Predictable Revenue has been sold as the holy grail of sales and marketing. But for most organisations, the Predictable Revenue model is doing more harm than good. Instead of creating sustainable growth, it’s frustrating buyers, burning future deals, and leaving sales and marketing teams chasing their tails.
Sam Kuehnle, VP of Marketing at Loxo, has seen this play out time and time again. As someone who’s mastered the shift from outdated sales tactics to demand generation, Sam shows us as a VP how to make marketing and sales actually work together to create a better, more efficient go-to-market. In his words, “It’s not just about getting leads; it’s about creating trust and delivering real value before the buyer even reaches out”.
If you’re tired of burning through lists, churning customers, and watching long-term opportunities slip away, it’s time to rethink the playbook. Demand generation is the way forward, and Sam is here to share why.
Let’s dig into why predictable revenue is failing and how demand generation can help fix it.
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The Broken Promises of Predictable Revenue
The predictable revenue model has long been seen as the gold standard for scaling B2B sales, but in today’s market, it’s doing more harm than good. At its core, the model splits sales into specialized roles – SDRs (sales development reps) to book meetings and AEs (account executives) to close deals. It sounds efficient, but in reality, it’s a system built for churn-and-burn tactics, where the quality of engagement is sacrificed for the sake of hitting arbitrary quotas.

As Sam Kuehnle shared, his first job at a billion-dollar company highlighted the glaring issues with this approach.
“Marketing exceeded MQL goals by 20%, and everyone celebrated. But five minutes later, sales reported missing revenue targets by 15%. It was the perfect example of the predictable revenue model’s failure—great on paper but disastrous in practice”
Sam Kuehnle – The B2B Playbook
Here’s where it gets worse. The rise of auto-diallers and massive SDR quotas means prospects are getting hit with irrelevant, impersonal outreach at unprecedented rates. As Sam said, “You might get one lead from 100 dials, but 3-5% of those calls create what I call ‘negative touchpoints’—buyers who say, ‘Do not call me again.’ These interactions don’t just lose the deal; they destroy future opportunities”.
This churn-heavy approach doesn’t just alienate buyers – it also handcuffs marketing. When marketing is forced to feed the sales machine with endless leads, there’s no room for strategic work like building trust or creating demand. It’s a vicious cycle that leaves both teams misaligned and frustrated.
If this sounds familiar, hopefully this gives you pause to rethink your approach. The predictable revenue model may have worked in the monopoly-money days of “growth at all costs,” but today’s buyers demand better. They expect meaningful, personalized interactions. Not a barrage of cold calls and canned pitches. Let’s stop churning through the market and start focusing on building long-term trust and value.
When Marketing and Sales Speak Different Languages
If you’ve ever been in a meeting where marketing is celebrating while sales is lamenting, you’ve seen first-hand what happens when teams speak different languages.
The problem isn’t effort on behalf of market or sales – it was focus. Marketing was chasing MQLs, handing them off to sales, and calling it a day. But nobody stopped to ask whether those leads were actually closing. As Sam put it:
“How do you define an MQL? What’s going into the top? If one team surpasses goals while the other misses, it’s clear there’s no alignment”.
Sam Kuehnle – The B2B Playbook
This disconnect often stems from the predictable revenue model itself. SDRs are pressured to book meetings at all costs, regardless of lead quality or fit. “SDRs churn through the market, booking meetings at all costs. They’re undertrained, not well-educated on the product, and it leads to churn city,” Sam explained.
What’s worse is the ripple effect. Sales teams waste time on unqualified leads, marketing burns through budget generating them, and both teams are left frustrated when revenue doesn’t materialize. It’s a lose-lose situation.
This is something we’ve covered extensively with Adem Manderovic in our 5 part mini-series.
The solution? Stop treating marketing and sales like separate entities. When teams collaborate on shared goals, like pipeline quality or revenue generation, suddenly the handoff becomes a lot easier. It’s no longer about quantity for marketing or revenue for sales; it’s about working together to achieve real business impact.
If you’re still rewarding teams for hitting siloed KPIs, it’s time to rethink your approach. Because if your teams aren’t aligned, your buyers are the ones paying the price.
How Demand Generation Aligns Teams and Drives Growth
Imagine a world where buyers already know, trust, and want to work with you before you’ve even made contact. That’s the power of demand generation. It’s not about bombarding the market with cold calls or hitting SDR quotas, it’s about creating trust and awareness long before a buyer enters the market.
As Sam Kuehnle puts it, the goal is to “win before Google.” He explains, “We want buyers to already know us, trust us, and come directly to us when they’re ready”. By focusing on building relationships early, demand generation ensures that marketing and sales aren’t starting from scratch with every prospect.
This approach also creates seamless alignment between marketing and sales. At Loxo, marketing provides broad “air cover,” generating awareness and trust across the market, while sales focuses on high-priority accounts.
“We operate in an ecosystem. Marketing provides air cover to the entire market while sales focuses on active accounts, all working toward one shared goal: new customer acquisition”
Sam Kuehnle – The B2B Playbook
The results speak for themselves. Loxo converts over 33% of demo requests into closed-won deals. As Sam explains, the challenge isn’t the product—it’s ensuring enough people know about it: “The issue isn’t our product—it’s getting more people to know who we are. That’s why demand generation matters” (5:37).
Unlike the predictable revenue model, which prioritizes volume at the expense of quality, demand generation flips the script. Instead of chasing prospects who’ve never heard of you, you’re nurturing a market that’s already familiar with your value. “Instead of SDRs churning through the market, we create demand so that when we reach out, buyers already know who we are and have a positive association with us”.
This is why I love the mindset that comes with modern Demand Generation. It doesn’t just drive revenue, it aligns teams and builds trust in the process. If you’re tired of the churn-and-burn cycle, it’s time to think bigger. Focus on creating demand, not just capturing it.
Driving Alignment By Ditching Attribution
For too long, marketing and sales have operated in silos, each chasing their own metrics. It’s inefficient, frustrating, and ultimately costs businesses deals. At Loxo, Sam Kuehnle has flipped the script by building what he calls an “ecosystem.” Instead of separate teams, marketing, sales, and BDRs operate as one unit with a shared goal: acquiring new customers. Sam explains,
“We don’t care if one team misses and another team excels because our go-to-market efforts are built around one shared goal: new customer acquisition,”
Sam Kuehnle – The B2B Playbook
This approach eliminates the blame game and focuses everyone on what truly matters – revenue.
One way Loxo achieves this is through account grading. “We grade our accounts into A, B, and C segments. Marketing provides air cover to the whole market, while AEs and BDRs focus more on A and B accounts”. This ensures that sales resources are concentrated on the highest-value opportunities while marketing supports broader brand-building efforts.
The team’s distributed structure also plays a role in fostering alignment. Instead of bogging everyone down with endless meetings, they embrace asynchronous communication. “We’re heavy async. We use Slack for quick communication and reserve biweekly meetings for larger items that need deeper discussion”. This setup keeps the team nimble and focused without sacrificing collaboration.
Another game changer for Sam and the team has been ditching attribution battles. It’s not about who gets credit; it’s about looking at what works and growing in the same direction. This mindset shifts the focus from internal competition to collective success.
Moving Away from Predictable Revenue to Demand Generation
Shifting from predictable revenue to demand generation isn’t easy. For most companies, this transition feels like stepping off a cliff. The fear of disrupting the status quo holds many back, but as Sam Kuehnle explains, easing into it often does more harm than good. “You can try to ease into it, but you’re going to see diminished results from the lead gen model, and you extend the timeline. That’s why I say just rip the bandaid off. It’s faster and more effective” .
That said, ripping the bandaid off doesn’t mean going in blind. Sam implemented a phased plan to win leadership buy-in and ensure the shift was measurable. For example, he detailed: “Here’s what we’re going to do with pipeline, revenue, and growth. After 90 days, check progress. After 365, see how it’s tracking. That way, leadership could see that our strategy was working”. This gave stakeholders confidence in the process and set clear expectations.
A key part of Loxo’s transition involved reallocating resources to focus on efficiency. Sam pulled budget from paid search – despite it driving some results – and reinvested in organic and direct channels, which delivered better ROI. “We pulled budget from Google Ads. While it brought in customers, we saw higher efficiency in organic and direct. It’s about investing where you get more bang for your buck”.
Of course, none of this would have been possible without leadership trust. Loxo’s CEO embraced a forward-thinking mindset that empowered Sam to implement change. “Our CEO’s mindset was, ‘I don’t know what I don’t know, so I’m bringing in people who do.’ That trust was crucial to making the shift successfully”.
Transitioning to demand generation is about playing the long game. You need to invest in strategies that build awareness, trust, and sustainable growth. It’s not the easiest path, but as Sam’s results show, it’s the one that works. If you’re ready to leave predictable revenue behind, start by setting clear milestones, earning leadership buy-in, and focusing your efforts on channels that drive real efficiency.
Results of Demand Generation
If you’re wondering whether demand generation really delivers results, Loxo’s story provides a resounding “yes.” Since implementing this approach, they’ve experienced consistent, measurable growth. As Sam Kuehnle puts it, “We’ve been up and to the right the entire time I’ve been here, quarter over quarter. That’s a testament to the overall strategy working”.
One of the most striking impacts is how demand generation has transformed sales dynamics. Instead of cold calls and uninformed pitches, buyers now arrive ready to engage. “Prospects get on calls saying, ‘I feel like I know you already because I’ve been listening to the podcast and seeing your posts.’ It’s no longer about who we are; it’s about how we can help”. This shift makes sales more consultative and less transactional, creating stronger, trust-based relationships with buyers.
Anecdotally, we experience this ourselves at The B2B Playbook all the time. Before working with us or taking one of our courses, many have either watched The B2B Playbook on YouTube, followed us on LinkedIn, listened to a podcast episode, read our articles, or subscribe to our newsletter.
The strategy has also enhanced brand affinity and market presence. “When buyers come to market, they already know us and trust us. They see our value and are ready to engage when the timing aligns”. This approach ensures Loxo stays top-of-mind, even for prospects not currently in-market.
Why Demand Generation Is Essential
Demand generation isn’t just a strategy – it’s a mindset shift that modern B2B teams need to embrace. Throughout this article and our conversation with Sam, we’ve explored the pitfalls of the predictable revenue model, the disconnect it creates between marketing and sales, and the inefficiencies it introduces into your go-to-market efforts. The solution? A demand generation approach that prioritizes alignment, trust, and long-term growth.
Here are three key takeaways from what we’ve covered:
- Align Teams for Success:
Demand generation transforms marketing and sales from separate silos into a cohesive ecosystem. As we saw in Sam Kuehnle’s example at Loxo, shared goals like pipeline quality and customer acquisition eliminate the internal blame game and focus everyone on driving results. It’s not about who gets credit – it’s about what works. - Build Trust with Buyers:
Traditional lead-gen tactics often alienate buyers with irrelevant and impersonal outreach. Demand generation flips the script, focusing on building trust and awareness long before a buyer is ready to engage. Sam’s experience shows how buyers come to sales conversations already informed and eager to learn how a solution fits their needs. It’s sales made consultative, not transactional. - Invest in Sustainable Growth:
The days of throwing money at paid channels and hoping for the best are over. Demand generation shifts resources to efficient, impactful strategies like organic search and direct traffic. As Loxo experienced, this not only improves ROI but also establishes a long-term foundation for consistent growth.
Every business reaches a point where the old ways stop working. If you’re ready to evolve your approach, start with demand generation. Focus on aligning your teams, creating trust with buyers, and building a sustainable strategy that delivers value over time. It’s not a quick fix, but the results – better team dynamics, stronger buyer relationships, and predictable growth – are worth every step of the journey.