Case study AI software
Confidential client
How focused ABM generated £1.7m+ in pipeline
A British AI software firm needed a clearer route into a niche enterprise market. We built a focused ABM program that helped sales secure more meetings and move qualified accounts into pilots sooner.
Campaign results
Higher email-to-meeting conversion
Shorter sales cycle to pilot launch
Pipeline from accounts entering pilots
In this case study
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The client &
The Brief
The client’s AI-powered predictive analytics platform helped marketing and commercial teams anticipate demand and identify new sales opportunities. We were brought in to turn ambitious growth goals into qualified enterprise pipeline.
Client
British software firm
Market
UK-based enterprises within subsectors of merchant acquisition and energy suppliers
Objective
Create qualified enterprise pipeline
Program duration
Approximately nine months
Our role
Account selection, strategy, content, activation and sales support
The challenge
The firm had a specialized offering, a six- to seven-figure annual price tag and an addressable market of fewer than 2,000 businesses worldwide. Within that market, it was still relatively unknown.
Partner networks had been an important source of new business, but they weren’t delivering the growth the team wanted. Regular sales outreach was also running, without a coordinated go-to-market strategy or the personalized materials needed to make a compelling case to individual accounts.
The brief was to create opportunities that could progress into tailored product pilots. Getting there required more than interest in AI: prospective buyers needed to understand the platform, identify a strong business use case and see how it could support their own growth plans.
What we did
Found the strongest account clusters
We started with the knowledge already inside the business. Working with the account team, we brought together insights scattered across CRM records, reviewed recorded sales conversations and added external research. This gave us a clearer view of where the platform’s capabilities matched a commercial need.
Merchant acquisition and energy supply emerged as priority verticals. Within them, we assessed business size, maturity, technology readiness and operating characteristics to identify more specific groups of suitable accounts. Those shared characteristics became the basis for a one-to-few ABM program, with a clear proposition for each cluster.
Built a relevant route into each cluster
For each cluster, we developed a message house and sales content framework around the priorities uncovered through research. Existing content was adapted to explain how the platform could help that group of businesses take its next step in growth, giving the campaign a more relevant starting point than a general product pitch.
Activation brought together direct email, calling, direct mail, virtual meetings and client interviews. Alongside this, we coordinated an executive-to-executive program with a specialist agency. Senior industry figures with relevant relationships were briefed on the platform and helped create introductions to target buyers.
The planning phase took approximately three months. We then stayed involved through around six months of activation, working closely with the client’s sales team as conversations developed.
Personalized the next sales conversation
Once an account entered the funnel, we developed an individual ABM play around it. Sales assets connected the platform to the business’s specific priorities, including growth objectives and internal goals identified through research and conversation. Relevant case studies were personalized for use further along the sales process.
We worked closely with sales to prepare for meetings and plan what should happen next. Feedback from each conversation informed the next message, asset or interaction, so personalization continued as the opportunity developed. The team could build a progressively stronger case for a pilot, supported by materials that reflected what mattered to that account.
Inside the campaign
Making the proposition specific
From a market message to an account conversation
For the merchant acquisition cluster, we built the messaging around the next stage of growth in that market. When an individual account engaged, its own priorities and internal goals shaped the sales materials.
That gave sales a way to explain how the platform could address a particular business challenge. As the conversation progressed, personalized case studies and account-specific follow-up helped make the proposed application more concrete.
The results
The program ran alongside regular sales activity, providing a comparison for email-to-meeting performance. Emails to ABM-supported accounts converted to booked discovery meetings at 5%, compared with approximately 0.56% for regular sales outreach: a ninefold increase.
Eight enterprise accounts entered pipeline through tailored pilots, representing more than £1.7 million in potential contract value. The average sales cycle from initial conversation to pilot launch fell from nine months to three, a reduction of 66.7%.
For this client, entry into pipeline meant an account had progressed through marketing qualification and sales acceptance to a defined use case and a tailored pilot. The pipeline figure represents those opportunities, rather than recognized revenue.
| Measure | Comparison | ABM program |
|---|---|---|
| Email-to-meeting conversion | Approximately 0.56% from regular outreach | 5%, or 9× higher |
| Average sales cycle to pilot launch | Nine-month business average | Three months, or 66.7% shorter |
| Enterprise accounts entering pipeline | Counted at pilot stage | 8 accounts |
| Pipeline value | Potential contract value at pilot stage | £1.7m+ |
What changed for the client
The work gave the client a clearer market focus and a repeatable way to assess opportunities within its serviceable market. The team had a stronger understanding of which accounts to pursue, what would make the proposition relevant and how to develop the conversation once an account engaged.
Sales also gained a reusable library of materials and greater confidence in its approach. Lessons from the executive introductions and account conversations could be applied to future opportunities, leaving the business with a practical foundation for continued growth.
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