B2B buyers don’t buy on your marketing timeline. This is why B2B marketing ROI shows up months after the campaign. The sales we generate today is because of the marketing we did 2-3 quarters ago (sometimes longer). Time lag impacts pipeline so much that sales teams often misjudge it. Resetting expectations is the only way to stop chasing fake deal velocity.
We’ve already covered a lot of ground when it comes to the MQL trap:
Part 4 gets into why results take longer than anyone wants to admit and how to build a GTM strategy that respects the clock buyers are actually on.
Even if you do everything right—launch the right campaign, reach the right people, hit the right message—you may not see anything in the pipeline for months.
Why?
Because buying is harder than selling. It’s slow, non-linear, and cautious.
Dreamdata’s analysis shows it takes at least 6 months for most B2B marketing efforts to show up in pipeline.
That means this quarter’s results happened because of the marketing you did 2-3 quarters ago. And it can take much longer if you sell complex and pricey solutions.
One of the biggest mistakes B2B tech companies have made is expecting marketing to operate like a vending machine.
“The ‘evidence’ for how the B2B GTM system operates has existed primarily in the minds of those who believed that they could make it a deterministic gumball machine. They adopted a ‘if this, then that’ sequencing mentality that does not reflect real life, and then they pounded audiences for 20 years to ‘generate demand.’ At no time was this about the customer. It was always about the hockeystick.”
Mark Stouse, CEO, Proof Causal Advisory
Even if marketing works, it won’t look like it worked, at least not right away.
For more, see: Purchasing Timelines in B2B
Humans tend to exaggerate and distort events. It happens a lot with victims and witnesses of crime. What seems like seconds is actually minutes.
And just like eyewitnesses underestimate how long something took, we tend to compress the buying timeline, focusing only on what we can see (the sales conversation), not what came before it.
Here’s a pattern you’ve probably seen:
The reality is that the buyer started researching months before the first sales call.
Think of marketing like farming. You don’t plant seeds, dig them up a month later, and call it a day because they didn’t grow fast enough. Let your marketing take root.
Most CEOs and CFOs want to measure the impact of marketing right now. But early-stage marketing (especially brand work) doesn’t show up in pipeline for months.
Set expectations by tracking and reporting these metrics:
Important: Good forecasting starts with data integrity. If your CRM isn’t capturing the entire buying journey, your plan is built on guesses.
Above all, help educate your executive team on what early traction and long-term brand building looks like. Remind them to be patient. This isn’t a quick fix.
B2B marketing ROI doesn’t happen in the same quarter, but marketers still struggle to measure ROI beyond six months, leading to pressure to focus on short-term metrics.
That disconnect creates pressure to chase the wrong metrics like MQLs.
Do this instead:
If the leadership team expects marketing to create pipeline in 90 days, they’re not wrong. They’re just misinformed, and it’s Marketing’s job to help them understand.
B2B buyers have their own timelines, you have to respect the time lag that is unique to their buying cycle.
You also have to give brand marketing time to take root and deliver long-term ROI. That’s how you stay relevant and earn trust.
Next week, Part 5 wraps up the series by getting into critical thinking and asking smarter questions.
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