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 revenue growth slows, the reaction is almost always the same. Hire someone who can sell. A senior sales director. A seasoned business developer. Someone with a network, a track record, and the credibility to open doors. It feels like the right move. In many cases, it is the most expensive mistake a scaling company can make. What I'm seeing A senior sales hire in B2B typically costs between €150.000 and €200.000 per year. Sometimes more, once you include on-target earnings,...
Hi Reader, Most marketing inconsistency does not look like a crisis. It looks like momentum. A new campaign launches. A content series begins. A channel gets prioritised. But six months later, everything has quietly stopped. And somewhere in your market, someone else has not. This is not an execution failure. It is a pattern. And it is more damaging than most leadership teams realise. What I’m seeing I will be honest. I recently lost a client. After almost six months of work, they decided to...
Hi Reader, This weekend edition of The Field is about a pattern I see repeatedly in scaling B2B tech companies. Growth slows down. Marketing becomes more important. The company decides it is time to professionalise the function. The logical step feels obvious. Hire a Head of Marketing or a Marketing Director. The expectation is simple. Once this person is in place, marketing will finally be “handled”. In practice, that is rarely what happens. What I’m seeing In many scaleups, the senior...