Account-based marketing (ABM) isn’t just about targeting the right accounts. It’s about guiding those accounts through a personalised, multi-stage journey that turns anonymous cold leads into engaged customers.
But this journey looks very different from the traditional linear funnel. In an ABM-led strategy, each stage is hyper-targeted, each touchpoint is intentional, and each piece of content is aligned to specific stakeholders within the buying group.
Here, we map out the modern ABM-led buyer journey from cold to closed – and explore how high-performing B2B marketers are building momentum at every stage.
Stage 1: Target and identify
Before the journey begins, you need the right accounts. High-performing ABM programmes start with tight collaboration between marketing, sales, and customer success to select target accounts based on:
- Ideal customer profiles (ICP)
- Intent signals (from platforms like 6sense, Bombora, Demandbase)
- Technographic and firmographic fit
- Historical win data and expansion potential
Tactics: Account prioritisation frameworks, tiering models (1:1, 1:few, 1:many), data enrichment tools
Stage 2: Awareness and relevance
At this stage, prospects are cold—they may not even know they have a problem. The goal is to generate awareness without pitching too early.
Tactics:
- Thought leadership content distributed via LinkedIn and display ads
- Personalised direct mail or video messages
- Influencer or partner co-marketing
Success metrics: Ad impressions, account-level engagement, brand recall, first-party website visits
Stage 3: Engagement and education
Once an account is aware of your brand, you begin to educate and build credibility. The focus shifts to delivering value and answering early questions.
Tactics:
- Targeted content hubs based on industry or persona
- Webinars and interactive events (ideally co-hosted with sales)
- ABM landing pages that adapt based on job title or company
Success metrics: Time on page, webinar attendance, repeat site visits, engagement depth
Stage 4: Consideration and buying committee alignment
Here’s where traditional funnels often break down. In ABM, you need to engage multiple stakeholders within the account—not just the initial lead.
Tactics:
- Persona-specific email nurtures and remarketing ads
- Account-based sequences from SDRs and AEs
- Custom pitch decks or business cases tailored to each stakeholder
- Interactive tools (e.g. ROI calculators) to drive internal consensus
Success metrics: Buying group coverage, meeting bookings, engagement across personas, sourced pipeline
Stage 5: Opportunity and decision
Once a buying group is aligned and interested, it’s time to push toward a formal opportunity. Marketing doesn’t stop here—they support sales with:
Tactics:
- One-to-one content (e.g. use-case-specific case studies)
- Support in proposal development
- Late-stage nurture with bottom-of-funnel assets
Success metrics: Pipeline velocity, demo requests, proposal acceptance rates, win rate
Stage 6: Post-sale and expansion
ABM doesn’t end at closed-won. The most successful programmes treat existing customers as critical accounts for expansion and advocacy.
Tactics:
- Onboarding enablement content
- Customer success engagement campaigns
- Upsell/cross-sell nurture journeys
- Referral and advocacy programmes
Success metrics: Customer retention, expansion revenue, customer satisfaction, referral volume
Integrating sales and marketing throughout
A successful ABM buyer journey isn’t linear or siloed. Sales and marketing must collaborate continuously, sharing insights and orchestrating coordinated outreach.
That means:
- Shared dashboards with account engagement data
- Weekly account stand-ups
- Sales enablement tied to journey stage
- Mutual ownership of KPIs like pipeline influence and deal velocity
Technology to power the journey
The ABM-led funnel relies on a connected tech stack that includes:
- Intent data platforms: 6sense, Bombora
- CRM and marketing automation: Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo
- Engagement tools: Demandbase, Drift, Folloze
- Sales enablement: Seismic, Highspot
These tools enable real-time orchestration, personalisation at scale, and visibility across every touchpoint.
Final thought
The ABM-led buyer journey isn’t about pushing leads through a funnel. It’s about guiding people through a considered, value-rich experience tailored to their role, needs, and timing.
From first impression to final handshake (and beyond), every interaction is intentional.
If your ABM strategy isn’t built around a mapped buyer journey, you’re not unlocking its full potential. Because when sales and marketing work in tandem to meet buyers where they are, cold leads don’t just warm up – they convert.
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