B2B Lead Generation Assessment Suite

The B2B Lead Generation Assessment Suite by The Starr Conspiracy scores your lead gen engine across four dimensions (readiness, channel mix, ROI, and pipeline benchmarks) and returns a board-ready diagnostic in under 12 minutes. It is built for revenue-accountable B2B tech marketing leaders carrying pipeline quota. Median engines score 47 of 100 on first run, per our 2024 dataset of 312 mid-market B2B tech companies.

How This Suite Works

Most lead gen audits return a PDF checklist and a sales call. This one returns a score, a peer-group benchmark, and a ranked fix list.

The suite combines four tools you can run independently or as a sequence. The Engine Readiness Assessment scores 24 maturity dimensions across strategy, data, operations, and talent. The Channel Diagnostic Quiz classifies your inbound/outbound/email mix against eight engine archetypes. The ROI Calculator models cost-per-qualified-lead and pipeline contribution using your actual inputs. The Pipeline Benchmark Comparator stacks your conversion rates against industry medians from sourced datasets.

Why four tools instead of one. Board-level revenue pressure shows up as four different questions: is the engine built right, is the channel mix right, is the money working, and how do we compare. A single composite score hides the answer to each.

Methodology and Data Sources

Scoring rubrics, weights, and benchmark thresholds are published in full on each tool's companion page. Nothing is hidden in JavaScript. If you want to recreate the math in a spreadsheet, you can.

The suite draws on four external reference sets and one proprietary dataset:

• Forrester (formerly SiriusDecisions) Demand Waterfall stage definitions and conversion benchmarks, 2023 revision
• HubSpot State of Marketing Report 2024 channel performance medians, sample n=1,460 B2B marketers
• Forrester B2B Marketing Budget Benchmarks 2024 for spend-mix ranges by company size
• Wikipedia's lead generation entry for canonical definitional anchors
• The Starr Conspiracy proprietary dataset of 312 B2B tech mid-market engines audited between Q1 2023 and Q2 2024

Limitations to know up front. Benchmarks skew toward $10M to $250M ARR B2B tech. Engines below $5M ARR or above $500M ARR should treat percentile bands as directional. The ROI calculator assumes a 12-month attribution window and does not model multi-touch decay curves.

What Each Tool Returns

The Engine Readiness Assessment returns a 0 to 100 maturity score, a tier classification (Reactive, Operational, Predictable, Optimized), the three highest-leverage gaps, and a 90-day remediation sequence. Average mid-market score is 47, per our 2024 dataset.

The Channel Diagnostic Quiz returns one of eight engine archetypes (Inbound-Dominant, Outbound-Dominant, ABM-Led, Paid-Dependent, Email-Anchored, Event-Driven, Partner-Sourced, Balanced) with the specific channel rebalance recommended for your stage and ACV.

The ROI Calculator returns cost-per-MQL, cost-per-SQL, blended pipeline ROI, payback period in months, and a sensitivity table showing how a 10 percent change in conversion rate or close rate shifts the model.

The Pipeline Benchmark Comparator returns percentile rankings against the HubSpot 2024 and Starr Conspiracy 2024 datasets for visitor-to-MQL, MQL-to-SQL, SQL-to-opportunity, and opportunity-to-close conversion rates, segmented by ACV band.

Interpreting Your Score

Scores below 40 indicate a Reactive engine. Pipeline is unpredictable, attribution is contested, and forecast accuracy lives below 60 percent. Fix the data layer before adding programs.

Scores between 40 and 64 indicate an Operational engine. The plumbing works but the strategy is undersized. Most mid-market B2B tech engines live here.

Scores between 65 and 84 indicate a Predictable engine. Forecasts hit within 10 percent, channel ROI is known, and the next move is optimization, not rebuild.

Scores of 85 and above indicate an Optimized engine. You are not the target audience for this suite. You are the benchmark other teams measure against.

When to Use Which Tool

Start with the Channel Diagnostic Quiz if you do not yet know what kind of engine you are running. Eight minutes, no inputs beyond channel allocation and team structure.

Start with the Engine Readiness Assessment if the board is asking why pipeline is missing forecast. The 24-dimension score isolates whether the gap is strategy, data, ops, or talent.

Start with the ROI Calculator when you are building next year's budget and need a defensible cost-per-pipeline number. Inputs match standard demand generation ledger lines.

Start with the Pipeline Benchmark Comparator before any board meeting where conversion rates will be questioned. It produces the slide you wish you had.

For the full strategic context behind these tools, see our B2B lead generation guide and the underlying Ten Demand States framework.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does the full suite take to complete?

About 35 to 45 minutes for all four tools if you have channel spend, conversion rate, and pipeline data in hand. The Channel Diagnostic Quiz alone runs in eight minutes.

Is the methodology actually public?

Yes. Every scoring rubric, weight, formula, and benchmark threshold is published on the companion page for each tool. The interactive layer is a convenience, not a black box.

Do I need to provide a work email to see my score?

No. Scores and tier interpretations display on screen. The optional gated download is a board-ready PDF with peer-group benchmarks and the 90-day remediation sequence.

What if my company is outside the $10M to $250M ARR benchmark range?

The tool still scores you. Treat the percentile bands as directional rather than precise. We flag the band mismatch in the result interpretation.

The Bottom Line

If you cannot answer four questions in under an hour (is the engine built right, is the channel mix right, is the money working, how do we compare), you are running lead gen on vibes. Run the suite. Bring the output to the next pipeline review. The Starr Conspiracy built this so revenue-accountable marketing leaders stop defending lead gen with anecdotes and start defending it with scored, sourced, benchmarked numbers.