ABM in Life Sciences: When One Company Is a Dozen Accounts

If you market to pharma, biotech, or diagnostics companies, you already know the standard ABM playbook doesn’t quite fit. One big pharma company can really be a dozen different accounts. Your whole market might fit into a single ballroom. And your buyers are scientists, and many of them will tell you they’re allergic to marketing.

I was joined by Abdul Rastagar, co-founder and CEO of Sirona Marketing and a former medicinal chemist, and Matthew Piette, who leads the life sciences and biotech practice at Health Launchpad and previously worked at Exact Sciences and Philips Healthcare. Between them, they’ve seen this world from both sides of the table.

We talk about how to break a large pharma organization into real, targetable accounts, and who actually sits on the buying committee, including the veto holders marketers tend to forget. We get into why engagement isn’t the same as intent when your audience reads constantly just to keep up with the science. We also cover why evidence-based marketing is the only kind that works with scientific buyers, and how to be bold with your thought leadership in a heavily regulated market. 

If you market in life sciences, this episode will help you sharpen your ABM strategy. If you’re in another part of healthtech, you’ll come away with ideas on rigor, targeting, and personalization that you can use right away.

Key Topics Covered

• "(00:00:00)" Introduction
• "(00:06:00)" What “life sciences” really means, and why it’s not one market
• "(00:07:00)" Who the organizations and buyers are in B2B life sciences
• "(00:09:00)" Defining the account
• "(00:11:00)" The two buying committees
• "(00:14:00)" Veto holders
• "(00:15:00)" When your whole market fits in a ballroom
• "(00:18:00)" Why life sciences ABM is mostly one-to-few and one-to-one
• "(00:19:00)" Engagement is not intent
• "(00:20:00)" Scientific skepticism
• "(00:21:00)" The ABCs of life sciences thought leadership
• "(00:24:00)" Sourcing every claim, and earning citations from AI tools
• "(00:25:00)" Selling to scientists who are “allergic to marketing”
• "(00:28:00)" What other healthcare marketers can learn from life sciences
• "(00:30:00)" The one thing a CMO should do differently
• "(00:33:00)" Adam’s five key takeaways

If you are interested in discussing this or any other topic, let's have a chat.  Reach out to me directly to schedule a no-obligation discussion. This isn't a sales call, but rather an opportunity to talk through your questions and challenges.

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