This is effective for teams who feel that inbound tourism has dried up and large projects cannot be filled just by "waiting for them to come." ABM（Account-Based Marketing / Sales） is. Decide on the target company first, and sales and marketing will work together to make an intensive approach. HubSpot Target Accounts feature・Buyer Intent signal・Prospecting Agent has been significantly strengthened from 2025 to 2026, making ABM strategies that were previously exclusive to enterprises now realistically implementable even for midsize B2B companies. This chapter provides a systematic explanation of designing and implementing ABM using HubSpot.
ABM (Account-Based Marketing/Sales) is in contrast to the inbound type where you wait for potential customers to arrive.Decide in advance a list of companies you want to receive orders from, and sales and marketing will work together to approach those companies intensively.It's a strategy. The idea is not to sow seeds in a wide area, but to focus on a particular point and cultivate it deeply.
| conditions | ABM-oriented | Inbound is better |
|---|---|---|
| Target market size | The TAM is clear and the target companies can be narrowed down to hundreds to thousands of companies. | Target companies include tens of thousands of companies and individual users |
| Acquisition cost (ACV) | Mainly large-scale projects worth 1 million yen or more per year | A model that has low unit costs and scales by number of items |
| decision complexity | Multiple decision makers/long consideration period (more than 3 months) | Immediate decision/credit card purchase with one person in charge |
| Sales/marketing system | Both teams can align with the same KPI | Silo organization where marketing only tracks the number of MQLs |
| Characteristics of existing customers | Top 20% of customers account for 80% of sales | Sales are evenly distributed among customers |
ABM and inbound are not mutually exclusive. Many organizations maintain their existing inbound initiatives whileAdd “Tier 1 strategic accounts have priority lane for applying ABM”Start with the shape. If you try to switch everything to ABM from the beginning, the cost of organizational change will be high and the risk of failure will increase. A realistic way to proceed is to start with a Tier 1 list of 20 to 30 companies and expand once you have confirmed reproducibility.
The success or failure of ABM is determined by the quality of your target list. Rather than a list of "somehow big-looking companies",List of target accounts selected and divided into tiers based on ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)is the foundation of ABM. HubSpot's Target Accounts feature (Sales Hub Professional and above) allows you to set target flags and tiers on company records and integrate them with Prospecting Agent and Sales Workspace.
| Selection axis | Specific examples of standards | data source |
|---|---|---|
| Fit score (static) | Do the industry, number of employees, annual sales, technology stack, and region match the ICP? Scoring and extracting top companies | HubSpot company property/LinkedIn/external data enrichment (Clearbit, Apollo, etc.) |
| Intent signal (dynamic) | Signals that indicate ``now is the best time to move'' such as an increase in searches for your own service category, cancellation of competing tools, increase in recruitment positions, and fundraising | HubSpot Buyer Intent・Bombora・G2・LinkedIn Recruitment Information |
| Similarity to existing customers | Prioritize companies whose attributes are most similar to successful existing customers (high NPS, high renewal rate, high LTV). Aiming to reproduce the “successful pattern” | Input from HubSpot’s Customer Properties and CS team |
| Presence or absence of relationship | Priority will be given to companies with which we have existing contacts (past business negotiations, participation in webinars, download of materials). It is easier to approach because it has a more warm feeling from scratch. | HubSpot company records, contact history, and past deal records |
Unless the definitions of Tier 1, 2, and 3 are unified as an organization, each person in charge will treat Tier 1 differently.Tier 1: Top priority 20-30 companies with a high probability of closing within the year (active management with weekly sales)、Tier 2: 50-100 companies that can be expected to have business negotiations within 6-12 months (marketing-led nurturing)、Tier 3: 100-300 companies that meet the ICP but have few opportunities to interact with them (building awareness through advertising and content)A three-layer structure is standard.
December 2025 update adds HubSpot's Buyer Intent feature5 new signals addedThe accuracy of detecting ``companies that are ready to move right now'' has been significantly improved. By using these signals as workflow triggers, you can automate a timely approach.
Rather than approaching immediately with a single signal,Prioritize companies where multiple signals overlapAn effective design is to treat it as such. Companies that have a combination of ``funding + rapid hiring of sales staff + high search intent'' are extremely likely to be ``looking for sales tools right now.'' Use HubSpot's company scoring feature to assign points to each signal and set up a workflow that automatically promotes companies with a high combined score to Tier 1.
What is important in ABM is not only ``who'' to approach, but also ``at what timing,'' ``with what message,'' and ``by whom.'' Playbook (reproducible steps)It is to be designed as such. By standardizing the play for each signal, it becomes possible to execute ABM that does not depend on the experience points of the person in charge.
The biggest reason why ABM doesn't work isLack of alignment between sales and marketingis. Sales says, ``The content created by marketing doesn't stick,'' and marketing says, ``Sales doesn't follow up.'' In order to eliminate this division, ABM requires a common target list, common KPIs, and regular joint reviews.
ABM is not the traditional “number of leads”;Account-level engagement and progressEvaluate with. Changing the design of KPIs will promote alignment between sales and marketing.
Once a month to maximize ABM results.Sales/Marketing joint ABM reviewinstitutionalize. The agenda should be completed within 45 minutes with four items: 1) Check the progress of last month's Tier 1 account 2) Share new Intent signals 3) Evaluate the effectiveness of the content used 4) Adjust next month's target list. This review will eliminate the divide that ``marketing follows MQL and sales follows orders'', and both teams willSame target, same goalCreate a culture that is driven by
While maintaining the existing inbound market, set 20 to 30 companies that fully meet ICP as Tier 1 ABM targets. If you try to switch to ABM company-wide from the beginning, there is a high risk of failure.
It combines not only fit scores (static attributes) but also intent signals (dynamic) and similarity to existing successful customers. Implement automatic tiering with HubSpot's company scoring.
Set five signals as workflow triggers: funding, rapid increase in hiring, technology change, management change, and search intent, and automatically detect when "now is the best time to move" and start playing.
Document ``who will do what, on what day,'' using the four starting points: Fund Raising Play, Competitive Switching Play, New Executive Play, and Return Visit Play. This creates reproducibility in ABM that does not depend on the experience of the person in charge.
Set coverage rate, engagement rate, ACV via ABM, and Tier 1 order conversion rate as measurement indicators for ABM. The traditional KPI design that only tracks the number of MQLs cannot accurately evaluate the effectiveness of ABM.
Create a culture where both teams work with the same target list and the same goals through monthly 45-minute joint ABM reviews. Eliminating the silo of ``marketing leads and sales taking orders'' is an organizational prerequisite for ABM success.