Smaller companies' ABM advantages

In this episode of OnBase, Paul Gibson talks with Tejal Patel about why ABM often falls short in large enterprises and how companies can fix it. Tejal shares how her B2C background shaped her customer-centric approach and explains the key issues she sees inside big tech—misalignment, data quality gaps, siloed teams, and overreliance on ABM as a standalone strategy.

She contrasts this with the agility of smaller organizations and outlines practical ways to improve targeting, use intent data, strengthen sales–marketing alignment, and unify brand and demand. This conversation offers clear, actionable advice for anyone trying to make ABM work at scale.

Key Takeaways

• ABM is a tactic, not a standalone strategy

Tejal argues that ABM only works when paired with brand, awareness, nurture, and customer-centric messaging. Without broader demand creation, ABM becomes narrow and ineffective.

• Sales and marketing alignment remains the biggest barrier

Large enterprises struggle with global vs. regional disconnects, mismatched KPIs, and long internal approval cycles, slowing execution and creating misfire between strategy and action. Smaller companies excel because they have fewer layers, faster decision-making, and shared prioritization.

• Data quality is the silent killer of ABM

Messy CRM data, fragmented systems, mismatched account naming, and inconsistent scoring models undermine targeting, personalization, and sales handoff. Clean data and agreed lead quality criteria must come first.

• Intent data only works when paired with first-party signals

Great ABM prioritizes first-party data, then layers on external intent. Messaging should be mapped to where accounts are in their journey, not just industry segmentation. Audience clusters can be built based on behaviors, not just firmographics.

• Brand and demand must run in parallel

Brand builds trust with the 90% who aren’t yet buying; demand captures the 10% who are. Both motions must reinforce each other with consistent messaging across all touchpoints, internal and external.

• Simplification accelerates performance

Tejal shares examples where hundreds of micro-campaigns were consolidated into fewer, audience-grouped programs, leading to clearer measurement, stronger engagement, and faster pipeline.

• AI will finally unlock true personalization at scale, but only with clean inputs

AI can accelerate content, sales enablement, and buying-group messaging, but only when built on a foundation of strategy, quality data, and customer-centric principles. Otherwise, AI simply amplifies the noise.

Quotes

“Smaller companies succeed because they’re aligned, agile, and closer to the spirit of ABM.”

Tech recommendations

• Miro
• ChatGPT
• Canva

Resource recommendations

• The Rundown AI newsletter
• Lisa Adams (LinkedIn) – insights on AI and modern marketing org design
• Harvard Business Review

Shout-outs

• Juskiran Sond, Senior Global Digital ABM Marketing Manager at Riverbed Technology
• Suyasha Kale, Senior Paid Social Advertising Manager - Global at TeamViewer

• Brett Rieser, EMEA & LATAM Growth Marketing, Senior Manager at Palo Alto Networks

About the Guest

Tejal Patel has 25+ years experience in marketing transformation, strategic planning, organisational design & change management. She has held senior leadership roles at Cisco, Microsoft & Nokia. She specializes in creating practical yet ambitious strategies that deliver tangible success. She is skilled at building and retaining high-performing teams. Known as a turnaround expert, Tejal combines strategic vision with hands-on execution and inspires a culture of collaboration and empowerment.

⁠Connect with Tejal⁠.