“Do more with less.”  In the ever-changing landscape of B2B marketing and sales, staying ahead of the curve is crucial for profitable efficient growth.  One lesson we’ve learned in this efficient growth strategy is the importance of retention, upsell and cross sell.  As we move further into 2025 and beyond, a new paradigm is emerging that promises to revolutionize how businesses approach their go-to-market strategies. This shift is the evolution from Account-Based Marketing (ABM) to Account-Based Experience (ABX), and it’s reshaping the future of B2B growth.  

Understanding ABM

Account-Based Marketing has been a cornerstone strategy for many B2B companies in recent years. At its core, ABM is a go to market strategy that drives a higher revenue volume at a faster speed than that of a non-ABM strategy and is more typically thought of as a ‘top of funnel strategy’..  It is a focused approach that aligns sales and marketing efforts to target high-value, prospective accounts. This strategy involves creating personalized campaigns and content for specific accounts, with the goal of increasing relevancy and improving the probability of closing deals.

However, while ABM has proven effective, it often falls short in several key areas:

1. Siloed Implementation: Many organizations treat ABM as just another marketing tactic, isolating it within the marketing department.
2. Misalignment with Sales: The disconnect between marketing and sales teams can lead to ineffective execution and missed opportunities.  This is exacerbated with poor technology understanding, adoption or training.
3. Inappropriate KPIs: Without proper alignment across the organization, ABM efforts are often measured against the wrong or incomplete metrics.
4. Lack of Stakeholder Support: we see this often in disguise of false starts and misaligned success metrics.  It is easy to get philosophical buy in, but the operational buy in with stakeholders of doing the work proves problematic.

The Rise of ABX

Enter Account-Based Experience (ABX), a more holistic and customer-centric approach to B2B growth that includes more emphasis on the retention, upsell, and cross sell motions typically owned by Customer Success.. ABX takes the foundational principles of ABM and expands them to create a complete, unified experience throughout the entire customer journey.

Key aspects of ABX include:

1. Cross-Functional Collaboration: ABX requires partnership and understanding across the entire revenue funnel, from C-suite executives to product teams, marketing, sales, and customer success.
2. Customer-Centric Focus: Instead of catering primarily to sales acceleration for net new, ABX puts the customer at the center of every business decision, from pre-sales to post-purchase support as represented by cross-sell, upsell, and retention.
3. Scalability: While challenging, ABX aims to create cohesive experiences across business units in a scalable manner, adapting to the needs of digital-first buyers.

The Future of B2B Growth

As we look to the future, it’s clear that the B2B landscape is shifting rapidly. According to Gartner, the digital buying behavior of B2B decision-makers is moving away from traditional sales-led processes. To succeed in this new environment, organizations must prioritize a digital-first go-to-market approach that focuses on creating rich, tailored experiences throughout the buyer’s journey.

This is where ABX shines. By unifying efforts across all business units and creating a cohesive, educational journey for potential customers, ABX promises to deliver a more effective and sustainable approach to B2B growth.

Implementing ABX in Your Organization

Transitioning to an ABX strategy requires a significant paradigm shift within your organization. Here are some key steps to consider:

1. Align Leadership: Ensure that stakeholders across all departments understand and support the ABX approach.  This is often referred to as “Philosophical alignment” stage.
2. Data quality:  ensure you have complete and as accurate as possible account data and contact data for your buyers groups once those groups are identified.
3. Redefine KPIs: Establish new metrics that reflect the holistic nature of ABX, focusing on overall account engagement and revenue impact.  This is where having one dashboard of success is helpful (or agency partners that can get you there.)
4. Invest in Technology: Leverage tools that support personalized, data-driven experiences across the entire customer journey.  This is a step where using a trusted outside partner or agency to guide one on maximizing ROI of those systems may be helpful.
5. Foster Cross-Functional Collaboration: Encourage and facilitate communication and cooperation between all teams involved in the customer experience.

As we move further into 2025 and beyond, the ability to adapt to these progressive methods of reaching digital-first buyers will be crucial for B2B success. By embracing ABX, organizations can create more meaningful, personalized experiences for their target accounts, driving sustainable growth and staying ahead in an increasingly competitive landscape.