9 meetings into a ABM sales process, and the real decision still hasn’t been made

By the ninth meeting, most people expect momentum.

Not this one.

By the ninth meeting, we weren’t debating features.

We weren’t debating attribution models.

We weren’t even debating the budget.

We were debating something far more uncomfortable:

Are you willing to make a bet as a company?

Because that’s what this was.

Not a marketing decision.

Not a tooling decision.

A bet.

A bet on enterprise being our choosen motion.

And I’ve learned this the hard way, across many companies, many years, many failed “ABM initiatives”:

If a company hasn’t consciously made that bet, ABM will fail.

Every single time.

My side of the table

I came in as a vendor.

To sell N.Rich.

And I’m not going to pretend otherwise.

N.Rich is genuinely amazing at what the platform does. (Honestly, I would not work at this company otherwise, I am damaged and want REALLY exceptional tools….)

• You pay for real engagement only, not impressions. (Paying for people seeing your display-ads is such a stupid notion - we need clicks, reads, views of 50% of a video.. not just 👀, to the vendors charging for this - COME ON!!)

• The fact that we only charge for actual engagement is a thing that really keeps us unique.

• We are also easy to onboard, we are fast because we’ve kept the system simple, while removing heavy, manual activation through AI-driven ABM and DPS(Demand-Side Platform) technology.

• From a product perspective, we’re one of the strongest options on the market.

But with experience comes a truth very few vendors say out loud:

It’s not about the tool. Not really.

I didn’t come in to run campaigns.

I didn’t come in to flip on a software and hope for results.

I came in knowing that if this company didn’t make the right strategic decision first, even the best platform in the world wouldn’t matter, for the CMO or the business.

I was there to help a mid market company answer a question they didn’t yet know how to ask.

They sell into enterprise.

• Long cycles.

• Large buying committees.

• High perceived risk.

On paper, they were doing many things right.

• Sales was active.

• Marketing existed.

• Leadership was engaged.

But something wasn’t working.

Deals stalled.

They kept ending up either not knowing there even was a deal on the table, and if they got “shortlisted” they did not get selected.

The same competitors kept winning.

Not because they were better from a platform perspective - but because they felt safer.

And the company felt it.

That low-grade frustration that tells you the problem is structural, not tactical.

That’s where this story begins.

How ABM actually enters the room

ABM never enters the room as what it really is.

It enters sideways.

As:

• “Something marketing wants to try”

• “Enterprise ads”

• “A platform”

• “A pilot”

• “A way to support sales”

That’s how it entered here too.

The CMO saw the possibility, fully.

The Sales Director saw some relevance but also friction. (Low maturity on how marketing actually works)

The COO saw operational complexity. (Low maturity on how marketing actually works)

The CEO saw risk. (Low maturity on how marketing actually works)

And all of them were right.

Because ABM is risky - just not in the way most people think.

The first real crack in the conversation

The breakthrough didn’t come from a deck.

It came from a sentence that landed uncomfortably hard:

Enterprise buyers don’t choose vendors.

They choose risk profiles.

And risk is not reduced in demos.

It’s reduced long before sales ever shows up.

By the time an RFP exists, the real decision has already been shaped.

This is the moment when ABM stops being a marketing discussion and becomes a go-to-market reality check.

What the CEO was really wrestling with

The CEO wasn’t sceptical of ABM because it didn’t make sense, only.

He was sceptical because it forced a long-term decision and a commit in a short-term world.

ABM requires you to admit something most companies avoid saying out loud:

“We cannot brute-force our way into enterprise.”

You cannot:

• Out-call incumbents

• Out-spend the vendors that own the space you are in

• Out-perform trust gaps with sales effort alone

ABM doesn’t promise faster results.

It promises control.

Control over:

• When in they buying journey the buyers in the committee hear your name

• How they understand your category

• What criteria they use before an RFP ever exists

• Whether you show up as “risky” or “inevitable”

And here’s the uncomfortable truth for CEOs:

If you’re running an enterprise motion without ABM, you are still making a bet.

You’re betting that:

• Cold outbound can overcome invisibility

• Sales heroics can compensate for lack of brand trust

• That lack of trust for your brand in the hidden buying committee (C-level) won't derail your deal...

• Late-stage persuasion can undo early-stage absence

• Your team can win RFPs they didn’t help shape

That is a bet.

ABM is simply the opposite one.

Why the COO hesitated (and was right to)

The COO wasn’t resisting ABM.

She was protecting the company from half-commitment.

Because ABM done halfway is worse than not doing it at all.

It introduces:

• New processes without authority

• New expectations without alignment

• New tooling without mandate

She instinctively understood something many miss:

ABM is an operating system, not a plug-in.

• It changes how marketing plans.

• How sales priorities.

• How pipeline is supported.

• How success is measured (From lead conversion to account progression)

And systems don’t tolerate ambiguity.

The Sales Director’s quiet realisation

The Sales Director didn’t need convincing that ABM worked.

He needed to believe it wouldn’t become “no pipeline”.

What landed for him wasn’t dashboards or intent scores.

It was this idea:

Not more leads.

Better conversations.

Accounts that already knew the name.

Buyers that already trusted the narrative.

Committees that already had language for the value.

ABM didn’t threaten sales.

It removed friction sales had been compensating for silently.

The hardest position in the room: the CMO without mandate

The CMO was convinced early.

And that was the problem.

Because conviction without authority is exhausting.

He could see:

• The stalled deals

• The late-stage losses (8% win rate when they entered late)

• The pattern of shortlist exclusion

• The cost of invisibility

• The lack of ICP accounts on the website (1.4% was in ICP, the rest irrelevant)

But he also knew this:

Without executive sponsorship, ABM becomes a theatre.

Theatre that is very hard to defend 6 months in, with his role and trust on the table:

• A pilot without power. (Most ABM projects are run like this, it always categorically fails)

• A test without time.

• A strategy without teeth.

So he did the only thing a CMO without mandate can do:

• He educated.

• He reframed.

• He repeated the story - again and again - without pushing.

Because pushing backfires, unless we can commit to the bet of a successful Enterprise motion.

ABM cannot be forced upward.

It must be chosen downward from the top.

The real buying journey of ABM (this is what no one tells you)

This is the journey almost every mid market company goes through:

1. Discomfort Something isn’t working, but it’s not obvious what.

2. Curiosity ABM sounds interesting. Maybe it helps.

3. Misunderstanding Is this ads? Is this software? Is this a campaign?

4. Reframing Oh. This is about influence. Trust. Risk.

5. Executive hesitation This requires commitment. Are we ready?

6. The fork

Either:

There is no partial ABM.

• Only declared ABM

• or accidental chaos.

Where we ended up after 9 meetings

By the ninth meeting, no one was arguing anymore.

But the decision still hadn’t been made.

And that’s honest.

Because ABM isn’t bought with logic alone.

It’s adopted with belief.

Belief that:

• Enterprise buying is shaped early

• Trust compounds over time

• Marketing is not support, but leverage

• Sales should walk into warmed rooms, not cold ones

This story doesn’t end with a rollout.

It ends where all real strategy ends:

With a moment of clarity.

“This is the motion we’re willing to run.”

Not because it’s fashionable.

Not because a vendor said so.

But because, once you see it,

it’s the only thing that makes sense if enterprise is your business.

Kbye 😎

About the author

I work with B2B companies that sell into enterprise - where deals are slow, buying committees are large, and risk perception decides winners long before a sales conversation begins.

I’ve spent more than 20 years in revenue roles across marketing, sales, and GTM leadership, both inside companies and as an external partner.

What I focus on is helping mid market/enterprise teams design revenue motions that actually fit the way enterprise buyers buy - not the way dashboards wish they did.

Most of my work lives in the uncomfortable space between CMOs, CROs, and CEOs, where strategy meets reality.

I help leadership teams decide when incremental tactics are no longer enough, and when a structural shift — often toward an account-based operating model — is the only path forward.

I write and speak about ABM as a system, not a campaign, and about the hardest parts of enterprise growth: alignment, mandate, timing, and the courage to place a bet before certainty shows up.

I am also an author, keynote speaker, cat mama of 2 and a world of warcraft player🕹️ , but first and foremost I am a complete revenue nerd. 💃🏽

Welcome to my universe.