Enterprise CAC Modeling

CAC modeling for enterprise B2B companies.

This topic came up recently in a Slack channel I'm part of with lots of great marketing leaders.

Here's what I shared:

For cycles >6 months, I’ve focused on qualified opportunities for conversions and CAC.

It’s so hard to do anything meaningful with a long feedback loop, which shortens it significantly because you typically know within 30 days if it is a qualified opportunity.

From there, it is a matter of discounting CAC by whatever the average conversion rate is from qualified opportunity to closed-won.

For example: if the qualified opportunity to closed-won conversion rate is 20%, multiply your cost to acquire a qualified opportunity by 5.

It’s still fairly rough and shouldn't be reported as actual CAC, but it frees marketing to move at their own pace and test things faster.

How do you approach CAC calculations (for marketing investment purposes) in companies where the sales cycle is 6+ months?