All the upstream use cases generate activity and engagement, but Report & Analyze
Performance is what turns that activity into actionable intelligence.
This use case is about establishing unified reporting and analytics to enable data-driven
decision-making and strategy optimization rather than relying on gut feel or anecdotes.
The fundamental shift is moving from lead-centric metrics (MQLs, form fills, individual
engagement) to account-centric metrics (accounts reached, accounts engaged, accounts
qualified, account progression through buying stages). This requires new dashboards, new
definitions, and often new cultural expectations about what “good” looks like.
The maturity progression breaks down like this:
Crawl
- You’ve established an account-based experience (ABX) measurement framework that
uses recurring in-platform downloads and built-in reporting. - You’re tracking basic account-based metrics — accounts reached through campaigns,
accounts engaged based on intent and behavior, accounts qualified as 6QAs. - You’ve also pushed segment data to external systems (CRM, analytics tools) so you can
do basic analysis joining account engagement with opportunity and revenue data.
Walk
- You’ve enhanced reporting by leveraging deeper integration between your revenue
intelligence platform and Salesforce to trigger actions based on data changes, surface
insights in CRM where sales works, and improve pipeline visibility through custom
dashboards and workflows. - You’re tracking use case-specific KPIs (not just top-level metrics) and adoption metrics
that show whether capabilities are being used. - You’re holding teams accountable to improving KPIs quarter over quarter rather than
treating metrics as passive observations.
Run
- You’ve enabled advanced analytics by exporting platform data to a data warehouse
where you can join it with CRM, marketing automation, product usage, and customer
success data for comprehensive analysis. - You’re Running cohort analyses (how do accounts engaged through specific campaigns
progress compared to control groups), attribution models (which touchpoints matter most
in driving pipeline), and predictive analytics (which accounts are most likely to close
based on engagement patterns). - Your reporting infrastructure supports strategic questions, not just status updates.
Watch out for these common traps:
- Trying to boil the ocean by tracking everything means you overwhelm stakeholders
with data and obscure the insights that don’t matter. Start with a focused set of KPIs
(typically ten to 15 across the entire GTM organization) that map to your business goals,
then expand as those become routine. - Reporting on metrics nobody actually uses to make decisions creates reporting
theater — activity that looks like accountability but doesn’t drive any changes in behavior
or strategy. Before building a dashboard, ask “What decision will this inform?” and “Who
will take action based on this data?” - Measuring only top-of-funnel activity (accounts reached, engaged) without
connecting to business outcomes (pipeline, revenue) means you can’t answer the CEO’s
inevitable question: “So is this working?” You need end-to-end visibility from
engagement to revenue.
Building reporting that requires significant manual work to produce means it doesn’t get done
consistently, which undermines trust in the data and makes it difficult to spot trends. Invest in
automation and integration so reporting happens without heroic effort.
What you’ll need to make this work:
- Platform reporting capabilities and regular data exports
- CRM integration with bi-directional data flow so you can join engagement with
opportunity data - Dashboard tools (built into platforms, Tableau, Looker, etc.) for visualization
- Clear definitions of metrics everyone agrees on (What exactly qualifies as “engaged”?
What makes an account a “6QA”?) - For advanced analytics, data warehouse and analytics resources who can write queries
and build models - Regular cadence for reviewing reports and taking action on insights (weekly/monthly
operating reviews)
Measuring success
- Evaluate whether your reporting is actually effective:
- Are use case KPIs and adoption metrics measured consistently?
- Are KPIs improving quarter over quarter (not every metric needs to improve, but your
focus areas should)? - How long does it take to produce regular reports (automation indicator)?
- How often do stakeholders reference the reports in making decisions (usage indicator)?
- How often do you discover insights that change strategy or tactics (value indicator)?
At Crawl, you’re establishing the framework and ensuring basic metrics are tracked consistently.
At Walk, you’re automating reporting and tracking use case-specific KPIs.
At Run, you’re using advanced analytics to inform strategic decisions and continuously optimize
your GTM motion.
RevOps typically owns this use case with partnership from marketing ops for campaign
analytics and sales ops for pipeline analytics. Finance may be involved in revenue attribution
and ROI analysis. Executive sponsors need to establish expectations that data-driven decision-
making is the standard, not optional.
Transform stage summary
Completing Transform means you’ve moved from having a solid foundation to actively
generating pipeline through coordinated, automated GTM capabilities. You’re not ready to
advance to Maximize just because you’ve checked off these seven use cases — you need
validation that they’re producing measurable business results.
Before advancing to Maximize, confirm you have:
- At least one digital advertising channel actively reaching target accounts with stage-
appropriate messaging, with metrics showing account engagement and buying stage
progression - Inbound optimization generating measurable improvement in form conversion and
account engagement on your website - Personalized email agents or sequences running consistently, generating engagement
and contributing to pipeline - Sales reps using intent signals and platform insights in prospecting, with evidence of
multithreaded engagement across buying groups - Opportunity qualification incorporating account-level intelligence, not just individual lead
scoring - Automated buying committee enrichment ensuring sales has contacts they need when
they need them - Reporting dashboards tracking account-based metrics with use case KPIs showing
improvement quarter over quarter
Expect 120-180 days to complete Transform if you’re sequencing deliberately rather than trying
to launch everything simultaneously. Companies that try to compress this into 60 days usually
end up with half-implemented capabilities that don’t deliver results. Companies that take longer
than 180 days are either massively under-resourced or lacking organizational alignment.
You’re ready for Maximize when
- All seven Transform use cases are at least at Walk maturity (with core ones like
advertising and prospecting potentially at Run) - You can demonstrate measurable pipeline improvement from Transform capabilities
- You have organizational muscle memory for account-based execution (it’s how you
operate, not something you’re trying to do) - You have bandwidth and budget for Maximize-level optimization rather than still
establishing Transform basics
