Selling cardiometabolic and diabetes solutions to payers, employers, and health systems is inherently account-based – a limited number of accounts, lengthy clinical buying cycles, and committees that expect evidence. We build ABM around the actual committee, the clinical proof it needs, and the patience required to close these deals.
The Challenge
The buying committee is clinical, large, and slow-moving, while generic ABM overlooks its structure
A diabetes or cardiometabolic deal with a payer or health system runs through medical directors, pharmacy and benefits leaders, clinical committees, procurement, and finance, each with different concerns and veto power. Standard ABM built for a marketing-to-sales handoff at a tech company misses this entirely, targeting a single economic buyer when the real gate is a clinical committee. Deals stall because the motion never mapped or addressed the people who actually approve them.
These accounts require clinical evidence, and marketing focused on product features is quickly dismissed
Payers and health systems evaluate a cardiometabolic solution on outcomes, cost impact, and clinical validity – the strength of your evidence, adherence data, and total-cost-of-care effect. Marketing that leads with app features and engagement metrics reads as unserious to a medical director who needs to justify the decision to a committee. Without evidence-led content built for a clinical audience, the account discounts the company before a real conversation starts.
The sales cycle is so long that ABM without structure loses the thread
These deals commonly run twelve to eighteen months or more, across pilots, clinical review, and contracting, and an ABM motion designed for a shorter cycle simply loses momentum. Engagement fades between milestones, the champion changes roles, and the company cannot tell whether a quiet account is progressing or dead. Sustaining relevant, evidence-based engagement across a cycle this long requires a deliberate structure that most ABM programs are not built for.
The economic buyer, clinical champion, and end patient represent three distinct audiences
The person who signs the contract cares about cost and risk, the clinician champion cares about outcomes and workflow fit, and the patient who uses the product cares about daily management – and a single message cannot serve all three. Programs that blur them either talk cost to a clinician or clinical detail to procurement, and land with none. Coordinating distinct, coherent messaging across the economic, clinical, and patient audiences inside one account is a core requirement this category imposes and generic ABM rarely handles.
How We Support You
We begin by mapping the actual account structure for your buyers – determining which payers, employers, or health systems fit, then identifying the full committee within each: medical directors, pharmacy and benefits leaders, clinical reviewers, procurement, and finance. This category is account-based because the account list is small and the committees are complex, making this map the foundation for everything that follows.
Strategy establishes the play for every account and role. We identify both the clinical champion and economic buyer, develop distinct yet consistent messaging for clinical, economic, and patient audiences, and structure engagement to remain relevant throughout a twelve-to-eighteen-month cycle instead of creating a burst that disappears after initial contact.
Execution creates the evidence-led content these accounts expect – outcomes summaries, total-cost-of-care narratives, clinical validity and adherence materials, and committee-ready pilot proposals – through our [content](/services/marketing/) practice, written for clinical and financial readers rather than consumers. Each claim is rooted in your actual evidence; in this category, unsupported clinical claims are liabilities, not shortcuts.
We also create the long-cycle engagement framework: a sequence of evidence, touchpoints, and milestones that moves an account forward and provides a clear view of whether a quiet account is progressing or stalled. This connects with the [revenue operations](/services/measurement/) layer so committee engagement and pilot progress are properly tracked throughout the extended cycle.
Measurement reflects how long clinical deals work – focusing on stage progression, committee engagement, and pilot outcomes instead of short-cycle conversion metrics – through our [measurement](/services/measurement/) team, with the complete motion embedded in our broader [growth strategy](/services/strategy/) work.
We are not a generalist ABM shop applying a single-buyer technology playbook to a clinical buying committee.
What we deliver
- An account map covering the full clinical and financial buying committee
- Per-account plays with the clinical champion and economic buyer identified
- Distinct, coherent messaging for economic, clinical, and patient audiences
- Evidence-led content – outcomes, total-cost-of-care, clinical validity, pilot proposals
- A long-cycle engagement structure that sustains relevance across 12-18 months
- Measurement built for clinical deals – stage progression, committee engagement, pilots
When selling cardiometabolic and diabetes solutions to payers and health systems, the gatekeeper is a clinical committee assessing outcomes and cost – not one economic buyer – so an ABM motion centered on product features rather than evidence is speaking the wrong language to the wrong room.
Our Methodology
Our 90-day sprint creates an ABM motion designed for lengthy clinical buying cycles. Days 1-30 focus on assessment: we establish fit criteria and develop the target account list, map the entire buying committee within representative accounts, review your clinical evidence and current content against what a committee truly needs, and determine where existing deals get stuck. This phase concludes with an account map, committee model, and content gap analysis.
Days 31-60 focus on execution. We first create the highest-priority evidence-led content and account-specific plays, establish distinct messaging for economic, clinical, and patient audiences, and launch the long-cycle engagement structure. Each claim is supported by your real outcomes data and sent through clinical and compliance review. The essential plays and content go to market by day 60.
Days 61-90 center on measurement and refinement. Instead of short-cycle metrics, we monitor stage progression, committee engagement, and pilot outcomes, adjust plays based on how accounts actually react, and document the account plans and engagement framework so your team can maintain them throughout the long cycle. Since these deals extend well past 90 days, most clients remain on retainer, but the motion and playbooks belong to you to operate.
Our Working Approach
During the first 30 days, we involve your clinical, sales, and evidence or medical-affairs stakeholders because both the account map and content rely on understanding the committee and your actual outcomes data. Expect working sessions to establish fit, map committees, and candidly evaluate where your evidence is compelling and where it needs strengthening before reaching a medical director.
Days 30-60 shift into creating the plays and content. Instead of simply providing a target list, we directly develop the evidence-led materials, establish account-specific plays and messaging, and launch the engagement structure, sending every clinical claim through your medical and compliance review. We share drafts weekly and consider clinical accuracy non-negotiable from version one.
Days 60-90 emphasize measurement and refinement appropriate for lengthy cycles, including a regular check-in to assess stage progression and committee engagement rather than anticipating closed deals during this period. Given the duration of these buying cycles, engagements usually last 6 months or longer, as meaningful advancement is measured through committee milestones and pilots, not quarters.
The team includes a strategist responsible for account and committee strategy, a content specialist with experience in clinical and evidence-led writing, and a revenue-ops resource who tracks long-cycle engagement – scaled according to your target account list rather than offered as a fixed package.
- A target account list and committee map built for the real clinical buying process
- Evidence-led content that earns credibility with medical and financial reviewers
- Coordinated messaging across economic, clinical, and patient audiences
- Sustained account engagement across a 12-18 month cycle instead of a fading burst
- Pipeline visibility through committee milestones and pilots, not short-cycle metrics
If your diabetes & cardiometabolic health company needs account-based marketing (abm) leadership, we should talk.
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Frequently asked questions
What does account-based marketing cost for a cardiometabolic health or diabetes company?
Engagements generally cost $12K-$30K/month, reflecting the depth of clinical content and complexity of the multi-stakeholder account plays required in this category. Pricing scales based on your target account list's size and the volume of evidence-led content we create, rather than a fixed lead quantity. Because these are high-value deals with long cycles, the investment is considered against the value of the payer, employer, or health-system contracts it is intended to secure.
Why does ABM fit sales to payers and health systems?
The target market consists of a relatively limited group of payers, employers, and health systems, each representing a complex account with a multi-person clinical and financial buying committee – precisely the profile ABM is designed to address. Broad demand-gen spends effort on a market that does not purchase that way, whereas a focused, account-specific motion can engage the actual committee within every target. A small account list and complex committees make account-based marketing the natural model, not a stylistic preference.
How do you manage these buyers' clinical evidence requirements?
We develop content from your actual outcomes, adherence, and total-cost-of-care data, routing each clinical claim through medical-affairs and compliance review before an account sees it. We lead with evidence where it is strong and candidly identify where it needs reinforcement rather than covering over gaps, because presenting an unsupported clinical claim to a medical director creates a liability that can terminate a deal. We do not fabricate or exaggerate clinical results.
How do you sustain account engagement over a twelve-to-eighteen-month cycle?
We create an intentional long-cycle engagement framework – a structured sequence of evidence, touchpoints, and milestones aligned with the account's clinical review and contracting process – to keep engagement relevant between major moments rather than letting it disappear after the first contact. We also monitor committee engagement and pilot progress, allowing you to distinguish between a quiet account that is moving forward and one that has stalled. Maintaining a deal for this long takes structure, not persistence alone, which most short-cycle ABM does not provide.
How do you message the patient, clinician, and economic buyer without creating conflicts?
We develop separate messaging for each audience – cost and risk for the economic buyer, outcomes and workflow fit for the clinical champion, and daily management for the patient – while maintaining consistency so the messages reinforce one another instead of creating contradictions across the account. One blended message resonates with none of these audiences, so the plays coordinate role-specific content within the same account. Effective coordination is a fundamental requirement of this category.
What is the initial step for getting started?
We start by establishing your fit criteria, developing the target account list, and mapping the buying committee in representative accounts, paired with a candid review of your clinical evidence. The result is an account map and content plan designed around the actual clinical buying process instead of a single-buyer premise. If your cardiometabolic health or diabetes company sells to payers and health systems without an account-based motion designed for clinical committees, we should talk.
