Properly pricing your agency's ABM services is a nuanced game with several different levers that can influence the success of your ABM practice. Using a repeatable pricing structure to create consistency in your services will help you grow as your customers are more and more successful with ABM.
We’ve outlined a 5-step guide that incorporates the critical levers to consider while navigating your ABM pricing.
We recommend following these steps in sequential order as they continuously build off of each other.
1. Consider Your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)
Define your target market
Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) delineates the perfect customer, underscoring the critical characteristics and qualities that render them a great fit for your ABM service offerings.
Considerations
- Organization size
- Industry
- Average contract value (ACV)
- Budget size
This is a crucial factor because the pricing of services can vary significantly depending on the industry and size of your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). For instance, a large technology company typically has a more substantial budget compared to a small insurance agency.
Given these attributes, what your ICP is willing and able to pay will vary.
2. Understand Your Existing Market Perception and Audience
Evaluate the current public perception of your company
If your agency already has a strong market presence, you're in a position to command higher prices based on an established perception of trust and proven delivery capabilities. On the other hand, if you’re a new entrant into the agency market or don’t have a large presence, you’ll need to take the lack of brand recognition into account in your pricing.
Determine the scale of your existing audience
An agency with a large, engaged audience where prospects are deeply entrenched in their thought leadership content, will not only allow for faster customer acquisition but can also be leveraged to justify premium pricing. Without an engaged audience who trusts you, it will require more work to prove your ability to deliver and why they should choose you over a competitor.
3. Pricing Your Service Offerings
Offering #1: ABM Jumpstart Program (90-days)
This 90-day program is built for organizations that are implementing ABM for the first time, including end-to-end orchestration implementation and execution of an ABM campaign and sales automation.
Service offerings include:
1. Build the ABM Framework
First, connect your client's website to an ABM platform, like Propensity, to gather 1st party intent signals. Second, integrate their CRM with the ABM platform and data warehouse if needed. Third, implement their sales automation tools, like Apollo.io or Outreach, and ensure that it is integrated with the ABM platform and CRM.
2. Setup the audience
Leveraging an ABM platform, like Propensity, build a target account list of in-market accounts that are ideal customer profile (ICP) matches using intent data.
3. Curate an omnichannel campaign and playbook (including content and creative)
Orchestrate an omni-channel campaign using various tactics such as programmatic ads, Facebook and LinkedIn ads, email marketing, and direct mail. Build any creative or content that is needed to effectively personalize and execute the campaign through each touch.
4. Execute the campaign
Launch the omnichannel ABM campaign and continuously monitor its performance, making creative and content adjustments as needed.
5. Stand up and hand off hot leads to the sales automation system
As high-intent leads begin to funnel through the system, pass these off into the sales automation system to begin a sequence.
6. Funnel high-quality leads to the sales team
Pass any highly engaged contacts to their sales team to begin personalized outreach, or confirm a booked meeting from the cadence that was running via the sales automation tool.
Suggested Fixed price = $5-10K (excluding technology costs)
Offering #2: Month-to-Month Plan (post ABM Jumpstart)
After the implementation of the 90-day ABM Jumpstart, additional ongoing support will move to a monthly retainer model.
Service offerings include:
1. Continued ABM campaign execution and monitoring
Continue to implement and closely monitor the performance of the ABM campaign, making adjustments as necessary to optimize outcomes.
2. Tune-up existing campaign audiences
Utilize both quantitative campaign performance data and qualitative feedback from the sales team to refine the target account lists, incorporating new intent signals and eliminating any that have become obsolete.
3. Ad and content rotation
Develop new advertising creatives and fresh content, optimizing them based on key insights gained from the initial campaign phases.
Fixed price = $1-2K / month (starting point)
4. Considerations As You Grow
Influential factors to consider in your pricing strategy
Scope of work
Anticipate managing an increasing number of campaigns, which will require additional creative and content resources, along with continuous, large-scale monitoring.
Hiring external consultants or freelancers
Bringing on additional help to offset the existing bandwidth of your team may be necessary. Consider this in your pricing as you scale up the number of campaigns you’re supporting.
Additional resources and technology that may need to be purchased
Incorporating new resources or technology, such as Adobe Creative Cloud and Descript, will increase your expenses, impacting your bottom line and potentially thinning out existing margins. Factor these costs into your pricing strategy as you continue to expand.
5. Validate and Refine Your Pricing Strategy
Gather market validation for your pricing strategy from potential or existing customers
Leverage your network, and existing customers or reach out to prospects who match your ICP to gather their feedback on your pricing strategy. Aim for a minimum of 10 conversations and ensure that the individuals you’re talking to match the persona of those who would purchase the services.
Example LinkedIn Outreach Message:
“Hey [NAME] - we’re building an ABM/Growth Marketing Agency to help orgs launch and scale their programs. Would love to get your feedback on what we're building as we’re early in the process. Would you be open to a 15-minute coffee chat?”
The do’s and don'ts in these conversations
Do
- Maintain utmost transparency regarding your current position in the process.
- Gather feedback on your service offerings (if you haven’t already).
Don’t
- Avoid pitching your services in any capacity. This approach is not only a potential turn-off that could alienate them as prospects, but also a surefire way to create negative advocates before you've fully launched your initiative.
Refine your pricing strategy (as needed) based on feedback
Utilize the collected feedback and market validation to refine your pricing strategy.
Conclusion
By adhering to the 5-steps outlined above, you have gathered, analyzed, and collected the essential data and feedback required to establish your initial ABM pricing structure. Our concluding advice emphasizes the importance of continually soliciting feedback on your services and pricing from existing customers or prospects. This ongoing engagement is the key to refining your offerings and establishing a price point that ensures conversion.