The Field is a bi-weekly newsletter about how marketing is designed and run in eMobility companies. It's written from the perspective of a fractional CMO working with founders, CMOs, and commercial leaders in the eMobility field.
Revenue problems rarely start in sales
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Hi Reader, In the first edition of The Field, I wrote about the gap between where a company is today and how its marketing is structured and led. That gap rarely shows up in a brand discussion or a strategy document. It shows up in performance. Revenue problems rarely start in salesWhen numbers dip, forecasts tighten and targets come under pressure, sales is usually the first place leadership looks. Pipeline coverage. Conversion rates. Individual performance. Activity levels. But in many scaling B2B tech companies, the root cause sits earlier in the system. What I'm seeingMarketing is active. Campaigns run. Content goes out. Leads come in. Sales is active. Calls are made. Deals are pushed. Forecasts are updated. On paper, the engine is moving. Yet closing feels harder than it should. When I sit in on pipeline reviews, the difference becomes clear. Marketing talks about volume and engagement. Sales talks about hesitation, timing, budget and internal dynamics on the buyer side. They are looking at the same funnel, but through different lenses. No one is wrong. But they are not working from the same commercial reality. Where it starts to driftThe drift rarely begins with conflict. It begins with growth. New segments are added. New markets are entered. The product evolves. Pricing changes. The company matures. But the definition of the ideal customer often stays implicit. The definition of a good deal stays vague. The definition of urgency stays assumed. Over time, marketing generates interest that looks promising on paper. Sales filters harder to protect time and quota. Both sides feel the pressure. Leadership sees activity, but not the expected commercial momentum. That is usually the moment marketing is asked to step up. More campaigns. More leads. More output. But more output does not fix misalignment. How I would approach itIf I were responsible for marketing leadership in a scaling B2B tech company, I would move marketing closer to revenue conversations. Not just through dashboards, but through exposure. Sitting in pipeline reviews. Marketing should make sales easier, not louder. If sales constantly needs to reinterpret or defend what marketing brings in, something in the foundation needs recalibration. This is not about better campaigns. It is about shared commercial clarity. Your perspectiveWhere do you see the earliest signals of revenue pressure in your organisation today? If you are open to sharing, just reply to this email. I read every response. See you in two weeks for a new perspective. Theo Reichgelt Connect with me on LinkedIn |
The Field
The Field is a bi-weekly newsletter about how marketing is designed and run in eMobility companies. It's written from the perspective of a fractional CMO working with founders, CMOs, and commercial leaders in the eMobility field.
Hi Reader, When growth slows down, most scaling B2B companies make the same mistake. They widen the target audience. It feels like ambition. It looks like a strategy for scale. But in reality, it is the fastest way to make your marketing invisible. What I'm seeing When I review the target audience definitions of scaling companies, they usually read like a wish list. They want to sell to enterprise, but also mid-market. They target the CIO, but also the VP of Operations and the Head of...
Hi Reader, Most scaling B2B tech companies measure marketing activity. Website visits. Content downloads. Webinar registrations. LinkedIn impressions. It feels like control. It looks like progress. But none of it explains why deals are not closing. When revenue slows down, those metrics rarely provide an answer. They only show that the engine is running, not whether it is going anywhere. What I’m seeing When I look at the marketing dashboards of scaling companies, they are usually full of...
Hi Reader, Most scaling B2B companies have marketing. Campaigns running. Content going out. A LinkedIn presence. Maybe some paid media. What most of them do not have is a marketing system. Those two things look the same from the outside. They feel completely different from the inside. One performs. The other just stays busy. What I’m seeing When I start working with a scaling B2B tech company, things break quickly. A few basic questions are enough. Does leadership tell the same story as...