--- title: "6 sales alignment plays from ABM leaders at Snowflake, Datadog, and Unisys" url: https://adtech.lol/articles/af718f7a-9c0a-46c0-9745-349af55498bd source_url: https://martech.org/6-sales-alignment-plays-from-abm-leaders-at-snowflake-datadog-and-unisys/ source_site: martech author: "Steve Armenti" published: 2026-09-28T00:00:00+00:00 tags: ["Account-based marketing", "Sales alignment", "Marketing strategy", "B2B marketing", "ABM", "AI in marketing"] publisher: AdTech Radar --- # 6 sales alignment plays from ABM leaders at Snowflake, Datadog, and Unisys > From account selection and actionable signals to AI-powered workflows, these plays show how ABM teams can make sales alignment an operating discipline. # 6 sales alignment plays from ABM leaders at Snowflake, Datadog, and Unisys ## From account selection and actionable signals to AI-powered workflows, these plays show how ABM teams can make sales alignment an operating discipline. By [Steve Armenti](https://martech.org/author/steve-armenti/), CEO & founder, twelfth Published on September 28, 2026 ### Share this article ### Table of Contents 1. [Agree on the account list before anything launches](#h-1-agree-on-the-account-list-before-anything-launches) 2. [Replace the handoff with a relay](#h-2-replace-the-handoff-with-a-relay) 3. [Build a signal layer that returns actions, not data](#h-3-build-a-signal-layer-that-returns-actions-not-data) 4. [Sell the support, not the tier](#h-4-sell-the-support-not-the-tier) 5. [Enable reps where they actually work](#h-5-enable-reps-where-they-actually-work) 6. [Point AI at workflows and data, then reinvest in 1:1](#h-6-point-ai-at-workflows-and-data-then-reinvest-in-1-1) 7. [Measure alignment by shared goals](#h-measure-alignment-by-shared-goals) Ask a marketing executive whether sales and marketing are aligned, and you’ll usually hear yes. Ask the people doing the work, and the answer changes. Forrester’s 2024 Sales and Marketing Alignment Survey found that 65% of sales and marketing professionals experience a lack of alignment between their organization’s sales and marketing leaders, even as 82% of C-level executives believe their teams are already in sync. That gap was the starting point for a recent roundtable I hosted, where ABM leaders from Snowflake, Datadog, and Unisys compared notes on what alignment takes at enterprise scale. They didn’t agree on everything. They did agree on one point: Alignment isn’t a kickoff meeting or a shared spreadsheet. It’s an operating discipline you run every week. Here are six plays from that conversation that you can put to work this quarter. ## 1. Agree on the account list before anything launches The most common alignment failure starts before the first campaign goes live: Sales and marketing assume they’re working from the same target account list and the same ICP. Many marketing leaders walk into their role with this assumption. Eventually, it becomes clear that lists don’t match, and programs are already in motion against the wrong accounts. Here’s how to avoid it: - **Reconcile the lists in the first two weeks:** Pull the accounts sales is actually working from the CRM and compare them line by line against the marketing target account list. Resolve the differences with sales leadership, not in a spreadsheet you send over. - **Write down the ICP both teams agree on:** Note who owns changes to it. - **Set re-alignment triggers:** Alignment has no end date. Leadership changes, strategy shifts and account assignments move. Treat each of those as a trigger to revisit the list. - **Earn the first meeting:** Reps have dozens of people competing for their time. If your first interaction doesn’t deliver something useful, step back and sharpen your value proposition before you ask for more of their attention. ## 2. Replace the handoff with a relay Inbound programs can live with an MQL handoff. ABM shouldn’t. ABM doesn’t have a handoff KPI at all. The model should look more like a soccer match: Marketing and sales pass the ball back and forth until it’s in the net. The coaching principle behind it is simple. Take every action as far as marketing can before the rep has to do anything. Instead of asking an AE to take the next step, figure out how marketing can take it for them. Research the buying committee. Engage the executives. Prep the ground with programs. Keep going until there’s an opportunity sitting on the rep’s desk. Even then, don’t hand it off and walk away. Deliver a package: - What marketing has done in the account. - What it tells you about where the account stands. - A recommended next step, such as which executive to contact, with what message, referencing which programs. Frame it as a recommendation, not a request. Nobody wants another ask in their inbox. Write it as though the rep already has context, because they probably noticed some of this activity in the background while closing a different deal. You’ll know this is working when ABM gets tagged in win announcements. When a rep says the deal couldn’t have happened without marketing, you’re on the sales team. ## 3. Build a signal layer that returns actions, not data Everyone can buy the same third-party intent from the same platforms. That makes raw intent a commodity. Sales cares about the output of your signal work, not the inputs. Handing reps a data dump and asking them to figure out what it means is an ABM playbook from more than a decade ago. ### Separate fit signals from action signals Use fit signals to decide which accounts belong in ABM and how much to invest in each. Execution runs on a different set: signals tied to an individual person that are publicly observable, like a new role, an initiative an executive talked about, or a project the company announced. Those feed both paid campaigns and the outbound sequences SDRs and AEs run. This matters most in enterprise. Reps may hold 35 accounts that rarely change. Telling a rep there’s no intent in their patch and nothing to do this year isn’t an acceptable answer. Person-level signals give you something to act on in every account. ### Aggregate everything in one place Think about an ABM workspace that pulls third-party intent, first-party intent, and campaign performance into a single view for each ABM marketer. Your ABM team can then work the signals so the rep gets the recommendation, not the raw feed. ### Layer intent with business context Pair intent data with white space analysis and competitive contract renewals. Intent becomes one piece of the picture rather than the whole story. This is signal convergence in practice. One signal is noise. Multiple signals pointing at the same account at the same moment are what earn a rep’s attention. ## 4. Sell the support, not the tier Tell a rep their account is in the 1:few tier, and you’ll likely get a blank stare. Reps don’t have tiers. They have accounts. The way you explain tiering decides whether sales sees it as help or as rationing. ### Start with must-wins Skip the tier explanation and ask a better question: Of your 30 accounts, which two do you have to win to hit your number? Then marketing commits to going after those accounts alongside the rep, with extra treatments on top of standard demand programs. ### Position 1:many as the foundation Use 1:many as the base layer, not a penalty. Even at that level, ABM likely doubles the marketing investment in the account. Higher tiers are added support, not something reps need to fight for. ### Decide who sees the tiers Tier allocations go to sales leadership, not individual reps. Leadership and revenue operations own the decisions, so ABM isn’t cast as the bad guy in rep-level conversations. That works when you have enterprise sales leadership to align with. The Snowflake leader noted that on smaller teams, where ABM might be a team of one, you need to earn rep-level wins first and build toward executive buy-in. ### Use a rubric, then leave room for big bets Tier in a scoring rubric tied to must-win revenue. Reserve some 1:1 capacity for big bets: accounts that may be smaller deals but are dream logos with significant white space. ### Go many-to-one in the largest accounts Some enterprise buying centers are as large as entire accounts elsewhere. Shift toward running multiple campaigns inside a single account, prioritized by revenue potential and timing. The focus is this year’s number, not a deal that might close in two years. ## 5. Enable reps where they actually work Marketers spend a lot of time understanding external buyer personas. Very few apply the same rigor to their internal customer: the sales rep. Reps are focused outside the company. They live in their inbox. Marketing lives in Slack or Teams, coordinating internal stakeholders. That mismatch is why so much enablement gets missed. Most ABM teams default to email with salespeople. It’s searchable, forwardable, and already where reps spend their day. Avoid asking reps to log into a new tool or check a new dashboard. When you build account briefs, go broader than marketing activity. Reps are asking for a holistic view of the account, including: - Partner and alliance footprint. - Who you already know in the account. - Recent leads and event attendance. - Intent activity. - White space opportunities. - Recommended people to focus on and suggested cadences. Reps also want ABM to be their window into all of marketing. They don’t separate your programs from field events or growth campaigns. Know enough about every channel touching your accounts to answer questions on the spot. AI can speed this up. You can connect your AI agents to your CRM and build a prompt that assembles this level of account detail. It’s a starting point, not a finished brief. Always check the output before it goes to sales. ## 6. Point AI at workflows and data, then reinvest in 1:1 Every panelist is under pressure to adopt AI. Their advice was consistent: Aim it at the unglamorous work. ### Filter every tool against your core metrics Unisys has multiple AI tools on hand. If a tool isn’t helping deliver campaigns or data that move pipeline, win rates, or revenue, it gets set aside. ### Focus on workflows and data Datadog isn’t satisfied with AI-first creative yet. The gains are in operations: custom dashboards that take minutes instead of analytics tickets, data moving between systems faster, and campaigns launching sooner. The goal is a team that spends its time creating, not clicking. One caution from the panel: Check the dashboard math before you present it. AI has also changed what customization looks like. Years ago, roughly half of Datadog’s ABM campaigns were effectively generic industry plays. Now nearly every account can get a specific angle, such as a project the company is known to be working on or an initiative its CEO has talked about publicly. ### Watch for sameness Unisys can now launch an ABM campaign in a couple of weeks instead of three months. Every competitor can too. Faster doesn’t mean better, and buyers are more inundated than ever. ### Keep a human in the loop on 1:1 work Snowflake built a tool on its own platform that analyzes sales call recordings and recommends personalized gifts to the ABM team. When a VP mentioned hosting a Memorial Day barbecue, the tool suggested a grill set. An API connection to the team’s gifting platform queues the gift for review. No more asking reps what a prospect likes. ### Build the ROI case on reinvestment Snowflake’s case to leadership isn’t about producing more of the same. The hours AI saves go into more 1:1 work, new channels, and new messages to new lines of business. ### Ask more of your vendors At renewal, ask whether they offer an API or an MCP server, and whether your agents can act on their data rather than just query it. ### Test channels beyond email Executives are using AI assistants to filter their inboxes, which makes email less reliable as the default ABM channel. The Snowflake team is experimenting with out-of-home, gifting, and executive breakfasts. This is the gap Howdy was built to fill. Howdy researches what’s actually true about the people on your target account list, such as their interests and what they’d genuinely show up for. It then designs a real, locally sourced 1:1 experience around those signals and orchestrates each moment that turns it into a meeting. AI handles the research and prioritization. People own the idea, the story, and the relationship. ## Measure alignment by shared goals When the panel was asked how marketers can partner with sales as equals rather than as a support function, the answers came back to proof and shared goals. The Datadog team looks for stories of contacts sales didn’t know existed, people who surfaced through ABM and turned into real opportunities. It also split-tests ABM against the standard marketing engine to show the difference in account impact. When you can prove that, the seat at the table stops being a debate. Set shared goals. When sales and marketing own the same number, marketing isn’t supporting sales’ goal. Both teams are reaching one goal together. You’ll know it’s working when it feels the way Datadog described: like product-market fit. Sales comes to you asking for help, and you no longer have to market your marketing. Source: [https://martech.org/6-sales-alignment-plays-from-abm-leaders-at-snowflake-datadog-and-unisys/](https://martech.org/6-sales-alignment-plays-from-abm-leaders-at-snowflake-datadog-and-unisys/)