Issue #3: The metrics that actually get you budget
Welcome back to The Customer Continuum.
Issue #3.
Last week, we built the AI-Powered CLG Flywheel—how product, success, and marketing align around one intelligent system.
This week: How to prove Customer-Led Growth ROI so executives can’t say no.
THE PROBLEM:
Most customer marketers pitch programs.
“I want to launch a customer advocacy program.”
“We need a community platform.”
“Let’s build an adoption program.”
Executives hear: cost center.
You get: “Let me think about it.”
Translation: No.
Here’s what nobody tells you:
It takes an average of 7 touches before someone says yes to anything.
One pitch won’t cut it.
You need:
→ A concrete plan
→ Consensus internally
→ Multiple leaders who see the win
This isn’t about convincing your CMO.
It’s about making it easy for multiple leaders to say yes.
THE SHIFT: FROM PITCHING TO PROVING
Stop: “I need $150K for customer advocacy.”
Start: “Retention is costing us $2M annually. Here’s how we fix it.”
One is a program you want.
The other is a business problem you solve.
THE FRAMEWORK: BUILDING INTERNAL ADVOCATES
Before you ask for budget, you need internal advocates.
Not customers. Internal stakeholders who will fight for your program in rooms you’re not in.
Here’s how to build them:
STEP 1: MAP THE STAKEHOLDER WIN
Your program probably solves problems for multiple teams.
Find them. Name them. Understand their pain.
Example: Retention Marketing Program
Who wins?
→ Product: Adoption metrics improve
→ Success: Churn decreases
→ Sales: Expansion pipeline grows
→ Finance: NDR increases
→ Marketing: Proof capture accelerates
One program. Five stakeholders. Five wins.
STEP 2: SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE
Don’t pitch your goals. Connect to their OKRs.
Wrong: “This will help marketing hit our case study target.”
Right: “This will improve your product adoption metric by 15%.”
For each stakeholder, answer:
→ What metric do they own?
→ How does your program impact it?
→ What’s the dollar value of that improvement?
Map it out:
Product Leader
Their OKR: Increase feature adoption to 70%
Your impact: Adoption programs drive 15-20% improvement
Dollar value: Higher adoption = lower churn = $X saved
Sales Leader
Their OKR: Improve win rate by 10%
Your impact: Customer proof in deals increases win rate 18%
Dollar value: 10 more deals closed = $X revenue
Success Leader
Their OKR: Reduce churn to <10%
Your impact: Proactive retention reduces churn 23%
Dollar value: 5% churn reduction = $X ARR saved
STEP 3: PLANT SEEDS (NOT PITCHES)
Don’t ask for budget immediately.
Share data first. Let them see the problem. And run an experiment if needed.
Week 1: Share industry benchmark with Product leader
“Did you know companies with adoption programs see 15% higher feature usage?”
Week 2: Show Success leader the churn correlation
“Customers who don’t hit value milestones churn 3x faster.”
Week 3: Give Sales the proof data
“Deals with customer references close 22 days faster.”
Week 4: Connect the dots for everyone
“We’re losing $X because we don’t have a systematic approach.”
You’re not pitching. You’re educating.
By the time you ask for budget, they already see the problem.
STEP 4: CO-FUND THE INVESTMENT
Here’s the unlock:
If multiple teams win, multiple teams can fund.
Example from my career:
I needed $150K for retention marketing.
Marketing budget: $50K available
Product budget: $50K available
Success budget: $50K available
Proposal: Each team contributes $50K
Shared ownership: Everyone has skin in the game
Result: Approved in one meeting
Why this works:
→ Lower individual risk
→ Shared accountability
→ Harder to cut (everyone owns it)
→ Cross-functional visibility
STEP 5: LET THEM CARRY IT FORWARD
The magic happens when peers advocate for each other.
That senior product leader who put retention marketing in his budget?
He pitched it to the CFO as a product initiative.
I wasn’t even in the room.
Your job: Make it easy for them to advocate.
Give them:
→ The data (pre-built)
→ The business case (one page)
→ The talking points (their language)
→ The quick win (low risk proof point)
THE ONE-PAGE ROI FRAMEWORK
When you do pitch, make it impossible to say no.
Here’s the template I use for my slides, my talk track etc.:
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PROGRAM: [Name]
EXEC SUMMARY & BUSINESS PROBLEM:
[What’s costing the company money right now?]
Current cost: $X annually
SOLUTION:
[One sentence on what you’re proposing]
STAKEHOLDER IMPACT:
Product:
Metric impacted: [Their OKR]
Expected improvement: [%]
Dollar value: $X
Sales:
Metric impacted: [Their OKR]
Expected improvement: [%]
Dollar value: $X
Success:
Metric impacted: [Their OKR]
Expected improvement: [%]
Dollar value: $X
TOTAL POTENTIAL IMPACT: $X
INVESTMENT REQUIRED: $X
ROI: [X]
FUNDING MODEL:
Marketing: $X
Product: $X
Success: $X
TIMELINE TO IMPACT:
Month 1-3: [Quick win]
Month 4-6: [Measurable outcome]
Month 7-12: [Full ROI realized]
SUCCESS METRICS:
Leading indicator: [What you’ll measure weekly]
Lagging indicator: [Business outcome]
RISK MITIGATION:
Start with pilot (lower investment)
Kill criteria defined upfront
Quarterly review checkpoints
---
One page. Revenue language. Multiple stakeholders.
No fluff. No vanity metrics. No “nice to have.”
Just business impact.
THE METRICS THAT ACTUALLY MATTER
Stop reporting on just:
→ Engagement rates
→ Program participation
→ Community size
→ NPS scores
→ Content downloads
Start reporting:
→ Pipeline influenced ($)
→ Win rate impact (%)
→ Expansion revenue ($)
→ Churn reduction ($)
→ Sales cycle reduction (days)
Your executives don’t care about activities.
They care about outcomes tied to revenue.
Every metric should answer: “So what? How much money?”
REAL EXAMPLE: ADVOCACY PROGRAM ROI
Here’s how I pitched an advocacy program:
OLD WAY (rejected):
“We need $150K to build a customer advocacy program. We’ll recruit 50 advocates, create 20 case studies, and generate 100 references.”
NEW WAY (approved):
“We’re losing deals because we can’t provide relevant customer proof fast enough. Deals with references close 2x faster and have 18% higher win rates.
If we provide proof for just 10 additional deals:
Average deal size: $120K
10 deals = $1.2M potential
Current win rate: 25%
With proof: 43%
Additional closed revenue: $216K
Investment: $150K
First-year ROI: 1.4x
Second-year ROI: 3x+ (program compounds)”
Same program. Different framing. Approved.
THE 90-DAY BUDGET APPROVAL PLAYBOOK
Don’t pitch cold. Build consensus first.
DAYS 1-30: RESEARCH & ALIGN
Week 1:
Identify 3-5 stakeholders who benefit
Research their current OKRs
Find the metrics they’re struggling with
Week 2:
Schedule 1:1s (not to pitch, to learn)
Ask: “What’s your biggest challenge this quarter?”
Listen for problems your program solves
Week 3:
Share relevant benchmarks (plant seeds)
Connect their problem to your solution
Don’t pitch yet—just educate
Week 4:
Map the stakeholder wins
Quantify the impact for each
Draft the one-page ROI framework
DAYS 31-60: BUILD THE CASE
Week 5:
Share draft framework with one ally
Get feedback on the numbers
Refine the business case
Week 6:
Propose co-funding model
Gauge appetite for shared investment
Adjust based on feedback
Week 7:
Circulate one-pager to stakeholders
Let them review before formal pitch
Address objections early
Week 8:
Confirm internal support
Lock in co-funding commitments
Prepare for executive pitch
DAYS 61-90: SECURE APPROVAL
Week 9:
Schedule executive presentation
Brief your internal advocates
Give them talking points
Week 10:
Present the one-pager
Let stakeholders voice support
Answer questions with data
Week 11:
Address any remaining concerns
Provide risk mitigation plan
Confirm timeline and milestones
Week 12:
Secure formal approval
Document commitments
Begin implementation
90 days from cold start to approved budget.
Not because you pitched harder.
Because you built consensus first.
HOW I USE THIS TO EXPAND THE FUNCTION
This isn’t just how I get one program approved.
It’s how I’ve expanded the entire remit of customer marketing at every company I’ve joined.
Here’s the pattern:
YEAR 1: PROVE ONE THING
When I start at a new company, I don’t just pitch a grand vision.
I pick one high-impact program to start with.
At Marketo: The Advocate Nation
At Adobe: Awards program revamp
At Freshworks: Customer Led Growth
I use the 90-day playbook to get it funded and prove ROI.
One win. Documented impact. Credibility earned.
YEAR 2: EXPAND INTO ADJACENT AREAS
Once you’ve proven one program, the next conversation is easier.
“Remember that retention program that reduced churn 23%?
I want to expand into lifecycle marketing. Same approach. Same rigor. Here’s the business case.”
You’re not pitching from scratch.
You’re building on proven results.
This is how I moved from:
→ Advocacy only → Lifecycle & retention marketing
→ Then → Voice of Customer programs
→ Then → Customer communications
→ Then → Community programs
→ Then → Customer education
Each expansion followed the same framework:
Identify who else wins
Tie to their metrics
Plant seeds
Co-fund when possible
Prove ROI
YEAR 3: OWN THE STRATEGIC FUNCTION
By year three, you’re not asking for budget.
You’re being asked: “What else should we be doing?”
Because you’ve proven:
→ You solve business problems (not run programs)
→ You speak revenue language (not vanity metrics)
→ You build cross-functional alignment (not silos)
→ You deliver measurable ROI (not activities)
That’s how you go from “team of one doing advocacy” to “strategic function that owns the customer lifecycle.”
Not by pitching a grand vision on day one.
By proving value, program by program, year by year.
The 90-day playbook isn’t just for one budget ask.
It’s the repeatable system for expanding your entire function.
THE REAL LESSON
Most customer marketers think budget is a marketing problem.
It’s not.
It’s an alignment problem.
When product, success, and marketing all see the win, budget finds a way.
Your CMO can’t fight every battle for you.
But when multiple leaders are advocating for the same outcome?
That’s how budgets get approved.
Stop pitching programs.
Start solving business problems.
Build internal advocates.
Prove ROI in their language.
That’s how you get a seat at the table.
NEXT WEEK:
Something different.
Something personal.
Something I’ve never shared before.
You’ll see.
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Thank you for reading.
Let’s keep building together.
— Kevin