Scrappy ABM

Mason Cosby

Welcome to Scrappy ABM – your source for groundbreaking approaches to ABM that don't break the bank. ABM shouldn't cost $200K in technology to even get started. If you want to get started with ABM or make your program better without a massive budget, you're in the right place.

Each week, you'll hear from some of the brightest minds in the marketing world who are redefining ABM, achieving incredible results with untraditional methods, limited resources, and a whole lot of creativity.

This isn't a show about how much you can spend on fancy tech or overhyped tools. Instead, it's about celebrating creative problem-solving and the scrappiness it takes to get ABM right. We'll dive into how these marketing leaders built robust ABM strategies with limited resources, revealing the actionable insights that led to their biggest wins.

So, if you're a marketer ready to challenge the status quo, or an entrepreneur looking to scale your business through efficient and effective marketing strategies, Scrappy ABM is the show for you.

Get ready to discover ABM strategies that are lean, impactful, and utterly transformative. Remember, it's not about the budget, it's about the mindset. Let's get scrappy!

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20 episodes
Updated Thursday

Episodes20

Newest first

Thursday · 27 min
Accounts Don't Buy, People Buy (with Amanda Oles from Stensul) | Ep. 280
Most advice on building a target account list assumes you have the time to build one properly. Amanda Oles has a second answer for everyone else, and it starts with the accounts that already know who you are. ㅤ Mason Cosby and Amanda work through both paths on Scrappy ABM: the fully structured ICP approach for when ABM is your whole role, and the two programs to run when it isn't. Pipeline acceleration and closed lost. Her case is that those two lists define themselves, so you skip signals and orchestration and get straight to doing. ㅤ From there they get into channels for long enterprise sales cycles, why Stensul's most influential combination is trade show plus email plus paid social, the two-minute pitch rule that makes customer dinners convert, and how Amanda knows she has momentum before pipeline shows up. Her closing lesson: simple is better. ㅤ 👤 Guest Bio Amanda Oles is Director of Revenue Marketing at Stensul, the governed creation platform for enterprise marketing teams. She stepped into the role in 2025 after two and a half years leading demand generation there, and came up through demand gen at Datto and WordStream. Her programs sell into large, highly regulated enterprises where sales cycles run long and compliance limits what marketing can say. She's active in the ForgeX ABM community. ㅤ 📌 What We Cover Why sales and marketing "need to be like best friends" before a target account list exists The two programs Amanda recommends when the company treats ABM as a tactic: pipeline acceleration and closed lost Using AI to analyze the past 100 Gong calls instead of relying on philosophical intent at the account level Getting target contacts into Salesforce and tagged so the motion can scale Stensul's most influential channel combination: trade show plus email plus paid social Mason's split of digital for existence and in-person for acceleration The two-minute pitch rule at customer dinners, and using an anchor customer to fill the room Owning your own account score instead of being married to a platform's version Why the procurement one-pager came out of finding where deals stall the longest ㅤ 🔗 Resources Mentioned Stensul ForgeX Marketo, Salesforce, Gong Influ2 study presented at Gartner on ABM success metrics Amanda Oles on LinkedIn ㅤ Resources: Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies. Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM. ㅤ If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!
July 30 · 32 min
Your ICP Isn't Real Until It Shows Up in the CRM (with Christy Behnke from Terryberry) | Ep. 279
Most target account lists get built backwards. Someone writes an ICP, sales adds the logos they've always wanted, and nobody checks it against a single closed deal. On this episode of Scrappy ABM, Mason Cosby talks with Christy Behnke, VP of Marketing at Terryberry, about where that list should actually come from. ㅤ Christy starts with Salesforce reports on closed won and closed lost, and pays close attention to the stage where lost deals fell out. From there she grades accounts A through D, loops in product to see where the roadmap is headed, and tests messaging on 10% of the target account list instead of half of it. ㅤ The conversation also covers content mapped to funnel stage, ChatGPT ads as a new test channel, and why she treats ABM as part of demand gen rather than a separate program. Plus the measurement that happens before the MQL, her 25% of contract value rule for acquisition cost, and what she wishes she'd known before her first ABM campaign. ㅤ 👤 Guest Bio Christy Behnke is VP of Marketing at Terryberry, an employee recognition and engagement company founded in 1918 and headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She's built ABM at multiple organizations, with prior revenue marketing leadership roles at SMG (Service Management Group), Omnigo Software, and Rittal North America. At Terryberry she led the migration onto HubSpot and pulled the company's ABM launch forward to March, grading the ICP and building the target account list from CRM data. ㅤ 📌 What We Cover Why pulling closed won and closed lost comes before anything else in building a target account list What the stage a deal died at tells you about product fit versus a test segment worth running ICP grading with A, B, C, and D tiers, and why a bloated C tier is a signal to investigate Mapping the product roadmap against firmographics when there's no historical closed won data Using content syndication and 10% of target accounts to test messaging without risking budget Why ABM is a play for demand gen rather than a separate program The Engagement Maturity Map, and mapping content to top, middle, and bottom of funnel Top-of-funnel measurement, cost per lead, the 25% of contract value rule, and three to one CAC ㅤ 🔗 Resources Mentioned Salesforce (closed won and closed lost reporting) HubSpot, including the smart content feature for personalized landing pages Forrester and Gartner analyst reports ChatGPT ads, Bing, and Google paid search Terryberry's Engagement Maturity Map Christy Behnke on LinkedIn ㅤ Resources: Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies. Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM. ㅤ If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!
July 23 · 30 min
20K in Sends, a Million in Pipeline (with Jess Annadurai from Supermetrics) | Ep. 278
Most product-led companies decide ABM isn't built for them and move on. On Scrappy ABM, Mason Cosby makes the opposite case with Jess Annadurai, Senior Global Marketing Director at Supermetrics, who ran customer expansion as the entry point instead of new business. ㅤ Supermetrics is a PLG company with a land-and-expand motion, and Jess treats its existing customer base as the strongest target account list it owns. She walks through how she, the VP of Sales, and the Director of Customer Success in North America picked accounts, why they started with an advocacy approach, and how a "meet your manager" campaign moved booked meeting rates from under 1% to 13-14%. ㅤ The conversation stays specific: product signals for targeting, gifting that feels personal instead of a $25 gift card, $150K to $200K in pipeline per send, and roughly 9X ROI on year-one spend. Jess also shares what didn't travel when she tried to take a US playbook global. ㅤ 👤 Guest Bio Jess Annadurai is Senior Global Marketing Director at Supermetrics, where she's spent just over three and a half years, first as North American head of marketing and then across a global remit covering demand, field, partner, and customer marketing. She was an active 6sense power user around 2018 and has worked both sides of the ABM world, as a practitioner buying the tools and as a marketer at an ABM vendor before moving to the data side of martech. ㅤ 📌 What We Cover Why a PLG customer base is the best target account list you already own, and how much context it hands you for free How Jess, the VP of Sales, and the Director of Customer Success agreed that customer education was the real gap Starting with an advocacy approach: 10 customer case studies, and the new use cases and retention lift they uncovered Segmenting customers by whether they had an account manager, then running two different motions The "meet your manager" campaign, with personalized gifting instead of gift cards Booked meeting rates going from under 1% to 13-14% $150K to $200K in pipeline per send, ~$35K total gifting spend for the year, and roughly 9X ROI A small agency at ~$10K that expanded to $140K within six months Why gifting norms differ by region, and what Jess would scale differently next time ㅤ 🔗 Resources Mentioned Supermetrics 6sense Postal (now Sendoso) Looker Studio Google Sheets Connect with Jess on LinkedIn ㅤ Resources: Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies. Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM. ㅤ If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!
July 16 · 26 min
Your ABM List Is Just Brand Awareness With Extra Steps (with Mahsa Malekyar) | Ep. 277
Most ABM target lists start the same way: sales names the accounts they want, marketing runs campaigns at them, and everyone hopes volume closes the gap. On this episode of Scrappy ABM, Mason Cosby sits down with Mahsa Malekyar to pull that approach apart. Her point is blunt: an account that will eventually need your tool is not the same as an account that needs it right now, and if you can't tell the difference, you're buying brand awareness and calling it ABM. ㅤ The conversation covers where free intent data already lives inside the tools you own, why in-person conversations are the trust signal that digital can't manufacture, and how to capture qualitative event conversations without asking a salesperson to open a spreadsheet. Mahsa also names the mistake she'd undo from her first ABM program, and it isn't a channel or a tool. ㅤ 👤 Guest Bio Mahsa Malekyar, PMP, brings over a decade of marketing and project management experience, with prior leadership roles at First Onsite Property Restoration and Charter Communications. She builds ABM and event marketing programs with a marketing operations lens, and she's a self-described HubSpot power user who is very clear that HubSpot is not paying her to say so. ㅤ 📌 What We Cover 🔸 Why "who sales is targeting" is a fine starting point for ABM and a bad finishing point 🔸 The three questions that separate a real target from good brand awareness: do they need it now, will they need it in three months, are they looking at contract signing 🔸 Free and low-cost intent data sources: HubSpot's intent tracking, the Apollo.io website pixel, Microsoft Clarity, and Google tracking 🔸 Why ABM campaigns have to establish or expand trust, not just educate, and where in-person events come in 🔸 The event follow-up sequence: take the photo, ask to text it, get the number, then retarget with messaging tied to what they actually talked about 🔸 Content that earns the follow-up: templated guides and industry data benchmarks instead of "let's book a call" 🔸 How to measure conversations you can't put in a dropdown: dedicated event Slack channels, voice notes from the floor, and one person turning the dump into next steps 🔸 Why getting salespeople to use spreadsheets is a losing battle, and what to build instead 🔸 Mahsa's answer to what she'd do differently in her first ABM program: collaborate across sales, customer success, and product before the list is final ㅤ 🔗 Resources Mentioned 🔸 HubSpot (CRM and intent tracking) 🔸 Apollo.io (enrichment, outreach, website pixel) 🔸 Microsoft Clarity 🔸 Canva (post-event photo collages) 🔸 Slack (event channels and voice notes) 🔸 Wispr Flow (AI voice-to-text) 🔸 Freeman (research on media mistrust referenced by Mahsa) ㅤ Resources: Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies. Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM. ㅤ If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!
July 2 · 31 min
Why "Sales, Please Go After Google" Is How ABM Fails (with Ed VanderBush from LiveRamp) Ep. 276
Most people are three to five years into account-based marketing. Ed VanderBush has been doing it for over a decade, and he's watched the whole thing move from a concept Bev Burgess was talking about in the early 2010s into an integrated mindset across a marketing team. On this episode of Scrappy ABM, Mason Cosby sits down with Ed, Senior Manager of Account-Based Marketing at LiveRamp, to get into what actually moves ABM forward when you don't have an unlimited budget. ㅤ They cover the three inputs Ed uses to build a target account list, why "sales, please go after Google" is how programs fail, and how framing existing content beats building bespoke assets for every account. Ed also walks through going from "the ABM guy off in the corner" to an integrated ABM motion, plus the accidental CIO deal acceleration he hammered out with a seller over Slack in under 20 minutes. ㅤ 👤 Guest Bio Ed VanderBush is Senior Manager of Account-Based Marketing at LiveRamp, the data collaboration and identity platform. He happened into ABM by accident at LexisNexis in the early 2010s, picking up a project a colleague had to hand off, and it turned into the last decade-plus of his career. At LiveRamp he built the ABM function from the ground up and now runs it as part of the integrated marketing team. He's based in southwest Ohio. ㅤ 📌 What We Cover 🔸 The three inputs Ed uses to build a target account list: sales priorities, signals that validate them, and whether marketing actually has a story to tell 🔸 Why "sales, please go after Google" is the wrong way to pick accounts, and the rocket-ship example of saying no when you have zero resources for a segment 🔸 Building a first ABM program off existing CRM data and existing content instead of creating everything bespoke 🔸 Why framing an asset for the audience beats custom reports, and the client who built a one-off report for a single CIO 🔸 Customer stories as Ed's favorite content, and how a recognizable logo closes more than a stronger but unknown one 🔸 Industry groups and subject matter experts as a sourcing channel that never shows up cleanly in a dashboard 🔸 The "Anatomy of the Deal" conversations Ed ran to mine internal stories and build early evangelism 🔸 The accidental deal acceleration: spotting a CIO engage with an ad, then closing the loop with the seller over Slack 🔸 The Kroger coupon mailer that taught Ed what relevancy and value actually mean ㅤ 🔗 Resources Mentioned 🔸 Bev Burgess, an early voice in account-based marketing referenced from the practice's infancy 🔸 LiveRamp, the data collaboration and identity platform where Ed leads ABM 🔸 LexisNexis, where Ed first picked up account-based marketing 🔸 BambooHR, the recognizable customer story Mason credits with lifting close rates 🔸 Salesforce and Slack, the tools behind the accidental deal acceleration story 🔸 Kroger, the personalized coupon example behind Ed's lesson on relevancy ㅤ Resources: Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies. Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM. ㅤ If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!
June 25 · 12 min
7 Hours of ABM in a Day, Distilled to 15 Minutes | Ep. 275
For almost a year, the Scrappy ABM team has run a full-day workshop called ABM in a Day, with over 900 marketers coming through it. In this solo episode, host Mason Cosby pulls the best of the best from that workshop's survey feedback and condenses roughly seven hours of material into about 15 minutes. ㅤ The thing marketers rated most helpful was a clear structure and system for their ABM program. Mason walks through the two core frameworks behind that structure: the account progression model and the 4D framework. Then he gets into the best customer profile, a look-back method for finding the accounts you actually want more of. ㅤ If you're heading into H2 and trying to figure out where to make an impact in the second half of the year, this one hands you a starting exercise you can run with a sheet of paper today. ㅤ 📌 What We Cover Why a clear structure and system ranked as the most helpful takeaway from ABM in a Day The account progression model: awareness, initial engagement, meaningful engagement, marketing qualified account, sales qualified account, opportunity, and a re-engagement stage The paper-and-pen exercise: write down every program you run, then map each one to the stage that matches its primary intent The 4D framework: data, distribution, destination, and direction Why targets without triggers turn "ABM" into targeted cold outbound, and how a champion tracking play creates a real reason to reach out Matching direct vs indirect channels to where an account sits in its journey, plus weaving problem, product, and proof content across the model The BCP (best customer profile) and the look-back questions behind it: happiest by NPS, longest-tenured, most profitable How the overlap of BCP and ICP creates the TAP (target account profile) ㅤ 🔗 Resources Mentioned ABM in a Day workshop: Next live session on July 28th. Podcast listeners can use code 75OFF to join for $50. Free ABM template: The exact program-build template Scrappy ABM uses with every client, available behind a quick form fill. ㅤ Resources: Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies. Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM. ㅤ If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!
June 18 · 21 min
The Scrappy ABM Moves Worth Stealing | Ep. 274 (Best Of)
A best-of pulls the moments worth keeping, and this one runs from getting internal buy-in all the way to proving the ads nobody clicks. On Scrappy ABM, Mason Cosby revisits four conversations that each solve a different part of running an account-based program without an enterprise budget. ㅤ Hannah Forson explains how to bring channel managers along without wrecking their metrics. Payton Christopher builds a target list from CRM data and customer-service influence. Greg Rokisky turns organic social into an account channel. Adam Holmgren connects LinkedIn ad data to the CRM so brand awareness stops being invisible. ㅤ 👤 Guests Hannah Forson, Senior Manager of Demand Generation at BambooHR, layers account-based motions on top of a primarily inbound engine. ㅤ Payton Christopher, Head of Demand Generation and Growth Marketing at Delivery Solutions, runs an enterprise-focused program built on CRM data, events, and paid social. ㅤ Greg Rokisky, Senior Social Media Marketing Manager at Calendly, built the organic social ABM program discussed here during his time at Sprout Social. ㅤ Adam Holmgren, Co-Founder and CEO of Fibbler, created a tool to measure LinkedIn ad influence after struggling to prove the channel to his own board. ㅤ 📌 What We Cover Isolating an ABM campaign so a channel manager's CPMs and form fills stay clean in reporting. Why a separate executive campaign over the holidays captures decision makers when the market is quiet. Defining the ICP from CRM data instead of asking each department for an opinion. Engaging frontline influencers who have no buying power but real internal influence. Building a target account list with sales and engaging brands during their viral social moments. Making content that is one-to-one for the account and one-to-many for the audience. Connecting LinkedIn ad data to the CRM to surface influenced companies and deals. Avoiding LinkedIn super titles so you target specific roles you can actually follow up with. ㅤ Resources: Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies. Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM. ㅤ If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!
June 11 · 24 min
Your Events Are Expensive Because You Skip This Step | Ep. 273
Most ABM programs stall not because the channels are wrong, but because nothing is designed to actually move accounts forward. This episode of Scrappy ABM pulls from the live Q&A section of one of Mason Cosby's ABM in a Day workshops, and the questions are exactly the ones practitioners get stuck on: how to define account progression stages, how long to run a re-engagement playbook before giving up, and what a real conversion mechanism looks like when you're running lean. ㅤ The episode wraps with a live program teardown with a workshop attendee, walking through her actual ABM stack channel by channel. It's the kind of honest, real-time problem solving that reveals where most scrappy programs break down. ㅤ 📌 What We Cover How to define the intent of each account progression model stage, from awareness through re-engagement, and why that definition has to come before you can track anything What makes Mason's Fix Your Site program still his all-time favorite, and the broader philosophy behind programs built on first-party, willingly-given data Why live engagement formats (workshops, webinars) beat passive content for moving accounts and building relationships at scale How to structure a re-engagement playbook: four quarterly sales touches, mirroring initial engagement, with a 12-month window before you call an account dead The four data sources that power a pre-event program, two of which cost nothing, and why most event ROI problems are actually a pre-event planning problem Three core event destinations (booth, speaking session, happy hour side event) and why getting the meeting set on-site is the only reliable path to a follow-up meeting A live ABM program audit with a workshop attendee targeting school superintendents, including a real-time diagnosis of what's missing: a conversion mechanism at meaningful engagement ㅤ 🔗 Resources Mentioned Scrappy ABM Workshop: ABM in a Day, runs every four to six weeks ㅤ Resources: Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies. Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM. ㅤ If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!
June 4 · 17 min
Brand Recall Takes Three to Six Months. Are You Measuring ABM on the Right Clock? | Ep. 272
Most ABM teams are drowning in signals and stressing about gaps in their programs. This episode of Scrappy ABM cuts through that with raw Q&A from the ABM in a Day workshop, where Mason Cosby answers the questions that keep coming up again and again. Measurement cadences. Signal prioritization. Partner plays for locked-down verticals. What to do when someone visits your book-a-meeting page and doesn't book. ㅤ This is part three of the ABM in a Day FAQ series, pulled straight from live workshop Q&A. No fluff, no setups. Just Mason working through real practitioner questions in real time. ㅤ 📌 What We Cover Why brand recall takes three to six months and why that should change how you set measurement windows at the awareness stage versus later stages How a $3 billion company uses the account progression model not to run more programs but to cut the signals they track down to what actually matters A partner-based framework for breaking into relationship-locked verticals like oil and gas, including how to structure data, distribution, destination, and direction How to classify content syndication leads within the account progression model and why they live closer to second-party data than most teams assume What to do when accounts reach your book-a-meeting page and still don't convert, including why Mason uses a video telling people not to book as the primary CTA Why curated target account landing pages outperform standard booking pages and how to build them without new tooling The case for doing free work for high-priority accounts as a straight CAC calculation, and why every one-to-one play still needs to be systematic and repeatable The "more and better before new" framework for prioritizing ABM investment without spinning up net-new programs ㅤ 🔗 Resources Mentioned Scrappy ABM Workshop: ABM in a Day, running every four to six weeks scrappyabm.com/contact: Mason's book-a-meeting page with the "don't book" video example HubSpot CMS: referenced as the tool used for cloning and customizing one-to-one landing pages ㅤ Resources: Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies. Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM. ㅤ If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!
May 28 · 17 min
Twenty Email Opens, Zero Replies: What That Signal Actually Means | Ep. 271
Engaged accounts that won't advance. SDRs burned too early. Twenty email opens with zero replies. This episode of Scrappy ABM pulls real Q&A from the ABM in a Day workshop and works through the questions every ABM operator hits when the playbook starts to crack. ㅤ Mason Cosby walks through why engaged accounts stall (usually because the wrong people are engaged, or nobody has quantified the cost of inaction), what signals to use when website visitor data isn't an option, and where SDRs actually fit in an account progression model. He also breaks down the minimum viable team for an ABM program, the case for content-led outbound, and how to read multiple email opens that never turn into replies. ㅤ If you've ever wondered whether your engaged accounts are actually engaged, or whether your outbound is asking for too much too early, this is the conversation. ㅤ 📌 What We Cover Why engaged accounts don't advance and the role of cost of inaction How to spot when only influencers are engaged but no budget holders are involved List-based versus signal-based triggers for B2B targeting without website visitor data Where SDRs actually belong in an account progression model (and where they don't) Why events and webinars carry weight in mid-market B2B AI software and cybersecurity The content-led outbound approach with no meeting ask The core roles every ABM program needs: strategist, content, creative, ops, execution owner, sales and CS How to read twenty to thirty email opens with no reply, and what to do next with audience expansion ㅤ 🔗 Resources Mentioned ABM in a Day workshop PLG motions for re-engaging enterprise accounts G2 review signals and third-party intent data The 4D framework: data, distribution, destination, direction ㅤ Resources: Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies. Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM. ㅤ If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!
May 21 · 25 min
Goal One Is Just to Get Them to Answer (with Drew Johnson from Everflow) | Ep. 270
Outbound has changed. What worked two years ago does not work today, and what works today is not going to work two years from now. On this episode of Scrappy ABM, Mason Cosby sits down with Drew Johnson, Senior Director of Business Development at Everflow, to walk through how his team actually picks targets, runs LinkedIn-led outreach, and knows when to pivot off a vertical that has stopped paying out. ㅤ Drew runs outbound for a bootstrapped affiliate-tracking platform going up against bigger logos. He calls it David versus Goliath. To compete, his SDRs and AEs lean on LinkedIn over InMail, treat the connection request and the pitch as two separate problems, and build target lists off of verticals where one client win has already started to pop. The conversation gets tactical fast: when to abandon a list of 70 accounts, why the five-minute response window after a connection accept matters, and what to do when the decision-maker keeps ignoring you. ㅤ 👤 Guest Bio Drew Johnson is Senior Director of Business Development at Everflow, a bootstrapped affiliate and partner-marketing platform headquartered in Mountain View. He joined Everflow in 2018 and has run sales and BD there ever since, scaling the team that brings new brands onto a platform now tracking 1,200+ clients across affiliate, influencer, lead-gen, telehealth, and mobile. Before Everflow, Drew held BD and AE roles at Digital Remedy, Leadnomics, and Digital Roadmap. ㅤ 📌 What We Cover How Everflow picks new verticals by pouncing on the lookalikes of one client win The signal Drew watches for when a vertical is starting to dry up Why LinkedIn does the heavy lifting and email and calls run as multi-threading support The two-part LinkedIn play: getting the connection accepted, then pitching The five-minute SLA after a connection accept and why speed compounds The "sweetest person in marketing" detour for accounts that won't reply to senior titles Why one silver-bullet playbook only works if you are the number one logo in the space What Drew tells his team about seniority: you keep proving you can print the money ㅤ 🔗 Resources Mentioned Everflow: Affiliate and partner-marketing tracking platform LinkedIn Sales Navigator HubSpot Gemini (Google) for building lookalike audiences Drew's email: drew@everflow.io Brands Drew references in Everflow's telehealth and GLP-1 vertical: Rugiet, Ro, BlueChew, BodyHealth, ReflexMD, GobyMeds ㅤ Resources: Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies. Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM. ㅤ If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!
May 14 · 25 min
Why Your Event Follow-Up Kills the Warmth You Just Built (with Dave Schools from Singulate) | Ep. 286
Most of us have run an event, watched the in-person conversations crackle, then sent the same templated follow-up to everyone on the lead list. The energy disappears the moment marketing hits send. That gap is what Dave Schools set out to close when he started Singulate, and it's what he and Mason Cosby get into on this episode of Scrappy ABM. ㅤ Dave breaks down why marketing ops keeps becoming the bottleneck on personalization, why data is now a commodity but messaging is not, and what it actually takes to send hyper-segmented email at scale without sounding like AI. He shares the four channels working for Singulate today, the 15% open-rate bump from a single hook rewrite, and the framework his team uses to keep humans in the loop while AI does the heavy lifting. ㅤ If you're a revenue leader running ABM with a limited budget and a database full of underused signals, this conversation gives you a clearer picture of what to do with what you already have. ㅤ 👤 Guest Bio Dave Schools is co-founder and CEO of Singulate, an AI native marketing personalization platform that sits on top of HubSpot or Marketo to activate first-party data into hyper-segmented messaging. Before Singulate, Dave was on the founding team at Hopin, where he ran marketing through the company's hypergrowth phase and led growth across multiple products. He started Singulate in 2024 with two former Hopin colleagues to solve the email blast problem he kept running into himself. ㅤ 📌 What We Cover Why marketing ops becomes the bottleneck on personalization, and what Dave calls the "infinity tree of segmentation" Why event follow-up almost always kills the warmth and energy from the event itself The four channels working for Singulate's go-to-market: LinkedIn ads, events, outbound, and referrals Why data is now a commodity, and why messaging at scale is the harder problem to solve The "imagine a billboard" hook strategy that drove a 15% open-rate bump on email three with a customer Why Dave advises spending 45% of campaign-build time on the hook for outbound The case for benchmarking against your own historical performance instead of external industry data Singulate's three approaches to personalized messaging: token transformation, modular segmentation (branching), and fine-tuned prompts with context Why Dave says B2C is roughly 10 years ahead of B2B on what he calls "invisible personalization" ㅤ 🔗 Resources Mentioned Singulate: Dave's company, an AI native marketing personalization platform. Singulate's MCSA white paper: Modular Communication Strategy Architecture, Singulate's framework for keeping humans in the loop on AI-generated messaging at scale.ㅤ Knak: Email creation platform mentioned in the episode. Marketing automation platforms referenced: HubSpot, Marketo. Data and enrichment tools referenced: ZoomInfo, Apollo, Clay. Other tools referenced: Webflow, WordPress, Claude Code, Fireflies. Hopin (Dave's prior company) was also discussed. ㅤ Resources: Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies. Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM. ㅤ If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!
May 7 · 20 min
Why Most Startups Shouldn't Run ABM Yet | Ep. 268
This episode pulls a question-and-answer block from Scrappy ABM's ABM in a Day workshop, the recurring session Mason Cosby runs every four to six weeks. Mason takes the questions that have surfaced most often across past workshops and answers them in one sitting, drawing on the patterns he sees show up across operators in the room. ㅤ The questions cover what most ABM teams hit in their first six months. When you should and shouldn't run ABM. What the LTGP-to-CAC ratio means for software companies. How to pick the next vertical without burning the program. What to do when leadership asks for accounts that don't match the data. How to hit LinkedIn's 300 matched-contact floor when your account list is small. ㅤ If you've sat in front of a half-built target account list with a CEO breathing down your neck for logos, this episode is the answers, in order. ㅤ 📌 What We Cover Why ABM doesn't work for most B2B startups without closed deals, and the one TAM exception that proves the rule How Scrappy ABM waited eighteen months to define its own ICP before launching its own ABM program The 10-to-1 LTGP-to-CAC target for software, with the math on a $20K acquisition cost against a $200K first-year contract The Remodel Health story of vertical expansion: churches to Christian schools to volunteer organizations to health networks How to handle CEO logo wishlists that don't match the data, with the "ask behind the ask" and shiny object syndrome Why 300 matched contacts on LinkedIn is easier to hit than most teams think once you map the full decision committee Average B2B decision committee size of 8 to 14 people, plus 20 to 30 with extended influencers ㅤ 🔗 Resources Mentioned ABM in a Day Workshop at scrappyabm.com/workshop Sybill, AI sales call analysis (referenced for the company's pivot from education to sales) Remodel Health, Indianapolis health benefits company referenced for organic vertical expansion Alex Hormozi, originator of the LTGP-to-CAC framework ㅤ Resources: Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies. Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM. ㅤ If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!
April 30 · 26 min
Three Years of Failing at ABM, Then Automating Everything Except the Phone Call (with Moréa Pollet from InfluxData) | Ep. 267
Most ABM programs start with a plan and die with a calendar. Moréa Pollet spent three years watching that happen at InfluxData - and then figured out why. On this episode of Scrappy ABM, Mason Cosby sits down with Moréa to walk through exactly how her team rebuilt their ABM motion from the ground up, using Clay-powered enrichment, AI-generated personalization, and a LinkedIn funnel built for technical buyers. ㅤ The conversation covers what killed version one (sales bandwidth, no real operationalization), what made version two stick (automating everything except the phone call), and the honest truth about measuring ABM success before pipeline is even on the table. InfluxData is an open-source company targeting software engineers - which means they're running ABM in one of the hardest targeting environments possible. The playbook Moréa shares is specific, scrappy, and repeatable. ㅤ 👤 Guest Bio Moréa Pollet is the Director of Demand Generation at InfluxData, the creator of InfluxDB - the world's leading open-source time series database. She has been with InfluxData for over five years, building and evolving the demand gen function across PLG, enterprise, and hybrid sales motions. Her background spans international business, hospitality, legal, and technology marketing, and she holds degrees from San Francisco State University and SKEMA Business School (France). ㅤ 📌 What We Cover Why InfluxData's open-source roots made traditional ABM a poor early fit - and what forced a rethink How the team used Clay to enrich target accounts in the energy sector and surface specific tooling data that wouldn't exist in any standard database The decision to start with SDRs only (no AEs) to simplify the first version of the program How AI-generated personalization is driving higher open and reply rates - not lower ones The LinkedIn funnel structure Moréa built: layered content from brand awareness to pain-point-specific ads, with InMail finally working after two months of testing How content is segmented by role - technical webinars for practitioners, executive briefs and ROI calculators for decision makers Why early ABM success metrics were meetings booked, not pipeline - and how that changed in version two The one piece of advice Moréa wished she had from day one: go get executive buy-in before you go get sales buy-in ㅤ 🔗 Resources Mentioned InfluxData - open-source time series database platform Clay - data enrichment and automation platform used for account targeting and personalization Outreach - sales engagement platform used for SDR sequences Salesforce - CRM referenced in the context of integration challenges 6sense - mentioned as a tool not in budget during the original ABM build Demandbase - mentioned alongside 6sense as an enterprise ABM tool considered but not used early on LinkedIn - paid media channel; thought leader ads and InMail specifically discussed ㅤ Resources: Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies. Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM. ㅤ If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!
April 23 · 26 min
Stop Selling Fear 😨 Why Factal's ABM Program Leads with Proof, Not Pain (with Dave Clark from Factal) | Ep. 282
Most security and risk companies sell fear. Factal sells facts - and their ABM program reflects that difference. On this episode of Scrappy ABM, Mason Cosby sits down with Dave Clark, Marketing Strategist at Factal, to break down how a two-person marketing team with no dedicated ABM stack runs targeted, personalized outreach to Fortune 500 security operations centers - without resorting to fear-mongering. ㅤ The conversation covers how Factal uses NGO champions who move into the private sector as a warm targeting signal, why Dave ignores click-through rates (and why that made them go up 40%), and how to measure ABM success when hyper-attribution is no longer realistic. ㅤ 👤 Guest Bio Dave Clark is Marketing Strategist and Producer at Factal, a risk intelligence platform based in Seattle that combines experienced journalists with machine learning to verify and geolocate global incidents in real time. A former sports journalist, Dave has been at Factal since 2022, where he leads content, email, and targeted ABM outreach for a two-person marketing team serving global security and intelligence organizations. ㅤ 📌 What We Cover How Factal identifies target accounts by looking for global security operations centers (GSOCs) and intelligence centers - not just Fortune 500 name recognition The NGO-to-enterprise pipeline: how humanitarian aid contacts who leave for corporate roles become warm ABM champions Matching case studies to individual backgrounds (not just industry verticals) as a targeting signal - including how military backgrounds and Team Rubicon connections inform outreach Running ABM with only HubSpot, Mailchimp, and native social - no dedicated ABM stack The zero-click email philosophy: why Dave stopped chasing click-through rates and started getting 60% open rates Using event proximity as a trigger for personalized, non-product-heavy outreach Avoiding fear-mongering in a security industry that over-indexes on pain - and leaning into proof and product instead Why lack of sales and marketing alignment is the single biggest ABM failure Dave has seen Measurement without hyper-attribution: tracking lifecycle stage, conference attendance, briefing attendance, and revenue direction Why laying content fundamentals (case studies, logos, quotes) before launching ABM is non-negotiable ㅤ 🔗 Resources Mentioned Factal - risk intelligence and collaboration platform HubSpot - CRM and marketing automation used by Factal Mailchimp - email tool in Factal's stack Team Rubicon - veteran-led disaster relief NGO; Factal case study partner Amnesty International - human rights organization; Factal NGO case study partner University of Washington (UDub) - Seattle institution used as conference proximity trigger Scrappy ABM - referenced by Dave as an influence on his messaging approach ㅤ Resources: Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies. Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM. ㅤ If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!
April 16 · 48 min
Your ABM Program Is Failing Because Nobody Owns It (with Aakash Sinha from Clazar) | Ep. 265
This is an interview of Mason on the GTM & AI Operators Show. ㅤ What happens when you strip away the enterprise budget, the fancy ABM platform, and the eight-person marketing team - and still have to hit a revenue number? That's the premise behind Scrappy ABM, and in this episode, Mason Cosby sits down with Aakash Sinha on the GTM & AI Operators Show to break down what ABM actually is, when it works, and why most programs fail before they ever get going. Mason walks through the four core reasons ABM programs break down, how to tell if your ICP is real or just aspirational, and what it actually takes to build a program that generates pipeline without a bloated budget. ㅤ 👤 Guest Bio Aakash Sinha is Founding Member - Marketing at Clazar, a cloud GTM platform that helps software companies list, manage, and co-sell on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud marketplaces. Prior to Clazar, he served as Director of Marketing at SpotDraft and held marketing roles at Belong, Cashfree, and Entrepreneur First. He runs the GTM & AI Operators Show, where he interviews operators building and shipping in an AI-shaped world. ㅤ 📌 What We Cover The origin of Scrappy ABM and why Mason fell in love with account-based marketing at a vertical FinTech company The three prerequisites for ABM readiness: product-market fit, higher ACV, and a favorable CAC-to-lifetime-value ratio The Core Four reasons ABM programs fail: sales-marketing misalignment, poor fit, inadequate internal resourcing, and measurement gaps Why the "Susie problem" kills most ABM programs before they start - and the eight distinct roles every ABM program actually requires The difference between a real ICP and an inspirational one, and how to test yours using nothing but your CRM Mason's graduate-and-leave agency model and why outcome-based pricing produces happier clients and more referrals How Mason built a seven-figure business using LinkedIn content alone, and the "learning in public" strategy that drove the first four years Why podcasting works as a pipeline channel - especially for operators with fewer than 2,000 followers How Mason's view on conferences completely reversed as AI made digital trust harder to establish The three-layer buying committee strategy: bottom-up, top-down, and account-level presence Why early-stage companies should not run ABM, and what they should do instead ㅤ 🔗 Resources Mentioned Scrappy ABM - Mason's ABM consultancy and education brand GTM & AI Operators Show - Aakash Sinha's podcast Salesforce (accounts object configuration for ABM measurement) Claude (Anthropic's AI, used by Mason's team for content repurposing) HubSpot ClickUp B2BMX - B2B Marketing Exchange conference Fathom (call recording tool referenced in Mason's case study automation story) ㅤ Resources: Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies. Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM. ㅤ If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!
April 9 · 17 min
The Minimum Viable Tools Required for Account-Based Marketing | Ep. 264
Building an effective account-based program brings up a lot of specific questions. On this episode of Scrappy ABM, host Mason Cosby answers the most frequent questions pulled directly from previous ABM in a Day workshops. Mason addresses exactly what re-engagement means and when accounts should cycle out of your program. ㅤ Mason details the minimum viable tools required to run a successful strategy. He warns against buying new software before establishing a clear plan. Instead, he explains how your strategy should inform the tools you use. You only really need a CRM, a marketing automation platform, and a sales outreach tool. ㅤ The conversation also addresses the common conflict between outbound sales outreach and marketing automation sequences. Mason explains how to turn sales into a distribution channel. This ensures target accounts get the same message across multiple channels, making your overall outreach more intentional. ㅤ 📌 What We Cover How the re-engagement stage targets accounts that received an offer but decided not to purchase right now. Why accounts that refuse to engage should cycle off your program to make room for higher propensity accounts. The importance of naming marketing plays clearly so salespeople understand them without needing to do research. The three minimum viable tools needed for success: a CRM, a marketing automation platform, and a sales outreach system. How to use exclusion lists to ensure target accounts receive specific, curated experiences instead of generalized marketing. Why identifying the exact problem your customers experience before they need your solution generates meaningful engagement. How small total addressable markets make account-based marketing the most logical solution for vertical SaaS companies. Why sending the same messaging through marketing automation and BDR outreach is highly effective for engagement. ㅤ 🔗 Resources Mentioned ABM in a Day Workshop: scrappyabm.com/workshop Tools mentioned: Factors, RB2B, Marketo People mentioned: Dr. Brené Brown Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM ㅤ If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!
April 2 · 25 min
Building an Organic Social ABM Program from Scratch with Greg Rokisky from Calendly | Ep. 263
Account-based marketing does not strictly require massive budgets or gated landing pages. Sometimes, all it takes is showing up where your target accounts already spend their time online. On this episode of Scrappy ABM, host Mason Cosby speaks with Greg Rokisky about a highly specific, low-cost marketing play. Greg details the process of building an organic social account program during his time at Sprout Social. He explains how his team partnered closely with sales to identify target accounts and monitor their activity. When a target brand had a viral moment, Greg's team engaged directly on platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn. This strategy created a "bouncy trampoline" effect. Social engagement became a jumping-off point that account executives could use for warmer outreach. Greg and Mason also discuss how to make one-to-one video content that still works for a broader audience, and how to measure the revenue return of simple online interactions. Guest Bio Greg Rokisky serves as the Senior Social Media Marketing Manager at Calendly, a scheduling automation platform designed to eliminate the back-and-forth of booking meetings. Prior to Calendly, Greg worked as a Senior Social Media Strategist at Sprout Social, where he led campaigns and built out the organic programs discussed in this episode. Greg is a strong advocate for a social-first customer journey and the creator economy. He focuses on inclusive, human-centered storytelling. You can connect with Greg Rokisky on LinkedIn to see more of his content. What We Cover How Greg transitioned from standard social media management to pioneering a target account program. The process of creating a "bouncy trampoline" for sales by engaging with quick-service restaurant brands on social channels. Using organic comments as a direct handoff to account executives for warmer outbound messaging. Building one-to-one content that remains valuable for a one-to-many public audience. Tracking success through a pilot program and moving toward a custom W-model attribution strategy. Connecting online interactions to in-person events like Dreamforce and South by Southwest. The missed opportunity of not tying the B2B creator economy into the account strategy from day one. Resources Mentioned Sprout Social Sales Assembly Dreamforce South by Southwest Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies. (Link ScrappyABM.com) Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM (Link Mason's LinkedIn) If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!
March 23 · 6 min
Best place to start with ABM | Ep. 262
Roughly 80% of ABM programs fail. The main reason is that companies start by targeting accounts that have never heard of them. It takes three to six months for your brand to even be remembered. By that time, the program has usually been killed. Welcome to Scrappy ABM. Host Mason Cosby breaks down exactly where you should build your target account list to nearly guarantee a win. ㅤ If you focus on a completely net new audience, you are setting yourself up for a long wait. It can take anywhere from 3 to 24 months for those accounts to enter the pipeline. Mason explains why starting with people who already know you exist gives you the best potential for success. You already have a sheer amount of data on these accounts, making it easier to measure success. ㅤ We explore the four core places to look for these target accounts: website traffic, closed lost opportunities, your active sales pipeline, and your current customer base. By focusing on these engaged audiences, you can shorten sales cycles and directly address past objections. This approach builds trust and helps you secure buy-in before you go after cold prospects. ㅤ 📌 What We Cover Why targeting completely cold accounts causes most ABM programs to fail early. Using website traffic to identify highly engaged people who visit your pricing page or view your webinars. Building specific programming to overcome past objections in your closed lost opportunities. Starting a small pilot program with one to three sales reps to shorten a 6 to 18-month sales cycle. Mapping out a customer journey to find expansion dollars within your current customer base. Defining a real ABM program as a B2B revenue strategy that aligns marketing, sales, and customer success. Measuring success on a data set of best-fit customers rather than guessing with unknown accounts. ㅤ 🔗 Resources Mentioned Scrappy ABM Newsletter: Subscribe to get playbooks every single week at scrappyabm.com/newsletter. Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies. Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM. ㅤ If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!
March 19 · 3 min
How to build the right budget and investment for ABM | Ep. 261
Struggling to get buy-in for your ABM program budget? Securing hundreds of thousands of dollars for marketing initiatives requires a specific, structured process. In this episode of Scrappy ABM, host Mason Cosby walks through the exact four steps for building ABM programs and getting leaders on board quickly. ㅤ Instead of asking for a budget right away, marketers must first audit their current efforts. Mason Cosby explains how to map out everything from SEO to organic social events. He breaks down how to categorize these programs by their intended purpose to create your first account progression model. ㅤ This model guides accounts from initial awareness straight to buying readiness. By identifying specific gaps and presenting a clear plan first, you can ask leadership for help solving large initiatives rather than just asking for dollars. You will learn how to complete this entire mapping process and secure the resources you need in under an hour. ㅤ 📌 What We Cover Write down everything you are currently doing from a marketing perspective, including SEO and paid media. Categorizing existing programs by their purpose to build your first account progression model. Mapping tactical details using the four D framework: data, distribution, destination, and direction. Answering the six critical questions for every single playbook at every stage of your program. Moving from repurposing current content to building new assets to fill specific gaps. Asking leadership for help solving a problem rather than directly asking for a general ABM budget. ㅤ 🔗 Resources Mentioned ABM Planning Template: Visit scrappyabm.com/plan to get a full program mapped out in about an hour. Scrappy ABM: Visit for more ABM tips and strategies. Connect with Mason on LinkedIn for a conversation about ABM ㅤ If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to the Scrappy ABM podcast for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers!