ABM plays are pre-defined, repeatable response sequences that fire when a target account shows a specific buying signal, with sales and marketing each owning a named step. A play is not a campaign and not a one-off tactic. It is a card you can hand to any rep or marketer that says: when this trigger happens, this person acts first, in this channel, until this exit condition is met, then hands off. The library gives you twelve.
Most teams already know the tactics. What they lack is the connective tissue: who fires first when a signal lands, what the supporting function does in parallel, and the exact moment ownership changes hands. Without that, signals decay in a dashboard nobody watches.
If you want the broader theory behind reading signals, start with our buying signals sales playbook. If you are focused specifically on moving open opportunities faster, pair this with the ABM sales playbook for deal acceleration. This post is the structured library both reference.
How to read a play card
Every play below uses the same six-part structure so any team member can run it without a meeting. Read each card top to bottom and ownership answers itself.
- Trigger: the observable signal that starts the play. Specific and measurable, not "seems interested."
- Owner (fires first): the single function that acts first. One name, never two.
- Supports: the other function and what it does in parallel.
- Action sequence: the concrete steps, in order.
- Channels: where the play runs.
- Exit and handoff: the success or kill condition, and who owns the account next.
The through-line across all twelve: sales and marketing run these together. Marketing owns reach, signal capture, and air cover. Sales owns the one-to-one human moment. The handoff rule keeps a hot signal from dying in the gap between teams. For the operating model behind that split, see our ABM sales and marketing alignment playbook.
The 12 plays
Play 1 - Target-account first website visit
Trigger: a known target account hits the site for the first time and the visit is deanonymized to the company and, ideally, the individual contact. Owner (fires first): the assigned AE. Supports: marketing keeps the account in a warm retargeting pool.
Action sequence: Within minutes, the AE receives an alert showing the account, the resolved contact, and the pages viewed. The AE sends one short note referencing the visited topic, not a generic intro. Marketing simultaneously surfaces a personalized banner for the account on its next visit. Channels: email, LinkedIn, web personalization, Slack alert. Exit and handoff: a reply or meeting booked exits to active sales; no engagement after two touches hands the account back to marketing nurture. Contact-level and account-level deanonymization make this play possible at all.
Play 2 - Pricing-page revisit
Trigger: a contact at a target account views the pricing page two or more times in a short window. Owner (fires first): the AE. Supports: marketing holds an ROI one-pager ready to deliver.
Action sequence: The repeat pricing view is the strongest mid-funnel buying signal there is, so the AE reaches out the same day with a direct offer to walk through pricing and scoping. Marketing personalizes the pricing page for that account on the next session, surfacing the most relevant tier and a peer case study. Channels: email, phone, web personalization. Exit and handoff: a scoping call booked exits to opportunity creation; if the contact goes quiet, the play hands to a seven-day retargeting sequence owned by marketing.
Play 3 - Competitor-comparison-page view
Trigger: a target-account contact lands on a competitor comparison or alternatives page. Owner (fires first): marketing. Supports: the AE prepares a tailored displacement talk track.
Action sequence: This is an active-evaluation signal, so marketing fires first with air cover: a comparison-themed ad and a personalized on-site message that addresses the specific competitor. The AE then follows within a day with a human note offering a side-by-side walkthrough. Channels: web personalization, LinkedIn Ads, Meta Ads, email. Exit and handoff: a comparison call booked hands fully to the AE; no response in five days returns the contact to the nurture track with the competitor context tagged.
Play 4 - Champion job-change
Trigger: a known champion, former buyer, or product advocate changes jobs to a new company. Owner (fires first): the AE who owned the original relationship. Supports: marketing enriches the new company and adds it to the target list.
Action sequence: A champion who already trusts you arriving at a new account is the highest-conversion signal in B2B. The original AE sends a warm congratulations note within days, with no pitch. Marketing runs first-party enrichment on the new company and opens a light-touch program. The pitch waits for the second touch. Channels: LinkedIn, email, account-based advertising. Exit and handoff: a re-introduction call exits to a new opportunity; an off-ICP company keeps the champion in a relationship track. See our ABM champion amplification playbook.
Play 5 - Dark-funnel research spike
Trigger: third-party intent shows a target account surging on category topics off your site, with no first-party activity yet. Owner (fires first): marketing. Supports: the AE stays on standby for the first hand-raise.
Action sequence: Because the account is researching where you cannot see them, marketing fires first to pull them into first-party visibility: account-targeted ads, a content offer, and a personalized landing experience. Only once a contact engages does the AE step in. Channels: LinkedIn Ads, Google DSP, Meta Ads, web personalization. Exit and handoff: first-party engagement converts the signal into Play 1 or Play 2 and hands to sales; silence keeps the account in air-cover rotation. The full mechanics live in our ABM dark funnel activation playbook.
Play 6 - Stalled-opportunity re-engagement
Trigger: an open opportunity has had no buyer-side activity for a set number of days and is at risk of slipping. Owner (fires first): the AE. Supports: marketing delivers a multi-threading air-cover layer.
Action sequence: The AE re-engages the primary contact with a specific reason to reconnect, such as a new proof point or a relevant change in the buyer's market. Marketing runs targeted ads to the wider buying group so the AE is not carrying the deal alone. Channels: email, phone, LinkedIn Ads, retargeting. Exit and handoff: renewed buyer activity returns the opportunity to active selling; continued silence triggers a documented re-qualify decision with the manager. The deal-acceleration tactics behind this play are detailed in the ABM sales playbook for deal acceleration.
Play 7 - Buying-committee expansion
Trigger: a new persona from an active account appears on the site, signaling the buying committee is widening. Owner (fires first): marketing. Supports: the AE adjusts the deal map.
Action sequence: New personas mean new concerns, so marketing fires first with persona-specific content and on-site personalization tailored to that role, whether finance, security, or a technical evaluator. The AE updates the account map and reaches out to bring the new stakeholder into the conversation. Channels: web personalization, email, LinkedIn. Exit and handoff: the new persona joining a call hands to the AE as a multi-threaded deal; no engagement keeps them in a role-based nurture. To map committees systematically, use our ABM buying committee playbook.
Play 8 - Pre-renewal expansion
Trigger: an existing customer account enters its renewal window and shows expansion signals such as new-product page views or added seats. Owner (fires first): the account manager or CSM. Supports: marketing runs an expansion-themed program to the account.
Action sequence: The CSM opens a value-review conversation framed around outcomes already delivered, then introduces the expansion path. Marketing supports with personalized in-product and on-site messaging about the relevant add-on. Channels: email, in-account messaging, web personalization, account-based advertising. Exit and handoff: an expansion conversation booked hands to the AM as a growth opportunity; a flat renewal keeps the account on a steady-value cadence.
Play 9 - Event or webinar no-show
Trigger: a target-account contact registers for a webinar or event and does not attend. Owner (fires first): marketing. Supports: the AE follows the warmest no-shows personally.
Action sequence: Registration is real intent, so a no-show is a recovery opportunity, not a dead lead. Marketing fires first with the on-demand recording, a short summary, and one clear next step. For no-shows at high-priority accounts, the AE then sends a personal note offering a private walkthrough of the most relevant segment. Channels: email, LinkedIn, retargeting. Exit and handoff: recording engagement plus a reply hands to the AE; no engagement keeps the contact in standard nurture with the topic interest tagged.
Play 10 - High-intent, no-reply escalation
Trigger: a contact shows strong first-party intent, such as repeated high-value page views, but has not replied to two or more sales touches. Owner (fires first): the AE. Supports: marketing wraps the account in surround-sound air cover.
Action sequence: When intent is high but replies are zero, the channel is the problem, not the interest. The AE switches channel and angle, moving from email to a LinkedIn voice note or a short video that references the exact pages viewed. Marketing escalates ad frequency and personalizes the site so every brand touchpoint reinforces the outreach. An AI-driven outbound layer can adapt cadence and channel automatically as the signal shifts. Channels: LinkedIn, video, email, account-based advertising, web personalization. Exit and handoff: any reply exits to a live conversation; three escalated touches with no response returns the contact to nurture.
Play 11 - G2 or review-site intent
Trigger: a target account shows activity on a third-party review site, such as viewing your category or a comparison between you and a competitor. Owner (fires first): marketing. Supports: the AE prepares a proof-led follow-up.
Action sequence: Review-site research is late-stage, vendor-comparison intent. Marketing fires first with retargeting that leads with social proof, ratings, and a customer story, plus a personalized on-site experience. The AE follows with a note offering references and a tailored comparison. Channels: retargeting, LinkedIn Ads, web personalization, email. Exit and handoff: a reference or comparison call booked hands to the AE; no movement keeps the account in a proof-themed nurture. Pair this with our guide to B2B intent data.
Play 12 - Closed-lost reawakening
Trigger: a previously closed-lost account shows fresh first-party or third-party intent, or experiences a trigger event such as new leadership or funding. Owner (fires first): the AE who owned the original deal, if still in role; otherwise the new territory owner. Supports: marketing reactivates a tailored account program.
Action sequence: Closed-lost is rarely closed-forever. The AE reopens with a low-pressure note acknowledging the prior conversation and citing what has changed on your side or theirs. Marketing runs a reawakening ad set and personalizes the site to reflect the new capabilities relevant to the original objection. Channels: email, LinkedIn, account-based advertising, web personalization. Exit and handoff: a re-engagement call exits to a fresh opportunity with the prior context attached; no response after three touches returns the account to a long-cycle watch list.
How the plays connect into a system
Read end to end, the twelve plays form a loop, not a list. Dark-funnel signals feed the first-visit and pricing plays. Buying-committee expansion and high-intent escalation keep active deals multi-threaded. Stalled, no-show, and review-site plays catch deals before they slip. Closed-lost reawakening recycles the accounts the rest of the system could not close.
What makes the loop run is shared visibility. If sales and marketing watch different dashboards, the handoff rules break and signals decay. The plays only compound when both teams see the same account, signal, and next step.
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Every play above is vendor-neutral and you can run it with a stitched-together stack. The friction is the stitching. Each handoff that crosses a tool boundary loses time and context, and a hot signal that takes a day to route is a cold signal.
Abmatic AI was built to collapse that stack. Contact and account deanonymization resolves anonymous traffic to the company and the individual, so Plays 1, 2, and 10 fire on real people instead of cookies. First-party intent capture across web, ads, and email feeds the triggers directly, and third-party intent integration covers the dark-funnel and review-site plays.
The action layer runs in the same system. Web personalization handles on-site air cover in nearly every play. Agentic Workflows fire the if-this-then-that routing automatically: if an account crosses an intent threshold, enroll it in a sequence, surface a banner, and alert the AE in Slack. Agentic Outbound adapts copy and cadence for the no-reply escalation play, and Agentic Chat greets a known visitor with full account and contact context. Built-in analytics then shows which plays produce pipeline, so you tune the library instead of guessing.
For the advertising air cover that supports most of these plays, see our account-based advertising buyer guide.
Putting the library to work
Do not deploy all twelve at once. Pick the two or three that match where your pipeline leaks most today. If deals stall, start with Plays 6 and 10. If the top of the funnel is empty, start with Plays 1 and 5. Write the trigger, owner, and handoff on a single shared card, agree on it with both teams present, and run it for a quarter before adding more.
The discipline is in the handoff rule. A play without a named owner who fires first is a wish, and a play without an exit condition runs forever and burns trust. Keep both teams accountable to the same card, and the library turns scattered signals into a repeatable revenue motion.
To see contact-level deanonymization, first-party intent, web personalization, and Agentic Workflows run these plays end to end in one platform, request a demo and we will map your top three plays to your live signals.
FAQ
What are ABM plays?
ABM plays are pre-defined, repeatable response sequences that fire when a target account shows a specific buying signal. Each play names a trigger, the function that acts first, a supporting function, the action steps, the channels, and an exit-and-handoff rule. They turn scattered intent signals into a coordinated sales-and-marketing motion.
Who owns ABM plays, sales or marketing?
Both, on every play. A play assigns a single function that fires first and a second function that supports in parallel, with a defined moment when ownership changes hands. Marketing typically owns reach, signal capture, and air cover; sales owns the one-to-one human moment. The handoff rule keeps a signal from dying in the gap between teams.
How many ABM plays should a team run at once?
Start with two or three that match where your pipeline leaks most, not all twelve. If deals stall, begin with the stalled-opportunity and high-intent no-reply plays. If the funnel is empty, begin with the first-visit and dark-funnel plays. Run them for a quarter, measure pipeline contribution, then add more.
What signals trigger ABM plays?
Triggers are observable and measurable: a first deanonymized website visit, repeat pricing-page views, a competitor-comparison view, a champion changing jobs, a third-party intent spike, a stalled opportunity, a new buying-committee persona, a renewal window, an event no-show, high intent with no reply, review-site activity, and fresh intent on a closed-lost account. Each maps to one play above.
