The importance of the C-suite
Nothing can be compared to the power of working directly with C-suite executives. These executives drive the direction of their businesses. They have ownership of their budgets. The buck stops with them.
Clients enjoy a comprehensive perspective of their account profiles to shape best-fit campaigns. “We provide high-level insight into decision makers across the world’s biggest organizations. We highlight what these executive decision makers care about personally, but also what they’re focused on for the upcoming quarters, and years,” says Chris Akeson, Senior Account Executive at Altrata.
ITSMA’s September 2021 survey, “How Executives Engage”, tells the story in numbers:
- 42% of executives believe personalized marketing and sales is valuable
- 32% of executives believe personalized marketing and sales is very valuable
- 32% of executives were more likely to purchase through personalized marketing and sales in September 2021 – up from 21% just 5 months earlier
Ultimately, Scott explains, ABM is about gaining a better understanding of executives and their buying committees. And then using that Executive Intelligence to be more strategic and relevant in marketing and sales.
Executive-to-executive relationships
Sales teams can’t always achieve transformational deals on their own. Executives often prefer to connect with their own peers.
Wade Maxey, Senior Account Executive at Altrata, says it’s helpful to bring in executive leadership to create peer-to-peer relationships. “We help facilitate these connections through our proprietary relationship mapping platforms. This executive-to-executive relationship mapping helps identify any past experiences they may share with customer or target account executives. For example, they may sit on the same boards. Or maybe they worked at the same company in the past. These insights can be leveraged for warm introductions or to support these relationships in other ways,” he explains.
How clients use executive intelligence to close more deals
Altrata clients leverage Boardroom Insiders’ executive intelligence in creative ways to better engage their accounts. They gain insights into their favorite sports teams and hobbies outside of the office. They learn executives’ strategic priorities for 6-12 months ahead. Clients can find out the strategic initiatives of their organizations and departments. In short, there’s a lot of great material available for hyper-personalized messaging, interactions, and events.
“We allow marketing teams to be super agile. They can take insights they didn’t know they had to quickly identify possibilities. For example, they might decide to use a regional focus. Or they can look across a key account and realize everyone went to the same university. Or everybody is interested in tennis, so they’ll scrap the golf event and create plans around their interests. We offer real-time access as we gather the insights. No one is ever stuck with static data. And they can pivot really quickly,” says Scott.
Altrata adds new information to executive profiles to help clients keep their finger on the pulse. Then they go on to quickly implement effective campaigns – with greater confidence. There is also a way for clients to request a profile refresh or additional insight into the C-suite at key accounts if they are trying to engage someone that is not in the database.
Our team has more than 18 years combined experience helping client’s level up their ABM efforts. Here are some win they helped their clients achieve:
Hyper-personalized virtual events
In May 2020, a client piloted the new executive engagement platform, BI Pro. They needed to keep their audience engaged, shifting from in person to virtual events. They uploaded their event attendee list into our platform. What did they discover? Most of the attending executives were interested in cooking. They brought in a celebrity chef and hosted a cooking class. And all attendees received care packages with the ingredients before the event.
Getting personal
One client noticed an executive at a target account went to a small college. That small college happened to be playing in the NCAA Tournament. So they sent them a Yeti mug with the school’s logo and a personalized jersey too. Unfortunately, the team didn’t make it further into the tournament, but they did form a great connection. The executive scheduled a meeting, and their relationship grew from there.
Serious attention to detail
Executives are inundated with unsolicited emails and calls. Adding a genuine, personal touch can go a long way.
One client had a difficult time getting in front of a target executive. They tried all the traditional routes. Then they decided to look through Boardroom Insiders’ profiles to uncover something unique. They discovered she liked a very specific type of tea. Their marketing team put together a beautiful box with their product information and some tea the executive liked. Sure enough, this simple, thoughtful gesture formed their initial connection. The executive got in touch to schedule a meeting.
Large-Account ABM is the ideal approach for executive engagement. And Boardroom Insiders is the best fit. We offer insights into key decision makers’ business priorities and personal interests. ABM teams take this information to make better decisions and structure tailored content, messaging and events.
Learn more about ABM and Executive Intelligence, in “How C-Suite Engagement Makes ABM More Successful”.
Pro Tip: Know the right mode of ABM that is right for your company
There are three modes of ABM marketing: Industry ABM, Named-Account ABM, and Large-Account ABM. Depending on what you are selling and who you are selling will help you decide on the most effect approach.
In our newest guide, “How C-Suite Engagement Makes ABM More Successful”, we dive deeper into each ABM style.