Optum · Financial solutions · Oct 2025 – Apr 2026
Finding the pipeline marketing had already earned
Marketing was generating qualified leads that sales did not see in time. I traced the leak with data the business already had, rebuilt the handoff and planned the year around what worked.
Situation
The commercial financial solutions business needed more pipeline. Campaigns ran in every channel, but nobody could show what marketing contributed, and qualified leads waited weeks for a sales response.
My role
I owned campaign strategy and measurement across channels. Business-unit leadership then asked me to act as sales and marketing operations lead for the effort, working with sales, channel owners, brand and product marketing.
Results
Influenced pipeline reached nine figures. Lead volume grew through year-end, and sales acted on leads within days instead of weeks. The 2026 plan was the first built on measured channel performance.
What I changed
- Traced the funnel with existing toolsUsed the data platforms already in place to follow leads from first touch to sales action. That surfaced a backlog of qualified leads with no follow-up.
- Rebuilt the handoff with salesAgreed routing rules, a follow-up standard and a weekly lead review. Time to first sales action dropped from weeks to days.
- Aligned every channel to one messagePaid, email, on-site, partner lead generation and events ran the same targeting and message, which lifted lead volume through year-end.
- Planned the next year from evidenceMoved budget to the best-performing channels, set campaigns by quarter and forecast results from real conversion rates.
- Added ABM where speed matteredChose target segments with sales and passed intent signals to reps, giving in-year revenue a faster path.
Still in progress when my time on the project ended: sales-cycle support designed to move later-stage deals faster had launched but had not yet produced a measured result.
Work sample
Sample campaign plan and calendar
Representative sample that shows how I structure a plan. It is not an Optum document, and themes and timing are illustrative.
Channel roles in the plan
| Channel | Job in the plan | Primary measure |
|---|---|---|
| Paid search | Capture existing demand all year | Qualified leads and cost per qualified lead |
| Paid social | Reach target roles in flights tied to each campaign | Engaged accounts and landing page conversion |
| Email + nurture | Move known contacts toward a sales conversation | Leads reaching the scoring threshold |
| Website + on-site | Convert campaign traffic and test offers | Form conversion rate |
| Partner lead gen | Add reach in segments the house list misses | Lead-to-opportunity rate by partner |
| Events | Create conversations with target accounts | Meetings booked and pipeline influenced |
| ABM | Speed up pipeline in segments chosen with sales | Target accounts engaged and stage progression |
| Sales handoff | Route and act on every qualified lead | Time to first sales action |
How the forecast is built
Each quarter starts from the previous quarter’s real numbers. Expected leads by channel are multiplied by that channel’s qualification rate, sales acceptance rate and opportunity rate, then by average opportunity value. Budget moves toward the channels with the best cost per opportunity, and the forecast is checked against actuals in the monthly pipeline review.