There’s more big martech merger news to kick off October, and we’ve scoured the web to bring you the best insights, sales tips, and thought leadership from some of the brightest minds in the industry.

Take a few minutes to absorb everything in our digest this week, and you’ll be armed to tackle the week ahead. 

ZoomInfo’s New CEO Discusses Datanyze Acquisition and the Value of Technographic Capabilities (B2B News Network)

More merger news hot on the heels of Adobe’s Marketo acquisition: ZoomInfo has purchased Datanyze. There’s not a lot of details on the financial side (we’re curious about the final price too), but you can check out the press release here. Meanwhile, ZoomInfo CEO Derek Schoettle has some insightful quotes about the acquisition, what it means for them, and how the two services are a perfect fit for each other.

 

What Is Account Based Marketing, Why You Should Adopt It, And How (LinkedIn)

Don’t let the basic title fool you—this is an excellent and thorough overview of all the ins and outs of ABM. In addition to covering the basics, it examines each of them very closely and includes some informative listicles. There are seven steps to creating an account-based marketing strategy, five kinds of ABM, and a list of common barriers to success. But our favorite part is at the very end, where ten leading marketers, many of them household names (to us, anyway), give their own definitions of ABM.

Leading After a Big Client Loss (Women Sales Pros)

Losing a big client is always a huge blow to any company, especially if they made up a significant percentage of your annual revenue. But salespeople know that the more they sit around and bemoan the losses, the less time there is for taking action. And if you’re the CRO or VP Sales, it’s up to you to figure out a way to make up for the difference. Fortunately, this fantastic piece from Women Sales Pros goes over nine steps any leader can take to sit down and re-evaluate your accounts to know your strengths and weaknesses.

Eating Your Own Martech (Ad Age)

We’re big fans of Ad Age and their content, and this interview with Peter Isaacson, CMO of Demandbase is no exception. He talks about how his company overcame many growing pains to become an industry leader in ABM and some of the common pitfalls that today’s growing ABM companies can avoid. Isaacson warns us that the first mistake many companies make is not engaging your sales team from the very beginning. There’s lots of other great nuggets and information here, like the importance of piloting and how some of the old ways aren’t working anymore.

5 Must-Have Tips for Successful Account Based Marketing (Marketing Insider Group)

The world of ABM is still young, but one of the things we’re definitely learning is that marketing and sales teams should be working together. Though thought leaders don’t always agree how the responsibilities should be divided or which team should take charge, it’s still important for both to be on the same page about strategy and execution. This story may have been written with marketers in mind, but it’s absolutely useful for salesfolk as well, as just about every tip include steps in the prospect journey that will need their input. The first tip (“Say Goodbye to Personas”) is a harsh reminder of just how much is changing.