Market View
Beyond MQLs: Reframing success in B2B marketing
Sponsored by:
Produced by:
Christopher Willis
Chief Marketing Officer at Axios HQ
About Christopher Willis
Chris Willis serves as Chief Marketing Officer at Axios HQ, bringing over 20 years of experience across marketing, sales, product development and operations in the B2B SaaS space. With his "#morethanmarketing" approach, he oversees global marketing strategy, sales pipeline management, product improvement processes and team development. Willis's unique background enables him to effectively deliver products that meet market demands, position Axios HQ as an industry leader in communications, and build high-performing teams that drive measurable results.
What makes your approach to measuring marketing success unique at Axios HQ?
We measure success based on pipeline created, starting with MQLs, then tracking meetings, early-stage opportunities and their progression. What's distinctive about our approach is that we don't just rely on standard behavioral lead scoring and intent data.
Our product is primarily bought by fans of a movement—Smart Brevity. We begin our conversation with what we call 'identifiable followers'—people we know care about this methodology. A portion of our funnel comes in already having read the book and excited to talk to us. They're fans, which is an incredible advantage I've never experienced before in business.
Another segment has no idea about our methodology, and showing them a demo without context would confuse them. We impose our will on users, which most people ultimately want, but if they don't understand it initially, we must educate them before they enter the pipeline. That's why a significant measurement for us is the activation of an MQL—ensuring they understand and appreciate Smart Brevity before becoming qualified. This creates a different handoff: a fan-qualified MQL versus a behavioral-qualified one.
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Unlike competitors who don't care what content goes through their platform, we distinctly have a point of view. If prospects don't understand or care about Smart Brevity, they'll wash out of the pipeline.
How have you evolved your marketing success measurement to improve pipeline retention?
When I joined, our approach was overly complex with multiple ICP levels creating tiered MQLs across different sales territories—a huge matrix that confused everyone. My first step was simplifying this, returning to how B2B SaaS companies typically generate, measure and report leads.
This clarity revealed that the traditional definition of MQL no longer worked for us. We were seeing numerous closed-lost opportunities that should have succeeded—good leads, right people, right companies. We didn't have a pipeline creation issue; we had a retention problem.
We ran our sales calls through AI, analyzing closed-won and closed-lost conversations to find commonalities. The combination of demographic and behavioral data we were using wasn't creating the right outcome. We might have someone interested in buying a newsletter tool, but not necessarily our tool with its specific methodology.
Unlike competitors who don't care what content goes through their platform, we distinctly have a point of view. If prospects don't understand or care about Smart Brevity, they'll wash out. So we designed a top-of-funnel approach that assesses this 'intent' component in our lead scoring and built mechanisms to nurture potential customers. Marketing needs to create an additional funnel to activate believers—fans first, then pipeline—which dramatically improved the quality of opportunities entering our sales process.
How do you ensure marketing and sales alignment at Axios HQ?
As a small company, we work closely with sales leadership. I rarely make decisions without involving the commercial leadership team. Weekly cohort meetings, daily executive stand-ups, and regular connection with product teams keep us aligned and data-driven.
We continuously examine our numbers, identify the best pathways to success, and build effective processes. Things work until they don't, and we want to stay ahead of changes rather than rebuilding after failure. We measure constantly to determine the perfect moment for shifts and involve the appropriate groups.
We're fortunate that genuine rapport exists among team members, facilitating collaboration. My background as head of pipeline and experience building sales methodologies gives me credibility within the commercial organization. Being heard and respected across departments provides significant value.
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We don't have a pipeline creation issue; we had a retention problem. We ran our sales calls through AI, analyzing closed-won and closed-lost conversations to find commonalities.
Could you explain your strategy for engaging and retaining multiple stakeholders within accounts?
We've adopted the MEDIC methodology for buyer groups, but I've also built a framework called the "6 Blocks" to ensure account continuity. This addresses a common problem: you establish a relationship with one person who becomes your contact, but when they leave, you lose connection with the organization.
The 6 Blocks concept identifies key people we need to know in each account. Block One is our initial contact—typically the product user. Block Two is the economic buyer. The remaining blocks include contributors like the head of marketing, communications leadership, content creators, and ideally someone from the executive team.
By collecting this information during sales or onboarding and maintaining these relationships, we create continuity. Our account management and customer marketing teams consistently engage with these contacts so they understand our value, regardless of role changes within the organization.
The approach varies by company size. In SMBs, we often connect with CEOs who make immediate purchasing decisions. In mid-market companies, we typically engage with communications heads who experience pain points but aren't economic buyers—we develop them into internal champions. In enterprise organizations, we work with larger teams and numerous stakeholders, requiring a comprehensive buying group strategy.
How are you leveraging data and AI to identify potential customers in creative ways?
Since traditional intent data doesn't work well for us—people aren't actively searching for "internal communications platforms"—we've developed creative signals. One fascinating correlation: companies with poor Glassdoor reviews are statistically more likely to buy our product, likely because those reviews often indicate communication problems someone recognizes need addressing.
We've built programs around the Smart Brevity book and leverage adjacent signals. We offer products that serve as indicators of interest, like individual training seats for Smart Brevity fundamentals. When someone purchases this training, it's an incredibly strong lead signal—we're essentially monetizing enthusiasm while identifying qualified prospects we might otherwise miss.
These approaches help us find intent signals that standard data providers can't capture. By combining these insights with our understanding of Smart Brevity fandom, we identify leads with higher conversion potential and develop our own market rather than competing in established categories.
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The 6 Blocks concept identifies key people we need to know in each account. By maintaining these relationships over time, we create continuity regardless of individual role changes within the organization.
About Axios HQ
Axios HQ is a digital media company founded in 2016 by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz, pioneering the "Smart Brevity" methodology that transforms complex information into accessible, concise content. Originally established as a media organization renowned for its efficient approach to journalism across multiple platforms, Axios HQ has evolved to provide comprehensive communications solutions including software, training services and community resources. The company helps organizations implement the Smart Brevity framework to enhance internal communications, improve employee engagement and create more effective messaging throughout their business.
About 6sense
6sense is on a mission to revolutionise the way B2B organisations create revenue by predicting customers most likely to buy and recommending the best course of action to engage anonymous buying teams. 6sense Revenue AI is the only sales and marketing platform to unlock the ability to create, manage and convert high-quality pipeline to revenue. Customers report 2X increases in average contract value, 4X increases in win rate and 20-40% reduction in time to close deals. Know everything, do anything, with 6sense.
