The Future of

PIPELINE GENERATION
CONTENTS

Introduction 03
Chapter #1: A Quick History on Pipeline Generation 04
Chapter #2: What is the Future of Pipeline Generation? 07
Chapter #3: Your Pipeline Team 10
Chapter #4: Your Pipeline Strategy 12
Chapter #4: Clear Responsibilities 14
Chapter #5: Ideal Customer Profile 16
Chapter #6: Pipeline Coverage 18
Chapter #7: Messaging & Campaigns 22
Chapter #8: Personalization vs Automation 26
Chapter #8: Where Do You Go From Here? 31
INTRODUCTIOn
With an unlimited amount of prospects in the pipeline, every sales
team in the world could hit their revenue goals. While the idea of
unlimited pipeline sounds outrageous, smart sales and marketing
teams are unifying around a common goal of a pipeline coverage of
4x to 6x.

Everyone seems to have an opinion on how to generate pipeline from

cold emailing, to calling, to content marketing. There are hundreds of
software platforms to invest in from marketing automation to sales
development tools. In order for any of those investments to work
you have to start with the basics and make sure you have a cohesive
strategy in place.

In this ebook, youll learn three clear steps to creating a pipeline

strategy that delivers consistent results while adopting the best
configuration for your pipeline generation discipline.

3
 1 A Quick History on Pipeline Generation
CHAPTER

When it comes to B2B pipeline generation, or lead

generation, or in some organizations what sales refers
to as that thing marketing does, the principles have
always been the same: find buyers that fit our ideal
customer profile and get them to a meeting so that
salespeople can educate and sell to them.

4
Over the past 15 years, B2B sales and marketing organizations have gone through
vastly different models of pipeline generation. They include:

1.1. Marketing provides the leads, sales closes them. This is probably the oldest and most tried
and true form where marketing has a humming demand generation machine through events,
webinars, content and digital advertising which attract target buyers which then gets passed to
sales to do their magic.

2.2. Marketing provides leads, but sales have to prospect to fill the gap. Obviously, not every
organization is perfect. Companies often found friction between marketing and sales because
the leads were terrible and so sales leaders tasked their salespeople to prospect into their own
territories and generate their own pipeline while closing business.

3.3. Marketing focuses on branding, messaging, content and some demand generation, but sales
build out a dedicated prospecting team to focus on generating pipeline. This was originated in
companies like salesforce and Responsys in the early to mid-2000s where sales development
organizations living under sales were tasked with generating opportunities. The primary driver for
this was sales wanted very specific target accounts of a certain fit and size to go after to ensure
they were creating pipeline that was likely to close.

5
Now, most of the B2B world today falls under
one of the three models described above. In fact,
when taking all possible B2B companies into
consideration, only a small amount of companies
actually has sales development organizations, so
approach #3 is still considered cutting edge or
even a luxury to have for most companies.

All three of the approaches above have their pros

and cons and are inherently still flawed. In the next
chapter, well walk through a new hybrid model
emerging that aligns both sales and marketing
and ensures a better outcome for B2B sales and
marketing organizations in their ability to hit their
revenue goals.

6
 2 What is the Future of Pipeline Generation?
CHAPTER

There are a number of inherent flaws in the way

But why? What
pipeline is generated today. When talking to sales
leaders, qualified pipeline that is likely to close is
are the root
always a top concern. The underperformance of a causes for these
pipeline generation strategy manifests itself in low win
problems? Why
rates, inability to achieve quota, and ultimately the
failure of the VP of Sales. do companies
consistently
When digging in, the problem is simple: Not enough of
the right pipeline constituting the right buyer and the
struggle to
right deal size. generate sufficient
pipeline and the
But why? What are the root causes for these
problems? Why do companies consistently struggle to
right pipeline?
generate sufficient pipeline and the right pipeline?

7
The three key root causes are the following:.
MARKETING AND SALES DO
1.
NOT HAVE A CLEAR DEFINITION
OF THE TYPE OF BUYER THEY
SHOULD BE TARGETING.
Which industry? Which sector? What
is the ideal company size? What are
complementary investments that an
ideal customer has already made?
Who is the right set of decision
makers to target?
2. MARKETING AND SALES HAVENT
DEFINED A CLEAR SET OF
RESPONSIBILITIES.
How much pipeline coverage is
needed? Who is responsible for it?
3. MARKETING AND SALES DONT
HAVE A CLEARLY ARTICULATED
STRATEGY ON HOW TO ENGAGE
WITH THE TARGET BUYERS.
Its simple, right? Host a couple of
webinars, run some ads and send some
automated cold emails every 3 days.
Wrong. Activities dont necessarily
result in quality pipeline and results.
Often times, weve seen companies
go through the motions of doing
marketing and sales development but
not succeed because they didnt have a
thoughtful strategy.
8
8
THE FUTURE OF PIPELINE GENERATION TAKES A BRAND NEW APPROACH TO GENERATING
PIPELINE. IT IS AN APPROACH WHERE:

Marketing and sales create a unified pipeline team to own pipeline coverage just like you would
own the number.
Marketing and sales use sophisticated tools to define an ideal customer profile and a way to smartly
engage with target buyers through well thought out marketing and sales campaigns.
Instead of hiring armies of SDRs to cold call, this pipeline team is an elite team of content creators,
copywriters, strategists and a few SDRs to strategically engage with customers at scale using best of
breed software over email, phone, social media and physical events.

The future of pipeline generation blends the discipline of sales and marketing. Instead of artificially
driving alignment which rarely works, the Pipeline Team is a truly elite team that blends the best of both
worlds. The future of pipeline generation does more with less, generates the right pipeline composed of
the right target buyer, and leverages software to drive scale and personalization.

In the rest of this book, well walk you through how to assemble this team, craft your strategy, watch the
right metrics, and become unstoppable in generating the right pipeline for your revenue organization.

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 3 Your Pipeline Team
CHApter

WHETHER PIPELINE GENERATION IS OWNED BY MARKETING, SALES, SALES DEVELOP-

MENT, OR A HYBRID TEAM, THESE ARE THE KEY THINGS THAT TEAM IS RESPONSIBLE FOR:
Defining your ideal customer profile
Articulating a clear strategy to identify those buyers
Target those buyers through inbound and outbound strategies
and then, in a meaningful way, engage with them to create opportunities

Have you done all of those things as part of your pipeline generation strategy? Be honest. And, its okay
if you say No. Because most people havent. In fact, when most people look at that list, they almost
always hit a state of pause. Wow. Thats a wide-ranging list. And the biggest caveat of all is that this
cant be done by only Marketing or only Sales in a vacuum, this needs to be a concerted effort that aligns
the entire company.

Heres the thing. Its very easy to invest in a ToutApp, or a Marketo, buy a list, build a database, and start
cold calling and emailing while you invest $15k a month on a digital advertising agency to market your
product. Thats easy to do, requires a bunch of meetings to make happen, and can feel great. Will it result
in sound pipeline? Probably not.

10
The thing that most sales and marketing leaders overlook is the wide-ranging set of skills and abilities
required to clearly articulate a pipeline generation strategy and run a pipeline team.

THE TEAM OWNING PIPELINE GENERATION NEEDS TO BE STAFFED ACCORDINGLY TO BE

ABLE TO DO ALL THE THINGS LISTED ABOVE. THIS USUALLY MEANS THE BEST PIPELINE
TEAMS ARE COMPOSED OF:

The sales leader and the marketing leader who are the keepers of the strategy
A data analyst or a sales operations expert that can clearly help identify your best and ideal
customer profile and help set up the systems to tie it all together
A content strategist that can help define the communication and messaging strategy
A content creator/copywriter to help communicate the right message
An army of outside workers helpers who can help you build a database of target customers with
full contact information (or buy it from a company directly)
A small group of seriously smart SDRs who can leverage the messaging, content and strategy
and go after your target buyers in a meaningful way

Its important to recognize that you dont need an individual for each of the items above. You
just need someone that can own one or more of those roles. But if you are able to successfully
assemble a team of people that can fill each of those facets, youve got the essentials for an
unstoppable pipeline generation strategy.

11
 4 Your Pipeline Strategy
chapter

When youre thinking of achieving a goal, I like to approach it as if

youre about to approach a bank heist. You need to build a great
team, you need to do you research, you need to meticulously
plan, and then you need to execute. All of those things make for a
brilliant strategy.

It shocks me how many leaders go in blindly into generating

pipeline without a clear and cohesive strategy in place. In the rest
of this book, well walk you through how to develop and execute
on your strategy

However, this chapter needed to exist. It needed to exist and

is purposefully short, to reiterate the fact that you need to be
purposeful and thoughtful about a clear and articulated strategy
that both sales and marketing understand on how you will
generate pipeline.

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THE CORE REQUIREMENTS FOR A WELL-DEFINED PIPELINE GENERATION STRATEGY
MUST INCLUDE:

Clear responsibilities Well articulated Well articulated pipeline

on who is responsible ideal customer coverage requirements
for what (Chapter 4) profile (Chapter 5) (Chapter 6)

Clearly defined Well articulated strategy on how to engage with your

messaging and assets target buyers with the right mix of personalization and
that the ideal buyer will automation (Chapter 8)
appreciate (Chapter 7)

The foundation of a pipeline strategy is understanding your goals, your buyer,

and your approach. You can start to see those three things take shape in the
chapters ahead.

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 4 Clear Responsibilities
chapter
If you cant measure it, you cant improve
it. If you dont have a clear owner, then no
one will have enough respect to care about
it. You can have anything you want, but you
cant have everything; so you better know
what you want.
I cant add any more clichd quotations
about ownership and responsibility to drive
home the point that pipeline generation,
pipeline coverage, and quality of pipeline
needs to be owned by one single person
that lives and dies by it.
The sales leader lives and dies by the
number. Similarly, there needs to be a single
person that lives and dies by the Pipeline
Coverage number and the teams strategy,
execution and ability to hit that number.
When you have one single person owning
it, he or she will ensure theyre thinking
about it day and night, and that there is true
alignment across the revenue organization
on making sure the pipeline goal is hit.
Even the best sales team in the world will fail
without the sufficient pipeline to help feed
them. So, declare a clear owner.
14
FOR TOUTAPPS CUSTOMER
BASE, WEVE SEEN IT DONE IN
DIFFERENT WAYS. WEVE SEEN:

A sales development organization

being owned by sales
A sales development organization
being owned by marketing
A hybrid pipeline team with sales
and marketing co-owning it but
with a well-defined pipeline or
sales development leader

Again, the choice depends on the

strengths and weaknesses of your
organization. The most important thing
is that you have a clear owner.

15
 5 Ideal Customer Profile
chapter

Who is your best customer?

Your best customer is usually a combination of the one that pays the most, is an absolute pleasure to
work with, and has such strategic alignment with the value you provide - theyll never leave you.

Your job as the leader of the Pipeline team is to find a thousand more customers that look just
like your best customer. It is incredibly easy to buy generic lists, databases, or spend money on
companies that promise to give you a fresh database of contact information. All of that would be
easy to do but wont necessarily guarantee your success.

16
To build a meaningful ideal customer profile, here are the key questions you should
identify:

1.1. Which industry are our best customers in?
2.2. What size company are our best customers?
3.3. What type of technology investments have
our best customers already made that are
complementary to our offering?
4.4. Who are the key positions at our best customers
we interacted with to get a deal done?
5.5. What external trigger events drove the decision
for our best customers to purchase from us?
6. What internal trigger events drove the
6.
same buying decision?
7. Which area of the business did the budget
7.
8. come from when our best customers
decided to purchase from us?
8. Is there variation in how long it took us to
9.
close the deals with our best customers?
Which ones took less time? What made
some take longer?

As you answer the questions above, youll be able to define a model that helps you clearly articulate your
ideal customer profile and who you want to go after. If you can tether yourself and your organization to
a clear profile, it will help drive all other important decisions; from building a database, to targeting the
right set of accounts, to defining the right messaging to engaging with your target accounts.

It is important to recognize that youll never be perfect in determining and defining your profile. But that
doesnt make it okay to operate without one. Do the best you can with your team to define a profile with
the data points available to you and then iterate it over time.
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 6 Pipeline Coverage
chapter

Youve got the right team in place. Youve got

clear ownership on pipeline. Now youre at the
helm and you need to generate pipeline. But
how much pipeline do you need? Its one thing
to generate as much pipeline as possible but
its a whole another thing to apply extreme
thinking and have a clear structure around how
much pipeline you need to deliver.

Fortunately for all of us, there is clear math in

place to help sales and marketing teams figure
out as exactly how much pipeline you need
to deliver to ensure your revenue team has a
standing chance at delivering on their revenue
goals. It all comes down to Pipeline Coverage.

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Figuring out your coverage model is key to creating a consistent strategy, so at the
end of the day you can hit your number.

You often hear about a standard 3x coverage model but depending on your close rate, how much
you want to grow your business and your sales cycle your model could be wildly different. Use the
equation below to uncover your pipeline target.

Image Source: Storm Ventures

Pipeline Avg SalesDays 1

Sales Forecast 90 Days Close Rate

Did you get all that? Its okay. We didnt get that either when we first saw it but when you actually break
it down, it all makes a ton of sense. The sales leader in an organization has a number to deliver on THIS
month. And then NEXT month. And then the quarter after. To add to that, your sales team has a track
record of closing a certain percentage of deals that enter the pipeline (Your Close Rate) within a certain
amount of time (Avg Sales Days).

When you factor in these key characteristics, you get a deeper understanding of exactly how much
pipeline you need to ensure based on your sales teams track record of closing deals and the complexity
of your sales cycle, you have sufficient pipeline to give them a standing chance.
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The chart to the right visualizes
Desired Pipeline Coverage Ratio
the desired pipeline coverage
16.00
ratio for the first two variables:
14.00

Pipeline Coverage Ratio

pipeline days ranging from 30 12.00 SQL to Win
10.00 Close Rate
days to 270 days, and pipeline
8.00 20%
close rate ranging from 20% to 6.00 30%
4.00
40% with 30% being normal. As 40%
2.00
background, Aberdeen reported an -
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
average SQL to win business close
Average Sales Cycle Days (SQL to Win)
rate of 29.0% and best in class
close rate at 45%.

SQL to Win Close Rate

The same analysis is shown in the
20% 30% 40%
table to the right. 30 1.67 1.11 0.83

Ave Sales Days

60 3.33 2.22 1.67
90 5.00 3.33 2.50
120 6.67 4.44 3.33
180 10.00 6.67 5.00
270 15.00 10.00 7.50

20
 "
The desired pipeline coverage ratio ranges
from 0.83x to 15.0x. A pipeline coverage
ratio of 3x works with a 33% close rate for ...no matter
90-day deals. Coincidentally, a 33% close
rate for 90-day deals is fairly common. That
what you do,
explains the rule of thumb. make sure you
all get aligned
But, the rule of thumb obviously does not
apply in all scenarios. Companies should use
on your pipe-
the pipeline coverage formula with their own line coverage
numbers.
goals and do
Needless to say, no matter what you do, everything you
make sure you all get aligned on your pipeline can to drive to
coverage goals and do everything you can
to drive to it and measure against it. This will
it and measure
most likely be the single biggest predictor of against it.
the success of the business.

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 7 Messaging & Campaigns
chapter

Being thoughtful about your messaging and the type of campaigns you run is the next thing you
will need to focus on. There are two components to this step the Logistics and Content.

Logistics: Content:

Inbound v Outbound? Find the common thread

# of Touches to make it relevant and
Duration ensure it resonates
Channel

Remember, theres no silver bullet to pipeline strategy because every business is different so your
logistics and content will vary.

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The Logistics
HERE ARE TWO EXAMPLES:

SITUATION #1: SUGGESTED APPROACH:

High Volume of Inbound Leverage an automated sales campaign with calls
Leads, Low ASP early on and consistent emails over the course of
3 weeks. If you get no response after that, you can
put them on an outbound sales campaign.

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 7 Day 14 Day 21

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The Logistics

SITUATION #2: SUGGESTED APPROACH:

70% of pipeline comes
from outbound sales
efforts, High ASP
Create a Strategic Outreach Campaign with a mix of
Semi-Automated email touches and hyper-personalized
email tasks. Leverage LinkedIn Sales Navigator to add
20% personalization to the email tasks. This approach
allows your team to apply the same rigor to their
outreach, every time, with a hyper-personalized touch
that will resonate with a strategic buyer.

Day 1 Day 3 Day 7 Day 13 Day 16 Day 17 Day 21

24
The Content
The key to creating effective messaging and campaigns that deliver results is defining the bucket you
are going to reach out to, so the messaging is relevant and specific enough to their challenges, goals,
persona, and industry.

Think outside the box everyone talks about an ICP but that is not always enough to make a message
relevant. What is happening in your prospects world that connects to the value you provide? Stay on
top of industry specific news that makes noise within that category and Analysts reports such as the
Gartner Magic Quadrant & Critical Capabilities reports as a launch pad for creating tailored prospecting
messaging.

Heres a checklist of the components you should think through when creating your
messaging and campaigns.

1. Whats the messaging by persona?

2. How many touches?
3. What kinds of content can we leverage?
4. Which channels? Where are they living?
5. Automated and Manual mix
6. Sprinkle in Custom Tasks (for example, if you are a user based SaaS application, check for
past or previous action in your product)
25
 8 Personalization vs Automation
chapter

To define a strategy that is going to deliver pipeline for your business, you need to decide on how to
approach your target segment(s) based on the complexity of your sales cycle and the buying pro-
cess of your customers. The key questions below will help you decide how to approach your target
segment(s) of prospects.

Is the makeup of our pipeline primarily inbound, outbound or a hybrid?

IF YOU ARE A HYBRID YOU WILL WANT TO ASK THE QUESTIONS BELOW FOR BOTH
INBOUND AND OUTBOUND BECAUSE THE ANSWERS CAN YIELD A VERY DIFFERENT
APPROACH.

If you are primarily outbound focused, a complex buying process with multiple stakeholders
and a high ACV You can spend the time to hyper-personalize your outreach.
If you are primarily inbound focused, with a more transactional sale you have a larger volume
leads at your door with a lower ASP to automate.

26
What is the complexity of our sales cycle?
The buying process, who you sell to, the Enterprise Transactional
number of stakeholders, ASP, and your
sales cycle are all inputs into developing
your pipeline strategy.

What is our communication strategy to map to the buying process?

Think about communication strategy on

a spectrum of completely automated
to highly personalized. Youll want to
think beyond certainties with your
Personalization Automation
approach. Some of the best strategies
use an approach that spans across
the completely automated to highly
personalized spectrum. The thing to think
about here is where can I afford to use
hyper-personalization and where should I
automate because the payoff is not there?

27
Heres an example for a heavily focused outbound account based model, where
your entire sales team or a segment of your reps are focused on the Enterprise
market, have a small target list of accounts, multiple stakeholders and a longer
strategic sales cycle. Marketing generates a steady flow of inbound leads,
typically from Lower Level Personas in target accounts.

(Outbound) Lower
(Outbound) Key
Level/ End User
Enterprise Stakeholders/ Decision
Personas Tier A
Makers Tier A Accounts
Accounts

(Outbound) Tier B
Accounts or Your Not

Sales Complexity
Ready to Buy Now

(Inbound)
'Downloaded
Analyst Report'
Lead from Lower
Level Personas

Transactional

Communication Strategy
Automation Personalization

28
The strategy plotted
on the grid automates
communication for the
outbound lower level
personas, such as end
users in order to focus
strategic, personalized
communication with key
stakeholders and decision
makers when targeting
Tier A Enterprise accounts.
If you have a daily flow of
inbound leads for lower
level personas, you know a
lot more about these buyers
such as they Downloaded
an Analyst Report or are
trialing your product, where
automation will allow reps
to consistently follow
up with hand raisers, but
wont compromise their
productivity.
You may have a small
target list of accounts and
a number of those are
Tier B accounts or even
accounts that are not ready
to buy now that you want
to keep warm use semi-
automation here.
29
Where do you start?
Now that youve thought about how to approach your target segment(s), where to you start? Do you
create the messaging and campaigns for those inbound leads or focus on the outbound prospecting
messaging for your Enterprise team?

Heres our advice when it comes time to execute:

FOCUS ON THE TARGET SEGMENT THAT
WILL HAVE THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON
YOUR BUSINESS!
Lets say increasing ASP will have the
biggest impact on your business, you may
prioritize focusing on your outbound
Enterprise segment.
On the flip side, increasing your pipeline
quantity is important and you already have
a large number of inbound leads knocking
on your door, you may prioritize focusing
on your inbound lead segment.
WHAT IS MOST FEASIBLE? ALREADY HAVE
AN INITIATIVE IN PLACE, MESSAGING,
CONTENT OR RESOURCES ALLOCATED TO
A SEGMENT? START THERE.
You already have inbound leads knocking at
your door
You have an ideal customer profile and
target prospect list
One of your objectives as a company is
breaking into a new market

30
 8 Where Do You Go From Here?
chapter

The book is purposefully built to help you think strategically about generating pipeline, create
the right organizational structure for your pipeline team, and you define a thoughtful strategy for
generating pipeline.

Once you have your team assembled, youve got the right responsibilities defined, and youve got
the right pipeline coverage, messaging, and automation vs. personalization strategy defined, you
now need to execute on it like youre pulling off a bank heist.

A critical component to every pipeline team is to have the right software platform that enables
them in executing on a cohesive personalized and automated pipeline generation strategy at
scale. This is where ToutApp comes in.

31
ToutApp allows your pipeline team to execute on your inbound and outbound pipeline generation
strategy with the best messaging, content and cadence while allowing you to measure the right metrics
and ensure that you are on track.

For more information please visit www.toutapp.com

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