TL;DR
- Source-based attribution for B2B is almost always wrong, almost always political.
- Cohort by intent moment (first meaningful engagement), not first touch.
- Report pipeline created and pipeline influenced separately - do not average.
- Get the CFO in the room when you design the report, not when you defend it.
The problem with "source"
Source-based attribution ("where did the lead come from?") breaks on every serious B2B deal because the buyer touched five channels, three times, across six months. Pretending one channel deserves the credit is what makes finance roll their eyes.
Cohort by intent moment
Define the intent moment - usually the first meaningful two-way engagement (demo, sales reply, real POC). Group accounts into cohorts by the month that moment occurred. Report cohort conversion, velocity and ACV over time. This is the honest unit of analysis.
Created vs influenced
Report two numbers, separately:
- Created: opportunities where marketing was the first meaningful two-way engagement.
- Influenced: opportunities that interacted with a defined set of marketing surfaces within a defined window before creation.
Never average them into one ROI number. Averaging is what kills trust.
Co-design the report
Get the CFO or head of revenue ops in the room when the report is designed. If they agree with the definitions up-front, they will trust the numbers later. If they see the report only at QBR, they will interrogate the definitions forever.
What leaves the report
MQL volume as a headline. Source attribution. Long tail of "marketing touched" definitions that claim everything. Keep them for internal diagnostics; do not put them in the exec pack.
Practical rollout
Redefine the intent moment, rework CRM fields, backfill historical cohorts, socialise the new numbers over two or three weeks, then switch off the old reports. Two weeks of discomfort buys a year of credibility.
Need this built?
Npexpos's ABM & demand engagement includes pipeline truth-telling as a standard deliverable - CFO-reviewed, not invented.