The feeling of watching a promising deal stall in your pipeline is one of the most frustrating parts of B2B sales. You have great contact, the fit seems perfect, but then silence. The deal gets pushed to next quarter and then maybe the quarter after that.
It feels like being stuck in a traffic jam when you know there’s an open road just ahead. This isn’t just a feeling; it’s a measurable problem. In fact, HubSpot found that companies with strong sales and marketing alignment see 38% higher sales win rates. That’s the open road we’re talking about, and ABM is the vehicle that gets you there.
What if you could handpick your most valuable accounts and put them in the express lane? That’s not a fantasy; it’s exactly what a smart pipeline acceleration program built on Account-Based Marketing (ABM) can do for you.
Forget just filling the top of the funnel. We’re talking about strategically increasing your ABM sales velocity to close bigger deals, faster. Let’s break down how it works.
First, Let’s Talk Speed: What is Sales Velocity Anyway?
Before we speed things up, we need to know what we’re measuring. “Sales velocity” isn’t just a gut feeling; it’s a real number you can track to see how fast you’re making money.
How do you calculate sales pipeline velocity? It’s a simple formula with four powerful parts:
Sales Velocity = (Number of Opportunities x Average Deal Size x Win Rate) / Length of Sales Cycle
To make your business grow faster, you need to nudge these numbers in the right direction. This is where the magic of ABM comes in. It’s the secret sauce that improves all four parts of the equation at once.
- More (and Better) Opportunities: ABM stops you from wasting time on dead-end leads. By focusing only on your best-fit target accounts, you’re working with opportunities that are primed to buy. Quality over quantity.
- Bigger Deal Sizes: By definition, ABM account targeting means you’re intentionally going after the whales. Focusing your energy on high-value accounts naturally drives up your average deal size.
- Higher Win Rates: This is the game-changer. With ABM, you’re not just another vendor, you’re a partner. Through deep personalization and engaging the entire buying team, you build real relationships. Trust skyrockets, and so do your win rates.
- Shorter Sales Cycles: ABM slashes the time it takes to close a deal. How? By using ABM intent data to speed up the sales pipeline, you engage accounts the moment they’re interested and get all the decision-makers on board at the same time.
When you improve all four of these, your revenue engine doesn’t just get a tune-up; it gets a turbocharger.
Your Game Plan: Running a Pipeline Acceleration Program with ABM
Ready to move from theory to action? Here’s a practical playbook for how you can run a pipeline acceleration program using ABM.
Step 1: Get Sales and Marketing on the Same Team
We’ve all heard about sales and marketing alignment with ABM, but this is where the rubber meets the road. It’s non-negotiable.
- The One List to Rule Them All: Sit down together and build one single Target Account List (TAL). No more marketing list vs. sales list. This is your shared North Star.
- Agree on the Rules: What does a “hot” account look like? Define your MQA (Marketing Qualified Account) and the handoff process clearly. This prevents confusion and dropped batons.
- Talk. A Lot: Set up a weekly huddle. What’s working? What insights is marketing seeing? What feedback are sales hearing? This constant communication is the engine of smarketing velocity with ABM.
Step 2: Use Intent Data to Find Buyers Who Are Ready Now
Waiting for someone to fill out a “Contact Us” form is like fishing with a single hook and hoping for the best. ABM intent data for pipeline acceleration is like using a high-tech fish finder. It tells you which of your target accounts are already searching for solutions like yours online.
This allows you to:
- Focus your energy on accounts that are actually in-market.
- Tailor your first email to the exact problem they’re trying to solve.
- Launch campaigns at the perfect moment to catch their attention.
Step 3: Surround Your Accounts with Smart, Multi-Channel Plays
Don’t just send an email. Create an experience. Research shows that 80% of customers are more likely to buy from a company that provides a tailored experience. The best ABM campaign ideas to shorten the sales cycle feel less like marketing and more like helpful, persistent guidance.
Think of it as an orchestrated symphony:
- A LinkedIn ad pops up for the CTO.
- An insightful case study lands in the VP of Ops’ inbox.
- A creative direct mail package arrives for your main champion.
- Your salesperson calls, referencing the exact content they’ve been engaging with.
This multi-threaded approach makes it impossible to ignore (in a good way) and builds momentum fast.
Step 4: Talk to the Whole Team, Not Just One Person
This is where so many deals die. Your champion loves you, but the CFO, Head of IT, or legal counsel needs convincing. ABM helps you warm up the entire buying committee from day one. Map out the key players and create messages that speak to their specific concerns. When everyone is already familiar with you, getting that final “yes” is so much easier.
Step 5: Give Your Sales Team Superpowers (aka Actionable Insights)
Stop handing over leads with just a name and an email. An ABM approach means marketing can tell sales: “Hey, someone from Acme Corp just read our blog on data integration, spent 5 minutes on the pricing page, and they’re showing a spike in research around ‘cloud security’.”
Now, isn’t that a better conversation starter? This is how you increase pipeline velocity with ABM by enabling smarter, more relevant conversations.
Step 6: Measure What Matters to Get Faster
To know if you’re speeding up, you need to check the speedometer. Instead of just vanity metrics, measure pipeline velocity in account-based marketing with these indicators:
- Account Engagement: Are your target accounts interacting with you?
- Pipeline Velocity: The big one. Is the dollar amount per day going up?
- Sales Cycle Length: Are your ABM deals closing faster than your other deals?
- Deal Slippage: Are fewer deals getting pushed into next quarter?
The ABM Velocity Cheat Sheet
| To Do This | Use This ABM Tactic | So You Can |
|---|---|---|
| Increase # of Opportunities | ICP & Intent Data | Focus only on best-fit, in-market accounts. |
| Increase Average Deal Size | Tiered Account Targeting | Go after your biggest fish with personalized attention. |
| Increase Win Rate | Multi-Channel Personalization | Build trust and consensus with the whole buying team. |
| Decrease Sales Cycle | Sales & Marketing Teamwork | Create a seamless, fast-moving journey for your buyer. |
Wrapping up
Stop letting your best deals languish in the slow lane. An account-based approach isn’t just a marketing tactic; it’s a revenue-focused strategy for growth.
By putting these ABM pipeline acceleration program best practices into play, you can build a powerful, predictable, and high-speed engine to drive your business forward. It’s time to put your foot on the gas. Ready to hit the accelerator? Let’s make it happen.