How do I select target accounts for ABM?

Q: How often should we refresh the target list?

Quarterly is typical, with a small monthly swap allowance (10–15%) to react to intent or territory changes.

Q: What if we don’t have third-party intent data?

Start with first-party signals (pricing/product views, return visits, content depth), segment win rates, and technographics. Layer third-party intent later to refine ranking.

Q: Should customers be in the target list?

Yes—create a separate expansion list and playbook with different goals and suppressions for net-new outreach.

Q: Who owns the target list—Marketing or Sales?

Joint ownership. Marketing builds the model and operations; Sales validates, commits to coverage, and abides by governance and SLAs.

Start with a documented ICP and disqualifiers, then build an Account Score that blends Fit (industry, size, geo, tech stack), Demand (TAM/SAM in territory, past win rates, ACV potential), Signals (website engagement, known buying roles, third-party intent), and Risk (poor unit economics, compliance constraints, churn indicators). Rank accounts, tier them (Tier 1 = 1:1; Tier 2 = 1:few; Tier 3 = 1:many), cap by seller capacity and territory rules, validate with Sales, and refresh quarterly.

ABM Targeting Plays

Define ICP & exclusions — industries, employee/revenue bands, geos, use cases, and non-ICP rules (e.g., renewals-only, unsellable segments).

Assemble data — CRM wins/losses, product fit, firmographics, technographics, website engagement, and third-party intent trends.

Build Account Score — weighted model; set thresholds per tier; include negative points for risk and low economics.

Tier & capacity plan — 1:1 strategic; 1:few rising intent; 1:many fit but colder. Cap accounts per rep/pod to ensure meaningful coverage.

Co-select with Sales — run review sessions; swap in/out based on field intel; document final list and ownership.

Operationalize in HubSpot — Company properties, Active Lists, workflows, and dashboards for coverage, engagement, and pipeline by tier.

Operationalize Target Selection in HubSpot

Create Company properties for ICP Tier, Account Score, Target Tier (1:1 / 1:few / 1:many), Territory, and Buying Group Coverage. Use Active Lists to segment by tier, region, and signal level; build suppression lists for customers, non-ICP, and compliance-blocked accounts.

Use Workflows to assign owners, open coverage tasks (identify economic buyer, champion, users), and trigger alerts when signal thresholds rise (e.g., multiple pricing page views or surging category interest). Weight buying-group coverage and signal recency higher than generic engagement in the Account Score.

Prove selection quality with dashboards: show meetings, opportunities, win rate, and ACV by tier and source. Track coverage metrics (contacts per key role) and time-to-first-meeting. Refresh the model quarterly and adjust weights by what actually converts.

30-Day ABM Targeting Sprint (HubSpot)

Days 1–5: Finalize ICP, exclusions, territories, and capacity caps; define Account Score factors and weights.
Days 6–10: Enrich companies (firmo/techno/intent); add Company properties; backfill historical engagement and wins.
Days 11–15: Run the scoring model across TAM; rank; draft Tiers 1/2/3; build Active & suppression lists.
Days 16–20: Sales validation workshops; swap in strategic/whitespace accounts; lock ownership and pod assignments.
Days 21–30: Stand up routing workflows and dashboards; publish the target list; document refresh cadence and governance.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many accounts should each rep handle?

Capacity depends on cycle length and deal size. As a guide: Tier 1 (1:1) = few to a few dozen per pod; Tier 2 (1:few) = low hundreds across a pod; Tier 3 (1:many) can scale further with programmatic tactics.

How often should we refresh the target list?

Quarterly works well. Keep an allowance for monthly swaps (e.g., 10–15%) to respond to intent spikes, territory changes, or new products.

What if we don’t have third-party intent data?

Lean on first-party signals (pricing/product views, return visits, content depth), win-rate by segment, and technographics. Add third-party intent later to improve ranking, not to start.

Should customers be in the target list?

Yes—separately. Create expansion tiers with different goals, success metrics, and playbooks. Suppress active customers from net-new outreach where appropriate.

Who owns the target list—Marketing or Sales?

Co-ownership. Marketing builds the model and ops; Sales validates and commits to coverage. Publish a shared governance doc with change rules and SLAs.

Build a Clean, Defensible ABM Target List

We’ll design your ICP, scoring, tiers, routing, and dashboards in HubSpot—then validate with real conversion data so every rep knows where to focus.

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ABM Targeting Plays

Operationalize Target Selection in HubSpot

30-Day ABM Targeting Sprint (HubSpot)

Frequently Asked Questions

Build a Clean, Defensible ABM Target List

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