How to communicate lead generation results to your exec team

Read time: 7 minutes

Securing executive buy-in for lead generation is far more nuanced than presenting a slide full of figures. It means translating those figures into a narrative that resonates with board-level priorities and financial outcomes. Executives expect more than top-line numbers; they want to understand how marketing investments are accelerating growth, strengthening competitive position, reducing acquisition costs, and creating sustainable revenue streams.

This requires speaking their language rather than relying on vanity metrics. It also means showing how marketing activities align with broader corporate strategies, whether that’s market expansion, diversification, or operational efficiency.

By aligning your reporting with executive expectations, you’ll elevate marketing from a tactical cost centre to a strategic growth engine that commands investment and trust.

1. Lead with outcomes, not activity

Executives respond to tangible impact, not a list of completed tasks. They’re interested in whether marketing is helping accelerate revenue growth, reduce risk, and improve efficiency across the organisation.

Instead of focusing on the number of emails sent, webinars hosted, or ads run, emphasise the business effect. Use financial metrics and ratios they already monitor, such as return on marketing investment, cost per acquisition, or pipeline coverage ratios.

Instead of: "We delivered 3,000 leads this quarter."

Try: "Our lead generation activity created £1.2m in qualified pipeline, reduced average cost per SQL by 15% against target, shortened the sales cycle by seven days, and directly supported expansion into the EMEA market by surfacing 200 high-fit accounts."

2. Connect results to strategic goals

Tie your results directly to the boardroom agenda. If the company is targeting a new sector, go beyond reporting lead counts by demonstrating how many high-fit leads came from that market, the seniority of those contacts, and how far they’ve progressed in the funnel.

If the mandate is improving ROI, highlight efficiency gains such as higher lead-to-opportunity conversion rates, shorter deal cycles, and reduced cost per opportunity. If leadership is focused on retention or upsell, show how campaigns have influenced existing accounts and driven cross-sell opportunities.

Explain how marketing outcomes feed into overarching objectives like market share growth, customer acquisition, product adoption, and profitability. Demonstrating these links reframes your report from a marketing update into a strategic performance review that aligns with investor expectations and boardroom KPIs.

Recommended reading: Inside the buying group: how to market to every stakeholder

Instead of: "We generated 500 leads in the new healthcare vertical."

Try: "Our campaigns in the healthcare vertical surfaced 500 high-fit leads, of which 120 progressed to SQLs representing £3.5m in pipeline. This directly supports the company’s strategic goal of expanding healthcare market share by 15% in 2025."

3. Use a balanced mix of metrics

Executives don’t need every metric, but they do need a comprehensive snapshot that illustrates scale, value, and efficiency. The goal is to connect your marketing metrics to outcomes that resonate with the boardroom, demonstrating how marketing drives profitability, reduces risk, and contributes to growth. A balanced scorecard approach ensures your reporting is holistic without being overwhelming.

Include:

• Volume: Show overall lead flow but focus on how many advanced to SQLs or opportunities. Include MQL to SQL conversion rates and sales acceptance, not just raw counts.
• Value: Emphasise pipeline value influenced, contribution to closed-won deals, and changes in deal size. This highlights business impact rather than marketing-only metrics.
• Efficiency: Frame cost per lead (CPL) and cost per SQL alongside pipeline velocity and ROI, making it clear how marketing efficiency accelerates revenue growth.

For each category, briefly explain why you’ve chosen these metrics, linking them to profitability, efficiency, or strategic expansion goals. For example, pipeline velocity demonstrates how quickly opportunities move through the funnel, which directly impacts forecast reliability and revenue predictability.

Instead of: "We generated 2,000 MQLs last quarter."

Try: "Last quarter, we generated 2,000 MQLs, of which 600 were accepted as SQLs, influencing £4.8m in pipeline with an average deal size 12% higher than the previous quarter. This shows that our lead quality improvements are directly contributing to larger deal values and stronger revenue forecasts."

4. Highlight buyer engagement signals

Prove that leads are more than database entries by showing how they’re engaging in meaningful ways throughout the journey.

Executives want evidence that the names in the CRM have genuine buying intent, not just surface-level interactions. That means providing details on both the depth and quality of engagement, not just the volume.

Present:

• The percentage engaging with multiple content assets and returning for further touchpoints
• Average time from first touch to SQL or opportunity, showing velocity of progression
• Intent data trends (topics, solutions, or competitor content being researched) that indicate priority areas for buyers
• Re-engagement success rates for dormant leads and how those efforts contributed to pipeline
• Multichannel engagement indicators, such as email, event, and social interactions, that build a richer picture of buyer activity

Adding these signals demonstrates how leads are moving closer to purchase decisions and gives executives confidence that pipeline forecasts are based on behaviour-backed data rather than optimistic projections.

Instead of: "We captured 1,500 new contacts this quarter."

Try: "Of the 1,500 new contacts added this quarter, 62% engaged with three or more content assets, 40% progressed to SQLs within 30 days, and intent data revealed a surge in interest around cloud security solutions. This behaviour-driven engagement shows that we are attracting prospects with genuine buying intent who are moving swiftly through the funnel."

5. Show benchmarks and comparisons

Frame your results within relevant benchmarks to give executives confidence that performance is being judged fairly and objectively.

Numbers in isolation can feel abstract; benchmarks provide the comparative lens that shows whether marketing is exceeding expectations, holding steady, or falling behind. They also help frame the narrative around improvement, providing context for where resources should be focused or where corrective action is needed:

• Compare quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year trends to highlight growth momentum or identify seasonal patterns
• Measure against industry performance data to demonstrate competitiveness within the wider market
• Show performance versus internal targets and forecast models to illustrate progress against commitments

Benchmarks build credibility and make it easier to assess whether performance is exceptional, solid, or requires intervention. They also allow you to demonstrate improvement over time and resilience against external pressures such as market downturns or competitor activity.

Recommended reading: What a good lead generation partner actually looks like

Instead of: "Our CPL this quarter was £135"

Try: "Our CPL this quarter was £135, which is 12% below the industry benchmark of £153 and 8% better than our internal target of £147. This shows we are acquiring leads more efficiently than competitors while outperforming our own forecasted expectations."

6. Visualise your data

Condense complexity into simple, impactful visuals that translate data into an executive-friendly format.

Executives often don’t have time to digest rows of figures, but they’ll quickly understand and remember a well-designed funnel chart, heat map, or pipeline attribution diagram.

Use visuals such as channel contribution charts to show which sources drive the most qualified pipeline, velocity graphs to highlight how fast leads are moving through the funnel, or ROI dashboards that clearly display return on spend by campaign. Pair each visual with a short headline or takeaway to reinforce the message and ensure the insight is immediately clear.

Instead of: "Here is a spreadsheet of all campaign metrics from last quarter."

Try: "This funnel chart illustrates how last quarter’s campaigns contributed £6.2m in pipeline, with paid search delivering the fastest velocity and content syndication generating the highest ROI."

7. End with clear recommendations

Don’t just present results, prescribe next steps. Executives expect to hear how marketing plans to act on the findings, not just report on them. This could mean recommending budget reallocations toward high-performing channels, refining targeting using insights from intent data, doubling down on tactics that shorten sales cycles, or piloting new formats like interactive content, partner campaigns, or ABM plays. You can also highlight areas where underperformance suggests a need for corrective action, such as rethinking messaging or reallocating spend away from low-yield sources.

By offering data-backed recommendations, you shift from being a passive reporter of outcomes to an active strategist who influences business decisions and amplifies success in the next quarter.

Instead of: "Here are the campaign results from Q2."

Try: "Here are the Q2 results, along with three recommended actions:

1. Increase investment in paid social, which generated £2m pipeline at the lowest CPL
2. Refine targeting around accounts showing surging interest in AI solutions,
3. Reallocate £50k from underperforming display ads into ABM plays.

These steps will build on what’s working and strengthen weaker areas going into Q3."

Turning reporting into influence

The most effective lead generation reporting for executives blends concise, relevant metrics with a clear narrative and strategic alignment. By consistently linking your work to revenue impact, organisational goals, and buyer insights, you’ll position marketing as a primary driver of business growth, not simply a cost centre.

By packaging results in a way that demonstrates strategic foresight, you create opportunities to shape future investment decisions, gain executive sponsorship for new initiatives, and embed marketing at the heart of commercial planning. When your reporting balances evidence, context, and recommendations, it stops being a backwards-looking update and becomes a forward-looking tool for growth.