The ABM Delusion: Why Your Account Based Strategy is Expensive Lead Gen

97% of B2B companies say their ABM works. Only 52% can actually prove it. The other 45% are doing lead gen with a target account list and a six-figure ABX platform fee. In this episode of Revenue Marketing Raw, Jeff Pedowitz and Debbie Qaqish unmask the ABM delusion: most teams handed a list of accounts from sales, ran the same playbook, and slapped "ABM" on the deck. They argue you don't need an expensive ABX platform until your content strategy and sales partnership are nailed down — that you can start with your existing MAP plus basic intent tracking, and that the same trap is now playing out with AI ("we bought a tool with AI in the name, so we're doing AI"). They also reframe how marketing should prove revenue impact: not through attribution gymnastics, but through co-owning the number with sales. If your ABM program looks like a list, a campaign, and a vendor invoice, this episode is a refund waiting to happen.