By Amol Palve, Founder, IndustrySpan. Last updated: 22 September 2026.
In short: Account based marketing (ABM) focuses your marketing and sales effort on a defined list of high-value companies instead of chasing individual leads. As an account based marketing consultant for industrial and chemical companies, IndustrySpan builds and verifies your target account list, maps the buying group in each account, and runs coordinated, personalised engagement with your sales team across the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
From IndustrySpan’s work: When we built IndustrySpan’s own ABM programme, we started with a verified list of more than 280 target companies across the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. Agreeing that list before any outreach is what lets marketing and sales work on the same accounts with the same story.
What does an account based marketing consultant do?
An ABM consultant designs and runs the programme that gets your company known, trusted and in conversation with the specific accounts you want to win. In practice that means deciding which accounts matter most, understanding who decides inside them, creating content and outreach relevant to their situation, and measuring progress account by account.
Why does ABM fit industrial markets?
Industrial markets suit ABM better than most, for three reasons:
Your market is finite. A dosing equipment maker may have a few hundred realistic target plants in a region, not tens of thousands of prospects. Every account counts, so broad lead generation wastes budget on companies that will never buy.
Decisions are made by groups. Gartner found buyers spend 22% of their buying time meeting with their own buying group (Destination CRM, reporting Gartner). In a plant, that group often includes the plant manager, process engineers, maintenance, HSE, procurement and sometimes R&D. Reaching one contact is not enough.
Deals are large and cycles long. A single account can be worth years of revenue, which justifies tailored effort.
The results reported by ABM practitioners support this. In Momentum’s Global Account-Based Marketing Benchmark 2024/25, a survey of more than 300 B2B marketers, 90% of organisations had an ABM programme and 81% said it delivers a higher return than other marketing activities (Momentum). An earlier Momentum ITSMA and ABM Leadership Alliance study found 84% of ABM programmes improved pipeline growth (Demandbase press release). These surveys lean towards technology and business services companies, so treat them as directional for industrial markets.
Our six-step account based marketing strategy
1. Define your ideal customer profile
Which industries, applications, company sizes and regions give you the best chance of winning and the highest value? We agree this with your commercial team first.
2. Build and verify the account list
We identify companies that match the profile and verify each one. We apply this to our own business too: for IndustrySpan’s own ABM programme we built and verified a list of more than 280 target companies across the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
3. Map the buying group
For each priority account we identify the roles involved in a decision and the people in those roles, so engagement reaches the whole group.
4. Gather account insight
New plants, expansions, regulatory changes, leadership changes and published projects all create reasons to engage. We turn these triggers into relevant messages.
5. Run coordinated engagement
LinkedIn visibility, targeted content, personalised outreach and event invitations, timed with your sales team so each contact sees a consistent story.
6. Measure at account level
We track engagement per account, meetings, opportunities and pipeline, and adjust focus every month.
ABM tiers: one-to-one, one-to-few, one-to-many
| Tier | Accounts | What it looks like | Industrial example |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-to-one | 5-10 | Fully tailored plan, content and outreach per account | Winning a framework agreement with a major chemical producer |
| One-to-few | 20-50 in clusters | Content and outreach tailored per cluster sharing a need | Water utilities facing the same new discharge limits |
| One-to-many | 100-500 | Light personalisation by segment, scaled with digital tools | All mid-size food plants in the Benelux using a certain process |
Most programmes combine tiers: a handful of strategic accounts, a few clusters and a broader segment.
What results to expect and when
- First month: ideal customer profile, verified account list and buying group maps.
- Months 2 to 3: engagement starts; you see which accounts respond.
- Months 3 to 6 onward: meetings and opportunities build in engaged accounts.
Because industrial deals are large and cycles long, ABM should be judged on account engagement and pipeline over several quarters, not on lead volume.
How do you compare account based marketing firms?
Whether you are looking at an account based marketing agency, an ABM agency inside a larger network or an independent consultant, ask the same questions when you evaluate account based marketing services:
- Do they understand your industry and buying groups, or only software sales?
- How do they build and verify account lists?
- How will they work with your sales team day to day?
- What do they measure: account engagement and pipeline, or clicks?
- Can they create technically credible content for your accounts?
- Which markets and languages can they cover?
Many ABM agencies are built around software companies with large tech stacks. Industrial ABM needs technical understanding and close work with sales more than it needs expensive tools.
Illustrative example
This is an illustrative scenario, not a client result. A manufacturer of industrial filtration systems wants to win 40 mid-size chemical plants in Germany and the Netherlands. The programme groups them into three clusters by application, maps five to eight roles per plant, and runs a mix of LinkedIn visibility for the process engineers, an application webinar for the cluster, and personalised outreach from sales to the plant managers of the most engaged accounts.
Related reading: Lead Generation for Engineering Companies: A Practical Playbook.
Frequently asked questions
What does an account based marketing consultant do?
An ABM consultant designs and runs a programme focused on a defined list of high-value accounts: choosing the accounts, mapping who decides inside them, creating relevant content and outreach, coordinating with sales and measuring progress per account.
How many accounts should an ABM programme target?
It depends on deal size and team capacity. One-to-one ABM typically covers 5 to 10 accounts, one-to-few 20 to 50, and one-to-many 100 to 500. Most programmes combine tiers.
How long does account based marketing take to show results?
Account lists and buying group maps come first. Engagement becomes visible within a few months, and meetings and pipeline build over several quarters because industrial deals are large and cycles long.
What do we need from our sales team for ABM?
Input on which accounts matter, agreement on what counts as a qualified opportunity, and regular follow-up on engaged accounts. ABM works best when marketing and sales plan together.
Do we need expensive ABM software?
Not to start. A verified account list, a CRM, LinkedIn and well-targeted content are enough for most industrial companies. Tools can be added as the programme grows.
What is the difference between ABM and lead generation?
Lead generation attracts many individual prospects and qualifies them. ABM starts from a fixed list of target accounts and engages the whole buying group in each. Read our article on account based marketing vs lead generation.
Start with your target accounts
For broader demand, see our lead generation for manufacturers service, or how we work as a B2B marketing agency for manufacturers.
About IndustrySpan
IndustrySpan (IndustrySpan Consulting B.V.) is an industrial growth consultancy based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. It supports industrial manufacturers, process technology providers, engineering companies and specialty chemical businesses with technical marketing, lead generation, account based marketing, sales support and market visibility across Europe, with a focus on the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
About the author
Amol Palve is the founder of IndustrySpan. He has a background in chemical engineering and experience across industrial sectors, technical sales, marketing and business growth, and built IndustrySpan to help technical companies make their value clearly understood in the market. Connect with Amol on LinkedIn or follow IndustrySpan.
How this page was produced: written by Amol Palve, founder of IndustrySpan. Statistics are taken from the primary or reporting sources listed below and were checked on 22 September 2026. We update this page when sources change.
