion than to others.

Establish Score Ranges

Establish score ranges that reflect the level of engagement of each target account. For example, if an account scores between 75-100, that may indicate a high level of engagement, while an account that scores below 50 may indicate low engagement.

Monitor and Adjust Scores

Monitor the scores of your target accounts regularly and adjust your scoring system as needed. For example, if you find that certain criteria are not contributing significantly to the overall score, you may consider removing or reducing their point value.

By following these steps, you can create a scoring system that effectively tracks and quantifies the engagement of your target accounts, ultimately helping you to identify the accounts that are most likely to convert into customers.

Step 4: Develop a Contact Acquisition Strategy

Now that you have identified your ideal target accounts and personas, it's time to start building your contact list. In this step, we'll go over various ways to acquire relevant contacts, including using data providers, leveraging LinkedIn and creating contact lists.

Ways to Acquire Relevant Contacts

1. Using Data Providers - Data providers like ExactBuyer can offer access to real-time contact and company data, allowing you to identify your ideal contacts quickly and effectively.



2. Leveraging LinkedIn - LinkedIn is a great platform for finding and connecting with potential leads. Use Advanced Search to find people based on job title, company, location, and other criteria.



3. Creating Contact Lists - One of the simplest and most effective ways to acquire contacts is to create contact lists from various sources like website visitors, events, trade shows, referrals, and more.

By using a combination of these methods, you can build a comprehensive contact list that will enable you to target and engage with your ideal buyers.

Step 5: Nurture Accounts and Pass on to Sales team

As you identify and prioritize your target accounts using an account-based marketing strategy, it's critical to have an effective nurture strategy in place. This step involves passing on the qualified leads to the sales team and personalizing messages for the leads not yet ready to convert. The ultimate goal is to build trust and establish a relationship with the potential customer over time until they are willing to make a purchase.

The Importance of an Effective Nurture Strategy

An effective nurture strategy helps increase the chances of converting leads into loyal customers. By personalizing your messaging and continuing to provide value to potential customers, you can build a relationship with them, ultimately increasing their trust in your brand. In turn, this trust can lead to more sales and higher revenue.

Nurturing leads also allows your sales team to focus their time and resources on the most promising opportunities, ensuring they are working on the leads with the highest chance of converting to customers.

How to Personalize Messages

Personalization is key to an effective nurture strategy. By sending personalized messages, you can tailor the content to the specific needs and pain points of each lead. You can do this by using the data you've collected about them, such as their job title, industry or location.

When creating personalized messages, it's important to make them engaging, relevant and informative. This could involve providing industry insights or sharing success stories that relate to the potential customer. By doing so, you can establish your brand as a thought leader and build trust with your audience.

Passing on Accounts to Sales

Once you've nurtured a lead and they're ready to convert, it's time to pass them on to the sales team. To ensure a smooth handoff, it's critical to have a clear system in place for passing on leads. This could involve using a CRM system to track and manage leads or setting up automatic notifications for the sales team.

When passing on leads, it's essential to provide the sales team with all the information they need to close the deal. This could include details about the potential customer's pain points, their budget, and any other relevant information. The more information the sales team has, the more effective they can be in closing the deal and turning the lead into a loyal customer.

• Personalize messages based on data collected


• Make messages engaging, relevant and informative


• Pass on leads using a clear system


• Provide sales team with all necessary information

Conclusion: How to Qualify Account-Based Marketing Leads Without Wasting Time

Effective lead qualification is crucial for the success of your account-based marketing strategy. By implementing these 5 steps, you can streamline your lead qualification process and ensure that your sales team is focusing on the most promising prospects. Here is a brief outline of the steps:

Step 1: Define Your Ideal Customer Profile

• Determine the characteristics of your ideal customer


• Identify your target accounts

Step 2: Gather Information on Your Leads

• Use a data and intelligence platform like ExactBuyer to gather real-time contact and company data


• Use this information to tailor your messaging and outreach

Step 3: Score Your Leads

• Develop a scoring system to rank your leads based on their fit and engagement level


• Determine which leads are most likely to convert into customers

Step 4: Nurture Your Leads

• Develop a targeted and personalized nurture program for each lead


• Use marketing automation tools to track and measure engagement

Step 5: Review and Adjust

• Regularly review and adjust your lead qualification process to optimize for effectiveness


• Continuously refine your ideal customer profile and lead scoring criteria

By following these steps, you can effectively qualify and prioritize your account-based marketing leads, saving your sales team time and resources while increasing your chances of success.

How ExactBuyer Can Help You

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