What’s up everyone! Welcome to 🌮 Taco Tuesday, a weekly newsletter by ForgeX.

In here we share the latest and greatest around our Account-Based GTM research, provide our perspective on trending topics, and highlight what’s new at ForgeX.

📊 Data Literacy is the #1 Missing Skill for ABMers

Holding onto the toxic mindset of → “that’s Marketing Ops’ job” when it comes to data literacy is holding back your career growth.

It’s not enough to merely describe which metrics that you’d like to measure for your ABM program.

You should also understand at an intermediate-level how the underlying systems integrate in order to effectively pull the metrics you’re looking for.

This will result in massive benefits:

1. A stronger ABM reporting dashboard that is adaptive to your GTM’s personalized needs.

2. Tighter relationship with either Marketing Ops / Rev Ops / GTM Ops / Data Analytics teams.

3. Accelerated career growth and increased salary projections.

🔍 Here are 3 Critical Concepts to Understand

1.) How Relational Databases Work:

At its core, Salesforce (SFDC) operates as a relational database, though it also includes an object-oriented approach.

This means that all the “fields” within your CRM instance are interconnected on the back-end through tables.

These tables use “keys” to maintain structure, integrity, and relationships within the database, ensuring accurate data management and retrieval.

Here is an example - imagine you have a Contacts table and an Accounts table in your CRM:

• Each Account has a unique Account ID.

• The Contacts table uses Account ID to link each contact to its respective account.

• Account ID in the Accounts table is used to connect John Doe in the Contacts table to their company, ensuring all contact information is correctly tied to the right account.

This is a really simple example, yet the same concept applies across your entire CRM and other integrated tech systems.

2.) The Importance of Data Governance:

Understanding the concept of a relational database highlights how critical data governance is.

Without clean, well-structured data, you’re unable to connect and interpret data across various keys. This limits your capacity to model and act on data in a cohesive manner.

Data governance ensures that your data is properly:

• Managed

• Secure

• Compliant with relevant regulations

Poor data governance can lead to inconsistent data, security risks, and ultimately, flawed decision-making due to inaccuracies in your measurement model.

3.) How Each of Your Different Tech Systems Integrate:

You’re likely working with a variety of technologies that need to seamlessly integrate to provide a unified view of your customer data.

This is imperative as you build out a unified data model for reporting and measuring Account-Based GTM efforts.

Integration typically occurs through a Customer Data Platform (CDP) or a data warehouse, like Snowflake, which centralizes and processes data from various sources.

The complexity of your data infrastructure and the internal teams required to manage it can differ significantly depending on the size of your organization.

Below is what we typically see based on organization size.

Integration Scenarios:

Smaller Organizations

• Typically, SFDC uses custom objects to track and manage data.

• ABM platforms, if purchased, may act as a CDP to capture and manipulate data.

• However, SFDC is not designed to be a full-fledged data warehouse, so it may not scale effectively as your organization grows and encounters significant data processing needs.

Larger Organizations

• These companies often have a full data team and a dedicated data warehouse.

• They can connect and manipulate data within the warehouse, which typically requires an understanding of SQL.

• This setup allows for the scale and ingestion of large volumes of data, enabling more complex and detailed analysis.

*Optional: Learning how to write SQL is an advanced skill. This is not something we recommend as necessary for ABMers.

📆 3-Weeks Out: ForgeX Heads to Austin, TX

We’re headed to Austin, TX on 9/6/24 for the first stop of our Account-Based Innovation Tour 🎉 

What to expect:

1. Learn modernized ABM research and innovative best practices that actually reflect the future of account-based GTM.

2. Network with +50 senior B2B leaders in structured roundtable discussions.

3. Gain real-world strategic and tactical takeaways from leading ABM programs that will immediately up-level your strategy.

P.S. stay tuned for our next cities… 👀 

What’s New at ForgeX?

🌮 Events

Upcoming Virtual:

• How to Shift from ABM to Account-Based GTM

  • When: 8/24 @ 1pm ET

  • With:

    • Tyler Pleiss, Associate Director of Growth Marketing, Movable Ink

  • P.S. check out this fire🔥 guide that Tyler just released about Account-Based GTM.

Upcoming In-Person:

• Account-Based Innovation Tour - Request an Invite

  • City: Austin, TX

  • When: 9.6.24

  • Hosting Office: Miro

  • Our Sponsors:

    • Alcamo Marketing

    • Folloze

    • BuyerForesight

🌮 Research & Insights

• Framework: Account-Based GTM Architecture™️

• Research Report: The 2024 Strategy Guide and Landscape of B2B Agencies with ABM Capabilities

• Agency Marketplace: Access Here

🌮 B2Beats Playlist

• 🎧 B2Beats Mix, Volume 1: Account-Based Innovation Tour Edition

Have an awesome rest of the week y’all!

LFG,

Davis