Revolutionizing the Sales Funnel: Moving from Department-based Attribution to Buyer Intent-based Attribution

The traditional way of measuring sales success through attributing leads to specific departments and using software-attribution has become outdated. In this old model, each department is evaluated based on the number of leads they generate, not on the revenue and sales productivity they drive. This model leads to a lack of collaboration and misalignment between sales, marketing, and SDR teams, who often fight over credit instead of working together.

It's time for companies to adopt a new framework that aligns all teams and improves their revenue strategy. By focusing on buyer intent, companies can make better decisions, improve their revenue planning and forecasting accuracy, and drive significantly better results.

Understanding Buyer Intent

To revolutionize your sales funnel, you need to start by understanding buyer intent. Buyer intent refers to the trigger that causes a buyer to enter your sales pipeline. This trigger is a surrogate for buyer intent and will provide much better insight into sales efficiency metrics like win rate, sales cycle length, and pipeline velocity.

Building an Attribution Model

Once you understand buyer intent, you need to build an attribution model that characterizes the programs that create demand. This data will provide valuable insights into your entire revenue strategy and help you optimize your efforts, rather than simply determining binary credit to teams, departments, and budgets.

The Benefits of an All-Bound Model

Adopting an all-bound model based on buyer intent will drive significant improvements in your revenue strategy. This model will:

1. Improve alignment between all GTM teams.
2. Encourage teamwork and collaboration, reducing the fight for credit.
3. Provide a new view for revenue leaders and strategists to make better decisions and drive strategy improvements.
4. Improve revenue planning and forecasting accuracy.
5. Clearly show you where to focus your efforts and what to stop doing.

Conclusion

It's 2023 and the world has changed. Every department contributes to the success of a closed-won customer. It's time to update your mindset and measurement frameworks to align with the way customers buy today. By focusing on buyer intent and adopting an all-bound model, you can drive better results, improve your revenue strategy, and revolutionize your sales funnel.