ABM playbook for enterprise

Effective ABM isn’t one-size-fits-all. At Cognism, we run a layered ABM playbook that starts broad and gets progressively more personalised:

• 1:many ABM: Broad, low-touch campaigns targeting priority verticals or territories with shared messaging.
• 1:few ABM: Narrower campaigns for cohorts of accounts that share characteristics (e.g. industry, product use, signal engagement), with light personalisation.
• 1:one ABM: Deeply personalised campaigns for high-intent, high-value accounts. Custom messaging, microsites, and multi-threaded sales outreach.

Each layer feeds into the next. High engagement in a 1:many campaign? That’s your shortlisting signal for 1:few. Account enters opportunity stage? Time to go 1:one.

The foundation of great ABM plays isn’t who you think might buy, it’s who’s already showing signs of intent. The right accounts aren’t just ICP-fit; they’re active.

High-performing ABM teams use:

• Intent signals from sources like Bombora or first-party engagement (e.g. visits to high-intent pages or ad clicks).
• Job join triggers to spot changes in the buying committee structure.
• Technographic and firmographic filters to refine by region, employee size, or tech stack.

Using Cognism Sales Companion, these data points come together in real time. Sales and marketing work from a single, live list of in-market accounts, which means no guesswork and no lag.

We prioritise accounts using a scoring system that blends fit and intent, including:

• SaaS industry.
• 1–5K employees.
• 5+ SDRs in EMEA.
• Signals like hiring, intent surges, and recent closed-lost.
• CRM or sales engagement tools are in place.

“We use Cognism to build high-fit audiences based on ICP filters + real-time intent and hiring triggers. It gives us a 90% match rate on LinkedIn and a 63% CTR lift.” — Tim Hughes, Demand Generation Lead

Enterprise deals involve 6–10 stakeholders. If you’re only talking to one, you're stalling the deal before it starts.

Start by mapping key personas:

1. Decision-makers – CMO, Head of RevOps, VP Sales.
2. Champions – Demand Gen Manager, SDR Lead, Sales Enablement.
3. Blockers – Legal, Finance, Procurement.

With Cognism, use “Recommended Contacts” to surface these roles based on job title, seniority, and engagement activity. You’ll get phone-verified emails and mobile numbers, making multithreading easier across every channel.

💡 Bonus: Use this to feed 1:few campaigns by grouping similar accounts together and delivering pain-point-driven messaging.

When ABM fails, it’s usually because sales and marketing are out of sync. You need to run joint ABM plays off the same data, in real time.

Tip: Here are some ideas for account-based selling.

Here’s what we’d recommend:

• Weekly ABM syncs: Review surging accounts, ad engagement, and contact-level activity.
• CRM & SEP routing: Push high-fit contacts with verified data straight into sales workflows.
• Trigger-based outreach: Sales gets alerts when a decision-maker joins, engagement spikes, or hiring patterns change.

Good ABM isn’t about clicks but how quickly you move high-fit accounts through the funnel.

With Cognism’s enrichment and CRM integrations, you can:

• Standardise titles and company data before it hits your systems.
• Track cross-channel engagement by persona.
• Attribute how ABM campaigns influence the opportunity creation, pipeline velocity, and win rate.

This clarity helps you double down on the best-performing sequences and campaigns and justify the spend.

Enterprise buyers don’t respond to one channel. To move deals forward, you need a surround-sound strategy tailored by account and role.

Cognism powers this orchestration by giving teams:

• Role-specific contact lists for high-CTR ad audiences.
• Verified emails and mobiles for nurture and outbound.
• Job join & activity signals to personalise message timing.
• Real-time visibility into who’s engaging and where.

Pair that with:

• Personalised microsites for 1:one campaigns.
• Direct mail gifts via Reachdesk.
• Subject matter expert access (e.g. CMO books or 1:1 training offers).
• Dinner invites and LinkedIn follow-ups.

How do we activate our 1:one campaigns?

 

What great enterprise ABM play looks like

Here are some of the results from Cognism's ABM playbook:

• 70% higher ACV from enterprise SaaS accounts.
• 5.6 mins average dwell time on personalised microsites.
• 63% CTR increase on LinkedIn ads using Cognism data.
• 10x increase in demo/pricing page visits post-campaign.
• Over $75K opportunities sourced from account-based dinners and follow-up.
• Faster progression through opportunity stages from intent-led follow-up.

ABM isn’t just about pipeline creation - it’s about pipeline momentum. And that only happens when you’re working from live data, across the full buying committee, with sales in lockstep.

FAQs about ABM

Why shift to a more signal-led ABM strategy?

Signal-led ABM helps to know who to target and when to reach out, and prevents wasted time and budget. With real-time data and verified contact insights, your team focuses on where there’s actual demand.

What if we already have an ABM programme?

If you've already got an ABM programme in place, perfect. This play is built to enhance it. Cognism helps you scale faster by improving audience quality, execution speed, and pipeline tracking.

Want more proven GTM plays for modern marketers?

Explore the GTM Plays Hub and get more playbooks that turn insight into pipeline, fast.