The LeanScale Podcast · Episode 18

Our Fastest Growing Customers are Measuring These 3 Marketing Metrics

Anthony Enrico and Bernardo on the three marketing metrics that tie demand gen to the bookings plan

Bernardo Alves · Engagement Manager, LeanScale · LeanScale Hosted by Anthony Enrico
Published Updated 00:06:09 6 min read 1,142 words
Demand Generation Revenue Operations Forecasting GTM Strategy
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SummaryTakeawaysFrameworksQuotesAdviceAIEntitiesMetricsFAQTimelineTranscript
Executive Summary

The one-paragraph brief, extended

Why this conversation matters — and who should spend the hour.

In this early, tightly-focused episode, LeanScale co-founder Anthony Enrico and his colleague Bernardo walk through the three marketing metrics they see their fastest-growing customers track religiously. The throughline is simple and demanding: marketing should be measured the way sales is — against a plan that feeds the bookings and revenue targets — and instrumented channel by channel so every dollar of spend is accountable. Recorded in a 'grow efficiently' economy, it's a practical playbook for marketing and RevOps leaders who need to prove pipeline contribution and reallocate a limited budget toward what actually converts.

The three metrics build on each other. First, created pipeline to plan: marketing carries a quota of sales-qualified leads and created pipeline, set jointly with sales and interlocked with the bookings plan on both volume and timing — which makes it the leading indicator of whether the company hits revenue, and it's tracked per channel (events, paid, SDR), not just in aggregate. Second, channel productivity and efficiency: put a hard dollar value on each channel — cost per SQL and cost per closed-won — which rolls straight into the customer acquisition cost and ROI the board wants, and tells you where to double down and where to cut. Third, the Lead Impact Matrix: a 2x2 that plots conversion rate against production so you can separate high-volume-but-costly sources from high-converting-but-small ones, then decide which are scalable (a partnership you can fund) versus finite (referrals you can't manufacture).

The audience is marketing and RevOps leaders who want their function to speak the same language as sales and finance. The biggest takeaway: set marketing goals with sales, not at them; measure efficiency in dollars; and use a simple conversion-versus-production matrix to make informed, resource-constrained bets that yield the biggest outcomes.

Key Takeaways

9 things worth stealing

The load-bearing ideas, each with the business implication and who should care.

01

Marketing should carry a pipeline-to-plan quota, interlocked with bookings

Marketing's job is to create pipeline that sales accepts and will work, so it should carry a quota of sales-qualified leads and created pipeline that feeds directly into the bookings plan — matched on both the volume of pipeline and the timing it needs to arrive to hit booking targets.

Why it matters: Treating marketing output as a plan rather than a vanity number makes it accountable to revenue and forces the volume-and-timing conversation with sales up front.

Marketing LeadersRevOps LeadersRevenue Executives
02

Set marketing goals jointly with sales to kill the 'delivered vs. accepted' fight

Goals set in alignment with sales prevent the classic argument — 'we delivered you this much, but you only accepted this.' Creating the targets together defines how the two functions will collaborate to hit the objective instead of relitigating it after a miss.

Why it matters: Joint goal-setting converts a recurring source of sales-marketing friction into an operating agreement, making downstream collaboration far easier.

Marketing LeadersSales LeadersRevOps Leaders
03

Created pipeline to plan is your leading indicator for revenue

Because pipeline precedes bookings, tracking created pipeline against plan tells you early whether you'll hit the bookings target and the overall revenue plan — long before the bookings report arrives.

Why it matters: Watch created-pipeline-to-plan as the earliest warning system on the revenue number, when there is still time to act.

Marketing LeadersRevOps LeadersFounders
04

Goal your pipeline per channel, not just in aggregate

Executives can look at total created pipeline, but marketing should set a target for the SQLs and pipeline expected from each channel — events, paid advertising, an SDR team — to confirm each one is operating as expected.

Why it matters: Per-channel goals surface which channels are carrying or missing their share long before the blended number moves.

Marketing LeadersRevOps Leaders
05

Measure channel efficiency in dollars: cost per SQL and cost per closed-won

The cleanest way to judge a channel is the cost to create an SQL and the cost to create a closed-won deal — expressed as concrete dollar values, for example $1,000 per SQL and $5,000 per closed-won — alongside differences in deal size, conversion rate, and sales cycle by channel.

Why it matters: Dollar-denominated efficiency rolls straight into the CAC and ROI the board tracks and tells you exactly where to double down.

Marketing LeadersRevOps LeadersRevenue Executives
06

Double down on winners, cut what isn't paying off

In a grow-efficiently economy with limited resources, a channel with strong efficiency is a clear signal to invest more, while underperforming sources should be cut so you stop stretching a finite budget across things that don't convert.

Why it matters: Efficiency data turns budget allocation into a defensible, evidence-based decision rather than a political one.

Marketing LeadersRevenue ExecutivesFounders
07

Use the Lead Impact Matrix to rank sources by conversion vs. production

The Lead Impact Matrix plots two channel metrics — most usefully conversion rate against production (volume) — so you can see high-volume-but-costly, low-converting sources versus low-volume-but-high-converting ones on a single visualization.

Why it matters: A single 2x2 makes your best and worst lead sources obvious and shows where to press the gas versus pull back.

Marketing LeadersRevOps Leaders
08

Before funding a source, ask whether it's scalable or finite

A high-converting source is only worth more budget if you can actually get more from it. Referrals are finite — you have a limited base of customers and network — while a high-converting partnership can be scaled with more investment at a similar conversion rate.

Why it matters: Separating scalable from finite lead sources stops you from pouring money into channels that can't return more volume.

Marketing LeadersRevOps LeadersRevenue Executives
09

Benchmark against past performance to bet where elasticity is highest

Benchmarking each channel against its previous performance reveals the elasticity — how much impact more investment can have and what it translates to in dollars — so you can make informed bets that yield the biggest outcomes.

Why it matters: Understanding elasticity, not just current cost, is what lets you allocate the next marketing dollar to its highest-return use.

Marketing LeadersRevOps Leaders
Frameworks Discussed

3 named models

Every framework Jimmy names, defined and time-stamped.

Created Pipeline to Plan

00:00

Marketing carries a quota of sales-qualified leads and created pipeline, set jointly with sales and interlocked with the bookings and revenue plan on both volume and timing, then tracked per channel.

It reframes marketing output as a plan sales will accept and work, making it the leading indicator of whether the company hits bookings and revenue. Per-channel goals (events, paid, SDR) show which sources are pulling their weight instead of hiding inside a blended number.

Channel Productivity & Efficiency

01:54

Judge every marketing channel by concrete dollar efficiency — cost to create an SQL and cost to create a closed-won deal — alongside the differences in deal size, conversion rate, and sales cycle by channel.

Dollar-denominated efficiency rolls up into the CAC and ROI the board tracks and tells you where to double down and where to cut in a resource-constrained economy. A clear cost per SQL and cost per closed-won gives every channel an apples-to-apples score.

The Lead Impact Matrix

03:07

A 2x2 visualization that matrixes two channel metrics — most usefully conversion rate against production (volume) — to gauge the efficiency of each lead source and rank high- versus low-performers.

It exposes high-volume-but-costly, low-converting sources and low-volume-but-high-converting ones. Combined with whether a source is scalable or finite, it shows exactly where to press the gas and where to pull back, benchmarked against previous performance.

Best Quotes

13 lines worth clipping

Pulled verbatim. Copy or share any of them.

“Bernardo and I are talking about the metrics that matter for marketing. We have three of our top favorites.”
Anthony Enrico 00:00
“A really important part of marketing is creating things that sales accepts and is willing to work on.”
Bernardo Alves 00:00
“Marketing teams should really have a quota, if you will, to those sales-qualified leads — and that should be aligned with your bookings plan.”
Bernardo Alves 00:26
“These goals should be set in alignment with sales. The last thing you want is arguing over, 'We delivered you this much, but you only accepted this.'”
Bernardo Alves 00:53
“It's your leading indicator. It's going to let you know if you're going to hit that bookings target or not, and if you're going to hit your overall revenue plan or not.”
Bernardo Alves 01:18
“For marketing departments, it's really important to set a goal per channel — the SQLs and created pipeline you expect from events, from paid advertising, from an SDR team.”
Bernardo Alves 01:18
“My favorite way to look at channel efficiency is: how much does it cost to create an SQL, and how much does it cost to create a closed-won deal?”
Bernardo Alves 01:54
“You should have a very clear dollar value — it costs us a thousand dollars to create an SQL and five thousand to create a closed-won deal — and that leads right into the metrics your board is looking for, like customer acquisition cost and ROI.”
Anthony Enrico 02:34
“Double down on what matters and cut out the ones that aren't paying off. You're stretched for limited resources, especially in a grow-efficiently economy.”
Anthony Enrico 03:07
“What I like about the lead impact matrix is it really puts conversion rate against production.”
Bernardo Alves 03:34
“A classic one would be referrals. You have a finite amount of existing customers and a network that would refer business, so that might not be something you can put more capital toward.”
Bernardo Alves 04:14
“You may have a high-converting partnership, and if you invested more in it, you could get more volume at a similar conversion rate.”
Bernardo Alves 04:44
“If you need a quick way to identify your top and low performing lead sources, put them on a matrix of conversion to production so you can clearly identify where to press on the gas and where to pull back.”
Anthony Enrico 05:52
Practical Advice

What should you actually do?

The playbook, split by the seat you sit in.

Marketing Leaders

  • Carry a created-pipeline-to-plan quota interlocked with the bookings plan — commit to both the volume and the timing of pipeline you'll deliver, not just a total.
  • Goal every channel (events, paid, SDR) individually, not just in aggregate, so you can see which sources are carrying their share and which are lagging.
  • Put a dollar value on each channel — cost per SQL and cost per closed-won — and use a conversion-vs-production matrix to decide where to press the gas and where to pull back.

RevOps Leaders

  • Instrument created pipeline as the leading indicator of bookings and revenue so marketing and sales read from one plan.
  • Roll channel efficiency up into CAC and ROI so the board sees marketing in the same language as finance.
  • Benchmark each channel against its own history to quantify elasticity before reallocating budget.

Sales Leaders

  • Set marketing's SQL and pipeline goals jointly with marketing to eliminate the 'we delivered vs. you only accepted' argument.
  • Agree on how the two functions collaborate to hit the shared objective before the quarter starts, not after a miss.
Operations Takeaways

By function

The same conversation, filtered for RevOps, pipeline/marketing ops, and customer ops.

Revenue Operations

  • One plan, two functions. Created pipeline to plan interlocks marketing with the bookings and revenue plan, so sales and marketing are accountable to the same number.
  • Leading indicator. Track created pipeline against plan as the earliest signal on whether bookings and revenue land — before the bookings report does.
  • Dollarize channels. Cost per SQL and cost per closed-won turn channel performance into the CAC and ROI the board already tracks.
  • Elasticity over cost. Benchmark each channel against its history to know how much more a dollar can move it, not just what it costs today.

Pipeline & Marketing Ops

  • Goal pipeline per channel. Set SQL and created-pipeline targets for events, paid, and SDR separately so you can tell which channel is on plan.
  • Volume and timing. Marketing's pipeline commitment must match both the volume and the timing the bookings plan needs.
  • Rank sources on a matrix. Plot conversion rate against production to separate high-volume-costly sources from high-converting-small ones.
  • Scalable vs. finite. Only fund sources you can actually scale — a partnership can grow; referrals are capped by your existing base.
Metrics Mentioned

The numbers, with context

$1,000
Cost per SQL (illustrative)

The example unit cost used to demonstrate channel efficiency — how much it costs to create one sales-qualified lead.

$5,000
Cost per closed-won (illustrative)

The example cost to generate one closed-won deal from a channel; rolls up into the CAC and ROI the board tracks.

Entities

Companies, people & tools mentioned

Auto-extracted and linked into the knowledge graph.

Companies

LeanScaleGTM Operations

The GTM-operations firm behind the podcast; Anthony and Bernardo present the three marketing metrics LeanScale's fastest-growing customers track.

00:00Company →

People

Anthony Enricohost

Co-founder of LeanScale and host of The LeanScale Podcast.

Co-FounderProfile →
Bernardo Alvesguest

Engagement manager at LeanScale; came up through customer success into operations and business intelligence, focused on attribution and usage-based tracking.

Engagement Manager, LeanScaleProfile →

Tools & software

Related LeanScale Services

Where this shows up in the work

Fractional RevOps

Embedded, field-facing RevOps leadership and execution — the operator model Jimmy describes, delivered as a service.

Standing up marketing-to-bookings pipeline metrics and channel instrumentation is core embedded RevOps work.

Forecasting & ARR Definition

Define a raise-worthy ARR and build a reliable consumption forecast across finance, data science, and go-to-market.

Created pipeline to plan is the leading indicator that ties marketing output to the bookings and revenue forecast.

Frequently Asked Questions

Straight answers

Generated from the conversation, marked up for search and AI extraction.

What are the three marketing metrics fast-growing companies track?

Created pipeline to plan, channel productivity (efficiency), and the Lead Impact Matrix. Together they tie marketing output to the bookings and revenue plan, put a dollar value on each channel, and rank lead sources by conversion versus production.

What is 'created pipeline to plan'?

It's marketing carrying a quota of sales-qualified leads and created pipeline, set jointly with sales and interlocked with the bookings plan on both volume and timing. Because pipeline precedes bookings, it becomes the leading indicator of whether the company hits its revenue plan, and it should be goaled per channel rather than only in aggregate.

How should you measure marketing channel efficiency?

In dollars: how much it costs to create a sales-qualified lead and how much it costs to create a closed-won deal (for example, $1,000 per SQL and $5,000 per closed-won). Those figures roll straight into the customer acquisition cost and ROI the board tracks, and show where to double down and where to cut.

What is the Lead Impact Matrix?

A 2x2 visualization that plots two channel metrics — most usefully conversion rate against production (volume) — to gauge the efficiency of each lead source. It exposes high-volume-but-costly sources and high-converting-but-small ones, so you can see your best and worst channels at a glance.

Why should marketing and sales set pipeline goals together?

Setting SQL and pipeline goals jointly prevents the recurring 'we delivered you this much, but you only accepted this' argument. Agreeing the targets up front defines how the two functions collaborate to hit the shared objective and makes downstream collaboration far easier.

How do you decide which lead source to invest more in?

Ask whether the source is scalable or finite. A high-converting partnership can be funded for more volume at a similar conversion rate, while referrals are capped by your existing customers and network. Benchmark each source against its past performance to gauge how much impact more investment will actually have.

Timeline

Jump through the conversation

Click any chapter to open it in the transcript.

00:00Intro: the 3 marketing metrics that matter 00:26Metric 1 — Created pipeline to plan, interlocked with bookings 01:18Setting pipeline goals per channel 01:54Metric 2 — Channel productivity & efficiency 02:34Cost per SQL and closed-won → CAC and ROI 03:07Metric 3 — The Lead Impact Matrix 04:14Scalable vs. finite lead sources 05:21Recap: pipeline-to-plan, efficiency, and the matrix
Full Transcript

The whole conversation

Broken into chapters, searchable, verbatim from the audio. Speakers inferred (not diarized).

Transcript as markdown ↓ Whole episode as markdown ↓
00:00Intro: the 3 marketing metrics that matter

0:00 Bernardo and I are talking about the metrics that matter for marketing. We have three of our top favorites. Bernardo, what's the first one? Yeah, the first one we're going to talk about is create a pipeline to plan. I think a really important part of marketing is creating things that sales accepts and is willing to work on. So having visibility into how they're trending onto a plan and how the function overall is performing in terms of their objectives is critical.

00:26Metric 1 — Created pipeline to plan, interlocked with bookings

0:26 Absolutely. And I think that one of the things that a lot of marketing teams don't take into account is that they should really have a quota, if you will, to those sales-qualified leads. And that should be aligned with your bookings plan. So whatever your creative pipeline to plan is should feed right into the bookings plan in terms of volume of pipeline and the timing of that pipeline coming in to hit your booking targets.

0:53 Of course, and I think something that is really important to keep in the back of your mind is just understanding that these goals should be set in alignment with sales. The last thing that you want is arguing over, "We delivered you this much, but you only accepted this." Creating those together and understanding how you guys are going to work as a function in order to deliver on that objective is going to lead to a lot of easy collaboration in the future.

01:18Setting pipeline goals per channel

1:18 And it's your leading indicator. It's going to let you know if you're going to hit that bookings target or not, and if you're going to hit your overall revenue plan or not. I think it's incredibly important. And for most of those executive-level purposes, you can take a look at your creative pipeline as a whole. But I think for marketing departments, it's really important to set a goal per channel. As an example, you may want to have a goal for the SQLs and creative pipeline you expect from events, from paid advertising, from an SDR team to make sure that each of those channels are operating as you expect.

01:54Metric 2 — Channel productivity & efficiency

1:54 Yeah, of course. And that leads us right into our next metric, which is channel productivity. It's incredibly relevant to look at how is every channel that you're marketing into performing, are there differences in deal size and conversion rates and sales cycle, depending on where people come in and what journey they take. Having a keen eye on what that looks like from a buying journey and the impacts that it represents to the business is vital. My favorite way to look at channel efficiency is how much does it cost to create an SQL and how much does it cost to create a closed one deal?

02:34Cost per SQL and closed-won → CAC and ROI

2:34 So you should have a very clear dollar value and say it costs us $1,000 to create an SQL and it costs us $5,000 to create a closed one deal. Of course, and that's going to lead you right into some of the kind of joint business metrics that your board is going to be looking for, such as customer acquisition costs and ROI. So being able to have that right at that level will set you up for future metric success as well. And if you see one that's performing really well, it's a really clear indicator to double down on that source.

03:07Metric 3 — The Lead Impact Matrix

3:07 Yeah, of course, it's going to lead to two easier winnings down the line, and that's ultimately what you want, right? Double down on what matters and cut out the ones that aren't paying off, right? Your stretch for limited resources, especially in a grow efficiently economy. What's the third metric marketing teams need to be looking at? Yeah, I think the next one that is super important to look at is the lead impact matrix, and it goes hand in hand with the channel efficiency.

3:34 If you're not familiar with the lead impact matrix, it's a visualization of how is every channel performing in terms of things that are being created and close one across different kinds of metrics in there. So you matrix two different metrics in order to gauge the efficiency of the overall channel. What I like about the lead impact metrics is it really puts conversion rate against production. So you can see there are a lot of lead sources that may produce a high volume of production, but are very costly and have a very low conversion rate. On the other hand, you may see something with a very high conversion rate, but low volume.

04:14Scalable vs. finite lead sources

4:14 And in those cases, I think it's important to differentiate between whether it's a lead source you can have an effect on. So can you put more money behind it to get more volume out of that high converting lead source? For some of them you can. Some of them, I think a classic one would be referrals. You have a finite amount of existing customers and a potential network that would refer business. So that might not be something you can put more capital towards to get more out of, but there are definitely others.

4:44 You may have a high converting partnership, and if you invested more in that partnership, you could get more volume at a similar conversion rate. And it really gives you a clear understanding of your high performing and low performing lead sources. Absolutely. And I think one of the things that you have to keep in the back of your mind as you do this is benchmarking against previous performance, understanding that elasticity of how much impact you can have and what that translates to in terms of dollars coming in. And the conversion rate will give you a very clear path of making informed business bets that will yield the biggest outcomes.

05:21Recap: pipeline-to-plan, efficiency, and the matrix

5:21 So if you're running a marketing team, the three metrics you really need to be looking at, you have to be looking at your created pipeline to plan. You should have goals for creative pipeline. It should be interlocked with the bookings plan that you have aligned with your revenue plan. And you have to be looking at that by channel. Which channel is hitting the targets you expected from them? Then look at the efficiency. How efficient is each channel performing? Do you have opportunities to put more investment on one channel or another, or do you have to pull back on others?

5:52 And if you need a quick way to identify your top and low performing lead sources, put them on a matrix of conversion to production so you can clearly identify where can you press on the gas on a particular lead source, and where might you need to pull back. Renato, thank you. This is great. Thank you, Anthony.