Sales Pipeline Influence: A Decisive Factor in Measuring B2B Marketing Performance

The 2022 Revenue Marketing B2B Benchmark Report published by Demand Spring reveals that 78% of B2B marketers agree their marketing performance is largely dependent on how it drives the sales pipeline influence. This clearly means that their pipeline influence is a key factor in defining and delineating the success of their B2B Marketing campaigns.

Why Should We Care?

The recently published Demand Spring report suggested that the way the B2B marketing endeavors are being conventionally measured is observing a paradigm shift with the majority of marketing undertakings now being gauged in the light of the portion of the sales pipeline they influence. Consequently, the credibility of the B2B marketers will depend on the proportion of pipeline that they initiate for their organization.

The report revealed that most of the marketers (approximately 32%) claim that they are expected to initiate a pipeline proportion of anywhere between 20-30% for their organizations. Moreover, 82% of the marketers stated that their performance is quantified according to the portion of pipeline initiated by them, which has observed an upsurge of 12% from the last year.

Demand Spring Report Reveals How Sales Pipeline Influence Is Driving B2B Marketing (Source: komarketing.com)

The authors of the report enunciated, “Marketing continues to be predominantly measured on sales pipeline initiated, which validates marketing’s increasing mission of being responsible for revenue performance.”

The Implementation of Account-Based Marketing Comes With Certain Complexities

Implementing account-based marketing effectively is one of the most significant challenges facing sales and marketing teams, particularly considering that both functions believe it has the greatest potential for converting more pipelines and helping to close deals. Unfortunately, many are still struggling with account-based marketing implementation due to insufficient experience and a lack of cooperation between sales and marketing.

ABM has been taking the marketing community by storm. However, marketers and salespeople agree that they still need to implement it effectively.

Conversica recently published their “2021 State of Account-Based Marketing Report,” which explores the current challenges that practitioners face in this area. Although 87% of marketers and sales teams agree that ABM has the potential to increase conversions, almost 60% claim that they lack sufficient experience in this arena or don't collaborate effectively. Nevertheless, there's still plenty of hope despite implementation challenges as 86% of marketers accede that Account-Based Marketing (ABM) helps them close more sales deals.

Account-based marketing (ABM) is growing rapidly; however, 37% of marketers claim to still have “insufficient experience” to make ABM effective for their company. If one wants to get the most out of his B2B marketing practices, it’s important to understand the challenges along with benefits of implementing ABM and put across a strategic plan of action to overcome them.

There are thousands of companies out there, and your sales team can’t possibly connect with all of them. To get to the right people at the right time, you need an account-based marketing (ABM) strategy. With ABM, you work closely with your sales team to identify your key accounts and engage them in a targeted and personalized way across multiple channels. A well-executed ABM strategy can strengthen your sales pipeline influence and improve the bottom-line objectives

ABM has never been just a marketing activity. When properly implemented, it should form a strategic line between marketing and sales -- one that equips the sales team with the information, insight, and tools they need to target, engage, and close more deals with their top-tier accounts.

About Demand Spring

Demand Spring is an integrated Revenue Marketing consultancy that helps marketing organizations stand taller by enabling them to scale their ability to contribute to pipeline and revenue.

Their team of Revenue Marketing Strategists, Content Marketers, Marketing Technologists, Advisors, and Digital Marketers helps our clients transform their marketing practices, deliver exceptional customer experiences, and drive revenue.