In Partnership with 42agency
The biggest insight from my LinkedIn post
I knew a lot of marketers struggled with ABM measurement.
I didn’t realize how widespread the problem actually is until this post took off:
The comments and DMs told the whole story.
Marketers at every level said the same thing:
“We don’t know how to forecast ABM”
“We have no baseline for performance”
“No one ever taught us what success looks like”
These weren’t just junior marketers.
These were directors, VPs, heads of demand and ABM leaders.
The takeaway was clear.
The ABM industry skipped the part where we all agreed on how to measure success.
Why ABM measurement is such a mess
When you strip away the campaigns and tactics, the real issue is simple: Most teams have never had a shared definition of what ABM success even looks like.
Platform dashboards do help with tracking success:
account engagement
sales and marketing activities
pipeline and revenue won
The problem is no one tells you how to use that data to forecast or communicate the success of your ABM strategy.
It looks great on paper, but what do you do with it?
Marketers end up guessing.
Sales ends up confused.
Leadership ends up skeptical.
And ABM ends up misunderstood.
What the modern ABM funnel should actually look like
This first screenshot is the entire story.
Nothing fancy. No vanity metrics. No noise.
Hell, the design is like a child made it (I’m no graphic designer).
Just clear, measurable conversion points.
Accounts Reached
Accounts Engaged
Meetings Booked
Qualified Opportunities
Pipeline Created
Revenue Won
This is the real funnel for 1:Few and cluster-based ABM.
It is simple and teams can align around it fast because everyone understands what each step means.
Don’t believe me? This is exactly how the CMO of ContentStack, Gurdeep Dhillon measures success and communicates it to the c-suite and board.
The benchmarks most teams have been missing
This second screenshot shows the associated goals that should guide performance.
Some highlights:
80 percent of your target accounts should be reached
40 percent should reach an engagement threshold
20 to 25 percent should convert to meetings
75 to 80 percent of meetings should become qualified opportunities
Pipeline should tie directly to historical ACV
Revenue should tie directly to your historical win rate
These numbers create a shared language with your GTM leaders.
Once you use these metrics, forecasting and communicating success stops being guesswork and starts being math.
Why this matters for 1:Few ABM
When you run 1:Few, the entire strategy depends on precision.
Precision targeting.
Precision messaging.
Precision measurement.
Without a clear funnel and benchmarks, ABM gets swallowed by all the activity metrics your paid channels and platforms throw at you.
But once you use this measurement model, three things happen:
Your targets make more sense
Your forecasting becomes predictable
Your leadership finally understands your results
This is what most ABM teams have been missing.
If you want to apply this to your own ABM plan
I created the ABM Forecasting Sheet to help you set goals, measure your funnel and build a forecast your leadership can trust.
If you want, I can walk you through your numbers and help you build your plan for next quarter. A few spots are open before Christmas.
Let’s make ABM measurable, predictable and easy to explain.
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What is your biggest challenge with ABM?
The best marketing ideas come from marketers who live it. That’s what The Marketing Millennials delivers: real insights, fresh takes, and no fluff. Written by Daniel Murray, a marketer who knows what works, this newsletter cuts through the noise so you can stop guessing and start winning. Subscribe and level up your marketing game.
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Author: Tyler Pleiss
