How Sqrl ABM software helps B2B companies identify their ideal target accounts
Account Based Marketing starts with one fundamental question: which companies should you focus on?
For many B2B organisations, that question is surprisingly difficult to answer. They know their current customers. They may have a shortlist of companies they would love to work for. Sales often has a few names in mind. Management may have a view on strategic markets. But a complete, rational and data-driven overview of the Total Addressable Market is often missing. That is exactly where Sqrl comes in. Sqrl combines Account Based Marketing methodology, AI agents, business data and software to help B2B companies identify, select and prioritise the right target accounts. Currently, our software is especially strong in Western Europe, where we use a combination of data sources, company databases, public information and platforms such as LinkedIn to build a clear view of the market.
The result: B2B companies can move from a fragmented view of “interesting companies” to a structured Target Account List based on fit, relevance and commercial potential.
Why target account selection is a major challenge in B2B
In B2B markets with complex customer journeys, growth is rarely limited by ambition. Most companies know they want to grow. They often know which sectors are strategically important. They may also have a clear proposition, a strong product or a proven service. The challenge is more practical: where exactly is the market?
For many SME+ companies, it is difficult to map their market in a cost-efficient way. They know who they currently sell to. They know a number of competitors, partners, prospects and dream accounts. But they do not always have a complete overview of the Total Addressable Market, let alone a clear view of which companies within that market are the best fit. That makes business development more reactive than it should be. Instead of focusing on the accounts with the highest strategic relevance, sales and marketing often depend on existing networks, inbound leads, historical relationships or individual assumptions. These can be valuable, but they rarely provide a complete and objective view of the market. Account Based Marketing requires a different starting point. It requires clarity.
From Ideal Customer Profile to Target Account List
The first step in Sqrl is defining the Ideal Customer Profile. We do this by working closely with the client. We ask questions such as:
- Who are your best current customers?
- Which customers are most profitable?
- Which customers are strategically important?
- Which companies would you love to work for?
- In which sectors, applications or regions do you see the strongest fit?
- What type of organisation benefits most from your proposition?
- Which accounts are already on the radar of sales or management?
These answers help us build a profile. Not just a theoretical description, but a practical mirror of the companies the client already serves well or would like to serve in the future. This profile becomes the input for our AI agents. The AI agents then search, compare and enrich the market using multiple data sources. We use company databases, public sources, web data and platforms such as LinkedIn to identify companies that match the profile. In other words: the best existing and desired customers become the mirror. Sqrl uses that mirror to find similar companies in the market.
Mapping the Total Addressable Market
A key strength of the Sqrl software is its ability to help map the Total Addressable Market. The Total Addressable Market, or TAM, is the broader market of companies that could theoretically be relevant. But within that market, not every company is equally interesting. Some are a perfect fit. Others may be relevant in the future. Some may be influencers, partners or ecosystem players rather than direct prospects. That is why Sqrl does not stop at simply producing a long list of companies.
We help classify accounts into meaningful categories, such as:
- Ideal fit accounts;
- Potential fit accounts;
- Influencers;
- Less relevant accounts;
- Accounts that need further research.
This creates a much more useful output than a generic company list. It helps business development teams understand where to focus, which accounts to prioritise and how to build a structured Account Based Marketing strategy. The process moves from broad market mapping to a focused Target Account List.
From TAM to Tier-1 Target Account List
The real value emerges when the broader market is translated into a prioritised Target Account List. Within Sqrl, we use the TAM as the starting point. From there, we identify the accounts that have the strongest fit with the client’s proposition, sector focus, strategic ambition and commercial potential. These accounts become the Tier-1 Target Account List. This step is crucial for Account Based Marketing. Without a strong Target Account List, ABM becomes too broad, too generic or too dependent on assumptions. With the right list, sales and marketing can focus their energy on accounts that genuinely matter. For one-to-few ABM, this usually means a focused selection of 10 to 50 target accounts. For one-to-many ABM, this usually means a broader selection of 50 to 150 target accounts. Sqrl is built specifically for this spread. It gives B2B organisations enough focus to remain relevant and personal, while also providing enough volume to use data, intent signals and software effectively.
What used to take weeks or months now happens much faster
Until recently, mapping a market properly was a time-consuming process. A year ago, this type of research could easily take weeks or even months. It involved manual desk research, scattered data sources, spreadsheets, sales input, LinkedIn searches, industry lists and many rounds of validation. That work is still important, but Sqrl changes the speed and quality of the process. By combining AI agents, data sources and ABM methodology, we can now create a structured view of the market in a fraction of the time. This allows business development teams to move faster and make better decisions. It also reduces one of the biggest barriers to Account Based Marketing for SME+ organisations: the cost and complexity of identifying the right accounts.
A practical example from the industrial market
One of our clients sells industrial solutions and applications in the field of motion. The company is particularly strong in solutions for the food and beverage sector, which is also one of its strategic target markets. Before working with Sqrl, the business development team and management were able to identify around 35 relevant companies based on their existing knowledge, current customers and desired accounts. That is already a useful starting point. But it was not a complete market view. During a Target Account List sprint, using the Sqrl software, we mapped the market in the Benelux region. The result was much broader and much sharper than expected. We identified more than 300 new accounts.
From these accounts, around 100 were classified as ideal fit accounts. Nearly another 100 were identified as potential fit accounts or influencers! Some of these companies were physically located almost around the corner from the client. That is the power of a structured, data-driven Account Based Marketing approach. It reveals opportunities that were already in the market, but not yet visible to the organisation. From target accounts to focus accounts
Finding the right accounts is only the first step.
The next step is activating those accounts and identifying where real intent is developing. In the example above, the selection of more than 100 ideal fit accounts was placed into a broad awareness campaign. The goal of this campaign is not to immediately convert every account into a sales opportunity. The goal is to create visibility, build relevance and measure intent. Based on engagement and intent signals, target accounts can then be transformed into focus accounts. This is a crucial step in our ABM methodology. A target account is an account that fits the profile and is strategically relevant. A focus account is a target account that starts showing meaningful movement. That movement can come from engagement with content, interaction with campaigns, website behaviour, personal contact, event interest or other measurable signals. Once an account becomes a focus account, the deeper buying group and buying persona journey begins. This allows Sqrl to create a personalised and differentiated customer journey at scale, especially within one-to-few and one-to-many ABM strategies.
Why this matters for SME+ B2B companies
Large enterprises often have access to extensive research teams, expensive databases, dedicated market intelligence and mature revenue operations. Many SME+ B2B companies do not. But that does not mean they should rely on incomplete market knowledge. In fact, for SME+ companies, focus is often even more important. Sales capacity is limited. Marketing budgets need to be used wisely. Business development teams cannot afford to spend months chasing accounts that are not a good fit. Sqrl helps solve this problem.
It gives B2B companies a more rational view of their market. It helps them understand where the best opportunities are. And it gives sales and marketing a shared account list to work from. That shared focus is essential for Account Based Marketing. The combination of software and methodology
The strength of Sqrl is not only in the software. It is in the combination of software, data, AI agents and ABM methodology (sprints)
Software can help find and enrich accounts. AI can search faster and compare more data than manual research. But Account Based Marketing still requires strategic choices.
- Which markets matter most?
- What does an ideal customer really look like?
- Which accounts deserve Tier-1 attention?
- Which buying groups should be activated?
- Which signals indicate intent?
- When should business development step in?
These are not purely technical questions. They require commercial thinking, B2B experience and alignment between marketing and sales. That is why Sqrl is built as both a software platform and a guided ABM approach. We do not simply deliver a list. We help clients turn that list into a growth engine.
