IT Services & Application Modernization
1:1 Goal Line + Expansion + Lead Gen
Headspring (an Accenture company)
$10M+ in pipeline and $4.8M booked from a $200K program
1:1 “goal line” ABM that closed late-stage deals and expanded into four new business units at a major insurer.
$200K
Campaign investment
$10M+
Pipeline generated
$4.8M
Booked revenue
4
New business units at one insurer
15 days
Fastest goal-line win
Headspring, a software modernization consultancy joining Accenture, needed pipeline it could attribute and a way to influence deals already in motion. The ABM Agency ran a six-month pilot that combined lead generation (paid search, programmatic, LinkedIn, content) with 1:1 “goal line” campaigns aimed at the buying committees of late-stage opportunities, and a 1:1 expansion campaign inside a large insurer where Headspring’s microservices expertise could travel to new business units. Website conversion points were rebuilt around demo booking. Account-level visibility showed IT directors and VPs at goal-line accounts clicking through to their personalized pages within hours of launch. The program produced attributable direct and assisted pipeline, a won goal-line deal in 15 days, and the expansion story: $10M+ pipeline and $4.8M booked on a $200K investment.
Industry context
Custom software consultancies sell expertise, not product, to IT leaders who are choosing among firms that all claim modern architecture and agile delivery. Deals are project-based, competitive at the proposal stage, and often decided by a small committee — a VP of Information Systems, a director of IT, an architect — over a few weeks once an RFP or SOW is in play. The most valuable marketing moment is therefore late, not early: when the account is deciding, and a competitor’s brand is as fresh as yours.
Expansion inside an existing client is the other engine. A consultancy that has delivered for one business unit of a large insurer is a known quantity to that unit and a stranger to the others. Growing the account means reaching new buying groups with proof from inside their own company — a 1:1 problem with a warm start.
Mid-market consultancies also carry small marketing teams and modest budgets, so programs have to earn their keep quickly and attribute cleanly, or they are cut.
The client’s situation
Headspring had a strong reputation in .NET modernization and microservices, an active sales team with opportunities in flight, an anchor relationship with a major insurer, and a growth target — a “path to $25M” — that required more and faster pipeline. Marketing spend was channel-based and hard to attribute. The website’s conversion points were buried. Leadership wanted an ABM pilot with a hard ROI test, 3:1 rising to 5:1, before committing to a larger program. The Accenture acquisition arrived during the engagement, adding brand and reporting considerations.
The challenge
Go-to-market
- Influence late-stage deals already being worked by sales, without disrupting them
- Expand within a large insurer from one business unit to several
- Improve lead quality from paid channels and prove attribution within six months
- Small marketing team; a hybrid ABM and lead-gen program had to be operable with light client effort
MarTech
- Intent, ICP and on-site data combined to identify problem-aware accounts (ZoomInfo intent, ICP match, website behavior)
- 1:1 goal-line campaigns needed per-account landing pages and account-level click reporting by title, so sales could see which committee members were engaging
- A 50/50 attribution model separating net-new from assisted pipeline, applied to every opportunity
- Website conversion optimization: an above-the-fold demo-booking popup, CTAs on all solutions pages, a floating sidebar demo request
- A proposed next phase of marketing automation activation points for 1:Few (new technology, expiring contract, surging, score range, ICP match, demo-booking or contact interaction) and 1:1 (open opportunities), with streaming intent for sales enablement and BI reporting
Asset creation
- 1:1 landing pages per goal-line account (eight in the pilot) and per expansion business unit
- Programmatic ad sets by funnel stage (consideration, validation, evaluation) for the branded campaign, plus non-brand sets
- Paid search ad groups; a LinkedIn campaign for the insurer expansion
- Proposed monthly production for the next engagement: three content pieces, two microsite and display ad sets, a webinar landing page and nurture, whitepapers, case studies, buyer’s guides, and direct-mail box bundles for 1:Few and 1:1
- A dynamic, intelligent buyer experience for the expansion account: personalized pages and content by business unit
What we built
- 01A six-month pilot across paid search, programmatic, content marketing, LinkedIn and website CRO
- 021:1 goal-line campaigns against eight late-stage opportunities, each with a personalized landing page and account-level click reporting
- 03A 1:1 expansion campaign into a large insurer: multi-touch, LinkedIn-supported, positioning microservices architecture expertise to four additional business units
- 04Branded programmatic by funnel stage: consideration, validation, evaluation
- 05A website conversion redesign around demo booking
- 06Attribution and reporting: direct vs. assisted conversions by account, with ROI tracked against pilot targets
- 07A next-phase plan: SEO, monthly content, microsites and display, marketing automation, intent-based sales enablement, direct mail, webinar promotion, paid search, and continued goal-line and expansion campaigns, with ROI benchmarks rising from 2x to 9x over twelve months
Figure 1
Three motions, one attribution model — demand capture fed the funnel, goal-line campaigns worked the deals already in it, expansion opened new buying groups inside a client
Motion 1 of 3
Lead generation
Capture active demand and improve lead quality
Paid search · branded and non-brand programmatic · content · website CRO
Motion 2 of 3
1:1 goal line
Eight late-stage opportunities, each treated as its own account
Personalized landing page per account · committee-level ads · clicks reported to sales by title
Motion 3 of 3
1:1 expansion
One insurer, four additional business units
Multi-touch, LinkedIn-supported · microservices proof from inside the company · personalized pages by unit
One attribution model across all three
Account-level click reporting
ROI tracked against pilot targets
Every opportunity was scored the same way, so paid search and 1:1 campaigns could be compared on the same terms.
Results
| Metric | Value | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Campaign investment | $200K | Program |
| Pipeline generated | $10M+ | Program |
| Booked revenue | $4.8M | Program |
| Expansion | 4 additional business units at a large insurer | Program |
| Pilot spend / pipeline / ROI | $102.5K / $1,011,719 / 2.96x (30% win-rate assumption) | Pilot |
| Direct-conversion pipeline examples | Data provider $72K + $544K; color-technology firm $200K | Pilot |
| Assisted conversion | Industrial manufacturer $49K — won | Pilot |
| Goal-line campaigns | 8 launched; 1 won in 15 days, 1 verbal award, 1 new opportunity, 1 prospect | Pilot |
| Goal-line engagement | IT director and VP-level clicks on 1:1 pages within hours of launch | Pilot |
| Branded programmatic CTR | 1.00% average (1.17% consideration / 0.73% validation / 1.09% evaluation), 64% above non-brand | Pilot |
Why it worked
Goal line beats top of funnel for a consultancy: personalized pages and ads to the committee deciding right now produced clicks from the exact titles that sign, and a win in 15 days.
Expansion is 1:1 with a warm start: proof from one business unit carried into four others through a multi-touch, personalized buyer experience.
Hybrid, not either/or: paid search captured active demand while ABM shaped decisions, and both reported into one attribution model.
Touches beyond programmatic paid off: goal-line accounts reached through more than one channel produced more interactions than programmatic alone — the lesson that shaped the next phase of direct mail, automation and sales enablement.
Conversion points were moved to where intent was: demo booking above the fold.
Services and tools
Services
1:1 Goal-Line Campaigns
Account Expansion ABM
Paid Search & Programmatic
Website Conversion Optimization
Attribution Modeling
Sales Enablement via Intent
Tools worked in
Google Ads
Programmatic DSP
Calendly
Frequently asked
Can marketing influence a deal that sales is already working?
That was the point of Headspring’s goal-line campaigns: personalized landing pages and ads aimed at the buying committee of a late-stage opportunity, with clicks by title reported back to sales. One goal-line deal was won within 15 days of launch.
How do you expand inside an existing client?
Treat each business unit as a 1:1 account with a warm start. Headspring’s multi-touch campaign carried proof of its microservices work into four additional units at a large insurer.
What does an ABM pilot for a services firm look like?
Six months, a hard ROI target, a hybrid of paid search and 1:1 campaigns, website conversion fixes, and a 50/50 direct-vs-assisted attribution model — then a decision on scaling.
Related proof
SentiLink
1:1 into financial services
Modo Labs
ABM and lead gen hybrid
Palo Alto Networks
Goal-line 1:1