How to Call BS on Your 2026 Sales and Marketing Budget

Episode notes

In episode #338 of SaaS Metrics School, Ben explains how to quickly sanity-check your sales and marketing forecast for the upcoming year using one high-signal SaaS metric: the Cost of ARR. As founders and CFOs finalize budgets, Ben shows how mismatches between projected bookings and planned go-to-market spend can reveal unrealistic assumptions before they turn into missed targets. Using simple examples, Ben walks through how the Cost of ARR connects sales and marketing spend, net new ARR bookings, and historical performance—making it one of the most effective tools for validating SaaS and AI company forecasts during budget season.