The CFO's model is right. The CMO's campaigns are running. But the growth target keeps missing by the same margin. Something has expired. The question is what.
In most midmarket B2B firms, the answer is neither the CFO's model nor the CMO's campaigns. What has expired is the shared story underneath both of them. The go-to-market narrative that was built for a version of the market that has since moved.
The CFO models growth based on assumptions about which segments will convert, at what rate, against what cost structure. Those assumptions were built at a point in time. The CMO runs campaigns against an ICP that was defined at a different point in time. Both functions are executing well against a brief that is no longer current.
The expiration is not visible on either dashboard. It shows up in the gap between them. Forecast accuracy keeps missing. Win rates plateau. Customer acquisition costs rise without a corresponding improvement in conversion.
The fix is not a new campaign or a revised model. The fix is a conversation between the two dashboards that most companies have not had yet. A conversation about whether the strategy the company is executing still matches the market the company is actually in.
That conversation is what the CFO and CMO are both missing. And it is where the gap starts to close.
Have you seen it play out? If so, and you want to change this, schedule a Discovery Session.
