Part I From lead-centric to account-centric marketing Today’s marketing stacks — and It’s time to recognize that we’re not marketing marketing departments — are built and selling to a lead. We’re marketing and selling around the ‘lead’, the individual buyer to an account. who progresses along your funnel until Lead-centric marketing isn’t designed he or she is ready to buy. to handle accounts: But in most cases, the buyer is never a single person. • It wastes time, budget and effort filling the funnel He or she is almost always part of a buying team. with prospects that aren’t associated with any And the bigger the deal, the more people, departments target account. and disciplines get involved. • It can’t connect individual prospects with their colleagues across the account. That’s why so many B2B companies have hit a wall • It can’t map the relationships between the decision- with their demand generation efforts. makers and influencers within the account. • It can’t track the state or level of engagement of the entire account at any given time. “ Salespeople talk about accounts, they • It can’t coordinate or synchronize interactions to deliver consistent messages to the entire talk about customers… they don’t talk account buying team. about leads. Salespeople think about That’s where Account Based Marketing comes in. how they’re going to win accounts in the first place, then how they’re going to keep and grow those accounts.” Megan Heuer, VP Research, SiriusDecisions 5