The Best ABM Programs Don’t Start with New Tools

TL;DR You have most of what you need already. ABM works by reorienting existing motions towards specific accounts and progressing them deliberately, rather than replacing your entire go-to-market strategy.

ABM has a timing problem.

Not because it’s slow by nature, but because most B2B marketing teams start it the wrong way.

When companies decide to “do ABM”, the first move is almost always buying new tech. Platforms promise intent, personalization, orchestration, scale – but they don’t promise speed.

Speed is the one thing that most ABM programs don’t have.

ABM is typically given just a few months to show results. Tech-first rollouts burn most of that window on setup and planning and by the time anything actually runs, ABM has only been running for weeks rather than months. And when results don’t materialize on schedule, the conclusion is: ABM doesn’t work.

Under pressure, marketing teams default back to the one thing that feels safe – volume.

In a recent episode of the Attributed Podcast, Mason Cosby, founder of Scrappy ABM, explained why this happens so often and why most teams don’t need to start over to fix it. His core belief is simple: the fastest way to make ABM work is to stop treating it like a brand new motion.

You can also listen to the full conversation here.

You Already Have 75% of What You Need

One of Mason’s strongest (and most consistent) points is also the most counterintuitive for teams new to ABM.

“The greatest thing I think I’ve been able to teach anyone is you don’t have to start over. You already have 75% of what you need. You just need to fill in the gaps.”

Most companies hear “ABM” and assume it requires a reset. In reality, B2B marketing teams already have the core ingredients in place: a CRM, marketing automation, sales outreach, content, distribution channels, and some way to measure engagement and attribute marketing activities to revenue.

Rather than replacing these motions, ABM reorients them – from “this is our ICP” to “this is the exact list of accounts we want to move and why.”

Reorienting existing programs toward a small, specific set of accounts forces uncomfortable tradeoffs. Numbers get smaller before they get better and visibility drops before it improves.

And this is where most teams stall.

Not due to a lack of tooling but because narrowing focus exposes tradeoffs that were previously hidden. Suddenly there are fewer leads to report on, less top-of-funnel volume, more scrutiny on which channels, messages, or segments no longer make the cut.

The same programs keep running, now pointed at fewer accounts, without changing what those programs are actually meant to accomplish.

It feels risky, especially when leadership is watching.

Designing ABM for Progression (Not Conversion)

Most ABM programs collapse into the same default behavior.

Everything starts at “book a call”.

Accounts that have just become aware of you are treated the same as accounts actively exploring solutions. Engagement is measured the same way across the board and every touch is expected to convert.

Mason’s counter-argument is simpler: ABM only works when it’s designed for progression. Accounts move through recognizable stages – awareness, engagement, consideration, evaluation, timing – and ABM needs to meet accounts where they actually are and give them a next step that makes sense for that moment.

That requires answering the same questions every time you activate against an account:

• Who are we reaching and why?

• Where will they see this?

• What’s the next meaningful step for them?

• How do we know they’ve moved forward?

Progression is what turns familiar tools into an ABM system. Without it, you just reuse the same channels, the same content, and the same CTAs aimed at fewer accounts and wonder why nothing changes.

When every interaction is treated as a conversion attempt, progression will stall. Movement only happens when the next step matches where the account actually is.

Start Where Trust Already Exists

If ABM is about progressing accounts intentionally, starting cold is the slowest possible way to prove it works.

This is why Mason points marketing teams toward accounts where trust already exists. It’s a way to compress the learning curve of potential buyers.

Accounts Already in Motion are First Priority

Closed-lost opportunities. Former customers. Active pipeline. Accounts already engaging with your site or content. These audiences already know who you are and have signaled a problem. In many cases, they’ve already evaluated you.

Because they’re closer to movement, AB;’s role shifts from creating awareness to restarting momentum.

Instead of asking, “Can we get their attention?” the question becomes, “What changed?”

Mason’s advice is to anchor early ABM plays around a clear trigger, something that makes re-engagement reasonable at this moment. This could be a change on their side (a new role, funding, or initiative) or a change on yours (new product capacity, pricing, or proof).

This is why closed-lost and churned accounts are so effective early on. You’re not trying to manufacture demand, you’re re-opening a conversation that already has momentum.

The same logic applies to pipeline acceleration and website re-engagement. If a target account goes from completely cold to actively engaging with your content in the first quarter, that’s evidence that your progression model is working, not simply a vanity signal.

The first win in ABM is movement.

Use Referrals as a Transfer of Trust 

Referrals can also play a central role in this approach.

Mason vouches for referrals because they’re a direct transfer of trust. They skip the most expensive and time-consuming stages of progression (awareness and credibility building) and move accounts closer to meaningful engagement immediately.

The key is intention.

When referrals are mapped against a target account list and triggered by existing relationships, they stop being a lucky byproduct of good relationships and become a repeatable ABM motion that sales and marketing can design, measure, and improve together.

For teams under pressure to “show something”, these audiences create faster feedback loops. With them, you can test messaging, sequencing, and progression logic before expanding outward to colder accounts.

Conclusion

Most ABM programs run out of time before they show progress.

Short grace windows push teams toward visible resets that consume effort without creating momentum. Mason’s approach focuses on sequencing instead: start with what already exists, begin with accounts that are already in motion, and design interactions for progression before scale.

Early progress shows up as movement across target accounts. And that’s how ABM earns time instead of running out of it.

About the Speaker

Mason Cosby is the founder of Scrappy ABM, a company focused on practical, high-impact account-based marketing strategies for B2B teams. He previously held roles in demand generation and growth at boutique and bootstrapped companies, where he developed a “scrappy” approach that prioritizes fundamentals over expensive tech stacks.