How we built an ABM program that starts with signals

Josh invented ABM — at least he thought so. He called it a "sleeper cell" of undercover marketers. I called it ABM. Josh remained firmly Team Sleeper Cell.

The funny part was the name. The serious part was the problem we were trying to solve.

With the Series A behind us, the next question came almost immediately. How long could inbound alone carry us? The obvious answer was to hire more SDRs.

It just didn't feel like Vector.

We'd worked hard to build a brand people were excited to hear from. So, we weren't about to jeopardize that by measuring success in dials and cold emails. Which leads us back to Josh's "sleeper cell" idea.

In this episode of This Meeting Could've Been a Podcast, Josh accidentally reinvents ABM. Our newest hire outbounded her way into the job. And we explain why signals beat spray-and-pray…  every time.

What you’ll learn 

• Why inbound has a ceiling — and what Vector is building to get past it
• How signals replace the traditional target account list
• The XDR role: why it lives in marketing, not sales
• What "signal-message match" actually means in practice
• How Abbi outbounded her way into a role built around outbound
• Why long-form content might be the most important part of Vector's ABM strategy

TOP THREE TAKEAWAYS

Takeaway 1: Signals before lists

We let the signals tell us who belonged on the list.

Most ABM programs start the other way around. Someone senior decides which companies look right on paper. Right size, industry, revenue. The list gets made, and it's officially hunting season.

We wanted to flip that.

Maybe organic traffic has dropped. Ad spend has picked up. They've just hired their first demand gen marketer. On their own, those things don't tell you much. Together, they paint a vivid picture.

Bottom line, the account list isn't the starting point anymore. It's the output.

Takeaway 2: Earn the right to personalize

Not every account needs a handwritten note and a custom Loom video.

Some of them just need to see the right ad at the right time. Others need a sales rep in their inbox with something specific to say. Then there are the accounts where one-to-one makes complete sense.

That's how we structured it.

Everyone showing the right signals gets targeted with contact-level ads through Vector. The messaging changes depending on the signal that brought them in, but they're all in the pool. That's the starting point.

From there, around 60 accounts get split across our sales reps, call it about 20 each. Marketing writes the messaging. Sales builds the relationship. The brand stays consistent throughout.

Then there's Abbi's list.

Thirty accounts, all absolute top tier.

She goes one-to-one, offering up webinars, content, calculators, the works. Outreach built around what those accounts have already told us they care about.

Josh called it many-to-one, few-to-one, one-to-one. Either way, the logic is the same — show up bigger as the signal gets stronger.

Takeaway 3: The best outreach starts with what buyers are already telling you

Just made a demand gen hire? We have a campaign for that. Just closed a funding round? We have one for that too.

Right now, we’re working with a couple of signals that keep showing up. 

When you look at them a bit closer, they’re not just events. They tell you where a company is in its journey and what they’re probably trying to figure out next. So instead of starting with a blank page, we build around that.

Yes, each signal gets ads. But it also gets content —  something useful enough that it doesn’t feel like marketing.

So if someone’s just stepped into a demand gen role, it’s a simple guide on what the first 90 days often look like. If they’ve just raised, it’s what demand gen and ABM need to look like.

Content sits in the middle of everything.

Ads point to it, ABM uses it in outreach, and it turns into the thing that pulls people closer to the brand.

Catch the full episode (and subscribe to This Meeting Could’ve Been a Podcast) on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform.