Research
Research that defines the practice.
Tenbound has tracked sales development for years. The research turns that history into benchmarks, frameworks, and market maps the whole category uses.
A decade of real B2B campaigns, 1,000+ B2B brands, millions of calls, emails, and meetings, 30B intent signals.
01 / The papers
The library, read online.
Full research papers with figures, methods, and references. Everything reads online, nothing downloads. One work email opens every paper, current and future.
TB-R-2026-01 June 2026 · 14 min
The Pipeline Maturity Model: a measurement framework for sales development organizations
Maturity models fail when they are badges rather than instruments. This paper specifies the Tenbound Pipeline Maturity Model as a measurement framework: four levels (Manual, Assisted, Orchestrated, Autonomous) scored independently across six pillars (Market, Signal, Message, Motion, Mastery, Measurement), with observable descriptors per cell, a scoring protocol, and known failure modes of self-assessment. The instrument is designed so two trained assessors reach the same placement from the same evidence.
Measurement
TB-R-2026-02 June 2026 · 12 min
Pipeline arithmetic: a quantitative framework for capacity, conversion, and the rate-versus-volume decision
Pipeline creation is a multiplicative system: a target number of qualified meetings divided through a chain of conversion rates yields the required activity volume. This paper formalizes the arithmetic, derives its central managerial consequence (improving the weakest rate compounds while adding volume is linear and bounded by hours), works the sensitivity analysis, and specifies the measurement conditions under which the math holds, chiefly honest stage definitions.
Measurement
TB-R-2026-03 June 2026 · 13 min
The division of labor in AI-era sales development: a delegation framework
Field experiments establish that generative AI raises novice performance most and that its capability frontier is jagged: quality rises sharply on tasks inside the frontier and judgment degrades on tasks just outside it. This paper translates those findings into an operating instrument for sales development: the delegation map, which assigns every task in the pipeline motion to one of three lanes (delegate, direct, own), attaches a named review point to the first two, and versions as the frontier moves. We specify the construction protocol, the review-point design rules, and the audit cadence.
Mastery
TB-R-2026-04 June 2026 · 12 min
A taxonomy of buying signals: families, decay, and the signal-to-play mapping
Signal-led outbound outperforms list-order outbound because signals mark the destabilization of a buyer's status quo, but signal is an umbrella term covering events with very different evidential value and very different half-lives. This paper proposes a six-family taxonomy (hiring, funding, leadership change, launch, technology motion, and behavioral intent), characterizes each family's typical decay profile and failure modes, and specifies the signal-to-play mapping that turns a detected signal into a prioritized, relevant motion.
Signal
Looking for the shorter reads? Insights publishes the reviews and archive notes, open to everyone, no email asked.
Institute Membership
The papers are open to every reader. Members get what readers do not: the benchmark data cuts, the working documentation our engagements run on, and two inquiry calls per quarter with the Institute.
02 / The library
Six streams of research.
State of Sales Development
Benchmarks on teams, structure, systems, people, and pipeline. Built on 900+ companies historically.
AI in Sales Development
How teams apply AI to research, messaging, and workflows, and where it actually pays off.
Pipeline Architecture
Frameworks for designing the system that creates qualified pipeline.
Sales Technology Market Map
The category map for the tools and platforms that run pipeline creation.
graph8 Field Notes
Operator lessons from real graph8 workflows and AI execution data.
CIENCE Campaign Intelligence
De-identified lessons from real outbound campaigns across years of programs.
Start here
Put the research to work.
Benchmarks are most useful next to your own numbers. Talk to a GTM expert to see where you stand against the practice.
Tenbound GTM Expert · 30 min
Before you go
Take the reading list with you.
The Briefing is one research summary per issue: the finding, the evidence, and the practice change, with citations you can check. Written by the Institute, not by a marketing calendar.