Speaking to leaders every day about their Account Based Marketing (ABM) strategy, I'm finding they consistently fall into one of three buckets. Each represents a different stage of maturity, with distinct challenges and opportunities.

Here's what I'm hearing and the specific advice that's working for teams at each stage.

Stage 1: Not Started (Just an Idea)

The Situation: You know ABM is important. You've read the case studies, attended the webinars, maybe even allocated a small pilot budget. But you haven't actually launched anything..

Common Symptoms:

  • "We've identified our top 50 accounts but haven't started outreach"
  • "We're planning to do ABM in Q4/next year"
  • "We need to get organized first"

The Real Problem: You're overcomplicating it. ABM feels overwhelming because you're trying to perfect everything before you start.

How to Break Through:

Start with a campaign, aligned to one Sales Development Representative (SDR) or Account Executive (AE), targeting 10 accounts and the top 5 contacts for each - so just 50 people to begin with. 

Once you’ve picked the most important prospects you can then run a single, focused campaign. Don't worry about having the perfect tech stack or comprehensive account intelligence at this point.

You want a win of course, but more importantly you need to build some momentum and generate data on what’s working.

Account research takes a ton of time (without the right tools), so to ensure it doesn’t spiral out of control, timebox it per account or stakeholder. Aim for approximately 2 hours per account, with 15 mins for each stakeholder. It might still feel like a lot of time, but you can’t run effective ABM without knowing the account and contacts you’re targeting.

Then focus on just a couple of channels first. Don't try to orchestrate email, LinkedIn, direct mail, advertising and calling simultaneously. 

Start with email, LinkedIn and calling to start with and nail those before expanding.

Set a 2-week deadline. Give yourself two weeks to launch. This forces you to make decisions rather than endlessly planning.

Ahead of starting, get the teams (Sales and Marketing) excited - you’re about to change how you go to market, forever. 

Stage 2: Started but Stalled (Too Complex and Time-Consuming)

The Situation: You launched ABM with enthusiasm but quickly hit a wall. The manual work is crushing your team, and results aren't justifying the effort.

Common Symptoms:

  • "We researched 55 people in two months but haven't started outreach"
  • "Our team spends all day on research and has no time for actual selling"
  • "We can only handle 2-3 accounts per quarter"

The Real Problem: You're doing everything manually when you should be automating the heavy lifting.

How to Get Unstuck:

Audit your time allocation. Track where your team actually spends time. If more than 30% goes to research and content creation, you need better processes.

Embrace AI for the grunt work. Use AI tools for initial research, content personalization, and first-draft messaging. Your people should focus on strategy, relationship building, and closing deals.

Create templates that don't feel like templates. Build flexible frameworks for different scenarios (new account, re-engagement, event follow-up) that can be quickly customized rather than created from scratch each time.

Implement human-in-the-loop automation. Set up systems where AI does 80% of the work and humans add the final 20% of personality and approval. This maintains quality while dramatically increasing output.

Measure efficiency, not just effectiveness. Track metrics like "accounts contacted per week" and "time from research to outreach" alongside response rates and meetings booked.

Stage 3: Working but Hard to Scale

The Situation: Your ABM program is generating results, but you've hit a ceiling. You can't grow without proportionally increasing headcount and costs.

Common Symptoms:

  • "We're successful with our current accounts but can't expand"
  • "Our cost per account is too high to scale"
  • "We need more team members to handle more accounts but don’t have the budge"

The Real Problem: You're trying to scale artisanal ABM instead of building systematic, repeatable processes.

How to Scale Systematically:

Tier your accounts. Create different levels of ABM intensity:

  • Tier 1 (top 25 accounts): Full white-glove treatment
  • Tier 2 (next 100 accounts): Semi-automated with human oversight
  • Tier 3 (next 500 accounts): Highly automated with minimal human touch

Build playbooks for common scenarios. Document your most successful campaigns and turn them into repeatable playbooks. Include research frameworks, messaging templates, and follow-up sequences.

Invest in the right technology stack. At scale, you need platforms that can handle research, personalization, and campaign orchestration without linear increases in human effort.

Train your team on systems, not tactics. Focus training on how to use your processes and tools efficiently rather than teaching everyone to be master researchers and copywriters.

Create feedback loops. Implement systems to capture what's working across all campaigns and automatically improve your templates and approaches.

The Common Thread: Start Before You're Ready

Across all three stages, the biggest blocker is getting the wrong mix between efficiency and effectiveness. At stage one, you’re too worried about pefecting the outcomes to even start; at stage three you’re missing the efficiencies that allow you to scale.

The teams making progress are those who start imperfectly and iterate quickly rather than trying to build the perfect system from day one.

Moving Forward: Your Next 30 Days

If you're in Stage 1: Schedule time this week to pick 10 accounts and draft your first campaign. Launch something imperfect within two weeks.

If you're in Stage 2: Audit your current process and identify the biggest time sink. Find an AI tool or automation that can eliminate 50% of that manual work.

If you're in Stage 3: Map your most successful campaign and turn it into a repeatable playbook. Test it on your next tier of accounts.

The goal isn't to have perfect ABM from day one. It's to build momentum, learn from real campaigns, and systematically improve your approach based on actual results rather than theoretical best practices.

Remember: Your competitors are probably stuck in Stage 1 or 2. Moving to consistent execution, even if imperfect, gives you a significant advantage in today's market.

Gain a free audit of your current ABM set-up (or future plans). Book a time that suits you.