​"ABM" has become a loaded term.

Over-priced ABM platforms have spent a decade spinning a fundamental B2B concept into an overly complex buzzword soup to justify their insane prices.

But ABM doesn't require a $100K+ piece of software.

I'd suggest a simple 3 part framework: account selection, account engagement, and account measurement. Comment here with your take.

Mutiny is a B2B company that gets ABM.

​The results are impressive.

For context, Mutiny is an AI-native, Series C SaaS co, that last raised at $600M post. They've become a recognized brand and invest in a modern GTM strategy.

Next week Lauren and I are joining their Head of Marketing and BDR Leader on a webinar to learn from their ICP program and account list building strategy.

In this newsletter I'm to previewing Mutiny’s story + my frameworks...

Finding Focus in B2B

Spray and pay might have “worked” for 2021 buyers. But 2024 requires focus. The higher bar for new purchases means a higher bar for sales and marketing. I think of this as a return to rigor.

Like many B2B companies, the marketing team at Mutiny faced a familiar challenge when implementing their account-based marketing strategy -- how to effectively identify and prioritize their ideal target accounts. Initially, they relied on broad criteria and gut instinct to build their target account list.

As the market shifted and the Mutiny GTM matured, they built an ICP program.

Creating an ICP Program

Your account list is not frozen in time. ICP is an ongoing initiative to define, translate, enable, and improve your focus.

Mutiny got this principle from the start. They started scrappy with a spreadsheet and some broad assumptions. Then they brought in Keyplay to build a more sophisticated ICP model, integrated with Salesforce. As the team grew, they involved stakeholders from CS, Sales, and Marketing to iterate and improve on their approach. Now they have a well-defined program that drives strategy and execution.

Prioritizing Accounts

Filters are a great way to identify your TAM or SAM. But your ICP is more nuanced. It can’t be articulated as a rigid set of data attributes. Mutiny thought of their ICP as a gradient. They used Keyplay scoring to place each account on that gradient based on signals and lookalikes.

Conceptually, you can think of prioritizing your market in two parts. 1.) From TAM to SAM; 2.) from SAM to ICP.

• Filter your SAM (Serviceable Available Market). This reduces your TAM into who you can service currently, usually bound by geography, company size, and industries. Filters set guardrails.
• Score your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile). ICP defines who you serve best and scoring helps you stack rank every account within your market. Scores and tiers set priority within.

For Mutiny, the model came together like this:

While it's possible to model your ICP in a spreadsheet, using AI Lookalikes, custom signals, and dynamic scoring gives you a next level of focus.

Validating The Model

As Mutiny took their ICP program forward, they divided existing LinkedIn Ads campaigns by account tier. Here's what they saw:

This initial analysis helped validate the model and gave them some quick wins. The team was able to stop spending money on accounts that didn't convert (C and D tier) and focus on the accounts that were turning into opportunities (A and B tier).

This is one way an accurate scoring model can help you get more from each dollar of marketing spend.

Honing The ICP

As Mutiny's business evolved, they revisited assumptions. Liam Goldfarb came in as the first BDR. The team grew and Liam took on a leadership role. Meanwhile they were learning what worked best, which customers were most successful, and where they wanted to focus moving forward.

So Liam worked with the marketing leaders, sales leaders, and CS leaders to recalibrate. They approached the exercise from 3 angles:

1.) CUSTOMER ANALYSIS

They analyzed their best customer and found patterns to improve their ICP model. Some assumptions from earlier iterations were no longer valid and some new signals emerged.

2.) STAKEHOLDER INPUT

Like most things, a good ICP program mixes art and science. Qualitative input gives context to the customer analysis. The magic is in the middle. The Mutiny GTM team dedicated an offsite session to review their account signals and prioritize assumptions. As their model evolved, Liam checked back with the team for feedback on the outputs.

3.) BACKTESTING THE NEW MODEL

At Keyplay, we help a lot of B2B teams back-test their ICP models. Overtime, we've learned an approach that helps hone the model and give build confidence in the outputs (account scores and tiers). A great back-test will look something like this:

After working through their new model, Mutiny back tested against a curate list of top accounts (high value). The results showed 44% of top accounts scoring A, 44% scoring B, and only 12% scoring C or D. This helped confirm the model and gave the team confidence moving forward.

Wrap Up

ABM has become a bit of a gross term over the years. But in 2024, many of us are on a journey to drive greater focus in sales and marketing. With buyer's raising the bar, a "spray and pray" approach won't fly.

You don't need a $100K+ ABM platform. Instead you need a thoughtful account-based strategy that helps bring focus to the best-fit buyers. The ideal customer profile (ICP) is a foundational component. From Mutiny's experience, we see how to treat ICP as a program (not a one-time project), how to translate a well-defined customer profile into a dynamic ICP model (beyond rigid filters), how to enable sales & marketing teams to focus on the best accounts, and how to continuously hone and improve as things change.

Are you working your ICP strategy this summer?

I'd love to hear how you're approaching it. Leave a comment on LinkedIn or reply here with your thoughts.

And I hope to see you on Mutiny's webinar next week. 📺 👀

Best,
Adam

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