TEDD in Action: Site Ascend’s System for Targeting Director+ Accounts and Developing Meetings Sales Wants

Introduction

Most demand gen teams don’t have an “activity” problem.

They have a conversion problem—where perfectly reasonable programs (events, partner MDF, content opt-ins, outbound) generate motion… but not enough Director+ conversations that actually happen and progress to next steps.

That gap shows up in familiar ways:

• Sales says the meetings aren’t the right people—or they’re not ready.
• Marketing says the leads are fine—sales just isn’t following up.
• Everyone agrees pipeline targets are real, but nobody agrees on why the handoff breaks.

TEDD (Target, Engage, Discover, Develop) is a practical framework for fixing that. Not as theory—as an execution system.

And it maps directly to how Site Ascend runs demand gen programs built around four outcomes:

• Executive Meetings (30-minute virtual meetings with Director+ stakeholders in target accounts)
• Channel Marketing (white-labeled appointment setting funded by MDF)
• Event Marketing (attendee procurement via outbound dialing + SMS support through event date; not day-of event services)
• Lead Qualification (converting opt-in leads into qualified sales meetings)

What TEDD means for demand generation marketers (and Site Ascend’s ICP)

Think of TEDD as a meeting-quality operating system. Each stage prevents a common failure mode:

Target

Define who belongs in the pipeline conversation.

• Right accounts, right segments, right roles
• Clear title floor (Site Ascend’s default: Director-level and above)
• Prioritize relevance over volume

Engage

Create response and attendance—not just clicks.

• Outreach that earns a real “yes”
• Programs designed to produce meetings that show up
• Consistent messaging across direct and partner motions

Discover

Capture the context sales needs to convert.

• Why now? What changed?
• What’s the current state and what’s broken?
• What would success look like?

Develop

Turn a scheduled meeting into forward motion.

• Set expectations for the conversation
• Reduce no-shows with smart support workflows
• Improve “next-step” conversion after the first call

For enterprise demand gen leaders (CMOs, VPs/Directors of Demand Gen, ABM, Field, Channel, Revenue Marketing), TEDD is less about “qualifying leads” and more about engineering consistent, sales-usable conversations.

Common challenges marketers face

1) “Target” breaks when ICP isn’t enforced at the meeting level

Even strong targeting models fail if the meeting itself doesn’t meet a standard:

• seniority is too low
• role isn’t aligned to the motion
• “interest” is mistaken for readiness

Result: sales loses confidence and stops treating marketing-sourced meetings seriously.

2) “Engage” breaks when programs optimize for volume, not commitment

Registrations, responses, and booked slots can be misleading.

• People say yes without intent to attend
• Partners promote without real follow-through
• Meetings are set but not confirmed

Result: show rates drop and pipeline math collapses.

3) “Discover” breaks when context is missing

Sales can’t convert a meeting if they don’t know:

• why this person took the meeting
• what problem they’re trying to solve
• what the timeline or decision path looks like

Result: the meeting becomes a generic intro and dies quietly.

4) “Develop” breaks when there’s no system between “booked” and “progressed”

A meeting isn’t a result. It’s a step.
Without a development layer, you get:

• no-shows
• reschedules
• no next step
• “good conversation” with no momentum

Result: marketing reports meetings; sales reports “nothing came from it.”

Solutions that work

Here’s how Site Ascend operationalizes TEDD across the programs demand gen teams lean on most.

1) Executive Meetings: TEDD built for Director+ conversations that happen

Target: Site Ascend targets Director-level and above stakeholders, which changes meeting quality immediately. Director+ audiences are more likely to:

• own measurable problems
• understand business impact
• influence or drive buying processes

Engage: Outreach is designed around commitment, not just curiosity—paired with a model where you only pay for meetings that occur, which naturally forces attention on attendance and quality.

Discover: The meeting is positioned to surface context that sellers can use—what’s happening, what’s driving interest, and what would make the meeting worth the time.

Develop: The goal isn’t “book the call.” It’s “book the call that advances.” That means:

• clear expectations
• confirmation discipline
• alignment on what “success” looks like for the first conversation

Why this matters for demand gen: it turns “meeting volume” into a defensible performance metric because it’s tethered to seniority and attendance—not just booking activity.

2) Channel Marketing: TEDD turns MDF into measurable outcomes (white-labeled)

Channel leaders live with an uncomfortable truth: MDF often funds activity that’s hard to defend.

Site Ascend’s Channel Marketing approach uses white-labeled outreach to produce meetings on behalf of partners—funded by MDF—so the output becomes conversations, not just campaigns.

Target: TEDD starts by aligning partner motion to the right accounts and Director+ personas. That helps avoid MDF waste where:

• the wrong segment is pursued
• partners chase easy audiences
• meeting quality suffers due to weak targeting

Engage: White-labeled outreach reduces friction because partners can activate under their brand while you maintain a consistent execution standard.

Discover: Capturing basic context is the difference between a partner “intro” and a partner meeting that advances.

Develop: When MDF is tied to meetings that occur, the program naturally emphasizes confirmation and attendance—not just passing names.

The big win: demand gen and channel teams can defend MDF spend with outcomes that sales and finance recognize.

3) Event Marketing: TEDD applied to attendee procurement (not day-of event services)

Events fail when teams optimize for registrants instead of right-fit registrants who show up.

Site Ascend’s Event Marketing focuses on driving registrations via outbound dialing, then supporting attendance with an SMS workflow through the event date. (Important scope note: Site Ascend does not provide day-of onsite event services.)

Target: Events work best when you define:

• the seniority floor (again, Director+ changes the game)
• the roles that match the event topic
• the accounts that matter to your pipeline plan

Engage: Outbound dialing is built for high-intent engagement—especially for niche audiences where email-only promotion can inflate registrations without commitment.

Discover: Even pre-event, you can capture meaningful context:

• why the topic matters
• what initiative it connects to
• what would make attending worthwhile

Develop: SMS support reduces the friction between “registered” and “attended”—which is often where event ROI disappears.

Net effect: better-fit attendance, stronger post-event follow-up conversations, and fewer “we got a list” outcomes.

4) Lead Qualification: TEDD converts opt-ins into sales-ready meetings

Opt-in leads are valuable—but only when you can distinguish:

• “interested in content” from “ready to talk”
• “wrong stakeholder” from “decision-influencing persona”
• “casual research” from “active initiative”

This is where TEDD makes lead qualification actually useful.

Target: Define which opt-ins are even eligible for conversion (title floor, account fit, relevance).

Engage: Use human outreach to create response and confirm intent—especially when forms and scoring can’t tell you timing or urgency.

Discover: Capture what sales needs: reason for interest, pain points, timeline, stakeholders.

Develop: Convert the right leads into meetings that occur—with enough context that sales treats them as worth running.

For demand gen, this reduces the “marketing passed junk” narrative and improves conversion without asking SDR teams to carry all the follow-up load.

Actionable steps for marketers

Here’s a practical TEDD checklist you can apply immediately to improve meeting quality across programs.

The TEDD Demand Gen Checklist

1) Target (define meeting-level ICP)

• Set a title floor (e.g., Director+) for meetings you want sales to prioritize
• Define account criteria (tier, vertical, region, install base)
• Create 2–3 disqualifiers (so “not a fit” is easy to spot)

2) Engage (optimize for commitment)

• Choose channels that create real commitment (not just clicks)
• Build a confirmation path that supports attendance
• Write messaging that earns a “yes” from senior stakeholders (problem-first, not feature-first)

3) Discover (standardize what context must be captured)
Minimum required fields for any “qualified meeting”:

• why the meeting, why now
• what initiative/problem it maps to
• what success looks like after the conversation
• who else is involved (if known)

4) Develop (make the meeting advance)
Track three weekly metrics:

• show rate
• Director+ rate
• next-step rate (meeting → scheduled follow-up)

If any of these are weak, the fix is usually a TEDD stage—not “more volume.”

Comparison of market solutions

You don’t need a vendor bake-off to understand the tradeoffs. Most teams choose between these models:

In-house SDR/BDR teams

Strengths: tight control, direct alignment to sales.
Tradeoffs: ramp time, turnover, inconsistent execution when priorities shift.

TEDD works well here if you can enforce it consistently across reps and maintain quality under pressure.

Outsourced appointment setting (volume-first)

Strengths: fast coverage, scalable outreach.
Tradeoffs: incentives can favor quantity (leads/bookings) over meeting attendance and context.

TEDD breaks down when “Engage” and “Develop” aren’t accountable to meetings that occur.

Channel/MDF programs optimized for activity

Strengths: easy to launch, easy to report.
Tradeoffs: hard to attribute, inconsistent follow-up, limited pipeline defensibility.

TEDD requires MDF to tie to outcomes—especially meetings and meeting quality.

Event models focused on day-of execution

Strengths: onsite energy, experiential impact.
Tradeoffs: doesn’t solve who attends or what happens after without a strong procurement and conversion system.

TEDD helps when events are treated as a pipeline motion, not just a brand motion.

Why Site Ascend tends to fit TEDD-driven teams

Site Ascend’s differentiators map directly to TEDD execution discipline:

• Only pay for meetings that occur (Outcome accountability)
• Director-level and above targeting (Target integrity)
• All U.S.-based contact center (Execution consistency)
• White-labeled outreach (Channel/MDF readiness)
• Real-time reporting dashboard (Operational visibility)

Conclusion

If your demand gen programs generate activity but not enough Director+ meetings that happen and advance, TEDD is the simplest way to diagnose the breakdown—and fix it.

• Target prevents wrong-fit meetings.
• Engage protects show rates.
• Discover gives sales what they need to convert.
• Develop turns a calendar invite into pipeline momentum.

If you want to operationalize TEDD with a partner built around meeting outcomes (not volume), reach out to Site Ascend to discuss a pilot across executive meetings, channel MDF motions, event attendee procurement, and/or lead qualification.