What you'll get
- 8 copy-ready blocks
- Spreadsheet-ready
- 1 table
- 7 min read
- Part 1: Pick the tenA selection card and a ten-account sheet
- Part 2: Budget the hoursA sum that ends in minutes per account
- Part 3: Run six weeksA week-by-week plan, five accounts first
- Part 4: Score MondaysFive lines that count accounts, in 15 minutes
- Part 5: Review and decideKeep, swap or stop, from three questions
How to use it
- Step 1: Pick your ten accounts with the Part 1 card and sheet.
- Step 2: Work out your weekly hours in Part 2 and fix them for six weeks.
- Step 3: Follow the six-week plan in Part 3, one week at a time.
- Step 4: Update the scoreboard in Part 4 every Monday, in 15 minutes.
- Step 5: At week six, take the review in Part 5 and decide: keep, swap or stop.
A small team can run account-based marketing, but not the version in the vendor guides. This kit is the small version: ten named accounts, two people, six weeks and a scoreboard that counts accounts. The figures in it are working choices, not benchmarks. Change them to suit your hours.
Part 1: Pick the ten
Selection card (answer for each candidate)
Account: [company]
Fit: does it match your best customers on sector, size and need? [yes / no]
Reason now: is there a dated change we can point to? [what, when, source]
Way in: do we know someone, or can we name two roles to approach? [names]
Knock-out: signed with a rival this year / too small to buy / outside our delivery area [none / which]
Keep only if: fit is yes, there is no knock-out and you have a reason now or a way in.Start with 15 candidates and cut to ten. Take the accounts with the best reason now first, then the best way in. Do not add an account because the company is famous.
Ten-account sheet (tab-separated, paste into row 1)
Account Fit Reason now (with date) Roles named Owner Last touch Status Next step DueStatus words (use only these)
Chosen On the list, nothing done yet
Mapped At least three roles named
Reached One or more people written to
Replied Someone has answered
In talks Two or more people in conversation
Parked Dated note, back only on a new signalPart 2: Your hours
Ten accounts only work if somebody has the time. Decide the hours before you start and write them down.
Hours budget (fill in the brackets)
People on the programme: [P]
Hours a week each can give: [H]
Total hours a week: [T] = P x H
Hours held back for accounts that reply: [R] (about a fifth of T)
Hours to plan: [W] = T - R
Hours a week per account: [W] / 10If the last line is under half an hour, the programme is too big for your hours. Cut to eight or six accounts. Do not work ten thinly. A fifth held back is our working rule, from our own work and not a measured figure.
Part 3: The six-week plan
Week by week
Week 1 Pick the ten. Score them. Name one owner for each account. Agree the hours.
Week 2 Map the buying committee: at least three roles named for each account.
Find one true reason to talk now for each.
Week 3 Write one short note for each role in the five best accounts.
Collect one useful thing to send (an article, a checklist, a data point you can source).
Week 4 Start outreach on the five best accounts: connect on LinkedIn, then send the note.
Week 5 Second roles in those five. Start outreach on the other five.
Reply to anyone who answers within a day.
Week 6 Follow up where there is no answer. Update the sheet. Hold the review in Part 5.Why five first? A small team should learn on half the list. If your note is wrong, you find out in five accounts and not in ten.
Marketing has a part here too, even in a small company. In weeks 4 to 6, before a seller writes, look at what the account has seen from you: your site, your posts, anything you have sent. The aim is only that your name is not new when the note arrives.
Part 4: The scoreboard
Five lines, updated every Monday
1. Accounts with three or more roles named: [ ] of 10
2. Accounts reached (someone written to): [ ] of 10
3. Accounts that have replied: [ ] of 10
4. Accounts in talks (two or more people): [ ] of 10
5. Accounts with a dated next step: [ ] of 10Every line counts accounts. None counts emails sent, posts published or clicks. Those are easy to raise and say nothing about whether a company is listening.
Line 4 is the one that matters most. One person replying can be politeness. Two people in the same company in conversation means the account has started to move.
Part 5: The week-six review
Keep, swap or stop (answer for each account)
KEEP The account has replied, or has a dated next step. Carry on.
SWAP Nobody has replied after a full round of notes and you have no new reason to write.
Park it with a date. Put the next candidate in its place.
STOP This applies to the whole programme, not to one slow account. Stop only if the
answers to the three questions below are all no.Three questions for the whole programme
1. Did anyone in the list say something that changed what we do or say?
2. Is at least one account in talks with two or more people?
3. Can we say, for each account, who owns the problem inside it?Yes to any of them means the approach is worth another six weeks, with the list swapped where needed. Three noes mean the problem is the list or the reason, not the idea. Rework Part 1 before you try again.
Worked example (illustrative, not a real company)
Quaywise sells warehouse software. Sam Carter and one marketer give four hours a week each: T is 8, R is 2 and W is 6, so each of ten accounts gets 36 minutes. All names, hours and results are invented.
| Account | Fit | Reason now | Roles named |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northfield Logistics | Yes | Second site announced in March | VP Supply Chain, Head of IT Applications, regional warehouse manager |
| Calder Cold Chain | Yes | New operations director this quarter | Operations director, warehouse manager |
At the week-six review the scoreboard reads: 7 of 10 with three roles named, 6 reached, 4 replied, 2 in talks, 8 with a dated next step. Two accounts are swapped. Northfield Logistics has Dana Whitfield and Marcus Lee in talks, so it is kept and moves to a fuller plan. Sam answers the three programme questions yes, yes and yes, and the team runs six more weeks.
Five mistakes to avoid
- Starting with a list of 100. You will research none of them. Ten is a decision, not a limit you will outgrow in a week.
- No named owner. An account everyone looks after is looked after by nobody.
- Buying software first. For ten accounts a spreadsheet and LinkedIn are enough. Tools can wait until the list is longer.
- Counting sends. Activity looks like progress. Count accounts.
- Quitting at week three. Outreach starts in week four. Judge the programme at week six, not before.
Why this works on named accounts
Common questions
Can a small B2B company do ABM?
Yes, if it keeps the list short and the question clear. A small company cannot run a programme for hundreds of accounts, but two people can work ten properly. Start there and add accounts only when the first ten are being worked.
How many accounts should a small team start with?
Ten is a sensible start for two people with a few hours each. Work out your own number with the hours budget in Part 2. If each account would get under half an hour a week, take fewer.
Do we need ABM software to start?
No. A spreadsheet, LinkedIn and an inbox are enough for ten accounts. Software helps once you need to coordinate more accounts, more people or more channels than you can track by hand.
Read next
Related articleAccount-Based Marketing for Startups: A Lean Plan for Your First Key AccountsRead →More from the Academy
ABM Plan Template: A One-Page ABM Strategy
For marketing and sales leaders starting ABM on a first list of named accounts.
You leave with a one-page plan, a play for each tier, a written handover rule and a 30-day start.
Account Tiering Worksheet (Tier 1, 2, 3)
For teams with a scored account list and no agreement on who gets the most attention.
You leave with tier rules, a capacity sum, a worksheet, a treatment card and one list tiered.
Account Scoring Tool
Score target accounts on fit, timing and access, and sort them into Tier 1, 2 and 3. Runs in your browser.
Want this in your inbox?
Optional. We use your email only to send you this, nothing else.