RevSure.AI, an AI-fuelled pipeline readiness solution for marketers and sales teams, has published “The State of Pipeline Generation” research report.

Partnering with research firm Ascend2, 424 marketing professionals across the U.S. weighed in on the state of their pipeline, their approach to pipeline generation, and how they plan to hit their revenue targets in the year ahead.

Marketing executives (65%) have a very positive outlook about their organisation’s potential for success this year than others on the marketing team (35%), and this could be because they are putting more pressure than they realise on their teams. In fact, 75% of marketers surveyed say they spend too much time in “fire drill mode” addressing questions from leadership about pipeline forecasts and revenue projections. They likely feel this way considering 71% of surveyed say they cannot fully predict pipeline contributions and outcomes.

Marketers face significant challenges when faced with generating a healthy pipeline, and each of these challenges feeds into the other, creating a cycle of roadblocks to success that marketers continuously struggle to overcome. The top five challenges marketers cite are:

• A lack of adequate data to make effective decisions
• The inability to scale demand gen programs efficiently in order to meet growth targets
• Budget allocation challenges
• A misunderstanding around ideal customer profiles and buying personas
• The inability to convert buyers across channels and campaigns

Deepinder Singh Dhingra, founder and CEO of RevSure, said: “One of the more concerning things we learned from the study is that marketers lack confidence in their ability to convert throughout the entirety of the marketing funnel because they are struggling to predict pipeline contributions and outcomes.

“We know that gaining better insight into their pipeline is a priority for them in 2023, and RevSure plans to help them achieve this goal.”

The marketers surveyed are serious about what their priorities are to improve their lead-to-opportunity conversion rates in the year ahead, and combined it’s a holistic combination of data, analysis, and improved communication between marketing and sales teams. The top five priorities include:

43% – Improving lead quality and nurturing

39% – Improving pipeline analysis

34% – Understanding which leads/accounts are converting into pipeline

33% – Improving marketing and sales handoff or routing process

28% – Aligning marketing and sales

• 95% of marketers surveyed feel that having the ability to predict pipeline outcomes is important to the overall success of marketing programs
• 50% of those who can fully predict pipeline contributions saw a significant increase in revenue last year, compared to just 16% of those who cannot fully predict pipeline contributions.
• 66% of marketers don’t know where funnel leakage and conversion bottlenecks are happening in their pipelines.

“The State of Pipeline Generation” research report was commissioned by RevSure and conducted by Ascend2. It sampled 424 marketing professionals across the U.S. The average margin of error is +/- 4.71%.