30 Oct · 23 min

Let's Not Fight Over Attribution, We're All on the Same Boat | Katie Sadler

In this episode of Marketers of Technology, Andres talks with Katie Sadler (https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiesadler/), Founder and Principal at SDLR Consulting (https://www.sdlrconsulting.com), which helps B2B companies with complex sales turn market interest into growth. Katie has worked across higher education, software, the outdoor industry, and insurtech, founding the marketing department at Digisure and serving as CMO at CLARA Analytics before launching her fractional CMO and go-to-market practice. She explains why she leads with structure, how a category-creating company like Digisure had to educate its market, what role LinkedIn and trade shows play in insurtech, how she thinks about AI-enabled workflows, and why smaller companies should track good deals in the pipeline instead of chasing every funnel metric. Topics Discussed: - Katie's path through higher ed, software, the outdoor industry, and insurtech, including founding marketing at Digisure and serving as CMO at CLARA Analytics - Why she started SDLR Consulting and the structure-first, systems-thinking approach she brings as a fractional CMO - The types of companies she works with: B2B teams where executives are still too involved in sales and the revenue team needs structure to scale - Her first steps in a new engagement: gathering scattered internal knowledge, talking to sales, clarifying the ideal customer profile, and agreeing on a North Star - Marketing a category-creating company at Digisure, where customers were peer-to-peer marketplaces that underestimated how complicated and costly insurance would be - Why education, an insurance-expert background, and ongoing support were central to connecting with that market - How LinkedIn and trade shows like InsureTech Connect work in insurtech, and why trade shows are not something you just show up to - How she markets SDLR Consulting through LinkedIn, her newsletter, and in-person events - Using Claude and ChatGPT as thought partners and breaking go-to-market workflows into AI-enabled and human-led steps - How AI raises expectations of flawless output and makes teams busier without necessarily making them more thoughtful - Why smaller companies should focus on good deals in the pipeline and closed revenue rather than MQLs, SQLs, and attribution fights GTM & Technology Adoption Lessons: - Start by connecting what the team already knows. Katie finds that sales, product, and executives each hold valuable information in silos, so she begins by gathering it and agreeing on where the business is trying to go. - Educate first when you're creating a category. At Digisure, buyers didn't realize how complicated and expensive insurance would become, so education on why insurance matters opened the door to selling. - Lead with credibility in regulated industries. Insurtech decisions are high stakes and relationship-driven, so expertise and ongoing support matter as much as the product. - Use trade shows strategically. Events can be valuable, but small budgets can disappear into passes and booths without a plan for meeting the right people. - Design workflows to be AI native. She breaks go-to-market processes into steps and decides which should be AI-enabled and which should remain human-led, so people can focus on relationships and nuance. - Make time to think, not just to produce. AI makes it easier to be busy, so teams still need to step back and ask what message they are sending and what they are trying to achieve. - Keep metrics simple at earlier stages. For the companies she works with, good deals in the pipeline and the size of closed revenue matter more than a pile of funnel metrics. - Stop fighting over attribution. Katie encourages sales and marketing to work as one team, figure out what works, scale it, and add complexity later. // Sponsors: Front Lines — Silicon Valley's leading Podcast Production Studio. We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. Mention you are a listener and get a 10% discount. www.FrontLines.io/Podcast-as-a-Service