How to do account-based marketing

You know the companies you would most like to win, but one cold email to one person at each brings nothing back. Here is how to do account-based marketing with no budget and no team: pick a short list of companies that look like your first two clients, write to several people at each one, and keep in touch in several ways until someone answers. Most founders send one email to one person, hear nothing, and decide the company is not interested, when nobody there ever saw it twice.

Do these three things

About 4 hours a day, every day. You judge companies, not people: count how many companies are talking to you after 2,800 touches (4 weeks).

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1. 1Today: pick 100 target companies that look like your 2 clients: 20 top accounts you would most like to win and 80 more of the same kind. Name 3 to 6 people at each, using the decision maker guide to find how to reach them.
2. 2Every day: send 100 personal touches across those companies: emails, LinkedIn requests and messages, comments and calls, up to 8 per person over 4 weeks. Post one sample, letter or short video to a top account.
3. 3Every Sunday: score every account from "not started" to "client". Swap the ones that went cold for new ones, so 100 stay active. After 2,800 touches, change the message or the kind of company that brings the fewest meetings.

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1. Pick 100 target accounts that look like your two clients

Account-based marketing starts with a list of companies, not people: 100 target accounts that look like the clients you already have. Mark 20 of them as top accounts, the ones you would most like to win and will give the most personal work. The other 80 are the same kind of company and get a personal first line on a shared idea.

Your two clients are your best guide to who buys. Start from them, not from a list of famous names.

Pick companies before they start looking. In 6sense's 2025 survey of nearly 4,000 B2B buyers, buyers bought from the shortlist they made on day one 95% of the time, and they usually picked it before talking to any seller. Being known at a company early is how you get on that list. More buyers now ask AI for suppliers too, so get your company named in ChatGPT's answers as well.

1. Write down why your 2 clients bought. If you do not know, ask them in a 15-minute customer interview. Note what kind of company each is, its size, what had just happened when it bought, who found you, and who said yes.
2. Turn that into 5 fit rules. One line each: the kind of company, its size, where it is, the moment it needs you, and one thing you can see from outside, such as a new product, new shops, new funding or a job ad. This is a short ideal customer profile, and it should describe the same moment as your value proposition.
3. Find 100 companies that meet at least 4 of the 5 rules. Use Google, LinkedIn company search, trade show exhibitor lists, people you met at networking events, industry association member lists, and the customers listed on your competitors' websites, the same places you would build a free lead list. Paste 10 company websites at a time into ChatGPT or Claude and ask which rules each one meets, with the line on the site that proves it. Check each answer yourself.
4. Mark 20 as top accounts. Pick the ones where one order would matter most to you and where you have a real reason to write now. Leave out companies so big that you could not deliver for them yet. Selling to enterprise clients needs a security and contract pack you can build later.
5. Write one true reason for each company, dated: what they did in the last 3 months that makes you useful to them now.

Company | Website | Top account? (yes / no) | Rules met (of 5) | One true reason | Date of the reason | Stage (0 not started, 1 touched, 2 talking, 3 meeting, 4 quote or trial, 5 client) | Notes

You need 100 accounts to keep 100 touches a day going, and about 25 new ones a week from week 5, as the first ones finish. Keep a "next up" tab of 50 more that meet the rules.

• Tool: Google Sheets, Google, LinkedIn, and ChatGPT or Claude.
• Time: about 3 hours, once. Then 30 minutes each Sunday to add 25 accounts.
• You will have: a sheet of 100 companies, 20 marked top, each with the rules it meets and one dated reason.
• It worked if: every company meets at least 4 of your 5 rules, and every reason is from the last 3 months.
• Common mistake: picking 20 famous names because you would love their logo, or 1,000 companies because a tool found them. Neither looks like the clients you won.

2. Name 3 to 6 people at each target account

Write to several people at each company, not one. Name 6 people at each top account and 3 at each of the others, about 360 people in all. When the one person you wrote to is busy, away or has left, someone else at the company still knows your name.

In a 2026 analysis of 1.8 million deals, Gong found that won deals had far more people from the buyer's side involved than lost deals. Small companies buy the same way, only with fewer people: the person with the problem, the decision maker, and the person who pays.

Who to name at each company:

Where to find them. On LinkedIn, open the company page and click the People tab. Then check the company's own team or about page. Find each email with the decision maker guide. For a small company, the founder may be all three roles. Then name the founder and the 2 people who work closest to the problem.

Ask for introductions first. Ask your 2 clients, past colleagues and any referral partners if they know anyone at your 20 top accounts. A warm introduction gets answered more often than any cold touch, so it replaces touch 1 for that person.

Paste a company's People tab and team page into ChatGPT or Claude and ask it to sort the names into the roles above. Check each person still works there. That is about 30 seconds a person.

Company | Person | Role (problem / decides / pays / signs / uses / shapes) | Email | LinkedIn URL | Phone | Touch 1 date | … | Touch 8 date | Replied? (yes / no / not now) | Notes

• Tool: LinkedIn (free), the company's website, Google Sheets, and an email finder from the decision maker guide.
• Time: about 3 hours over your first 2 days. Then 30 minutes a day for the new companies you add.
• You will have: about 360 named people, each with a role and at least one way to reach them.
• It worked if: 9 in 10 companies have at least 3 named people, and every person has an email or a LinkedIn profile.
• Common mistake: naming only the founder. If the founder is busy for a month, the whole company goes silent for you.

3. Write a one-page note for each of your 20 top accounts

For each top account, write one page: three facts about the company, why it may need you now, one idea for them, and which decision maker to write to first. Every message, call and package to that company comes from this page, so your 6 people hear one story, not six.

Write it with AI, then check it. Paste the company's website, its last 10 LinkedIn posts and any news into ChatGPT or Claude with the template below. It drafts the note. You check every fact and write the idea yourself. The idea is the part a stranger could not send to anyone else: a change you would make to their product, their process or their costs.

Company: [name] · Top account · Date: [date]3 facts (each with a link): [what they sell and to whom] · [what changed in the last 3 months] · [what they use or do today that you would change]Why now: [the moment, in one sentence: "They launch a new 4-pack in November and it ships in a plain box."]One idea for them: [one specific change you would make, with a number if you have one]Proof: [the client most like them, and what changed for that client] · [a case study or a quote, if you have one]Who first, then in order: [names and roles from your people tab]What to send by post: [a sample, a letter or a short video, from step 5]

If you have no proof yet, write a case study about your best client, or ask both clients for a testimonial you can quote.

Set two free alerts for each top account.

• Google Alerts. Go to google.com/alerts, type the company name in quotes, click "Show options", pick "As-it-happens" or "At most once a day", then click "Create Alert". News about the company reaches your inbox.
• LinkedIn. Follow the company page and turn on post notifications for the 6 people. Their new posts give you true reasons to comment and to write.

To see when a target company visits your website, add Leadfeeder's free Lite plan. It shows the last 100 companies that visited, with 7 days of history, so look at it every Sunday. A visit from a top account is a reason to call that week.

If you sell a service, your idea can be a short free piece of work: 3 things you would change on their site, their process or their numbers. Put it in the note and send it in step 5.

• Tool: Google Docs, ChatGPT or Claude, Google Alerts, LinkedIn, Leadfeeder Lite.
• Time: about 15 minutes a top account, 5 hours in all over your first 3 days. Then 15 minutes for each new top account.
• You will have: 20 one-page notes and alerts running on 20 companies.
• It worked if: each note has a fact from the last 3 months and an idea that would make no sense sent to any other company.
• Common mistake: writing a company history. The note is for the next message, so it needs a reason to write now and an idea.

4. Send 100 personal touches a day, up to 8 per person

Every day, send 100 personal touches across your 100 accounts: comments, connection requests, emails, LinkedIn messages and calls. Each person gets up to 8 touches over 4 weeks, in a fixed order, and each touch adds something new. 360 people times 8 touches is about 2,880 touches, which is 100 a day for 4 weeks.

The touch plan for each person. Start about 13 new people every day, and start the people at one company 2 to 3 days apart, in the order from step 2.

Stay inside each channel's limits, and spread the 100 instead of cutting it.

• LinkedIn connection requests: about 100 a week. LinkedIn does not publish the number, but 2026 reports put it there, on a rolling 7 days. If you go over, or many requests are ignored, LinkedIn blocks new requests for a few days or more. So send 15 a day. A free account can add a note to only about 3 requests a month, so send them blank. Your comment the day before does the job of the note.
• Email: send from a second domain you have warmed up, about 20 to 30 a day from each mailbox, follow-ups included. Use 2 mailboxes for about 50 a day.
• Calls: no daily limit, but check the calling rules in the cold calling guide first.

So a day looks like this: about 13 comments, 15 connection requests, 50 emails (first emails, follow-ups and last notes), 12 LinkedIn messages and 10 calls. That is 100.

How 100 a day is possible. Each morning, paste the day's 13 new people and the account note into ChatGPT or Claude with the templates below. AI drafts each message from the note. You fix the first line so it is true and in your voice, and send each one yourself, one at a time. That is about 1 minute 30 seconds a touch. Log every touch in the people tab.

Three rules at one company:

1. Give each role its own reason. The person with the problem hears about the work. The founder hears about the result. The finance lead hears about the cost. All three hear the same idea.
2. Never write to everyone on the same day. People at small companies sit next to each other. Five copies of one email look like spam.
3. When one person replies, pause the others at that company and go to step 6.

In Instantly's 2026 report on cold email, 42% of replies came from follow-ups, not the first email. So send all 8 touches unless someone says no. If they say no, stop and mark them.

Subject: [their new product or change] and [the thing you fix]Hi [first name],I saw [true reason: their new product, their post, their job ad].When [kind of company] [hits that moment], [the problem it brings, in one line]. We fixed that for [your client most like them]: [one result, with a number if you have one].Is [the problem] on your list for [the launch, this quarter], or is it handled?[Your name]
[Company] · [direct phone]

Subject: [their company] + [the result]Hi [first name],[One true line about the company's plan: a launch, new stores, new hires.]We help [kind of company] [the result in their words]. For [client], that meant [one number].I have one idea for [their product or plan]: [the idea from your account note, in one sentence]. Worth a 20-minute call to see if it fits?[Your name]

Hi [first name], one more thing on this. [New fact: a short result, a photo of similar work, or what a client said.] Is [the problem] worth a 20-minute chat, or should I speak to someone else on your team?

Hi [first name], I have written a few times about [the problem] and do not want to fill your inbox. Shall I stop here, or is there a better time or a better person? Either answer helps.

Space each person's follow-up emails as in the table, in the same thread. Your posts help too: people you write to often look at your profile, so post twice a day about the problems your buyers have, with ideas from your own work, and fix your LinkedIn profile first.

• Tool: Gmail or Google Workspace on a warmed second domain, LinkedIn, your phone, ChatGPT or Claude, and your sheet.
• Time: about 3 hours a day.
• You will have: 100 touches a day, 700 a week, each logged against a person and a company.
• It worked if: after 2,800 touches (4 weeks), at least 10 of your 100 companies have someone talking to you, and 3 companies have a meeting booked.
• Common mistake: sending the same email to 5 people at one company on the same morning. Space them 2 to 3 days apart and give each one their own reason. If few people answer, fix the first line before you send more.

5. Post one sample, letter or short video to a top account every day

Every day, send one thing by post or video to one top account, made for that company only. It goes to the person who has the problem, and you call them 3 days later. A package is a touch they can hold, and it gives your call a clear reason.

What to send, by what you sell:

• A product you make: a sample made for them, such as a sample with their name, logo or size on it. Add a short card that says what it is and why you made it for them.
• A service: a printed one-page idea from the account note, such as 3 things you would change, or a 2-minute video of you walking through their website, process or numbers. Loom's free plan allows 25 videos of up to 5 minutes each.
• Software: a 2-minute video of your product doing one task with their kind of data, and a short letter. A product demo can come later.

Send it in the first week of that company's touch plan, just after email 1 to the person with the problem. Go first to top accounts that show interest, such as a visit in Leadfeeder or a comment back. The call 3 days later takes the place of that person's day 6 call. Use the address on their website. If the company has an office, send it there, not to someone's home.

[First name], this is for [their product or plan]. [One line: what it is and why you made it for them.][One line of proof: what changed for a client like them.]I'll call you on [day] to hear what you think. If you would rather I didn't, email me at [email].[Your name] · [Company] · [direct phone]

Three days later, call. "Hi [name], it's [your name]. Did the [sample or letter] reach you? What did you think?" If they have not opened it, ask who picks up the post, and call again in 2 days.

• Tool: the post, your own samples or a printer, Loom (free), your phone.
• Time: 30 to 45 minutes a day, plus the cost of making and posting one package.
• You will have: one package sent every day, so every top account has had one within 3 weeks.
• It worked if: at least 1 in 5 top accounts answer within a week of their package.
• Common mistake: sending a branded mug or a gift card that has nothing to do with their problem, and then not calling.

6. Turn the first reply into a meeting with the people who decide

When anyone at a target company replies, answer the same day and ask for a 20-minute call. On the call, ask who else would be part of the decision, and invite them to the next one. One reply opens the company. It is not yet a deal.

1. Answer within the day, and pause the touch plan for everyone else at that company.
2. Book the call. Give two times. Run it as a discovery call: they talk more than you do.
3. Ask the two account questions on every first call: "Who else would be involved in a decision like this?" and "What would they need to see?"
4. Invite those people to a second meeting, through the person who replied. Ask them to forward your note, so it comes from someone they know.
5. Send the next step the same day: a quote, a sample, a short proposal or a sales deck they can forward. Use your B2B price and put a date on it.

If someone says "not now", ask when, write the date in the sheet, and move the company to stage 1 with that date. Keep them warm with a monthly email until then, and invite them to your next webinar if you run one.

Thanks, [first name]. Glad [the problem] is on your list. Would a 20-minute call on [day] at [time] or [day] at [time] work?So I bring the right things: who else would want a say in this, and is there anything they would need to see first?

Hi [names], [person who replied] and I talked about [the problem] for [their product or plan]. I have one idea that could [result]. Could we take 30 minutes on [day] to go through it together? I'll bring [a sample, the numbers, a short plan].

• Tool: email, your phone or Google Meet, your sheet.
• Time: 30 minutes per reply, plus 20 minutes per call.
• You will have: a call booked for every real reply, and a second meeting with the people who decide.
• It worked if: every reply has a dated next step in the sheet, and at least half of your second meetings have 2 or more people from the company in them.
• Common mistake: selling hard to the one person who replied and never meeting the person who signs. When that one person is busy, the deal stops.

7. Measure account-based marketing every Sunday: score each account and swap the cold ones

To measure account-based marketing, count companies, not clicks. Every Sunday, give each of your 100 accounts a stage from 0 to 5, fill in one row of totals, and swap the companies that finished their touches with no answer for new ones.

Every Sunday, in this order (30 minutes):

1. Score each account. 0 not started, 1 touched, 2 talking (anyone replied, apart from a no), 3 meeting booked or held, 4 quote, sample or trial out, 5 client. A company is at the highest stage any of its people reached.
2. Look at Leadfeeder for target companies that visited your site this week. Add a note, and call that company this week.
3. Swap the cold ones. A company where every named person had 8 touches and nobody answered goes to a "Try again in 90 days" tab. Add new companies from your "next up" tab so 100 stay active. From week 5, that is about 25 a week.
4. Fill in one row of the Sunday sheet.

Week | Touches sent | Packages sent | Companies talking (stage 2+) | Top accounts talking | Other accounts talking | Meetings (stage 3+) | Quotes or trials (stage 4+) | Clients | Best line this week

After 2,800 touches, check three numbers in this order:

1. Companies talking per 100. Under 10: change your first line or your idea. Test the new version on the next 500 touches.
2. Meetings per 10 companies talking. Under 3: change your ask. Offer something smaller, such as a sample, a 15-minute call or a short written idea.
3. Quotes or trials per 3 meetings. Under 1: you are meeting the wrong companies or the wrong people. Rewrite your fit rules from the companies that did meet you, and ask your 2 clients in a customer interview what made them say yes.

Then compare top accounts with the others. If top accounts talk to you at 3 times the rate or more, move the best 20 of the others up to top accounts and write their notes. If nothing has moved after 5,600 touches, find out why no one is buying.

Your stages 3 and 4 are your sales pipeline. When the sheet gets slow, move it to a CRM that groups people by company. Count your hours per client won, which is your cost to win a customer, and compare it with your other channels in a monthly review. This routine is one part of marketing your B2B business, next to your posts and your website. Ask every new client how they heard of you, so you know which channel brought each deal.

• Tool: Google Sheets and Leadfeeder Lite.
• Time: 30 minutes each Sunday, plus 30 minutes to add new companies.
• You will have: every account scored, 100 still active, and one row of totals a week.
• It worked if: you can name the companies that moved up a stage this week, and the one number you will fix next.
• Common mistake: counting email opens, profile views or likes. A company only counts when a person there talks to you.

Your account-based marketing checklist for the next 4 weeks

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Step 1 · Pick 100 target accounts

• Write 5 fit rules from why your 2 clients bought.
• List 100 target companies and mark 20 as top accounts.

Step 2 · Name 3 to 6 people at each account

• Name 6 people at each top account and 3 at each of the others.
• Ask your clients, past colleagues and partners for introductions to people at your 20 top accounts.

Step 3 · Write a note for each top account

• Write a one-page note for each of your 20 top accounts.
• Set up Google Alerts, LinkedIn follows and Leadfeeder Lite for your top accounts.

Step 4 · Send 100 personal touches a day

• Every daySend 100 personal touches across your accounts, following each person's touch plan.
• Every dayStart the touch plan for about 13 new people, 2 to 3 days apart at each company.

Step 5 · Post one package a day to a top account

• Every daySend one sample, letter or short video to one top account and book the call 3 days later.

Step 6 · Turn replies into meetings

• Every dayAnswer every reply the same day, book a 20-minute call, and ask who else decides.

Step 7 · Score every account every Sunday

• Every SundayScore every account and fill in one row of your Sunday sheet.
• Every SundayMove cold companies to the try-again tab and add new ones so 100 stay active.
• After 2,800 touchesCheck the three numbers in order and change the first one below its line.

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