Don't just measure SDR calls and emails. Systematically track the *reason* for outreach—the sales trigger. Was it an intent signal, a form fill, or cold outreach? This crucial data reveals which initial signals actually lead to the best outcomes and deserve more investment.

Despite lower volume, leads from high-intent forms like 'demo request' converted at double the rate of product trials. They also resulted in deals that were twice as large, highlighting a massively undervalued pipeline source that was being ignored in favor of high-volume, low-quality trials.

The company's win rate collapsed to a catastrophic 3-5%, well below benchmarks. This inefficiency was a direct result of their 80% pipeline visibility gap. Without knowing which triggers produced quality deals, they were trying to fix the problem with a blindfold on, unable to make data-driven decisions.

The unmeasured activities between lead generation and opportunity creation—the "pipeline black box"—is the biggest failure point for B2B companies. Analyzing this SDR/BDR process for patterns is the key to systematically engineering pipeline growth, not just guessing.

Ditch MQLs. For sales-led motions, measure marketing on qualified pipeline (deals converting at >25%). For PLG motions, measure 'activated signups,' where users hit their 'aha moment.' This aligns marketing with quality and revenue, not volume.

With thousands of potential buying signals available, focus is critical. To prioritize, evaluate each signal against two vectors: the expected volume (e.g., how many website visits) and the hypothesized conversion rate to the next funnel stage. This framework allows you to stack rank opportunities and test the highest-potential signals first.

One company discovered that while MQLs were plentiful, they took 130 days to convert. In contrast, "hand-raiser" leads converted in just 12 days at a much higher rate. Focusing on conversion velocity reveals where to allocate resources for efficient growth.

While the company's overall win rate was a dismal 3-5%, opportunities from high-intent 'hand raiser' leads (e.g., demo requests) converted at 14%. This shows a highly effective GTM motion was being completely obscured by blended pipeline data, causing the team to overlook and underinvest in their most valuable channel.

A startup with a sales-driven pipeline leveraged intent data to identify accounts actively researching their solution category. By targeting these accounts with relevant content and webinars, the marketing team transformed the pipeline to be 56% marketing-driven within a single quarter.