As the CEO, it's your job to provide the vision and set the direction to enable your sales and marketing leaders to drive growth. But if you're not asking the right questions, it's easy for things to get off track.
The most successful B2B CEOs ask these 10 questions to uncover and fix gaps within their sales and marketing strategy, in order to build a sustainable, scalable business.
1
"What niche, segment, or problem are we owning better than anyone else—and do we have a systematic way to engage and convert them?"
You should have a clearly defined niche and a targeted system to engage and convert buyers within it.
2
"Are we focused on outreach to warm leads with buying intent vs. cold, random outreach?"
Your BD function should prioritize warm, engaged leads over random cold calling efforts.
3
"How much of our pipeline last quarter was buyers raising their hands to talk to us vs. referrals and events and networking?"
Your pipeline should increasingly come from inbound hand-raisers and warm referrals, not cold random outreach.
4
"How are we systematically identifying and closing in-market buyers—and where are we losing them today?"
You should have a full-funnel revenue engine that captures high-intent buyers and reduces leakage.
5
"Are we investing marketing dollars in scalable revenue growth—or just reactive tasks that don’t create pipeline?"
Marketing and sales enablement investments should be focused on driving revenue —not stuck reacting to internal requests.
6
"How much time did we spend last month with people who were never going to buy?"
Sales time should be protected for qualified, high-fit buyers—not wasted chasing low-probability prospects.
7
"What strategy, enablement, and processes have we put in place to support the systems' success?"
Every tech investment should be paired with clear enablement, aligned processes, and measurable impact on revenue.
8
"Which marketing programs can we tie directly to real pipeline dollars?"
You should have closed-loop attribution connecting marketing efforts directly to pipeline and revenue results.
9
"How long does it take a new rep to hit quota—and what are we doing to speed that up?"
New reps should have a structured ramp plan, access to warm leads, and enablement materials to shorten time-to-quota.
10
"How often do we hit our forecasted pipeline and revenue numbers—and what’s our miss rate?"
Your forecasts should be built on real funnel data and performance, not on overly optimistic assumptions.
If the answers to these questions are falling short, it’s a signal your revenue engine needs recalibration — and that your investments in sales and marketing aren't compounding the way they should.
Swivel helps B2B companies builds a full-funnel revenue engine that generates 10-20x ROI. With 50+ B2B skillsets and proven frameworks, you’ll get more qualified meetings, higher conversion, & predictable revenue.
