In our last article discussion, someone asked me a great question: “If you were sitting in a marketer’s shoes right now, what steps would you take to get yourself and your org ready for [the shift to the next era of B2B measurement]?”
It’s a fair question. Everyone sees the pressure building. CFOs are demanding faster answers. AI is raising expectations. Attribution models are losing credibility. But it’s not always clear where to begin.
Here’s how I’d start with the “org” side of the question.
1. Centralize Spend and Pipeline Data
Today, most B2B companies have data scattered across several systems:
- Ad platforms reporting clicks and conversions
- CRMs tracking opportunities and deals
- Spreadsheets living on individual desktops
- Finance keeping its own set of books
- Attribution software that applies rules and logic to some of the data but that misses much of the marketing effort and undervalues the true marketing impact
Centralizing doesn’t mean solving every integration problem at once. It means creating one place where weekly marketing spend and weekly pipeline creation sit side by side.
A simple starting point:
- Export weekly paid media spend from ad platforms.
- Export weekly opportunity creation (or SQOs) from your CRM.
- Drop both into a single table in a data warehouse or even a shared BI tool.
- Don’t bother trying to connect these with “attribution.” Just have them aggregated and next to each other. The data science model will find the relationship and make the forecasts.
This gives you a time-series view that attribution reports and siloed dashboards can’t. Over time, you can add brand campaigns, PR, and events.
The key: stop waiting for a “clean data utopia.” Start with what you can reliably pull today.
2. Define and Track New Signal Metrics
One of the biggest gaps in B2B measurement today is the lack of early warning signals and the over reliance on leads and MQLs as early indicators.
Leads and MQLs rarely correlate strongly with pipeline. That’s where signal metrics come in:
- Branded Search: Increases often predict future demand.
- Share of Voice: Indicates whether your message is getting in the market.
- Account Engagement: Shows if target accounts are moving from anonymous to active.
Landing these signals requires some work:
- Partner with digital teams to pull branded search from Google Trends or Search Console.
- Calculate your share of voice (share of organic, or paid, or mentions) and trend it over time.
- Ask marketing ops to trend account engagement in CRM or ABM tools.
Once you have them, trend them against pipeline. If pipeline is lagging but signals are healthy, you can show stakeholders that momentum is building and make adjustments before the quarter is lost.
3. Move Stakeholders Away from the Credit Game
Attribution and sourcing models help show which campaigns are getting engagement from your target accounts, but they don’t help the business plan. Worse, they often create finger-pointing.
To shift the conversation, you need to:
- Frame the problem. “We’re hitting marketing-sourced goals, but the business is still missing revenue. That’s not confidence-building.”
- Show the alternative. One shared pipeline number, with signals underneath to track progress.
- Pilot small. Suggest testing the approach in a single region, segment, or quarter before scaling up.
Finance and sales leaders often welcome this. It simplifies reporting and creates alignment. Position it not as marketing losing accountability, but as marketing signing up for the actual business goal.
4. Start implementing simple what-if models and dashboards
You don’t need a PhD model to start scenario planning. Even simple, directional what-if dashboards can change the conversation. Here are two ideas:
- Pipeline Coverage Ratio What-If Apply a 3x or 4x pipeline coverage rule against quota. Show how shifting budget (using correlation between marketing budgets and overall pipeline to start) alters the coverage ratio.
- Signal Trend Overlay Correlate branded search or intent data with pipeline. Forecast what happens if the signal keeps trending up or down.
👉 The real win isn’t precision. It’s showing finance and sales that marketing is starting to plan in scenarios, not snapshots.
Closing Thought
The next era of B2B measurement isn’t about getting attribution “right.” It’s about building confidence with leadership through faster, forward-looking planning.
If I were in a marketer’s shoes right now, I’d start with three things:
- Centralize spend and pipeline data.
- Track signals that give you an early read on momentum.
- Move stakeholders from credit models to shared goals.
Do that, and you’ll be ready for the AI-driven, data science-powered world that’s coming without waiting for perfect data or the perfect model.