From MQLs to Opportunity-Centric Revenue: How Reltio Transformed Its GTM Strategy
A conversation with Joel Jacob, Director of Marketing Operations at Reltio.
For years, marketing teams have been evaluated by MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads). But as B2B buying behavior has evolved—where decisions are made by buying committees and involve longer, more complex journeys—the MQL metric no longer serves its original purpose. One person filling out a form doesn’t indicate true intent, and one lead doesn’t equal one deal.
The Shift: From Leads to Opportunities
Reltio, a leading B2B SaaS platform that unifies data for enterprise clients, realized this shift early. With a sales cycle averaging nine months and involving multiple stakeholders, their traditional lead-based funnel was no longer sustainable.
Joel Jacob, Director of Marketing Operations at Reltio, shares how they transitioned from a legacy MQL-based model to a modern, opportunity-centric buying group strategy. This wasn’t just a process tweak—it was an end-to-end transformation of their go-to-market engine, completed in just 60 days.
Why the MQL Model Failed Reltio
Joel and his team began by diagnosing the inefficiencies of their MQL-centric process:
1% Conversion Rate: Only 1 out of every 100 MQLs was turning into closed-won revenue.
Single-Threaded Opportunities: BDRs would often pursue individual leads without context, while AEs had to manually identify and involve the broader buying group.
Misaligned Processes: Marketing, BDRs, and sales were working in silos, tracking separate KPIs and speaking different languages.
High Customer Expectations: Their enterprise clients required a tailored, consultative approach, not generic drip campaigns and lead scoring.
“We weren’t solving for how we sell. We needed to solve for how our customers buy.”
What Changed: The Opportunity-Based Revenue Engine
At the heart of Reltio’s new model is the concept of an opportunity container that is tracked from the very start of the buying journey.
Key Components:
Stage 0 Opportunities: Created proactively for cold target accounts to align all GTM efforts from the get-go.
Buying Group Identification: Progress only happens when at least three relevant personas are identified within the opportunity.
Unified Funnel Ownership: Marketing, BDRs, and AEs jointly own and advance each opportunity.
Real-Time Intent + Historical Data: Powering personalized campaigns and outreach using platforms like 6sense and LeanData.
Persona-Based Targeting: Ads and outreach are aligned with opportunity stage and key personas, not just job titles or industries.
This model allows for marketing to target ads based on opportunity stage, for BDRs to tailor messaging using real-time insights, and for AEs to focus on qualified, committee-led opportunities.
Overcoming Operational Hurdles
Implementing this new strategy wasn’t without challenges:
Time Constraint: The entire shift had to happen in just 60 days, before the start of the fiscal year.
No New Tech: Reltio opted to re-architect their existing stack (Salesforce, Marketo, LeanData, 6sense) rather than buy new tools.
Zero Downtime: The transition had to happen without interrupting live sales or BDR workflows.
Team Alignment: Joel and team had to overcome deeply entrenched habits and misaligned incentives.
“We stopped calling ourselves marketing or sales ops. We were just ‘operations’—unified behind a common goal.”
Data Quality: The Real MVP
Joel emphasized that none of this would have been possible without clean, connected data across marketing and sales systems. Years before the switch, Reltio had invested in data unification and intent platforms. That foundation paid off.
Historical Data: Enabled predictive modeling via 6sense.
Account-Centric View: Powered by LeanData and Salesforce to track buying group activity.
No More Attribution Wars: Everyone works the same opportunities, making marketing influence clear without the blame game.
“60 days gets the headlines, but that was only possible because we invested years into getting our data right.”
The Role of AI in a Data-Ready World
Joel’s team now uses AI to increase efficiency in key areas:
BDR Enablement: Automating research and outreach so reps spend more time engaging and less time preparing.
Predictive Signals: Using AI to model when an account is likely to move into an active buying cycle—based on engagement and historical patterns.
Campaign Optimization: Automating content and ad delivery based on opportunity stage.
But he warns: AI without good data is meaningless.
“There is no AI without clean data. If you feed bad data into AI, you’ll just get bad results faster.”
The Payoff: Faster Velocity, Better Pipeline Stickiness
Reltio’s transformation delivered results fast:
Pipeline Stickiness: Opportunities are more likely to progress and less likely to go dark.
Faster Velocity: More deals now close within the same fiscal year, despite a 9-month average cycle.
Better Alignment: GTM teams operate from the same playbook, improving efficiency and morale.
Clear Attribution: Marketing and sales share credit instead of competing for it.
Advice for Teams Looking to Make the Shift
Joel’s parting advice for RevOps and marketing leaders:
Let the Data Lead: Start with facts, not opinions. Use historical conversion rates to make the case for change.
Collaborate Cross-Functionally: Ditch the silos. Align Ops, Sales, and Marketing under shared goals.
Don’t Wait for Perfection: You don’t need a perfect tech stack. Use what you have and iterate.
Train and Align Mindsets: It’s not just a systems change—it’s a mindset shift. Over-communicate and retrain internal teams on the new model.
Stay Customer-Centric: Build your process around how your customers actually buy—not around your internal comfort zone.
Final Thoughts
Reltio’s journey proves that moving beyond MQLs is possible—and impactful. But it requires more than new tools or campaigns. It takes executive buy-in, operational discipline, and a deep commitment to aligning every team around opportunity creation and customer value.
“We don’t talk about ABM anymore. We just call it the process. Because it’s how we work now.”
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More Resources
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