The hard case: software, consultancy, machinery, business services. Twenty leads a month, every sale worth €8,000, a two-month cycle, and half the form submissions are students, competitors and suppliers. Everything Smart Bidding needs (volume, speed, a clean signal) is in short supply. The architecture compensates for each shortage.
The three shortages and how to compensate
| Shortage | Compensation |
|---|---|
| Few conversions (20/month) | Consolidate: one portfolio for all lead generation; intermediate conversions (qualified, meeting) as primary to multiply the signal |
| A long cycle (60 days) | 90-day windows; upload intermediate stages within weeks rather than waiting for the sale; a judge with a long window and patience |
| A dirty signal (50% junk) | Lead scoring from day one: raw with a rating, qualified as primary |
Structure
SEARCH · Brand 90% share
SEARCH · Problem (generic) ┐
SEARCH · Solution (category) ├─ ACQUISITION portfolio · target ROAS on expected lead value
SEARCH · Competitors (conquest) ┘
DG · Remarketing + lookalikes of customers its own target CPA (cycle)
DISPLAY· 90-day remarketing its own target CPA
Ad groups by stage intent: "problem" (early informational-commercial, a content landing page with a guide form), "solution" (comparison, a product landing page with a demo), "competitors" (a differentiation message). Few keywords, exact and phrase; broad only in "solution" with a whitelist (B2B vocabulary is a closed set).
Conversions and values
| Action | Type | Value | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw form | Secondary (or primary with a rating if you bid on value) | Rating 0-100 | Instantly |
| Qualified lead | Primary | €400 (20% close rate × €2,000 margin) | Days |
| Meeting / demo held | Primary | €800 | 1-2 weeks |
| Proposal sent | Secondary, or offline with a value | €1,500 | Weeks |
| Sale | Primary (offline) | Real margin | 2 months |
With qualified leads and meetings as primary actions, the portfolio receives 40-60 signals a month instead of 20 form submissions (half of them junk) or 4 sales: the volume Smart Bidding needs, with the quality the business needs.
Lead scoring is not optional
With 50% junk forms, optimising on the raw form is optimising for junk; waiting for the sale means waiting two months for 4 data points. The rating (layers A-C: behaviour, actions, source) gives a quality signal the same day and, with sales reps tagging stages, monthly recalibration. In B2B it is the difference between a manageable account and a lottery.
Demand Gen and remarketing for the cycle
Over the two months of the decision, the buyer is comparing. 90-day remarketing (Display and Demand Gen) with consideration content (cases, comparisons, a webinar), not the same ad again; closed leads and existing customers excluded; low frequency. Judged on assisted conversions (paths) and incrementality, not on last click.
Planning and judging with long cycles
- Judging windows of 60-90 days, excluding the lag; a minimum reference volume of 10 conversions (qualified leads + meetings).
- A stable budget: budget experiments need months; better to scale in small, long steps.
- B2B seasonality (summer, year-end): an annual plan with an index and a reserve.
- Monthly report: cost per qualified lead, per meeting, per customer; the calibration curve; performance by campaign with the uploaded sales.
Typical B2B mistakes
- The form as the only primary action (the SaaS case from Basic).
- 30-day windows with 60-day cycles: half the sales are never attributed.
- Campaigns per product with 3 conversions each.
- Judging every month: with 20 leads, a month is noise.
- PDF downloads with a high value "so we have data".
💡 Ninja trick: long-cycle B2B is where Lead Rating and the SBNS judge work together most closely: the rating gives a daily signal, the intermediate stages uploaded via GCLID give a weekly one, and the judge with its long window and minimum volume stops you touching the portfolio over the noise of one weak month. Automated patience.
What you should remember
- Compensate for the three shortages: consolidate (a single portfolio), intermediate stages as primary actions with values, scoring from day one.
- Structure by stage intent (problem / solution / competitors), a closed vocabulary with a whitelist.
- 60-90 day windows, patient judgement, consideration remarketing.
- The form is not the conversion; the qualified lead and the meeting are.