Most B2B companies have a brick wall between sales and marketing. Marketing says “we’re delivering leads.” Sales says “these leads are trash.” Everyone thinks they’re doing their job, but revenue suffers.
Justin Bergeson is a fractional CRO (Chief Revenue Officer) who transforms under-performing sales teams into revenue engines. As a fractional Chief Revenue Officer, he replaces outdated, activity-driven sales models with quality-focused systems designed around actual buyer behavior.
With 20+ years of B2B sales leadership in Healthcare and Tech, Justin Bergeson partners with CEOs who are tired of hoping harder effort will finally move the needle. His superpower: unifying sales and marketing into one sustainable revenue system.
Break Down the Wall Between Sales and Marketing
The conversation happens at every B2B company: “We need more leads.”
Justin reveals why this is the wrong problem to solve.
The real issue: “Marketing is doing their job and delivering more leads. You said you want more leads. But what is the process of working those leads? And that’s where a lot of companies fail.”
The statistics are shocking: “I was researching this not long ago and 35 percent of leads are never even followed up with. I mean never even contacted by sales.”
Let that sink in. More than one in three leads that your marketing team worked hard to generate never receive a single phone call or email from sales.
Why this happens: There’s no established process for how to work leads effectively and efficiently.
“We all know that the speed to lead is critically important,” Justin explains. “And that’s both B2C and also B2B. If someone comes in there needs to be a very strict established process that here is how we work this lead as effectively and efficiently as possible.”
Why Speed to Lead Matters
“Because it is so hard to get outbound leads. It’s a new world and things are changing. If a lead comes inbound and they show interest that is gold. And I mean the most valuable thing that the salesperson has going. And they need to be worked effectively.”
But most companies don’t have this methodical process in place.
“And the sales processes in place need to be methodically designed and trained of how we’re going to work that lead which again isn’t a pitch deck. It is a discovery and it’s about them you know not about how great our company is.”
This goes back to professional, client-curious sales methodology. But here’s where the problem gets worse.
The Brick Wall
“There’s the rub between sales and marketing. Right. Because you know you hear all the time I need more leads. And then you know sales is going to come back and say well we work those leads and they were all trash.”
“This is the brick wall. This is the brick wall between sales and marketing.”
Justin and Corinne see this dynamic at every company they work with. The technology can bring teams close, but something fundamental is still wrong.
The Fix: Explicit Agreement and Shared Outcomes
“I think that there’s not an explicit agreement that number one we’re in this together. We’re on the same team. What does qualified really mean? Who is our ideal customer profile? And how do we kind of measure what qualified is?”
Justin Bergeson and Corinne work together to ensure teams are on the same page about what they’re looking for and what needs to happen when they get a qualified lead.
The methodology: “We want quality leads. We want the right leads. It’s not about volume. It’s about generating the best leads that we can so they can then seamlessly flow into our established process to then work them the right way.”
This requires continuous evolution: “It needs to be a collaborative effort with continuous evolution of here’s what happened. Here’s what I liked is what didn’t work. So the teams can constantly be optimizing to the best number of leads that sales can actually work.”
The hard truth: “There’s no point in investing in leads that aren’t going to get contacted. Obviously that’s a waste of money.”
Creating a Safe Feedback Loop
The political challenge is real. “Sales is often hesitant to go over the other side of the wall and say hey these leads aren’t good right. Because you’re calling out your colleague. It makes for a really interesting like dicey political work environment.”
Justin and Corinne’s solution: Align teams so tightly in tactics and strategies that they feel comfortable giving real feedback.
“They have to be so aligned in the tactics and the strategies that they would feel comfortable doing that. Like hey I saw that new campaign. You know the leads are coming through. Like that was a lot of work. Thanks very much. And those were not the right leads right.”
“And those people need to feel comfortable and have a forum and a process to actually do that iterative feedback between so that both are feeling like they’re a part of the close.”
Marketing Must Own the Close
“That’s another thing is marketing is often outside the bubble of the close and they feel solely responsible for pipeline lead generation. Once they start to feel that they are in part responsible for the close because the lead quality bleeds through, then they’re starting to sort of wake up and pay attention.”
How this works in practice: “And the way that you do that is you’re getting leaders marketing leaders in your organization aligned with the top line goals, having P&L responsibility. And seeing the full picture alongside your sales leader or your CRO. And when they’re working in unison it sort of flows down because it’s all in unison right. They’re together at the top and it rolls down. The whole team feels comfortable chasing the revenue goals.”
When sales and marketing leaders are unified at the top around revenue outcomes (not just their departmental metrics), it flows down to the entire organization. This is the fractional CRO approach Justin brings to every engagement.
Pipeline Forecasting: The Most Dangerous Metric CEOs Obsess Over
CEOs love pipeline coverage. They want 3x pipeline. They want 5x pipeline. That big number makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Justin reveals why this obsession is actually killing revenue growth.
“The biggest damaging metric that CEOs focus on is pipeline coverage….and that makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside that they have, say, two million dollars in the pipeline for the next 30 days.”
The problem: “But a lot of that is unqualified, very low likelihood of closing those deals. It is a very dangerous number because they’re not measuring the quality of those pipeline deals and the measurable objective-based tactics that they could be employing to increase the likelihood of that deal.”
Why CEOs Focus on the Wrong Metrics
“A lot of CEOs and founders and sales leaders don’t really understand where revenue is coming from and what are the actions and tactics that can help improve that number. Instead they focus on what is easily measurable.”
This leads to a dangerous dynamic: “Oftentimes sales reps are managed to activity number of calls number of outbound emails. And that is not what drives revenue.”
Justin acknowledges there’s a baseline: “Obviously, there’s a baseline involved where you have to hit this threshold because you have to do the work.”
But here’s the problem: “When a sales rep gets so concerned about hitting their call number they’re going to optimize their sales day to hitting that call number not to driving revenue.”
Sales reps optimize for what they’re measured on. If you measure call volume, they’ll hit call volume—regardless of whether those calls actually move deals forward.
What Actually Drives Revenue
Instead of activity metrics and inflated pipeline coverage, Justin focuses on quality indicators and objective-based tactics.
The goal: increase the likelihood of deals actually closing, not just padding the pipeline with low-probability opportunities.
This means implementing measurable, objective qualification gates. It means understanding buyer behavior. It means sales processes designed around how buyers actually make decisions, not how salespeople wish they would.
As a fractional Chief Revenue Officer, Justin replaces these dangerous metrics with revenue systems that actually predict and drive growth.
The Hidden Cost of Sales Team Turnover: Turn 18-Month Reps Into 36-Month Stars
Most CEOs think about the cost of losing a salesperson in terms of recruiting and salary replacement.
Justin Bergeson reveals the terrifying hidden cost they’re completely missing.
“Here’s something that is terrifying. Salespeople don’t really hit their stride in a new company for 3 to 5 years. Now some people say closer to 2 years. But at 3 years they know the product. They know the problems. They are now effective at quality selling hopefully. And they’re just starting to produce.”
Let that sink in. Three to five years before a salesperson becomes truly effective.
The Math on Lost Territory Maturity
“So if you lose that obviously the hiring everything like that but all of that lost territory maturity is impossible to measure.”
And the churn is worse than most CEOs realize.
“Now combine that with high turnover rates in a sales organization that has 50 sales reps. And it is very realistic to lose 30 of those sales reps a year.”
30 out of 50 reps. Every single year.
The total cost: “That problem replacement costs lost revenue you’re talking four million dollars plus which is a major major issue.”
$4 million. And that’s just one year of turnover in a 50-person sales organization.
The Investment Opportunity
“So my argument and what I’m kind of passionate about is when you get a good salesperson or a great salesperson or if you get a they’re pretty good they are worth investing in and getting them to be happy in their role and developed over time.”
Most companies are stuck in a vicious cycle: “And now instead of always starting at your baseline and churning through people and never really growing…”
The breakthrough: “If you can turn your average tenure from 18 months to 36 months that is millions and millions of dollars in growth revenue.”
Think about that. Simply doubling the average tenure of your sales team from 18 months to 36 months = millions in incremental revenue growth.
Not from hiring more people. Not from working harder. From investing in the people you already have and helping them stay longer and become more effective.
Justin builds high-trust, high-performance cultures where wins come with and from people. Where caring about, listening to, and helping your people thrive with clarity and trust is the foundation for building a high-performance team.
This is what separates a fractional CRO from traditional sales consultants—Justin invests in your people, not just your processes.
The Biggest Reason Buyers Hesitate (And It’s Not Price)
When deals stall, most salespeople assume it’s about price, product fit, or timing. Justin reveals what’s actually happening.
“The biggest reason that buyers hesitate it has nothing to do with price. It has nothing to do with the product or the company. It has to do with fear and clarity.”
Fear and Clarity
“And when I say fear, a lot of these buyers, regardless of what their level or job title is, they don’t want to look like a fool, and they don’t want to make a mistake or even make a recommendation that might not be the best.” The core issue: “They’re worried about their own job as rule number one.”
This connects back to why pitch decks kill deals.
“That goes back to the excitement of the solutions provider that founder or that salesperson who’s so excited about their innovation. And call number one is the pitch deck that is the quickest way to lose a deal.”
Why Bad Sales Tactics Sometimes Work (And Why That’s Dangerous)
“Here’s the rub. Even poor sales tactics will work sometimes. And unfortunately, a lot of people learn well, hey, I got ABC company, and this is what I did, so this is what I’m going to do.”
But one success with a bad approach doesn’t validate the approach.
“When we need to look at the art of selling a lot more broadly across what everybody else is doing and what the studies are showing us and put those into our sales processes.”
The Magic Number: 11-15 Questions
“It’s not a debate that when you’re trying to solve somebody’s problems you need to start out by learning about them, and that magic number is 11 to 15 questions.”
When you ask 11-15 discovery questions focused on the buyer, something powerful happens:
“And you will be able to start uncovering those fears and you will be able to ensure understanding so the comfort level of making a decision exists.”
When Deals Stall, Don’t Turn the Knife
“What a lot of people do when that deal is stalling, and we’re past the time that this was supposed to close in an attempt to salvage the sale, they’ll go into discounts or something. That is very, very commonly trained, then they’ll go back to that pain and just start turning the knife…. This is the old-school approach, to say ‘Well what if you don’t do this what’s going to happen over time and these horrible things are going to happen.’”
But Justin says: “When in fact it’s just a clarity issue. The buyer is not confident about something.”
What Then? Questions
“We’ll go back to questions. And these questions should be pre-planned. I don’t have to think about them off the cuff because this is part of selling is knowing what could happen and being prepared for it.”
The solution: “All the buyer needs is for us to listen to what those fears are, and help him identify what the hesitation is and then communicate around that hesitation.”
It’s not about pain. It’s not about price. It’s about fear and clarity.
When you uncover the fear and provide the clarity, deals close.
This buyer-focused approach is central to how Justin Bergeson operates as a fractional Chief Revenue Officer—understanding the human psychology behind revenue decisions, not just the mechanics of sales processes.
Justin Bergeson: Fractional CRO with 20+ Years B2B Sales Leadership
Justin Bergeson is a fractional Chief Revenue Officer who transforms under-performing sales teams into revenue engines. As a fractional CRO, he replaces outdated, activity-driven sales models with quality-focused systems designed around actual buyer behavior—not wishful thinking about how sales ‘should’ work. He develops revenue strategies, provides product direction, implements sales playbooks, and leads teams directly. The result: better close rates, faster client acquisition, and sales processes that scale without heroics.
His superpower: Unifies sales and marketing into one sustainable revenue system.
Industries: Healthcare, Technology, B2B SaaS, Professional Services
Specialties: Sales operations, pipeline development, sales/marketing alignment, revenue strategy, consultative sales, sales playbooks, team building, CRM optimization
Justin is passionate about building high-trust, high-performance cultures where wins come with and from people. He believes caring about, listening to, and helping your people thrive with clarity and trust is the only way to build a high-performance team.
Ready to Transform Your Sales Team Into a Revenue Engine?
If your sales and marketing teams are working in silos, leads aren’t closing, or you’re tired of hoping harder effort will move the needle, fractional CRO Justin Bergeson can help.
Next Steps: Schedule a brief 20-minute call to share your goals and challenges. https://scheduler.zoom.us/corinne-cavanaugh/exploratory-w-corinne
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