Part 2: What Happens When You Build Processes First
Last week we talked about the follow-through problem. Great campaigns, zero follow-up, no way to prove impact.
A lot of you replied saying some version of: "This is us."
So today, we want to share three real stories from teams who fixed it. Because this isn't theoretical. These are real companies, real pressure, real results.
Story 1: The SaaS Company Running Webinars That Led Nowhere
They were running monthly webinars. Getting 100-200 registrants each time. Good attendance rates.
But the VP of Marketing told us: "We spend weeks planning these webinars. People show up. Then... nothing. We can't prove they lead to anything."
She was right. There was no follow-up sequence. No nurture campaign. Attendees got a thank-you email with the recording, then silence. Sales had no idea these webinars were even happening.
We worked together to build:
A post-webinar nurture sequence (different tracks for attendees vs. no-shows)
A sales alert system for high-engagement attendees
Sales enablement on webinar topics so they could reference them in conversations
A simple tracking system to see which webinars led to opportunities
Within 90 days:
Webinar-to-opportunity conversion increased 43%
Sales started asking "When's the next webinar on X topic?"
She could show which webinar topics drove the most pipeline
Webinar budget was protected (and increased) in the next planning cycle
She told me later: "I didn't need better webinars. I needed a system to make my webinars work harder."
Story 2: The Events Team That Collected Business Cards (And Then What?)
They were doing 6-8 trade shows a year. Big booth presence. Lots of conversations. Hundreds of business cards and badge scans.
The marketing director said: "We spend $40K per event. We bring back 300 leads. Then they sit in a spreadsheet for three weeks while we prep for the next show."
We helped them:
Build a post-event follow-up process (automated + personal)
Create event-specific nurture tracks based on conversation topics
Train sales on the event messaging and key conversations
Set up tracking so they could see which events led to closed deals
Within six months:
Event ROI became provable (they cut two underperforming shows, doubled down on three high-performers)
Sales started requesting which events marketing would attend so they could set up meetings
Event lead-to-opportunity rate improved 31%
The CEO mentioned events as "a key growth driver" in a board meeting
She told us: "We were spending six figures on events with no system to maximize them. Now we can prove they work."
Story 3: The Team Doing Everything But Not Optimizing Anything
The CMO inherited a team running:
Weekly webinars
Monthly events
Daily social posts
Bi-monthly podcast episodes
Multiple digital campaigns
But nothing was being optimized. There were no follow-up processes. No nurture campaigns. No way to track what was working.
He told us: "We're exhausted. Spending money. But I can't tell the CEO what's driving results."
Instead of launching more, we focused on processes:
Built channel-specific nurture campaigns (webinar track, event track, content track)
Created follow-up cadences for each channel
Established monthly optimization reviews (What's working? What's not? Where should we double down?)
Set up basic tracking across all activities
The result:
Pipeline increased 34% without spending more or doing more
The team stopped feeling scattered and started feeling focused
They cut the podcast (wasn't driving results) and doubled down on webinars (were driving results)
C-suite trust rebuilt because marketing could show what was working
He told us: "We were doing too much. We needed to do less, better, with real processes behind it."
What These Teams Have in Common
None of them hired an analytics firm. None bought expensive new software. None launched more programs.
They built three things:
Processes that maximize each investment (follow-up, nurture, optimization)
Internal alignment (sales and marketing speaking the same language)
Focus on making things more effective (not just doing more)
And here's the thing: We've seen this work across industries. B2B and B2C. Tech and manufacturing. Fortune 50 and startups.
What matters is clarity. And focus. And processes that make your work more effective.
In the next email, we'll share the exact framework these teams used, so you can apply it to your own programs.
Until then, ask yourself: Are you launching new programs before optimizing existing ones?
If yes, you're leaving pipeline on the table.