How to Create the Best Acquisition Strategy for Professional Services

Your company has an amazing mix of services for your clients. You do great work, and your customers know it. But when it comes to attracting new business, relying on referrals and repeat clients can only take you so far. 

If your growth depends on word-of-mouth, you’re not really in control of your pipeline. 

That’s where account-based marketing (ABM) comes in.

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What’s Holding Most Firms Back?

For a lot of professional services teams, growth is unpredictable. Referrals are appreciated, of course. But they’re also hard to scale, slow to show up, and completely out of your hands.

Traditional marketing can help build awareness over time, but it’s not always built to spark the kinds of relationships that drive new business. And RFPs? Let’s be honest, those can feel like a race to the bottom.

If you want consistent, reliable growth, you need a way to create your own demand and fill your pipeline proactively. That’s where ABM becomes your best-kept secret.

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Why ABM Works for Professional Services

If you’ve heard of ABM but figured it wasn’t built for your business, you’re not alone. Many firms think it’s only for big B2B tech companies with massive sales teams. But that’s not the case.

ABM is all about identifying the right companies to work with, and getting in front of them at the right time with the right message. It’s targeted. It’s personal. And it helps your firm go from passively waiting for leads to actively building a pipeline.

With ABM, you can:

• Find high-intent companies that match your ideal client profile
• Reach out with thoughtful, relevant messaging
• Give your sales team a head start with warm, informed conversations

In short, ABM helps you take control of your growth instead of crossing your fingers and waiting for the next referral to roll in.

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5 Steps to Create Demand and Grow Your Company 

Even if ABM sounds unfamiliar, don’t worry. You don’t need to be an expert to put it to work. Think of it as a way to stop relying on referrals and start building a repeatable growth engine. Here’s how it works.

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1. Spot Gaps in the Market

If you want to grow, the first step is knowing where the opportunity is. What types of companies should be working with you, but aren’t yet? Where are the underserved industries or overlooked segments that align with your strengths?

This is what we call a market gap: a place where there’s real need but not enough providers meeting it well.

Propensity’s AI ABM Coach makes this part simple. Just enter your website, and it will show you where demand exists, which companies to focus on, and how to stand out. You’ll get an instant strategy built around real data, not guesswork.

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2. Build a List of Companies You Want to Work With

Once you’ve spotted the gaps, it’s time to build a list of companies that fit your ideal customer profile. These are the ones most likely to benefit from your services, and now that you’ve found the opportunity, you can go after it with confidence.

This isn’t about cold outreach for the sake of it. It’s focused, smart targeting based on real signals that show who’s likely to convert.

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3. Run Omnichannel Campaigns to Get on Their Radar

Now that you know who you want to reach, it’s time to introduce yourself. Maybe it’s ads on LinkedIn, a personalized postcard, or an email campaign that highlights how you help companies like theirs. 

You’re building awareness and trust, so that when sales follows up, your firm is already familiar, not just another name in the inbox.

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4. Reach Out to the Right People, Not Just the Right Companies

With contact-level engagement data, your sales team can see exactly who’s interacting with your campaigns—who clicked your ad, who read your email, and who visited your website. 

That means smarter, more personal outreach. You’re not calling into a company hoping to find the right contact. You already know who’s interested and ready for a conversation.

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5. Learn What Works and Keep Getting Better

Every campaign gives you more insight. You’ll start to see what messaging actually drives engagement, which signals lead to real conversations, and where your best opportunities come from.

With full-funnel attribution, you can connect the dots between your marketing efforts and pipeline outcomes, so you're not just guessing what’s working. You’re measuring it.

That visibility helps you build a repeatable growth engine, one that gets more efficient and effective with every campaign.

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TL;DR: Growth Starts With Knowing Where the Opportunity Is

You don’t need to be an ABM expert to grow your firm. You just need to stop waiting for referrals and start identifying where demand already exists.

At Propensity, we help professional service teams:

• Uncover hidden market opportunities
• Build a list of high-fit companies
• Launch outreach campaigns across channels
• Track engagement down to the contact level

Want to see your untapped market? Start a free trial to find gaps and get recommendations.