Modernizing Government Planning with SaaS Solutions | Josh Martin from Decision Lens

Ernesto Quezada: Pathmonk is the intelligent tool for website lead generation. With increasing online competition, over 98% of website visitors don’t convert. The ability to successfully show your value proposition and support visitors in their buying journey separates you from the competition online. Pathmonk qualifies and converts leads on your website by figuring out where they are in the buying journey and influencing them with key relevant micro experiences like case studies, intro videos, and much more. Stay relevant to your visitors and increase conversions by 50%. Add Pathmonk to your website in seconds. Let the AI do all the work and get access to 50% more qualified leads while you keep doing marketing and sales as usual. Check us out on pathmonk.com. Welcome to today’s episode. Let’s talk about today’s guest. We have Josh from Decision Lens, CMO with them. How are you doing today, Josh?

Josh Martin: I’m doing great. Thanks for having me.

Ernesto: It’s great to have you on, and I’m sure our listeners are tuning in, wondering what Decision Lens is all about. So let’s kick it off with that. In your own words, can you tell us a little bit more, Josh?

Josh: Yeah. Decision Lens is a mission-oriented SaaS company that is focused on helping the federal government and state and local governments improve how they prioritize, plan, and fund. Ultimately, we aim to better understand and optimize how resources are allocated to ensure every dollar goes towards their mission.

Ernesto: I think that’s super important, but tricky when dealing with the government—that’s a little challenging for marketers, at least. But so that our listeners can get a good understanding of your company, Josh, what would be the key problem that you solve for clients?

Josh: The key problem we solve is the lack of visibility into the decision-making process, which leads to less data-driven decisions. In the federal government, there’s a lot of regulation around how money is spent, where it’s spent, and how it should be allocated. Getting clarity into that process and using data to make resource allocation decisions is critical. What we often find is that most of our prospects are still using Excel or PowerPoint for planning. I love Excel, but those are not planning tools. Introducing them to the right tools for the job is critical, and often, they don’t even realize such solutions exist. That’s the challenging part—building awareness and driving demand for something entirely new to them.

Ernesto: Definitely, that makes sense. So would it be fair to say you have a defined ICP? What does that look like?

Josh: Yes, we focus specifically on the public sector. Within that, our target is financial managers, comptrollers, and planners who are directly involved in allocating and prioritizing spending.

Ernesto: All right, perfect. And within these industries, how do they typically find out about you? What would you say is your top client acquisition channel?

Josh: There are three primary channels. Marketing contributes about a third of our total pipeline, which is atypical for B2B. Frequently, in the public sector, businesses rely on consulting agencies, but we are a pure SaaS company. For the marketing team, our top channels are live events—because in-person relationships are key in the public sector—digital channels, and of course, our website. Live events allow for handshaking and real-world connections, while digital channels and ads help us build awareness and grow our database. Our website is where people validate who we are and learn more when they’re deep in their buying process.

Ernesto: Speaking of the website, what role does it play in client acquisition? Or is it more of a journey step for them?

Josh: It’s more of a journey step. Primarily, people come to validate our legitimacy after being exposed to ads or hearing about us elsewhere. They’ll check who we are, our history, and what makes us different. The challenge for us is that we operate in a greenfield space—many don’t realize solutions like ours exist. So balancing messaging for both entry-level users who benefit from the software and senior-level leaders looking for mission-driven messaging is a tricky balance.

Ernesto: Great insight there. Let’s switch gears a bit, Josh, and talk about you as a leader. You’re the CMO at Decision Lens. What are some key tasks you focus on day-to-day?

Josh: A big part of my focus is building and maintaining relationships with associations that are valuable to our organization. I also spend time crafting our messaging—how we go to market, what problems we solve, and how we communicate that succinctly. Our emphasis is less on brand awareness and more on brand authority, ensuring we’re seen as knowledgeable and integral to the challenges our clients face.

Ernesto: That’s fantastic. Let’s jump into our rapid-fire question round. Ready for it?

Josh: Let’s do it.

Ernesto: First off, what is the last book you read?

Josh: I listen to a lot of audiobooks, but I don’t have a recent title to share right now.

Ernesto: No worries. Next, what is one single thing your company is focused on at the moment?

Josh: Lead generation. Federal fiscal years end in September, so we’re currently heads-down, generating leads and opportunities that can close by the end of the next fiscal year.

Ernesto: All right. If there were no boundaries in technology, what would you want to have fixed as a marketer?

Josh: Personalization. Scaling high-touch, high-impact conversations with prospects is difficult. We’ve tried using AI but haven’t cracked it yet. Merging relevant news with customer needs into personalized, impactful messages would be a game changer.

Ernesto: Agreed. What’s one repetitive task you’d like to automate?

Josh: Data management. It’s a challenge to maintain the integrity of our operations manually. Automating insights to improve our ads, email campaigns, or database would be a huge help.

Ernesto: Lastly, what advice would you give yourself if you were restarting your marketing journey today?

Josh: Your reputation matters more than you realize. Work hard, do good work, and it will pay dividends throughout your career. Build your network, as those relationships will help you down the line, both for new opportunities and assembling great teams.

Ernesto: Fantastic advice. Josh, thank you for being on the show today. What’s one thing you’d like listeners to remember about Decision Lens?

Josh: We’re modernizing how the government plans, prioritizes, and funds, helping ensure taxpayer dollars are used effectively.

Ernesto: Great. Listeners, check them out at decisionlens.com. Thank you so much for tuning in, and we look forward to our next episode on Pathmonk Presents. Thanks, Josh.

Josh: Thank you.