Online Briefing

Account-Based Marketing: Improve Demand, Positioning, and Profitability within Target Accounts

August 16, 2005
8:00 am Pacific – 11:00 am Eastern – 16:00 London (Duration: One hour)
(Free for ITSMA members)

Registration Closed

Each of your customers is different, but there is one common thread that unites them all: they want to know that you feel their pain. And not only that you feel it, but that your life's work is to alleviate their unique form of it, making them smarter, better, faster, stronger and, ultimately, more profitable than ever before.

Account-based marketing (ABM)—the practice of treating single accounts as unique markets and preparing targeted marketing and sales programs for them—is growing rapidly among leading technology and consulting firms. For marketers facing growing pressure to demonstrate return on marketing investment, ABM holds the promise not only of creating deep and trusted relationships with key accounts, but also of delivering substantial and measurable results.

Tapping the full potential of ABM will require considerable changes in traditional marketing programs, priorities, and skills. In this briefing, we will show you how to go far beyond the basics of personalized messaging and segmented offers with ITSMA's ABM methodology.

• Selecting the Right Account(s). Identifying potential accounts to pursue with ABM goes far beyond simply identifying the largest or most profitable customers and prospects. Utilizing criteria such as opportunities for growth, strategic long-term value, and competitive position will give you a better understanding of where ABM can have the most impact immediately and in the future.
• Understanding and Analyzing the Account(s). Like a good market entry plan, organizations need to conduct and analyze primary and secondary research to help shape the ABM plan. Understanding what type of information to gather, where to get it, and how to use it is critical to an effective program.
• Mapping Value. Services and solutions offerings must connect directly to the business imperatives of individual customers. Instead of trying to fit existing offers to potential customers, a rigorous and creative value mapping process will identify new and better approaches to providing real value.
• Building a High-Impact Account Marketing Plan. Developing individual ABM plans will involve integrating different objectives, approaches, resources, skills, and timelines to ensure individualized success. Optimizing the effectiveness of a plan demands careful customization based on intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the account.
• Executing on the Plan. Achieving your account goals requires commitment, focus, and hard work along with substantial collaboration across the marketing organization and with sales account teams.
• Measuring and Refining the Approach. Selecting and implementing the right metrics is essential to building a successful account-based marketing program, as well as providing the foundation for scaling the ABM approach.

Join Bev Burgess, Steve Hurley, and special guest speakers from Xerox and Hewlett-Packard to gain a clear understanding of the six key steps and the best way to move account-based marketing from theory to practice.

The briefing is complimentary for ITSMA members and $95 for nonmembers.

Guest speakers

• Sarah Hauser, Services Marketing Manager at Xerox Global Services, will discuss Xerox's experiences with an ABM pilot program for a key account

• Hillary Saffer, Director of the Customer Solutions Group at Hewlett-Packard Company, will discuss how HP has scaled its ABM initiatives so they are consistently executed across all of the company's regions

Presenters

Beverley Burgess
Former Vice President and Managing Director, ITSMA Europe
info@itsma.com

Bev leads all of ITSMA’s membership, research, consulting, training, and event services in Europe, supporting both European companies and the European marketing organizations of other global IT and consulting firms.

Steve Hurley
Vice President, Member Engagement
shurley@itsma.com

Steve leads ITSMA’s member engagement team, which works directly with member companies to provide focused advisory support on a wide range of marketing and sales challenges. Steve leads the development of ITSMA’s project methodologies and frameworks and oversees advisory projects on such issues as: go-to-market strategy; growing the solutions business; portfolio rationalization; account-based marketing; and relationship growth.

General Information

ITSMA's Online Briefings offer recent research findings or survey results from thought leaders on a variety of services marketing topics. The Online Briefings can be viewed individually, or in groups composed of people within the same company. The briefings are available anywhere in the world that has telephone service and access to the Internet. A typical program runs 45 minutes followed by 15 minutes of questions and answers. The person making the online presentation speaks into a telephone and advances the visual portion of the presentation via their computer connected to the Internet. At the end of the presentation. and at the presenter's discretion, the listeners are invited to ask questions. Each listener with a question identifies him or herself and is listed in a queue and taken one at a time by the presentation monitor. The monitor also manages the question and answer session by giving each questioner access to the phone line to communicate with the presenter.

Technical Requirements

This briefing will be administered by Connex International. All participants are required to test their browsers on Connex International's Website 24-48 hours prior to ensure they are ‘Java-enabled’. This test can be done at www.connexpresents.com, by clicking on the "Equipment Check" icon.
You will receive a pass code and dial in number 24-48 hours prior to the briefing.

The technical requirements for this ITSMA online briefing are:

• Direct or dial-up Internet connection of 28.8 kb/s or higher.
• Netscape Navigator 3.04 or higher, Microsoft Internet Explorer version 3.02 or higher, or any JAVA-enabled browser.
• A separate telephone line to access the audio teleconference.
• If participating from your company, ask about your company’s Internet Firewall 48 hours prior to the event. This will enable your technician or a Connex technician to reconfigure connections to ensure access to the Internet portion of the briefing.
• No plug-ins or software downloads are required.
• Compatible with a wide variety of browsers including Netscape 3.0+, IE 3.02+, or any Java-enabled browser. (Compatible with NT, Win95, Unix, Win3.1, Mac.)
• Works through 99% of all firewalls and proxy servers.

Fees and Registration

Aside from the telephone call, the fee for the presentation is complimentary for active ITSMA members, and $95 per location for non-members.

Note: Registration is on a first-come/first-served basis. You must register by 5:00 pm ET, August 15, 2005.

About ITSMA
ITSMA specializes in helping companies market and sell services and solutions. As a membership organization, we work with the world's leading technology, communications, and professional services firms to generate new business, strengthen customer loyalty, and increase brand differentiation. Through research, consulting, training, and community we provide the insight companies need to improve marketing impact, sales performance, and business results. ITSMA is based in Lexington, Massachusetts, and has offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Learn more at www.itsma.com.