Welcome to The Revenue Lounge How to Influence Buying Groups with Data, Intent, and ABM A conversation with Sydney Sloan, Chief Market Officer at G2. B2B buying has transformed. What was once a one-on-one sales conversation is now a team sport, spanning roles, departments, and even geographies. Today’s buyers are informed, autonomous, and collaborative. They’re forming buying groups long before sales ever enters the conversation. And if your go-to-market (GTM) team isn’t aligned to this reality, you’re already playing catch-up. In this episode of The Revenue Lounge, Randy Likas sits down with Sydney Sloan, Chief Market Officer at G2, to unpack how marketing and sales teams can evolve to influence modern buying groups. She is a 4X CMO, board member and advisor with decades of experience in driving transformative growth and innovation for high-tech companies. Sydney offers a masterclass in using data, intent signals, and segmentation to win complex deals. Here’s a breakdown of the conversation—and why it matters. Facebook Twitter Youtube 🚨 Why Buying Groups Matter More Than Ever The traditional lead-based model is failing. As Sydney puts it, “MQLs are noise.” They flood sales with contacts that aren’t ready to buy—leading to frustration, wasted time, and missed opportunities. Instead, modern revenue teams must focus on identifying buying groups—clusters of stakeholders from the same account showing interest in your solution. These signals can come from downloading content, comparing vendors, visiting your pricing page, or just quietly researching on review platforms. A single lead might lie. But a buying group rarely does. “When you have executive alignment and more than three people in the buying cycle, close rates are 44% higher.”– Sydney Sloan, CMO, G2   🧠 Data Is the Foundation. But it Needs to Be Smart Sydney breaks down three types of intent data: Third-party: Activity across the open web (e.g., searches, keyword trends). Second-party: Data from trusted ecosystems like G2—category views, comparisons, reviews. First-party: Visitor behavior on your own website, CRM engagement history, and sales activity. The magic happens when you triangulate these data sources. For instance, if someone downloaded your whitepaper (first-party), compared your product with a competitor on G2 (second-party), and searched relevant terms online (third-party)—you’ve got a red-hot buying group signal. But here’s the catch: if your CRM is a mess or your systems are siloed, you’ll never connect those dots.   “There’s no excuse not to have tier 1 and 2 accounts built out with clean, up-to-date contacts across buying personas.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkYTDVKx5Eg 🔁 The New GTM Playbook: From Leads to Stakeholders Moving to a buying group strategy requires more than good data—it requires GTM alignment. Instead of chasing individual MQLs, Sydney recommends: Scoring accounts, not contacts. Tracking signals at the account level to prioritize outreach. Rethinking SDR metrics: focus on meetings with multiple personas, not just any meeting. Partnering marketing, sales, and product around a shared account strategy. Sydney shares how G2 moved to an account-based model where the sales team gets tailored engagement strategies based on segment (SMB, mid-market, enterprise). Every team member—from demand gen to product marketing—knows who their core personas are and how they relate to each other. 🧩 Operationalizing Buying Groups at Scale At Forrester’s recent event, a key theme emerged: evolving from “buying groups” to “buying networks.” This includes partners, peers, analysts, and ecosystems that influence buyer decisions. Sydney highlights a few scalable tactics to work with buying groups: Persona Workshops: G2 ran hands-on workshops using real Gong quotes to help every department internalize customer personas. Segmented Campaigns: Instead of generic ABM, G2 builds micro-segments like “Security companies using 6sense, not yet G2 customers,” and tailors messaging accordingly. Pipeline Meetings: Marketing, sales, and SDRs review the same data together bi-weekly to troubleshoot stuck opportunities and improve velocity. Deal Acceleration Programs: Everyone in stage 2 of the pipeline gets invited to bi-weekly virtual events to deepen relationships and drive conversion. ⚖️ Brand vs. Demand: It’s Not Either/Or Many companies struggle with where to invest: long-term brand or short-term pipeline. Sydney makes it clear: do both, early and often. Brand earns you a seat at the table. G2’s Buyer Behavior Report shows average vendor shortlists are down to just three. Demand capture turns that attention into pipeline. “Brand is giving something away with no ask. Demand is giving something away to capture a contact. Different plays, both essential.” 📈 Rethinking KPIs for Buying Group Success MQLs are out. So what’s in? Sydney advocates for shared KPIs across marketing and sales focused on: Pipeline creation Closed-won revenue Retention Internally, marketing can track velocity, lead-to-meeting time, and program-level cost-per-lead. But in cross-functional pipeline meetings, everyone should speak the same language: revenue. 🧹 The Data Problem: Why RevOps Must Lead One of the biggest blockers to activating buying group strategies is messy, siloed data. Marketing tools hoard information. Sales tools don’t sync well. And critical insights never make it to the opportunity record. The solution? A strong Revenue Operations team. “I’ve surrendered. Marketing Ops now sits in RevOps—and that’s a good thing. RevOps should own the data foundation.” Clean data doesn’t just support GTM alignment—it powers AI and automation. And as Sydney warns, “Bad data trains bad agents.” 🚀 Final Takeaways: Winning with Buying Groups Buying groups are real—and they convert better. Track and engage multiple stakeholders early. Use intent signals across data types. Build workflows that treat G2 comparisons and pricing page visits as bottom-of-funnel signals. Go beyond ABM. Focus on micro-segments to tell sharper, more personalized stories. Align GTM with shared KPIs. Eliminate the MQL silo and focus on revenue outcomes. Fix your data. Clean, enriched CRM data is essential for sales, marketing, and AI. Want to build a buying group motion that works? Start by getting your GTM teams aligned, your data house in order, and your content strategy laser-focused on each persona in the buying network. And if you’re still chasing MQLs, it might be time to hit pause—and rebuild for the way B2B buying actually works today. Want to hear more stories from revenue leaders? Subscribe to The

Welcome to The Revenue Lounge Account Based Marketing vs Lead Generation: Why It’s Time to Rethink Your Strategy A conversation with Kristina Jaramillo, President at Personal ABM. In today’s B2B world, account based marketing vs lead generation isn’t just a battle of tactics—it’s a clash of mindsets. While lead generation focuses on volume and filling the top of the funnel, account-based marketing (ABM) is about precision, alignment, and long-term revenue growth. But here’s the catch: many companies think they’re doing ABM when they’re really just putting a shiny label on their old lead-gen playbooks. According to Kristina Jaramillo, President of Personal ABM, true ABM is not a campaign—it’s a strategic transformation. Facebook Twitter Youtube The Problem: ABM is Misunderstood and Misapplied “ABM isn’t just better targeting. It’s a company-wide go-to-market strategy that aligns marketing, sales, customer success, and product around shared revenue goals.” Most organizations jump into ABM by identifying a list of accounts, defining a few goals, and layering campaigns on top of existing demand gen efforts. But they fail to rethink their content, messaging, team structure, or go-to-market motions. In essence, they’re doing targeted lead generation, not ABM. Element Lead Generation Account Based Marketing Goal Generate as many leads as possible Land and expand strategic accounts Measurement MQLs, form fills, engagement rates Stage progression, win rates, NRR Ownership Primarily marketing Cross-functional: Sales, Marketing, CS, RevOps Approach One-to-many campaigns 1:1, 1:few, or 1:many with personalization Content Generic and persona-based Account-specific and insight-driven Why ABM Often Fails to Deliver Revenue Here’s what Kristina sees time and time again: Companies treat ABM as a bolt-on tactic, not a fundamental shift. Sales and marketing aren’t aligned on account selection, goals, or success metrics. The program lacks executive sponsorship and cross-functional ownership. Teams don’t tailor messaging to strategic priorities or address the status quo bias in buying committees. ABM is measured with tactical metrics like MQAs, not business outcomes. ABM can’t be delegated to a single marketing manager or retrofitted to an existing funnel. It has to be designed to solve the biggest revenue problems—whether that’s breaking into enterprise accounts, reducing churn, or expanding current customers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFc4f34PJpg A Better Approach to ABM: Start With the Revenue Gaps Kristina’s team begins every ABM engagement by identifying where the revenue leaks are: Are we losing to competitors we should beat? Are customers churning after a short term? Are we unable to move upmarket? Once the problem is clear, the strategy follows: Align sales, marketing, CS, and RevOps around shared objectives. Redefine the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) based on high-value customers. Develop account-specific messaging tied to strategic business priorities. Focus on internal buyer enablement, not just external outreach. Track meaningful KPIs like deal velocity, ACV growth, and multi-threading success. “ABM is not about the next deal. It’s about driving the greatest revenue streams year over year.” Don’t Just Buy Tech. Build Strategy First Intent platforms like 6sense and Demandbase have become synonymous with ABM—but Kristina cautions against this mindset. “ABM tech doesn’t equal ABM strategy. Buying a platform doesn’t fix broken processes or align your teams.” Intent data only reflects current behaviors—it’s speculative, not predictive. It doesn’t tell you if the account is culturally aligned, ready for change, or worth pursuing. Tech should enable a strategy—not define it. Real-World Proof: How Messaging Changed Everything Kristina shared the story of a freight analytics company struggling to expand deal sizes. Their content was aimed at transportation managers—the platform users—not decision-makers. Their main competitor even offered a similar solution for free. By shifting the messaging to show how their platform integrated with demand forecasting, inventory management, and margin protection, they repositioned their value for C-suite leaders. That shift helped them land and expand accounts on Gartner’s Top 25 Supply Chain list. Metrics That Matter in ABM To measure ABM success, forget MQLs. Kristina recommends focusing on: Stage progression ACV growth Win rates against competitors Engagement with C-suite buyers NRR (Net Revenue Retention) “If your ABM isn’t improving deal size, win rate, and retention—you’re not doing ABM.” Final Thoughts: Time to Kill the Triangle One of Kristina’s boldest takeaways? It’s time to ditch the outdated ABM pyramid. The one-to-many → one-to-few → one-to-one model is too rigid and siloed. Instead, think of it as a dynamic funnel, where high-fit accounts earn deeper personalization based on engagement, strategic fit, and growth potential. TL;DR: Account Based Marketing vs Lead Generation ABM isn’t an evolution of lead gen—it’s a fundamentally different strategy. ABM focuses on revenue, retention, and relationship building, not just pipeline. True ABM requires executive sponsorship, team alignment, and account-specific engagement. Tech alone won’t save you—strategy must come first. Kill the pyramid. Build programs that are integrated, adaptive, and focused on the entire account journey. Want to hear more stories from revenue leaders? Subscribe to The Revenue Lounge podcast to never miss an episode! More Resources

Welcome to The Revenue Lounge From MQLs to Buying Groups: How Reltio Transformed Its GTM Strategy A conversation with Eric Cross, CRO at Reltio. For years, revenue teams have leaned heavily on the MQL. It was the industry-standard metric for marketing success—and the lifeblood of pipeline generation for B2B companies. But in today’s world of complex buying decisions, anonymous research, and multi-threaded stakeholder involvement, the MQL is failing. The old playbooks simply don’t map to how enterprise buyers actually operate today. Eric Cross, Chief Revenue Officer at Reltio, saw this firsthand. And rather than trying to force-fit modern buyers into outdated systems, he and his team made a bold move: they rebuilt their entire go-to-market motion around buying groups. This wasn’t a pilot. It wasn’t a small A/B test. It was a company-wide transformation executed in just 60 days. And the results were staggering: 60% reduction in pipeline attrition 22–23% improvement in average time to close 20% increase in average deal size Best-in-class competitive win rates In this blog, we’ll walk you through exactly how Reltio made this shift—from early warning signs to full implementation, change management, technology, and metrics. If you’re a RevOps, Marketing, or Sales leader evaluating your next GTM evolution, this is the playbook. Facebook Twitter Youtube Spotting the Cracks: Why the MQL Model Wasn’t Enough Eric joined Reltio in 2020 and began evaluating the revenue engine. The data told a troubling story. “We had a legacy demand gen model: leads to MQLs, then into pipeline, and hopefully into opportunities. But once deals entered the pipeline, we were evaporating 35–40% of them in the first two stages. That was alarming.” The consequence? The pipeline looked deceptively healthy on paper, but in reality, a significant chunk was never going to close. “We were creating a false sense of security about how healthy our pipeline was. That was the catalyst for change.” Realignment Begins: “Sales Owns Marketing, and Marketing Owns Sales” The first step wasn’t tactical—it was cultural. “Most companies operate in silos. Sales blames marketing. Marketing blames sales. I had to rewire that thinking completely. We stopped talking about ‘sales’ and ‘marketing.’ We became one GTM team. Sales owns marketing. Marketing owns sales.” To build consensus, Eric organized a two-day offsite with cross-functional leaders from Sales, Marketing, Product, Customer Success, and Ops. “It wasn’t just a marketing and sales decision. This had to be a company decision. We locked the team in a room and said, ‘We’re walking out of here aligned.’” The team was instructed to prepare: A brief problem statement Recommended actions A vision for a new GTM model And they debated—openly and intensely. “You get highs and lows during a session like that. But we made a rule: we don’t have to agree, but we do have to commit. We were either all in or not doing it at all.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKosC5cYEpU&t=430s Burning the Boats: Why Reltio Didn’t Pilot the Buying Group Model One of the boldest decisions Reltio made was to roll the new model out across the company—not as a pilot. “Pilot programs signal you’re not committed. People think: ‘This is an exercise, I don’t have to change.’ I’ve never seen a pet project like that succeed. So we said: all in, or not at all.” That decision came with high stakes. “I told our CEO, Manisha, ‘This will either be a game-changer—or you’ll be looking for a new CRO.’” But conviction won out. The team moved forward with full executive and board-level awareness and support. Why Buying Groups? Understanding the Strategic Shift Eric’s rationale for abandoning MQLs in favor of buying groups was rooted in today’s B2B buying behavior. “Enterprise buyers don’t raise their hand right away. They stay anonymous for 60–70% of the buying journey. By the time they engage, they’ve already formed a direction.” This made traditional lead generation—like cold calls and webinar follow-ups—ineffective. “We’re in the era of the great ignore. Buyers get 30 spammy emails a day. They can see automation a mile away. We needed to earn attention earlier, smarter.” The solution? Use intent data to identify surging accounts Personalize outreach for each persona within a buying group Focus on qualified engagement from multiple stakeholders, not just one lead “It’s no longer about how many people we reach. It’s about reaching the right people—the ones who matter to the deal.” The 60-Day GTM Overhaul: From Planning to Execution Eric broke the transformation into three phases: 1. Design and Planning Finalize buying group motion Align teams on definitions, personas, and ICP Redefine opportunity entry/exit criteria Introduce Forrester to validate and refine the strategy “We brought in Forrester to spend half a day with us. They stress-tested our approach and made some great suggestions we incorporated.” 2. Development and Testing Align tech stack: Salesforce, 6sense, Salesloft, Outreach Build ABX dashboards for AEs and BDRs Re-architect sales stages and qualification frameworks (BANT, MedPIC) “We created dashboards where reps could see all their accounts and intent signals. The lightbulb went off—they’d never had visibility like that before.” 3. Production Launch and Measurement Rolled out company-wide in 60 days Quietly tested with one regional team for early signals Measured success using pipeline quality, velocity, and conversion benchmarks Overcoming Resistance: How Reltio Won Buy-in from the Frontlines The biggest challenge? Change management among AEs. “The top objection? ‘Just get me meetings. I’ll take it from there.’ That mindset doesn’t work anymore.” To drive adoption, Eric: Ran listening pods with small AE groups Invited feedback to poke holes in the strategy Used individual performance data to show why change was needed “We showed them their personal conversion rates. Some were below 20%. Even if they were hitting quota, it was clear the system was broken.” While 80% of reps leaned in, 20% resisted. In a few cases, Eric made the hard call. “If you can’t get on board, we’ll reassign your accounts. This isn’t optional.” Redefining Metrics: What Success Looks Like in a Buying Group World Reltio stopped measuring MQLs and switched to two