Title: "The ABM Maturity Scale: Why Most Teams Aren’t Ready"

Sales and marketing alignment is often discussed as a general goal, but Vlad explains that alignment must begin with a shared definition of the outcome. A team may want to expand into a new division, increase adoption inside an existing customer, reduce churn risk, or earn executive access. Each outcome calls for a different account strategy, message, and sales motion.

“The ABM program should be very well structured in terms of what it is that you’re trying to achieve,” Vlad says. “If you’re not aligned to that, then you’re going to have a wonderful marketing program that perhaps is not delivering the results that the rest of the company is expecting.”

That distinction matters because activity is not the same as commercial progress. A personalized campaign, executive event, or targeted content series may be well executed, but it will not create value if teams disagree about what success means. Leaders need to define the account objective first, identify the buying group involved, and agree on how each function will contribute.

Vlad also challenges the assumption that ABM is simply a marketing responsibility. “A modern ABM program is going to be tied to being able to sell in the voice that your clients are expecting,” he explains. The goal is to deepen and enrich the relationship with a buyer or buying group, making ABM a connected revenue strategy rather than an isolated demand-generation effort.