Tricia Gellman's CMO Secrets (CMO, Box. ex-CMO Drift, Checkr, Salesforce Canada)
Thu Sep 11 2025
Most CMOs get stuck on "the ings."
Reporting. Optimizing. Automating. Emailing. Campaigning. MQL-ing.
Tricia Gellman thinks this is backwards.
She's led marketing at startups, big tech (Adobe, Salesforce), VCs, and is now the CMO at Box.
Her mindset: Be the "Chief Market Officer" instead of Chief Marketing Officer.
She walked through what that means on my podcast.
Takeaways:
1️⃣ Rep quota attainment is the CMO's real metric.
"The number one place where companies grow is when reps are confident and they like pick up the phone and they have a great conversation. Cause they're like, 'I won yesterday, I'm winning tomorrow.'"
Great CMOs focus on making it happen.
2️⃣ Intent without fit is just expensive noise.
"There's a lot of people that are just researching a category, researching a solution out there in the world, and they have zero intent to buy." Obsessing about intent without ICP understanding will drive your metrics off a cliff.
3️⃣ Focus on market dynamics, not marketing metrics.
The CMO should be able to see the bigger picture.
"What are we doing for whom and why? Not email open and close rates and website conversion numbers"
4️⃣ Pipeline councils can actually work
"Don't just show red/yellow/green dashboards. Make it about insights and action." Getting tactical and practical here pays off.
The best marketing leaders don't just report and optimize pipeline metrics. They understand the market, the business dynamics, and how to build sales confidence.
This conversation changed how I think about the CMO role.
Full episode here: https://www.peersignal.org/podcast
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.peersignal.org
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Most CMOs get stuck on "the ings." Reporting. Optimizing. Automating. Emailing. Campaigning. MQL-ing. Tricia Gellman thinks this is backwards. She's led marketing at startups, big tech (Adobe, Salesforce), VCs, and is now the CMO at Box. Her mindset: Be the "Chief Market Officer" instead of Chief Marketing Officer. She walked through what that means on my podcast. Takeaways: 1️⃣ Rep quota attainment is the CMO's real metric. "The number one place where companies grow is when reps are confident and they like pick up the phone and they have a great conversation. Cause they're like, 'I won yesterday, I'm winning tomorrow.'" Great CMOs focus on making it happen. 2️⃣ Intent without fit is just expensive noise. "There's a lot of people that are just researching a category, researching a solution out there in the world, and they have zero intent to buy." Obsessing about intent without ICP understanding will drive your metrics off a cliff. 3️⃣ Focus on market dynamics, not marketing metrics. The CMO should be able to see the bigger picture. "What are we doing for whom and why? Not email open and close rates and website conversion numbers" 4️⃣ Pipeline councils can actually work "Don't just show red/yellow/green dashboards. Make it about insights and action." Getting tactical and practical here pays off. The best marketing leaders don't just report and optimize pipeline metrics. They understand the market, the business dynamics, and how to build sales confidence. This conversation changed how I think about the CMO role. Full episode here: https://www.peersignal.org/podcast This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.peersignal.org