How to Create a TAM List in B2B SaaS: A Step-by-Step Guide for Sales and Marketing Teams
What’s the Deal with “TAM”?
If you’re in B2B SaaS, you’ve likely heard the term Total Addressable Market (TAM) thrown around. But what does it actually mean?
In simple terms, TAM is the total revenue opportunity available if your product could capture 100% of your target market. It’s your big-picture view of who you should be selling to.
But let’s be real—capturing 100% of any market isn’t likely (as much as we’d all love that). That’s where creating a TAM list comes in. It’s about being strategic, focusing on the right accounts, and aligning your sales and marketing teams to close more deals. If you’re in the B2B SaaS space, this is your playbook for building a TAM list that actually works.
Step 1: Get Clear on Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
Before you start listing out potential accounts, you’ve got to know who you’re really after. Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is the blueprint for this. An ICP isn’t just about the size of the company or the industry they’re in—it’s about understanding their pain points, the tech stack they’re working with, and what makes them tick.
Here’s how to nail down your ICP:
Industry Fit: Think about the industries where your SaaS solution shines. Is it FinTech? HealthTech? Marketing Automation? Focus on the sectors where you’ve seen the most success.
Company Size: Are you targeting startups, mid-market companies, or enterprise-level giants? Understanding this will help you tailor your approach and messaging.
Geography: Are there specific regions where your product performs better or where there’s a higher demand? Maybe your SaaS platform is a hit in the UK and Europe but less so in the US.
Tech Stack: What technologies are your ideal customers already using? If your SaaS integrates seamlessly with certain tools, that’s a big plus. Look for companies using complementary software.
Buyer Persona: Who are the decision-makers? Is it the CTO, the Head of Product, or the VP of Operations? Knowing who calls the shots will help you craft more compelling outreach.
Once you have a crystal-clear ICP, you’re ready to start hunting for those golden accounts that fit the bill.
Step 2: Comb the Market for Potential Accounts
Now that you know who you’re targeting, it’s time to build your list. But this isn’t just about grabbing any company that fits your ICP. You want the ones that have the potential to turn into long-term, high-value customers.
Here’s how to find them:
Data Platforms: Tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo, Clearbit and even Apollo on a starter plan are your best friends here. They let you filter through companies based on criteria that match your ICP—like industry, size, and tech stack.
Internal Data Goldmine: Look at your current customer base. Who are your top-performing accounts? Why are they a good fit? Use this data to guide your search for new accounts.
Market Research: Stay on top of industry trends. Read reports, follow thought leaders, find relevant on- and offline events and see who’s going, and keep an eye on emerging companies in your space. This will help you spot new opportunities.
Sales Team Insights: Don’t forget the power of human intelligence. Your sales team knows the field—they’ve got their ears to the ground. Tap into their insights to identify potential accounts that may not be on your radar.
Referrals and Networks: Leverage your existing network. A warm introduction can sometimes open doors that cold outreach can’t. Ask your current customers or partners for referrals.
Once you’ve got a solid list, it’s time to narrow it down to the accounts that matter most.
Step 3: Segment and Prioritize Like a Pro
Not all accounts are created equal. Some are worth going after with all you’ve got, while others might be more of a long shot. This is where segmentation and prioritization come into play. In B2B SaaS, time is money—so you’ve got to focus your efforts where they’ll have the most impact.
Here’s how to prioritize your accounts:
Industry/Use case: Industry/Use case: one of the most important ways to break your TAM down is by use case - and typically that means by industry. Depending on your ICP, there might only be a handful or quite a lot you will then need to bundle.
Geographic Segmentation: If your TAM includes different regions (like the US, UK, and Europe), break your list down by geography. This lets you tailor your messaging and outreach to each region’s unique market dynamics.
Revenue Potential: Look at the potential deal size with each account. Larger companies might bring in bigger contracts, but smaller, agile companies could mean quicker wins.
Strategic Fit: Does this account align with your company’s broader goals? For example, if you’re looking to break into a new market or industry, prioritize accounts that compliment that goal.
Competitive Landscape: How entrenched is the competition? If an account is heavily invested in a competitor, it might be harder to win them over. On the flip side, if they’re unhappy with their current solution, that’s your opening.
Sales Cycle Considerations: Some accounts take longer to close. If you need quick wins, focus on accounts with shorter sales cycles. If you’re playing the long game, invest time in those bigger, slower-moving deals.
Conversion Likelihood: Use your data. Which accounts have a higher likelihood of converting based on past performance? Double down on those.
Once you’ve segmented your list, rank your accounts into tiers. Tier 1 accounts are your top priorities—the ones you can’t afford to miss and where you will spend the most of your time, effort and (marketing) money. Typically also referred to as “One-to-One” Accounts. Tier 2 (“One-to-Few”) and Tier 3 (“One-to-Many”) are important too, but your approach might be a bit less personal and more automated.
Step 4: Sync Up Sales and Marketing
Here’s the thing—your TAM list is only as good as the teamwork behind it. Sales and marketing need to be in lockstep, working together to turn those top-tier accounts into closed deals. In the B2B SaaS world, this alignment is everything.
Here’s how to make it happen:
Account-Based Marketing (ABM): Think of ABM as spending smart money. It’s all about creating highly personalized campaigns for each account on your TAM list. This could mean tailored content, customized email sequences, or even bespoke landing pages.
Sales Enablement: Arm your sales team with the assets and insights they need to succeed. This could be account-specific playbooks, competitive analysis, or industry case studies (or other content).
Collaborative Campaigns: Create joint campaigns that bring sales and marketing efforts together. For instance, marketing can generate buzz with a webinar, and sales can follow up with personalized demos.
Regular Check-Ins: Make sure sales and marketing are constantly communicating. Regular meetings to discuss progress, challenges, and next steps will keep everyone on the same page.
Feedback Loop: Set up a system where sales can quickly share what’s working and what’s not. Marketing can then adjust strategies in real-time, optimizing efforts for better results.
Measure Everything: Define your KPIs and track them religiously. Are your campaigns driving engagement? Are those Tier 1 accounts moving through the funnel? Use this data to refine your approach.
Step 5: Keep Your TAM List Fresh and Dynamic
Your TAM list isn’t a one-and-done deal. It’s a living, breathing strategy that should evolve with your business. Markets change, new competitors emerge, and your company’s goals may likely shift. Keeping your TAM list updated is key to staying ahead.
Here’s how to keep it fresh:
Performance Review: Regularly analyze how your accounts are performing. Are they moving through the sales funnel? If not, why? Use this data to refine your approach.
Market Shifts: Stay tuned to changes in your industry. Are new players entering the market? Are there shifts in customer needs or regulations? Update your TAM list accordingly.
Customer Insights: Listen to what your customers are saying. Their feedback can offer clues about where you’re hitting the mark and where there’s room for improvement.
Growth Opportunities: As your company scales, you might expand into new markets or develop new products. Your TAM list should reflect these growth opportunities.
Continuous Alignment: Keep sales and marketing aligned as you update your TAM list. Regularly revisit your strategy to make sure everyone’s focused on the right goals.
Step 6: Leverage Technology for TAM Management
Managing a TAM list can get complex, especially as your business grows. Thankfully, there’s martech to help streamline the process and keep everything running smoothly.
Here’s what you need in your toolkit:
A CRM System. Use a CRM to keep track of every interaction with your TAM accounts. This gives your sales and marketing teams a single source of truth, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.The most popular choices depend on your organizational maturity and needs: some text
Hubspot is a typical one that’s easier to get started with and has tremendously caught up with functionality over the last years: it’s no longer a Marketing Automation Tool only that is also more cost efficient earlier on - believe it or not, the CRM itself is actually completely free. You will need to pay for advanced functionality (e.g. Workflows, Calculated Properties etc.)
Another popular one is Salesforce: for larger organizations that need (a lot) more customization the CRM you started SaaS is the go-to solution. Bear in mind that introducing AND using Salesforce isn’t something that you can simply “do”, it typically requires bigger projects and teams responsible for managing your instance. This represents a significant investment of time, money and human resources.
There’s more out there competing with those two, focusing on specific industries and use cases, e.g. Monday.com for a sales-heavy, go-to-market motion. Others include Pipedrive and Zoho.
Data Analytics: Go into your data to understand account behavior, engagement trends, and conversion likelihood. This approach will help you fine-tune your strategy. Again a lot of choices on the market: some text
CRM: Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success data lives here along with giving the reports you need. That's, of course, after a correct set up, configuration, and properly used by the teams. Enablement (Sales and Marketing) plays a major role here. If it’s marketing KPIs like Leads, MQLs and SALs, Sales Development goals like Opportunities created or Sales insights like Won Revenue, Quota attainment and Forecasts, the CRM has you covered.
Web analytics: can help you understand how your business is doing - especially if you focus on Product-Led Growth. As a free tool Google Analytics (GA4) or Piwik can cover all basics, but needs to be set up to record the right Events/Conversions.
Product Insight: gain a better understanding of how your customers (even it's free trials/freemium users) are using your product with tools like Branch, Amplitude or Mixpanel. Push that data back to your CRM as a single source of truth (SSoT) to understand the big picture.
BI Tools: for the more advanced use cases, you will want to use professional tools like Looker/Data Studio (Google), Power BI (Microsoft), Tableau (salesforce) or Qlik. Most sophisticated use cases then have ETL tools and Data Lakes in between.
Marketing Automation Platform (MAP): Make good use of marketing automation platforms. From drip campaigns to personalized outreach, these tools help you engage with your TAM accounts more efficiently. Again a myriad of choices, depending on your specific goals and current setup. some text
If you are using Hubspot as a CRM, the Hubspot Marketing Hub is a simple add-on, paying for “Marketing Contacts”.
If you use Salesforce, you can also plug in Hubspot easily enough: it’s a popular pair and the out-of-the-box integration has become very solid over time. Or you can opt for Salesforce’s MAP, the Salesforce Marketing Cloud a.k.a. Pardot. There is Marketo, which is another great option.
Others you can simply connect to your CRM include Customer.io (great for PLG), Drip or even Mailchimp - comes at cost and sends emails, exactly what you need.
Data (Account and Contact) Intelligence: Use platforms that provide insights into your target accounts. Whether it’s intent data, tech stack details, or organizational changes, this info will help you strike the right people at the right moment with the right message. It’s also easy enough and best practice to have a (regional) fallback solution for bigger teams: getting your CEO’s correct email/direct dial can make a huge difference.some text
The market leaders here are Zoominfo, Cognism and Seamless.ai. They provide solid data on Companies and Contacts, including direct dials. They all also come with intent data (ny now), some proprietary (like Zoominfo), most however simply license a service called Bombora and/or Leadsift.
LinkedIn Sales Insights: Very powerful IF your team relies a lot on LinkedIn (as a channel) and the data that comes with it. PLEASE NOTE: LinkedIn Sales Navigator is NOT their data product: it “just” provides useful filters, insights and alters into e.g. Company lists you need to create there first.
Smaller/more regional ones include Apollo.io, LeadIQ (US), Lusha (Europe) and Dealfront (Echobot -DACH).
New(ish) to the party are ABM platforms like 6sense and Demandbase that license & resell data (from e.g. HG Insights and Dun & Bradstreet/D&B Hoover).
Sales Engagement: If your go-to-market motion isn’t overly focused on inbound, you will have Sales (Development) reps that reach out to accounts on your company's behalf to let them know what you can do for them. They will benefit greatly from software helping them do exactly that: some text
Again, if you are using Hubspot, Hubspot Sales is a simple add-on to your CRM. It’s pretty solid by now. The only shortcomings are no automation except for the Enterprise tier and no automatic LinkedIn activities.
Salesforce alo offers its own tool - “Salesforce Sales Engagement”, very catchy. Curiously enough this is on the simpler, much more basic side.
The most sophisticated tools here include Salesloft and Outreach: both pretty much started the Sales Engagement software and offer a ton of features. Need to be integrated with your existing CRM.
There’s a lot more out there that also started offering this functionality, most notably Zoominfo (Engage) and Apollo.io. You recognize those from the “Data Intelligence” point above: more and more vendors combine and add additional functionality making it more and more challenging to keep on top and make the most out of your tech stack.
When it comes to assessing the software offering for your specific needs it can be tremendously helpful to get the experiences from (long term) users & teams who already set up and ran those on business contexts. Another, more readily available source is g2.com: a popular peer-review page for B2B solutions of all shapes and sizes.
Walk Away with This
A well-crafted TAM list is just the beginning, but the integral first step of your roadmap to success. It’s not just a list of potential customers—it’s a strategy that guides your sales and marketing teams toward the promised land. By taking the time to define your ICP, research and prioritize accounts, align your teams, and continuously refine your approach, you’re setting yourself up for long-term growth.
