How to Benchmark Sales Messaging Internally

I stopped testing B2B SaaS messaging with interviews, surveys, or feedback forms (too late to catch the momentum) instead I use a SINGLE metric to see if a message holds under pressure in real time → Lead velocity. It’s the closest thing I’ve found to a messaging litmus test, and it’s already sitting in your CRM or product analytics. Instead of asking what people THINK, I look at how they BEHAVE through the process of deciding. This is the fastest and cleanest way to test if your message is working, because if it doesn’t speed up decision-making, something is off. And if your messaging resonates (meaning it puts the right things in front of people at the right moment) best-fit customers move fast. You don’t need to ask them if they “understood the value” or how they “felt about the homepage.” Just track whether they moved through the funnel faster after seeing your product explained a certain way: - Are they going from demo → SQL faster? - Trial → Paid faster? - Requesting fewer follow-ups? - Shorter gaps between steps? That’s how you know the message resonated, and not because they said it made sense, but because they acted on it with less friction. ↓ Here’s exactly how I use lead velocity to pressure-test clients' existing messaging and get an instant signal if something is resonating or not: 1. Change one key message or section (usually “What it does” or “How it works”). 2. Don’t change everything, just one specific part where the value is either unclear or misaligned with the buyer’s real friction (use JTBD to find out what the real blocker is to getting the job done.) 3. Track velocity from that moment forward (only for best-fit users!) 4. Focus on ICP leads, how fast do they go from first touch to the next qualified step? 5. Compare it to the previous baseline. Did that one message shift remove friction? You’ll see it when the right users stop stalling after the demo or stop ghosting mid-trial. 6. Look for drop-off patterns, and if velocity slows down, you didn’t clarify, you added more questions. That tells you exactly where to simplify next. 👉 If velocity stays flat or gets worse, then go deeper: interviews, surveys, and feedback can help troubleshoot which part of the message isn’t landing. But always check the MOVEMENT first, it’s the fastest way to know if you're directionally right. Repeat until there’s no stuck moment between interest and movement. That’s what real messaging fit looks like, NOT just lead volume. But if you want to know if your message works, you don’t need opinions, you need movement. ✅ Lead velocity is the only signal I trust to test if a message holds under pressure, because if it doesn’t change behavior, the messaging didn’t make the right things clear upfront (especially on the website!) 👋 If you’re still optimizing pages based on feedback but nobody’s moving faster, happy to show you how I do this. DM me and I’ll walk you through how we use CRM velocity data to get real answers!

I think we’re measuring the wrong stuff… and it’s quietly killing momentum. 2026 has to be the year we fix it. Impressions. Clicks. MQLs. “Engagement.” The real game is happening in DMs, Slack threads, forwarded newsletters, and meetings. Here are 6 metrics I’d focus on in 2026 GTM (and why they matter). 1) Conversations → conversions What it is: Of the conversations your content starts, how many turn into a real next step (intro, meeting, opp). Why it matters: Content doesn’t “generate leads.” It generates conversations. Pipeline comes from what you do next. How to track: Tag every inbound convo (DM/email/reply) and mark the outcome: no fit / nurture / meeting / opp. 2) REAL ICPs engaging with content What it is: Not “engagement.” Engagement from the right people (titles, seniority, company tier, intent). Why it matters: 1 CFO at a target account > 1,000 random likes. How to track: Maintain an ICP list (titles + account tiers) and measure: % of engagers who match ICP of target accounts engaged per week repeat ICP engagers (X touches in 30 days) 3) Brand mentions inside ICP-relevant conversations What it is: How often your brand comes up when your ICP is discussing the problem you solve (not when you post). Why it matters: This is the difference between “content that performs” and a brand that gets recommended. How to track: Collect signals: customer calls (“we heard about you from…”), community moderators, partner chatter, dark social screenshots, and sales intel. Even a simple monthly “mention log” works. 4) Conversation velocity What it is: The speed from publish → first qualified conversation, and from convo → meeting. Why it matters: Velocity is the earliest indicator your messaging is landing. If it’s slow, you’re not sharp enough yet. How to track: time-to-first-ICP-convo after a post/report time-to-meeting after first touch “conversation depth” score (comment → DM → problem share → meeting ask) 5) Brand + category position What it is: Are you being associated with a clear “lane” (category/point of view) or just “a vendor who posts”? Why it matters: In 2026, positioning is distribution. If people can’t summarize your POV in one sentence, you’re invisible. How to track: Quarterly “message recall” check: ask prospects/customers: “What do we do?” “What do we believe?” “What are we known for?” 6) Dark social + word-of-mouth What it is: The off-platform sharing that actually drives deals: forwards, screenshots, Slack drops, “my friend sent me this.” Why it matters: A huge percentage of B2B buying happens in private. If your GTM can’t see dark social, you’re flying blind. How to track: “How did you find us?” (mandatory field) inbound screenshots / Slack mentions private replies after posts If your 2026 GTM dashboard doesn’t include conversations, ICP quality, dark social, and category position, it’s going to keep optimizing for attention… while someone else captures intent.

One of the first things I do when I step into a new role as a Head of Marketing is ask every team to sell me the product. Not give me a walkthrough. I don't just want a demo. I want them to actually sell it to me like I'm the customer. I did this in both of my Founding Head of Marketing roles and in one company, I heard three completely different pitches. Sales had their version. Customer Success had theirs. Product had a story somewhere in between. Customers were entering the funnel with one set of expectations and hitting onboarding with a very different experience. Customer Success was left cleaning up promises they never made. And nobody was actually doing anything wrong. This happens all the time at early-stage companies when no one fully owns positioning and messaging. Everyone starts filling in the blanks with whatever helps close deals, handle objections, or calm customer concerns. Over time, those versions drift further and further apart. So I pulled Sales, Customer Success, Product, and Leadership into a room. We mapped every value proposition, every customer pain point, every recurring objection, and every claim being made from first touch through onboarding. Then I led the building of a messaging framework that was both honest and compelling. That became the foundation for product marketing, sales enablement, onboarding, customer communications, and go-to-market strategy moving forward. When messaging isn't aligned internally, customers catch on. And we all know customer churn is a lot more expensive than a few hours spent getting stakeholders aligned. If you asked every team in your company to sell you the product right now, how many different pitches would you hear? #FoundingMarketer #Messaging #ProductPositioning

Here's my entire brand messaging process (feel free to steal it) Don't start with copy. Start with internal discovery calls. Take a lot of notes. Listen for commonalities and differences across every team member. Organize the inputs and look for where trends start to show up. Sort into levels and altitudes, e.g. product features vs. org-level truths. Introduce a framework early. Ask stakeholders to fill out that framework to standardize inputs. Listen to customer and prospect calls. Read G2 reviews. Take a look at competitor materials and get familiar with the market. Flag exact words and phrases customers use to describe their experience. Flag exact words and phrases prospects use to describe their pain points. Read between the lines for frustrations, wins, pressures, expectations. Run the same trend-finding process again for the external inputs. Compare what customers say to what the internal team believes. Combine and reorganize everything vertically (the altitude thing again). Revisit GTM strategy and the defined ICPs to stay on the right track. Define the problem statement and market framing (why and why now). Make a list of all the defensible, unique product/service differentiators. Map those differentiators to value props (why the differentiators matter). Now you have the basis for a positioning statement, or a few of them. It's a good time for stakeholder check-in. Send them what you have. Take brand and culture into account as you start in on the messaging. Write a core narrative (your main story without all the stupid jargon). Create messaging pillars that reflect both internal and external input. Test each pillar against pains, outcomes (economic/emotional), personas. Then against differentiators, value props, brand voice, market dynamics. If something comes up short or doesn't make sense, revise it. The pillars should work as a system. They should also stand on their own. Articulate what each pillar says about the customer's experience. Create examples of the messaging pillars in application (H1 tags, etc.). Now would be another good time for a stakeholder check-in. Show them the inputs, the patterns, the pillars and how they work together. Show where their perspective lined up with customers. And where it didn't. You should either receive feedback or alignment (you need at least one). If they "don't like it" – ask as many clarifying questions as possible. Once you have alignment, next up is solution messaging. Revisit GTM strategy and the defined ICPs again/often to stay on track. Define use cases, audiences, pain points, outcomes, metrics, proof points. By now you should be pretty far along. One more stakeholder check-in... If you're creating brand messaging in-house, I hope this helps you get started – feel free to ask questions in the comments, or share resources if you have a different approach! If you'd rather have someone else own the messaging process (or get an outside opinion) send me a DM – I love this stuff.

90% of the founders and marketing leaders I work with ask me: "How do we actually know if our messaging is working?" Here’s how I answer it. There's two pieces to consider. 1. Quantitative data Hard data shows user behaviors + outcomes: - Overall conversion rate (e.g. sign-ups/demos) - CVR/source (highest and lowest CVRs) - Click maps (click where they’re meant to) - Scroll depth (what they actually see) - Heat maps (look at the areas that matter) - Avg. time on page (consume the content) - Lead drop-off (follow-though = resonance) Now, useful? Absolutely. But not enough. Because numbers can’t read minds. And that’s where qualitative signals come in. (Side note: if you’re staring at your homepage wondering “is this actually landing?”... That’s your sign to get a second set of eyes. Book a $0 call with me—I'll show you what’s missing, and how to fix it.) ___ 2. Qualitative data This stuff you can observe. And where messaging really shows its impact: - Lead quality (do you convert the right people) - Live chat/polls (to identify questions & doubts) - Exit surveys (to grasp why they dropped off) - Session recordings (how users interact on-site) - Sales call language (what prospects repeat) - Objection shift (type of questions you get) - Internal language adoption (do teams use it) - Faster ramp for new reps (less hand-holding) The bottom line? Messaging isn’t math. It’s perception. If yours is working, you’ll feel the difference. Not just in better conversions… But in better conversations. You’ll stop explaining things you thought were obvious. Prospects will repeat your words. Sales will move faster. New reps will ramp quicker. You'll finally get momentum.

⚠️ You keep hiring messaging experts but skipping the work that makes messaging work. ⚠️ Most messaging projects get shelved within 3 months - trust me, I've seen it happen! Teams focus on writing clever copy instead of building communication systems. Pretty words don't work if your team can't use them effectively. Previous messaging efforts often fail because they skip the execution fundamentals: Instead of: Testing messages with real customers  ❌ They: Brainstorm taglines in Zoom meetings Instead of: Training the team on how to use new messaging  ❌ They: Update website copy and call it done Instead of: Creating templates sales can actually use  ❌ They: Write 40-page brand guidelines that sit in Notion while sales still uses their own pitch deck 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁: • Getting your whole team speaking the same language • Creating tools your sales team will actually use in demos • Testing what resonates before you roll it out company-wide 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂: • Language that your sales team uses naturally in conversations • Website copy that converts visitors into demos • Email templates that get responses • Consistent story across every customer touchpoint Just test it: Can your newest sales hire use your messaging to handle the top 3 objections without struggling? Stop treating messaging like a creative project. Start treating it like the enablement tool it actually is. To the messaging pros reading this - what's your go-to method for getting teams to actually adopt new messaging? #messaging #B2BSaaS #StartupGrowth #GTMstrategy

Your messaging is broken if the sales team isn't using it. Period. But here's the good news: You can diagnose the problem in one afternoon. Try this out for a fix. 👇 The 4-Hour Messaging Foundation Audit Hour 1️⃣ : The Sales Reality Check Pull 5 recent sales calls (wins and losses). Note what language your team ACTUALLY uses. Compare it to your official messaging. Gap = broken foundation Hour 2️⃣ : The Stakeholder Clarity Test List your typical buying committee (CEO, COO, end users, etc.). Write what each stakeholder cares about most. Check if your messaging addresses their specific concerns. Missing pieces = messaging gaps Hour 3️⃣ : The Competitive Alternative Assessment List what buyers do if they DON'T choose you. (Hint: It's often "do nothing," not your competitor.) Evaluate if your messaging addresses the real alternatives. Misalignment = positioning problem Hour 4️⃣ : The Team Confidence Survey Ask your sales team: "Can you explain our differentiation in 30 seconds?" Ask marketing: "Do salespeople use our messaging as-is?" Ask leadership: "Are we losing to 'no decision'?" Low confidence = systematic messaging failure Red flags that mean your foundation is broken. 🚩 Sales team "fixes" marketing messages. 🚩 Deals die with "we need to think about it." 🚩 Team can't explain differentiation beyond features. 🚩 Marketing and sales blame each other for results. Green flags that mean you're on track. ✅ Sales team uses marketing language naturally. ✅ Stakeholders ask specific, qualifying questions. ✅ Team explains value without feature lists. ✅ Buyers understand exactly why you're different. The best part? This audit costs nothing but time. And it prevents wasting months on campaigns that can't succeed. Fix the foundation first. Everything else becomes easier. Who's ready to spend an afternoon diagnosing their messaging reality?