Stumped by Challenging ABM Scenario? Just Call Scott Wright.

Demandbase Champion Scott Wright, Head of Fintech Revenue Operations at Procore, is an ABM early adopter. He began exploring the account-based experience 13 years ago and has been lighting the ABM world on fire ever since. Employers and industry experts alike appreciate Scott’s innovative approach to his work. He has been awarded Folio’s 30 under 30 for a creative ABM program, taken home a Marketo Revvie award for a migration he completed in just two weeks, and was inducted into Marketo’s Fearless 50. We caught up with Scott to hear about his deep experience with ABM, how he’s using AI to power account recommendations, and his delight in solving complicated problems.

What do you like about your current role? 

Marketing operations is near and dear to my heart. I’ve been working in this field for a long time and enjoy the opportunity to dig in and tackle complex issues. Every day is different — there is always something popping up like a new initiative to promote. Right now, I’m building out the infrastructure to support our ABM program. It’s satisfying to build something from the ground up, and to define it so that it perfectly fits our requirements. My past ABM experience has been an asset on this project and allowed me to employ the best practices that I’ve gathered along the way.

How are you ramping up your ABM program?

We are simultaneously implementing Demandbase, formulating our ABM strategy, and determining our organizational strategy for a few new products. Developing these strategies in parallel is incredibly helpful because the ABM motion has informed the many lifecycle stages we are mapping out. We’ve experienced success so far due to very targeted outreach — we started off small and then expanded, tested, and tweaked our ideas as we went along.

Demandbase has been a critical tool for defining journey, pipeline, and lifecycle stages for account progression. We directly tied into Demandbase Pipeline Predict and Qualification Scores. We use a lot of the intent tracking data to progress accounts from stage-to-stage especially in the marketing funnel. Demandbase has been pivotal because it powers much of our stage progression. And the data we can gather is incredibly useful and allows us to get very granular in how we target and progress our journey stages.

What’s up next?

I’m planning to tie Demandbase’s Pipeline Predict and Qualification Scores into our lead scoring system. We’re building our lead scoring system independent of Demandbase, but we’re going to incorporate the AI elements from Demandbase to help power some recommendations and aspects of our lead score classification. I’ve discovered that it works well to incorporate demographic and firmographic elements into the lead scoring system. Building an account scoring system tied into Demandbase’s AI systems is very helpful because you get account level insights at the lead level. This is particularly useful when classifying a lead’s profile fit.

What do you do outside of work?

I’m a Colorado native which has given me fantastic access to the outdoors throughout my life. I like to get out into the fresh air and hike in the mountains around Fort Collins. I absolutely love to be out on the golf course and am working on perfecting my game. Since I’m a bit of a computer nerd, I also enjoy relaxing while playing video games.

What are your superpowers?

I’m fortunate to have a very analytical mind, which is an advantage in marketing operations. If you give me a 200-step process, I’ll memorize the entire thing from start to finish. That’s been helpful when building out complicated automations, flows, and integrations. The ability to see the full process, and really understand the ebb and flow of each action, has been beneficial to my career. An analytical mindset has often set me apart from my colleagues and helped me achieve success.

As a veteran ABM practitioner, what would you tell newcomers?

• Align with sales. If you’re not aligned with your sales leaders and sales teams, your initiative is going to fail. Before you proceed with any kind of ABM platform, software, or strategy, get sales involved and ensure you are on the same page.
• Understand what sales needs and identify targeted accounts. Communicate often. Good communication between the two teams leads to success.

About Procore

Procore helps firms drastically increase project efficiency and accountability by streamlining and mobilizing project communications and documentation. This real time data and accessibility minimizes costly risks and delays—ultimately boosting profits. For more information, visit https://www.procore.com/.