B2B Sales & Marketing Exchange

Microsoft’s Danny Nail Shares The Recipe For Successful ABM Programs

As a leading ABM practitioner for the past seven years, Danny Nail has tested and re-tested a variety of different plays to scale ABM programs at companies such as SAP and Microsoft. One key point he learned is that true ABM is 1:1 or 1:few, while 1:many is simply just good, targeted marketing. 

During his keynote address at the B2B Sales & Marketing Exchange, Nail will share real lessons around the different flavors of ABM. He specifically tackles 1:1 and 1:few ABM, with a focus on leveraging targeted content, sales enablement practices and different levels of intent data. 

We caught up with Nail to talk about all things ABM, networking and more ahead of next week’s #B2BSMX. Check out our conversation below! 

B2B Sales & Marketing Exchange: Why are you excited to return to in-person events?  

Danny Nail: Being with like-minded people/peers energizes me. I learn so much just in the informal conversations that happen between the sessions and at dinners. I also love the networking aspect of it, as I like to connect people with other people in hopes that we all benefit from one another.    

  

B2BSMX: What have you learned from your experiences with virtual events that you will bring with you back to in-person/hybrid?  

Nail: To relish and take advantage of the opportunity to connect with people on a more personal face-to-face level. 

   

B2BSMX: You’ve run many different ABM plays at SAP and now Microsoft. So when it comes to ABM — what works? And what doesn’t?   

Nail: Oh goodness, this could be a really long conversation all by itself. If sales isn’t fully on board, engaged and making sure we stay focused on the customer and their strategic imperatives, ABM doesn’t work. On the flipside, when those things are in place, an ABM program has an exponentially larger chance for success.  

  

B2BSMX: You’re going to share how you developed your own platform for your ABM plays. What did that process look like?  

Nail: Again, long story. The short answer is having the idea in the first place. From there, it was taking an end-user view of what needed to be in the platform to make it easy to use and flexible for all users. Defining the overall objectives and then user requirements was the baseline key to success for the whole platform. Once we had that, we iterated through a few wireframes and then started building. The whole process took six months from ideation to launch for general availability. 

  

B2BSMX: What are you looking forward to learning at B2BSMX?  

Nail: I’m just looking forward to seeing people again, whether it’s connecting with old friends or making new ones. I love helping people with the information I share and learning from the information others share. 

Nail will present a keynote address titled “Inside The ABM Test Kitchen: Sharing Different Flavors & Recipes For Successful Programs… + A Few Gotchas Of What To Avoid.” Check out the session on Wednesday, Aug. 11 at 4:30 PM.

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