The second Friday in January is officially called 'Quitters Day'—for anyone who's dropped their health resolutions within the first two weeks.

We've noticed a similar pattern in revenue teams. By mid-to-late January, many Demand Gen and BDR leaders are already significantly behind on meeting and pipeline targets.

How pipeline panic day derails revenue teams in January

Signs you're already behind on pipeline

Seven proven tips to close the pipeline gap

And the best part? We can celebrate it anytime toward the end of January. Why? That’s when Demand Gen, Growth, and BDR leaders come to the gut-wrenching realization: they’re already way off track. And all the same problems from 2024? Surprise! Those same problems from 2024 carried right into the new year.

Attributing slow January starts to holiday slowdowns was always a delay tactic.

It turns out that blaming the sluggish start on holiday hangovers was just a way to delay the inevitable. Now, after only three weeks, you are playing pipeline catch-up again. The worst part is that the gap just keeps getting bigger by the day.

“Pipeline Panic Day” is the worst; I know this from personal experience. However, it doesn’t have to be. In fact, you can start making up the pipeline gap with these seven proven tips:

1. Tier your accounts: If your organization is still trying to launch an ABM motion, start by tiering your accounts based on their level of engagement. An ABM platform can assist with prioritization. UserGems takes a different approach: signal-based scoring tied to buyer movement, with AI agents that act on that data across all three tiers.
   • Tier 1: would be your 1:1 plays going after only your top accounts
   • Tier 2: 1:few for accounts with slightly less engagement
   • Tier 3: 1:many for accounts showing low to no intent. Consider leveraging UserGems' Gem-E family of specialized AI agents to prioritize and personalize at scale across all three tiers, accelerating pipeline across your entire account list. ‍
2. Reallocate your time and budget toward channels that produce high-converting leads within your target accounts.(Content Syndication, AdWords, etc…) and are of little help when trying to penetrate your target accounts. These channels may be semi-decent for awareness, aircover, and/or to build your database for long-term nurture, but they rarely produce immediately actionable leads that convert to pipeline. ‍
3. Start focusing on bringing in contacts with actionable signals. Signals that allow your BDR team to have immediate conversations with your prospects. Past champions who have changed jobs, ‘closed lost’ contacts who’ve moved on, new hires, promotions, and even lateral moves give you an excellent opportunity to engage your prospects on a more human level and get your foot in the door with your most important accounts ‍ 💡 Pro tip: When reaching out to a past champion who just changed jobs, reference their previous context specifically—why they evaluated your product before, what they cared about. That relevance does more than any send-a-gift campaign. ‍
4. Eliminate lead handoff terminology. Campaign teams that disengage after handing off leads to BDRs will consistently miss their targets. Work closely with your BDR team to ensure they are armed with everything they need to set meetings and push them to hit all agreed-upon SLAs. Remarketing and retargeting campaigns are a great way to provide air cover for your BDRs. ‍
5. BDRs own the process past the meeting accept, not just up to it. BDR teams must remain engaged and accountable well beyond the point when sales accepts a meeting. Hold your sales team accountable to SLAs and ensure that honest feedback flows both ways. ‍
6. Demand Gen should continue to provide support and pipeline progression campaigns throughout the buyer's journey. Revenue teams now run demand generation and progression campaigns across the entire buyer's journey, from awareness through close. ‍
7. Mid-funnel is where most teams underinvest.
   Live events, executive roundtables, and invite-only webinars where you can show the product in context convert better than long-form content for accounts already in your pipeline. If a contact from a target account just joined a new company, that's the moment to invite them—not send them a white paper. When was the last time you sat down and read an eBook or White Paper end to end? Instead, focus on more digestible short-form content, such as case studies, blogs, and quick “Wow” moment videos. Then, further down the funnel, run live events that show your product or service in action.
   While in-person events are ideal, they aren’t always feasible. Use online executive roundtables and invite-only webinars to accomplish the same thing. These mid-funnel events, where you can demonstrate and discuss your offerings, are crucial for fostering an evangelistic sale and are more impactful than long-form content.

These seven moves won't fix pipeline overnight, but they'll stop the gap from widening. Pipeline Panic Day is a signal—not a sentence. Start with signals, tighten your handoffs, and keep Demand Gen in the deal past the top of funnel.

Learn how to select accounts that convert and build an ABM program that drives pipeline, here.