The ABM Platform Investment Decision: Questions CMOs Should Be Asking Before Signing
Scott Schnaars
How to Evaluate ABM Platforms Without Getting Burned
The five questions your ABM platform vendor does not want you to ask are the five questions that determine whether the investment works.
A recent thread in the Exit Five community (https://www.exitfive.com/community) about ABM platform POVs confirmed the pattern: most demos are designed to impress, not to show what month six looks like. Your job in the evaluation is to get the vendor out of their controlled demo environment.
What to ask that most teams never do:
- Data quality test: take one hundred accounts from your actual ICP and ask the vendor to run them through their platform. What is the match rate? What is the accuracy rate on the fields that matter to you? Do this before the demo, not after
- Integration test: ask for a live demonstration of the integration with your specific CRM instance, not a sandbox. Watch for what breaks or requires manual steps
- Month-six scenario: ask to speak with a customer who has been using the platform for six to twelve months at a company similar in size and motion to yours
- Support model: who is your named account manager after go-live? What is the SLA for data quality issues? Is your onboarding team the same as your support team?
- Exit terms: what happens to your data if you do not renew? What is the data portability process?
Data quality is the hidden variable in every ABM platform evaluation. The platform with better data and fewer features will outperform the platform with better features and worse data. That comparison will not appear in the vendor's deck.
Yirla connects to your ABM platform to surface which accounts are actually engaging with your paid campaigns. (https://www.yirla.com/integrations)
