MQL insanity: Marketers spend 90% on wrong accounts
In partnership with:
Featuring
Featuring
In partnership with:
How are you going to stand out in 2026?
Buyers are in control of the buying process. Over 70% of it is happening online. And they are putting companies on their short list of vendors that provide value and establish trust with their content.
How are you accounting for this in your 2026 strategy?
You need to stand out. To make sure your buyers notice you. Let us help you build that into your strategy for next year -->
The Revenue Marketer
MQL insanity: Marketers spend 90% on wrong accounts
Are you playing the long game or still under pressure to "generate leads"?
If you relate to the latter, we feel you! Old habits die hard and form fills are still a key metric at a lot of companies. But with the advancements in technology and AI, listening to and building a relationship with your buying groups through marketing is well within reach. Need help making the shift? We're here to help.
After dropping some serious truth bombs about the broken state of B2B lead gen in part one, Kerry Cunningham returns to The RevRoom to get practical. Host Rachel Bryant digs into exactly how marketing teams should adapt to the new reality of B2B buying.
The New Marketing Playbook
It's time to reshape how we think about demand gen. Kerry outlines key strategic shifts:
- Stop spending demand gen budget on the 90-95% of accounts that aren't in market
- Focus on early-stage engagement with in-market accounts
- Transform BDR roles from meeting-bookers to buying process concierges
- Build stronger partner ecosystems and customer advocacy channels
To dive deeper into this mindset shift, explore how to stop chasing leads and start aligning your demand generation with actual buying behavior.
Measuring What Matters
Forget MQLs. Kerry introduces new metrics that actually reflect buying behavior:
- Track meaningful engagement across entire buying groups
- Measure how effectively you're identifying and engaging in-market accounts
- Focus on brand preference and relationship building metrics
- Look at lagging indicators that show marketing's true impact
If you’re looking to go beyond vanity metrics, now is the time to transform your B2B marketing strategy and build measurement models that actually capture buyer intent and engagement.
Making the Transition
Ready to convince your leadership team? Kerry suggests starting with your own data:
- Show how many leads actually come from the same accounts
- Demonstrate the buying group patterns in your current data
- Map out actual buying journeys and timing
- Build the case for changing how marketing is measured
To guide that evolution, explore the latest insights on demand generation evolution — a framework designed to help marketing teams assess readiness and establish a foundation for scalable account-based success.
The Pro Tip
Kerry's immediate action item for marketing teams: Look at your lead data differently. "The way we measure it - one lead equals one selling opportunity - is fundamentally flawed. When you realize that, you can't allow yourself to be measured that way anymore."
Whether you're running campaigns or leading a marketing org, this episode provides the practical steps needed to transform your strategy for today's B2B reality. Because it's time to stop chasing leads and start enabling real buying behavior.
Be sure to check out Part 1 of our interview with Kerry here.
About the author
Service page feature
The RevRoom podcast
After dropping some serious truth bombs about the broken state of B2B lead gen in part one, Kerry Cunningham returns to The RevRoom to get practical. Host Rachel Bryant digs into exactly how marketing teams should adapt to the new reality of B2B buying.
The New Marketing Playbook
It's time to reshape how we think about demand gen. Kerry outlines key strategic shifts:
- Stop spending demand gen budget on the 90-95% of accounts that aren't in market
- Focus on early-stage engagement with in-market accounts
- Transform BDR roles from meeting-bookers to buying process concierges
- Build stronger partner ecosystems and customer advocacy channels
To dive deeper into this mindset shift, explore how to stop chasing leads and start aligning your demand generation with actual buying behavior.
Measuring What Matters
Forget MQLs. Kerry introduces new metrics that actually reflect buying behavior:
- Track meaningful engagement across entire buying groups
- Measure how effectively you're identifying and engaging in-market accounts
- Focus on brand preference and relationship building metrics
- Look at lagging indicators that show marketing's true impact
If you’re looking to go beyond vanity metrics, now is the time to transform your B2B marketing strategy and build measurement models that actually capture buyer intent and engagement.
Making the Transition
Ready to convince your leadership team? Kerry suggests starting with your own data:
- Show how many leads actually come from the same accounts
- Demonstrate the buying group patterns in your current data
- Map out actual buying journeys and timing
- Build the case for changing how marketing is measured
To guide that evolution, explore the latest insights on demand generation evolution — a framework designed to help marketing teams assess readiness and establish a foundation for scalable account-based success.
The Pro Tip
Kerry's immediate action item for marketing teams: Look at your lead data differently. "The way we measure it - one lead equals one selling opportunity - is fundamentally flawed. When you realize that, you can't allow yourself to be measured that way anymore."
Whether you're running campaigns or leading a marketing org, this episode provides the practical steps needed to transform your strategy for today's B2B reality. Because it's time to stop chasing leads and start enabling real buying behavior.
Be sure to check out Part 1 of our interview with Kerry here.
Resources
About the author
Service page feature
The RevRoom podcast
MQL insanity: Marketers spend 90% on wrong accounts
Speakers
Other helpful resources
After dropping some serious truth bombs about the broken state of B2B lead gen in part one, Kerry Cunningham returns to The RevRoom to get practical. Host Rachel Bryant digs into exactly how marketing teams should adapt to the new reality of B2B buying.
The New Marketing Playbook
It's time to reshape how we think about demand gen. Kerry outlines key strategic shifts:
- Stop spending demand gen budget on the 90-95% of accounts that aren't in market
- Focus on early-stage engagement with in-market accounts
- Transform BDR roles from meeting-bookers to buying process concierges
- Build stronger partner ecosystems and customer advocacy channels
To dive deeper into this mindset shift, explore how to stop chasing leads and start aligning your demand generation with actual buying behavior.
Measuring What Matters
Forget MQLs. Kerry introduces new metrics that actually reflect buying behavior:
- Track meaningful engagement across entire buying groups
- Measure how effectively you're identifying and engaging in-market accounts
- Focus on brand preference and relationship building metrics
- Look at lagging indicators that show marketing's true impact
If you’re looking to go beyond vanity metrics, now is the time to transform your B2B marketing strategy and build measurement models that actually capture buyer intent and engagement.
Making the Transition
Ready to convince your leadership team? Kerry suggests starting with your own data:
- Show how many leads actually come from the same accounts
- Demonstrate the buying group patterns in your current data
- Map out actual buying journeys and timing
- Build the case for changing how marketing is measured
To guide that evolution, explore the latest insights on demand generation evolution — a framework designed to help marketing teams assess readiness and establish a foundation for scalable account-based success.
The Pro Tip
Kerry's immediate action item for marketing teams: Look at your lead data differently. "The way we measure it - one lead equals one selling opportunity - is fundamentally flawed. When you realize that, you can't allow yourself to be measured that way anymore."
Whether you're running campaigns or leading a marketing org, this episode provides the practical steps needed to transform your strategy for today's B2B reality. Because it's time to stop chasing leads and start enabling real buying behavior.
Be sure to check out Part 1 of our interview with Kerry here.
About the author
Service page feature