| "I grew pipeline from X to Y" | The baseline, the exact date range, and who else was working the account in that window. | A percentage with no denominator and no dates. | A percentage without a baseline cannot be wrong, which is why it gets used. Tripling a small number is ordinary. And revenue in that window almost never has one owner, so the honest version of this claim names the other people who were in it. |
| "I was CMO at [known company]" | The dates, the reporting line, and whether the role was employed, interim, fractional or advisory. | The logo, with no date range and no reporting line. | A logo wall flattens a three-month advisory into a three-year tenure. The reporting line matters just as much: a marketing lead reporting to a VP of Sales did a different job from one reporting to the CEO, whatever the title said. |
| "Here is a case study" | A conversation with the operator who was on the other side of it, and a direct question about what the engagement did not fix. | A polished reference who cannot name a single thing that went badly. | Every real engagement has something that did not work. A reference who cannot produce one has either been coached, or was not close enough to the work to be useful to you. |
| "We work with N clients" | How many are active this month, and how many the named individual is personally on. | A cumulative, all-time client count. | Cumulative counts measure how long a firm has existed. What you are buying is a share of one person's month, so the only number that predicts your experience is their current concurrent load. |
| "Our retention is X percent" | Retention of what, measured over what window, and whether a client who cut scope in half counts as retained. | A single percentage with no window and no definition. | Retention is the easiest metric on a marketing site to define into a good number. A downgraded retainer counted as a save, or a window short enough that nobody has churned yet, both produce a high figure honestly and tell you nothing. |
| "We drove pipeline of $N" | Whether that is pipeline created, pipeline influenced, or closed revenue, plus the attribution model and window behind it. | The three used interchangeably in the same conversation. | Influenced pipeline under a generous window can be several times created pipeline over the same period. Both are legitimate metrics. Quoting one and meaning the other is the most common way a marketing claim inflates without anyone lying. |
| "We are experts in your industry" | The last three engagements in that industry, and a specific statement of what transfers and what does not. | Your industry named back to you, with adjacent logos offered as evidence. | Industry fluency is real and worth paying for, but it is narrower than it sounds. Ask which part transfers, whether that is the buying committee, the channel mix or the compliance constraint, because a provider who knows will tell you precisely and one who does not will keep it general. |
| The reference they did not choose | One conversation with someone from their history that they did not put on the list. | Resistance framed as confidentiality, when the curated references were offered freely. | This is the highest-yield check on this page and the one most often skipped. Selected references are selected. Confidentiality is a real constraint, but it applies equally to the references they volunteered, so it cannot on its own explain the difference in willingness. |
By Mark Gabrielli · Fractional CMO & COO · Last updated: May 2026