FREE B2B GROWTH PLAYBOOK

Build pipeline that closes.

A practical guide to B2B growth: what drives pipeline, how to measure it and which funnel fits your deal size.

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THE CUSTOMER LIFECYCLE

Growth beyond the first sale.

ICP FIT

Share of leads that match your ideal customer.

SQL RATE

Share of leads sales accepts as real prospects.

GRR

Revenue kept from existing customers, before upsells.

NRR

Revenue kept including upsells. Above 100% means growth.

WHAT ACTUALLY MOVED PIPELINE

9 yrs

of growth experience across B2B and B2C, in EMEA, APAC and the Americas. In B2B, a few things drove most of the pipeline.

20% OF THE WORK

80% OF THE RESULTS

The 20% that drove 80% of the pipeline.

Revenue data in the ad platforms

CRM stages sent back to LinkedIn and Google, so bidding optimises for pipeline, not form fills.

Target accounts from real wins

Ideal customer profile built from closed-won deals, not assumptions.

High-intent search

Competitor, pricing and “alternative to” terms. Job seekers and students excluded.

Experts as the face of the ads

LinkedIn thought leader ads. Buyers trust people over logos.

Speed to lead

Demo requests routed and answered within the hour.

Pipeline per €1 spent

One weekly number for budget calls, by channel.

AI signals, human control

Agents flag wasted spend and stalled deals. People decide.

GROWTH ISN’T A CHANNEL PROBLEM

More activity. Still not enough pipeline.

Leads without fit

Marketing hits its lead target. Sales says the leads are junk.

A disconnected journey

Hot leads wait days for follow-up while sales chases the wrong accounts.

Numbers without clarity

Every platform claims credit. The CRM tells a different story.

THE APPROACH

Four levers. One pipeline.

Every lever is judged by its effect on pipeline and revenue.

01 / FOUNDATION

Get the foundation right

Define who you serve, why they buy and what makes your offer worth choosing.

Customer research · Positioning · Messaging

02 / DEMAND

Create and capture demand

Show up where buyers research before they talk to sales: search, AI answers, LinkedIn and peer communities.

Paid social · Search & AI answers · Content

03 / CONVERSION

Convert attention into pipeline

Turn interest into sales conversations: focused landing pages, fast lead routing and nurture for the rest.

Landing pages · Lead routing · Nurture

04 / EXPANSION

Retain and expand accounts

Strengthen onboarding and adoption, then find room to grow each account.

Onboarding · Retention · Expansion

Not sure which lever matters most? Run the three-step audit below.

BUILT FOR YOUR ECONOMICS

Your deal size shapes your funnel.

What one customer pays you per year decides how much you can spend to win them. The highlighted step is where most deals are won or lost.

Swipe to compare all four models.

01 · UNDER €1K / YEAR

Self-serve

Customers buy online, no salesperson. Like Calendly or Loom.

Visits your site

Signs up

Gets value fast

Starts paying

THE NUMBER TO WATCH

Share of signups that pay, and how long they stay

WHERE ADS WORK BEST

Google search, review sites and retargeting. Skip LinkedIn and cold email.

TOOLS TO START WITH

PostHog · Loops · Stripe

PostHog shows which actions lead to paying. Loops sends the upgrade emails.

02 · €1K–15K / YEAR

Sales-assisted

Customers try it. Sales helps big ones buy. Like Slack or Figma.

Signs up and tries it

Shows buying signals

Talks to sales

Upgrades to team plan

THE NUMBER TO WATCH

Share of active trial users who upgrade

WHERE ADS WORK BEST

Google search, plus ads to good-fit signups. Skip broad LinkedIn.

TOOLS TO START WITH

Attio · Clay

Clay finds the good-fit companies among your signups. Attio tells sales who to call.

03 · €15K–100K / YEAR

Sales-led

Sales reaches out to chosen companies. Like HubSpot or Personio.

On your target list

Shows interest

Books a sales meeting

Signs the deal

THE NUMBER TO WATCH

Meetings that become real deals, and how many you win

WHERE ADS WORK BEST

LinkedIn ads aimed at your target list. Skip anyone off the list.

TOOLS TO START WITH

HubSpot · Apollo · Leadfeeder

Apollo finds contacts. Leadfeeder shows which companies visit your site. HubSpot tracks every deal.

04 · €100K+ / YEAR

Account-based

A team wins a few large companies. Like Salesforce or Snowflake.

Named large company

Buying team engaged

Builds business case

Signs, then buys more

THE NUMBER TO WATCH

Deals won, and revenue kept and grown each year

WHERE ADS WORK BEST

LinkedIn ads to named companies, plus events. Skip anyone off the list.

TOOLS TO START WITH

Salesforce · 6sense · Dreamdata

6sense spots companies researching your category. Dreamdata shows what led to each deal.

01 · UNDER €1K / YEAR

Self-serve

Customers buy online, no salesperson. Like Calendly or Loom.

Visits your site

Signs up

Gets value fast

Starts paying

THE NUMBER TO WATCH

Share of signups that pay, and how long they stay

WHERE ADS WORK BEST

Google search, review sites and retargeting. Skip LinkedIn and cold email.

TOOLS TO START WITH

PostHog · Loops · Stripe

PostHog shows which actions lead to paying. Loops sends the upgrade emails.

02 · €1K–15K / YEAR

Sales-assisted

Customers try it. Sales helps big ones buy. Like Slack or Figma.

Signs up and tries it

Shows buying signals

Talks to sales

Upgrades to team plan

THE NUMBER TO WATCH

Share of active trial users who upgrade

WHERE ADS WORK BEST

Google search, plus ads to good-fit signups. Skip broad LinkedIn.

TOOLS TO START WITH

Attio · Clay

Clay finds the good-fit companies among your signups. Attio tells sales who to call.

03 · €15K–100K / YEAR

Sales-led

Sales reaches out to chosen companies. Like HubSpot or Personio.

On your target list

Shows interest

Books a sales meeting

Signs the deal

THE NUMBER TO WATCH

Meetings that become real deals, and how many you win

WHERE ADS WORK BEST

LinkedIn ads aimed at your target list. Skip anyone off the list.

TOOLS TO START WITH

HubSpot · Apollo · Leadfeeder

Apollo finds contacts. Leadfeeder shows which companies visit your site. HubSpot tracks every deal.

04 · €100K+ / YEAR

Account-based

A team wins a few large companies. Like Salesforce or Snowflake.

Named large company

Buying team engaged

Builds business case

Signs, then buys more

THE NUMBER TO WATCH

Deals won, and revenue kept and grown each year

WHERE ADS WORK BEST

LinkedIn ads to named companies, plus events. Skip anyone off the list.

TOOLS TO START WITH

Salesforce · 6sense · Dreamdata

6sense spots companies researching your category. Dreamdata shows what led to each deal.

Rule of thumb: max spend to win a customer = monthly profit per customer × the months they actually pay. €45 a month at 80% margin, with 5% of customers leaving each month, pays for about 9 of the first 12 months: roughly €330 to spend.

RUN YOUR OWN NUMBERS

Small lifts at each stage compound into pipeline.

Four things decide new revenue: opportunities created, deal size, win rate and how fast deals close. Start from a benchmark or your own numbers, then move the sliders. Spend stays the same, so every gain comes from the levers.

1 · YOUR FUNNEL TODAY, PER MONTH

START FROM A BENCHMARK

Sets cost per lead, stage conversion, win rate and sales cost so CAC payback lands near 23, 16 or 9 months. B2B SaaS medians sit around 15 to 21 months, top quartile under 12. Then adjust to your own numbers.

Marketing spend

€

Cost per lead

€

Lead to meeting

Meeting to opportunity

Win rate

Opportunities that close

Annual contract value

€

Sales cost per deal

Sales team, tools and travel, divided by deals won

€

2 · WHAT IF YOU IMPROVE…

Cost per lead

€350 → €315 · tighter targeting, better creative

−%

Lead to meeting

12% → 13.8% · better fit, faster follow-up

Win rate

25% → 27.5% · stronger business case

Annual contract value

€80,000 → €84,000 · packaging, pricing, expansion

TODAYIMPROVEDCHANGE

Leads8,5719,524+11%

Meetings1,028.61,314.3+28%

Opportunities462.9591.4+28%

Deals won115.7162.6+41%

Pipeline created€37.03M€49.68M+34%

Marketing CAC€25,926€18,445−29%

Total CAC (incl. sales)€85,926€78,445−9%

NEW ANNUAL REVENUE WON EACH MONTH

€13.66Mfrom €9.26M today

€111.09M → €163.94M in new revenue a yearCAC payback 16.1 → 14.0 months · same spend

Payback is total CAC divided by monthly gross profit per customer. B2B SaaS medians sit around 15 to 21 months. Every €1 of spend creates €12.3 of pipeline today, €16.6 improved.

CONNECT YOUR DATA

Teach the ad platforms what a good lead looks like.

Track every stage

Save the ad click ID on every lead and follow it in your CRM, from first form to signed deal.

Send results back

Feed qualified leads, opportunities and won deals back to LinkedIn and Google, with deal values.

Bid on pipeline

Optimise campaigns for opportunities, not form fills. Build lookalikes from customers and exclude them from prospecting.

WHERE B2B DEMAND COMES FROM

Capture the demand that exists. Create the rest.

High-intent search

Competitor, pricing and “alternative to” keywords. Exclude searches for jobs, free tools and courses.

Thought leader ads from your experts, document ads with real insight, and retargeting by company.

Review sites

G2 and Capterra profiles with recent reviews. Buyers check them before they build a shortlist.

AI answers

Get cited by ChatGPT and Perplexity: clear comparison pages, public pricing and mentions on trusted sites.

Expert content

Founders and specialists sharing what they know. It builds trust long before anyone fills in a form.

Partners and webinars

Co-hosted sessions and integrations put you in front of buyers your partners already serve.

The channel test: keep a channel only if its cost per lead stays under your max spend for 4 weeks, at any deal size.

272 days

in the average B2B buying journey

88 touchpoints

before a deal closes

10 buyers

involved in every deal

81%

of the journey happens before buyers talk to sales

ATTRIBUTION

One deal. Ten buyers. 88 touchpoints.

Most of the journey happens where no tool can see: podcasts, peers, AI answers and word of mouth. Once deal sizes justify it, use an attribution tool like Dreamdata on top of your CRM, and confirm big channels with holdout tests.

Benchmarks: Dreamdata, LinkedIn Ads B2B Benchmarks Report 2026, based on 3.5M+ B2B customer journeys.

MARKETING AND SALES

One funnel. One set of rules.

Shared rules, one weekly review

Agree in writing what counts as a qualified lead and an opportunity. Then review the same CRM report together every week.

Reply within the hour

Interest fades fast. The first company to reply often wins the meeting.

Act on stacked signals

One site visit or ad view should never trigger outreach. Act when signals stack, like pricing page visits plus product usage.

AFTER THE SALE

Your cheapest pipeline is your customers.

Fast time to value

Define the first win for a new customer and get them there in days, not months.

Usage signals

Rising usage triggers an upgrade conversation. Falling usage triggers a check-in before renewal.

Protect recurring revenue

Show annual plans first and turn on automatic retries for failed card payments. Both cut churn without new spend.

RUN YOUR OWN AUDIT

Find the constraint. Then fix it.

A self-audit you can run with your own team. Three steps, no agency needed.

01 · PULL THE DATA

Audit

Export 12 months of deals from your CRM. Map each stage from first touch to closed-won and find where good-fit buyers drop out.

01 · PULL THE DATA

Audit

Export 12 months of deals from your CRM. Map each stage from first touch to closed-won and find where good-fit buyers drop out.

02 · PICK ONE

Plan

Choose the stage that loses the most pipeline. Write three tests against it, each with a single success metric.

02 · PICK ONE

Plan

Choose the stage that loses the most pipeline. Write three tests against it, each with a single success metric.

03 · RUN AND REVIEW

Run and report

Run the tests for at least one sales cycle. Report on pipeline weekly and only scale what holds up.

03 · RUN AND REVIEW

Run and report

Run the tests for at least one sales cycle. Report on pipeline weekly and only scale what holds up.

BEFORE YOU SCALE

Is your business ready to scale?

READY IF

✓

Product-market fit, with customers who renew

✓

Ready to grow beyond founder-led sales and referrals

✓

A CRM in place, even a messy one

FIX FIRST IF

You are still searching for product-market fit

Success is still measured in leads, not pipeline

Reports get read, but the funnel never changes

FOR YOUR CFO

Four numbers finance cares about.

Track them in your CRM. Pipeline per €1 spent is the weekly number for budget calls.

Pipeline per €1 spent

WEEKLY

Win rate

MONTHLY

Sales cycle length

MONTHLY

CAC payback

MONTHLY

COMMON QUESTIONS

A few things you might be wondering.

Something I haven’t covered? Send me a note below.

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