How to Shift From Lead Generation to Demand Generation

BDRs are a CHANNEL within the GTM ecosystem. We stopped using the transactional lead gen playbook with them + adopted a long-term "demand gen" approach with them, and magic has happened 🪄 Let me share a few examples of when BDRs do + don’t work well to help get the point across: Cold outreach Don’t: give them a list of 100 new accounts every month to dial/email/DM away at, hoping that they can get 5% of them to finally cave in to taking a demo Do: give them a list of 100 accounts and tell them that over the course of the next quarter, they are to develop a relationship with each of them Remember: BDR stands for business *development* representative. Those relationships + being able to become a trusted advisor are why prospects will choose to go with you, not the fact that you have now slapped “AI” on your product. PLG and sales-assisted growth Don’t: give them a list of every prospect that signs up for your free product and assume that they are ready to buy Do: loop them into other efforts targeting this group. Marketing is likely sending a “welcome” or “training” sequence to each new signup to help teach them how to use the product and get them to adopt it. Product likely has datapoints around which signups are using the product, and which features specifically. Tip: Allow the BDRs to see this information so they can be more strategic and consultative with their outreach. This way they reach out to the signups actually using the product AND can be consultative in what they speak to based on what the signups are, and aren’t, using within the product currently. Lastly, lose the attribution obsession Like marketing, we have to lose the obsession on attributing every BDR activity back to BDRs. Embrace the “dark social” type mentality with this group so that they can align better to how today’s market actually researches and buys products. This means that you’ll probably see BDR activities lead to improved “Organic Search” and “Direct” attribution results because when the prospect is ready to start the sales process, they may just come straight to the website and submit the demo request form. That is ok! This past week, we had two examples of this occurring where a demo request came in and in the self-reported attribution, the prospect explicitly named the BDR who'd been in contact with them Our BDR approach is being helpful + consultative, not forcing prospects into the funnel early. They meet prospects where they are, provide helpful resources along the way, and say things like “hey, when you’re ready, just head to our website + fill out the form.” They recognize that not everyone is in the market today They recognize that prospects are in annual or multi-year contracts They recognize that even if they aren’t, they need to wait approvals But once the prospect is finally ready, they come back to us ready to move forward

"Our funnel is completely clogged, and our CEO and investors are starting to panic," shared a CMO from a $375MM SaaS firm. The other Huddlers sympathized, noting they were facing similar challenges. Sound familiar? The old playbook of flooding the funnel, scoring MQLs, and handing off to sales isn't just broken; it's toxic. Here's why your funnel is clogged and what actually works now: 1. Your data is a disaster. The average customer contact database health score? A pathetic 47%, according to research from BoomerangAI. More than half of B2B companies haven't updated their database in six months—or ever. Bad data isn't just an operational issue. It erodes every layer of your funnel. Fix this first. Assign database ownership cross-functionally. Tie enrichment to your GTM motions. And please activate alumni contact programs. Only 12% of companies have formal programs for contacts who left employers, yet they're gold mines. 2. You're still pitching tours when buyers want tools. Recent TrustRadius research shows that 52% of buyers say prior experience is their #1 decision input. Only 13% say a demo "blew them away." 3. Stop the demo obsession. Launch website-based product exploration tools. Add pricing guidance. Create modular content for AI summarization since 90% of buyers who see AI-generated summaries click through to cited sources. 4. The MQL addiction is killing you. As one CMO put it: "MQLs are problematic... we’re trying to figure out how to get fewer, better leads." Track conversion quality at each funnel stage. Hold weekly demand gen and sales alignment meetings. Ditch vanity metrics for outcome-based KPIs. 5. You're pitching spend instead of displacement. Few CFOs are greenlighting net-new spending, but they will approve reallocation when the ROI is crystal clear. Reframe your pitch: "Invest in this → reduce spend on that." Connect to CFO logic, not just user pain. 6. You're making promises instead of proving value. Buyers want proof in 120 days or less. The "trust us, it'll pay off eventually" era is dead. If you have the data, create 120-day value realization case studies. Use prospect data to build "speed-to-value" narratives. Lead with time-to-value, not feature lists. The companies unclogging their funnels aren't working harder—they're working smarter. They've ditched the old playbook for data-driven precision. Your move. PS - For a longer look at this issue, please check out my May 2025 #HuddleUp newsletter.

Your messaging to create demand IS DIFFERENT than your messaging to capture demand. Here is how to think about the difference. ↳ And how to craft messaging for each. (using Fletch’s value prop model) 1️⃣ 𝗠𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱 (ie. demand generation) 99% of your market is not actively shopping for your product. So explaining your product’s value to this audience in your top-of-funnel marketing won’t be effective. Instead, you should be messaging around the activities this “non-shopping” audience is doing (ie. use cases) AND spotlighting problems they are experiencing. Using the framework, here are what the messaging elements look like for Calendly: 🟤 Use Case → Scheduling meetings This is the activity supported by Calendly’s product. If the audience isn’t doing this activity, then they are completely outside of your market — and you should ignore them. ⚫ Competitive Alternative → Sending back and forth emails This is how non-Calendly users are currently carrying out the use case. 🔴 Problem of the Alternative → This is annoying and time-consuming This is the pain point of doing things in this alternative way. To apply these messaging elements, you’ll translate the core ideas into copy that lives in your marketing assets. (social posts, blogs, ads, webinars, podcasts, etc.) Here is what the hook of an ad or post might look like: “Here’s how much time you’re wasting coordinating meetings over email…” ——— 2️⃣ 𝗠𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱 Assuming you’ve created awareness of the problem your product solves, you can then message around the value of your product. But remember, you’re just trying to get them to take a closer look — not convince them to buy the product. To do this, you should be clear about the unique capabilities of your product and the expected benefit they would get. Here are what the messaging elements look like for Calendly: 🟠 Capability - Send a single link to schedule meetings This is the new unlock for prospective buyers. It tells them what they would be doing differently compared to the alternative. 🟢 Feature - Booking link  This is what powers the main capability and is usually applied as supporting context to help a user understand how the product works. 🔵 Benefit - eliminate the back-and-forth emails This is the positive outcome of using the capability + feature. It’s usually the elimination or reduction of the product. In most cases, you’ll translate these elements into different marketing assets (Home pages, landing pages, sales deck, partner enablement materials) — These are your demand capture assets. ——— Remember, your market has different levels of awareness about your product and the problem you solve. You can’t message the same way to create and capture demand. 📨 Demand 𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 messages spotlight the problem. 🪤 Demand 𝗖𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘 messages spotlight your solution. #productmarketing #demandgeneration