Building effective demand generation requires more than just collecting leads and hoping for conversions. Smart marketing leaders understand that true growth comes from reverse-engineering revenue goals and creating systems that actually move prospects through the entire funnel. Tiffany Nwahriri, a data-driven B2B marketing expert with over 15 years of experience, has helped numerous fast-growing tech companies transform their marketing efforts into powerful revenue engines through her agency, 3rd and Taylor.
Start With Revenue, Not Leads
Here’s where most marketing teams get it wrong. They set lead targets first and work down from there. Tiffany has watched this approach fail countless times. “Most marketers always start with the leads,” she says, shaking her head at how backwards the process usually goes. Smart marketers flip this completely. “You need to do some reverse engineering here,” Tiffany explains. Instead of chasing lead numbers, start with what actually matters to the CEO and board. “Starting with the revenue, what is the average order value? How many of those deals do you need to close to reach that revenue goal?” Once you know those numbers, everything else becomes clearer.
The math works itself out when you approach it this way. Sales reps need a certain number of conversations to close deals. Those conversations come from qualified leads that marketing delivers. “How many sales calls does the sales rep typically have to do? How many leads do they have to receive in order to close that number of deals at that average order value to reach that number of revenue?” It’s basic math that most teams never bother to calculate.
Build Content That Actually Closes Deals
Most marketing teams love creating thought leadership content. They want to educate prospects and show off their expertise. That’s fine, but it’s only half the story. “We spend so much time in the top of the funnel, constantly wanting to educate, always wanting to show up as thought leaders,” Tiffany points out. The problem is they forget about content that actually helps prospects buy.
Bottom-funnel content gets ignored, but it shouldn’t. Prospects today do their homework before talking to anyone in sales. “What would some examples of that bottom of funnel content be? Well, let’s think about buyer’s guides, comparisons, what to look for in your next vendor,” she suggests. Make it easy for prospects to choose your solution over competitors. Here’s the reality: buyers don’t want to talk to sales until they’re ready. “Prospects want to talk to sellers less and less. They’re looking to land on your website and be able to get so much information, see what the tool does, learn all about what you do before they even talk to sales.” That means demos, walkthroughs, and explainer videos become crucial pieces of your content strategy.
Get Marketing and Sales on the Same Page
This is where most demand generation efforts fall apart. Marketing generates leads, hands them to sales, and hopes for the best. Tiffany has seen this movie too many times. “If marketing and sales are not aligned, I guarantee you whatever playbook you had in place to generate leads is going to fall apart.” The fix isn’t just better communication. You need documented processes that cover everything from lead generation to deal closure. “The playbook needs to not only consist of how you’re going to generate leads, but it needs to tell the story of what should happen when the leads come in,” Tiffany explains. What happens during handoffs? How should sales follow up? These details matter more than most teams realize.
Prospects notice when things don’t line up. If your marketing promises one thing and sales delivers something different, deals die. “If it feels disjointed between the content, the web pages, the messaging that the prospect originally communicated with to the sales process and it feels a little bit disjointed, a prospect can pick up on that and it definitely will affect the sales process.” When teams get this right, everything moves faster. Sales cycles shorten, deal sizes grow, and conversion rates improve. “Demand generation is a team sport. You can’t get around it. So, when it’s done right, it can drive pipeline faster than you think.” Through her work at 3rd and Taylor, Tiffany keeps proving that coordinated marketing and sales efforts create results that individual efforts never could.
Follow Tiffany Nwahriri on LinkedIn or check out her website for more actionable B2B marketing insights.
