The Scale Your SaaS Playbook
Five Critical Marketing Mistakes Killing Your Pipeline (And How to Fix Them)
by Chuck Moxley
Does this sound familiar?
You’re a SaaS founder who’s done everything right so far. You’ve built an impressive product. You’ve leveraged your network to land those crucial first customers. Your early sales prove there’s real market demand.
Now it’s time to scale.
You know you need a real sales and marketing engine.
The question is: how do you build one that actually works?
Here’s how this typically plays out:
Frustrated, you decide your initial hires weren’t the right fit. You bring in new sellers with deep industry connections—people who know exactly who should buy your solution.
But the results don’t improve. Meetings happen, but deals aren’t closing.
Your sales team has a theory: they need more leads. Better leads. They can’t rely solely on cold calling to hit their numbers.
So you take the next logical step: hiring a marketing manager.
Almost immediately, the requests start rolling in:
Six months and tens of thousands of dollars later, you’ve built out a small marketing department. But instead of solving problems, you’ve created new ones:
Sound familiar? You’re not alone.
After two decades as a CMO helping SaaS companies scale from early growth to successful exits, I’ve seen this pattern repeat countless times.
The good news? These problems are both predictable and preventable.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through:
• The five critical marketing mistakes killing your pipeline
• Why traditional “solutions” often make things worse
• Proven strategies that actually work
• Real examples from companies I’ve helped scale
More importantly, I’ll show you how to fix these issues without burning through your runway or taking your focus off what matters most: leading your company’s growth.
“We just need more leads!”
It’s the battle cry I hear from almost every SaaS CEO I talk to. It seems logical: more leads = more sales. But here’s what actually happens…
Your marketing team springs into action:
Your sales team eagerly reaches out to these new leads, offering demos. And then…
Silence.
When someone does respond, it’s usually with: “I just wanted the content—I’m not ready to buy.”
The harsh reality? Most of these “leads” are worthless:
After months of this cycle, you might conclude that marketing simply doesn’t work. Back to cold calling it is, right? Wrong.
Here’s what your sales team actually needs:
Qualified prospects who:
The fundamental mistake? Believing that someone downloading an eBook signals buying intent. It doesn’t.
In today’s crowded SaaS landscape, you need a sophisticated approach. One that:
This isn’t theory—I’ve used this exact playbook to help multiple SaaS companies scale from early growth to successful exits.
1. Strategic ICP Definition
2. Authority Building
2. Multi-Channel Awareness
4. Buying Committee Engagement
5. Friction-Free Experience
When you execute this playbook correctly, something magical happens: your demo requests come from prospects who are:
In other words, the exact people your sales team should be talking to.
When I joined a $2.5M ARR company launching a new product, we faced a daunting challenge: competing against tech giants in digital advertising (think Facebook). Instead of trying to outspend them, we got creative.
We sought non-conventional and guerrilla tactics to stand out and resonate with prospects in ways billion-dollar behemoths would never try.
We promoted alternative perspectives across the industry through integrated marketing campaigns that combined content, ads, events, media coverage, partnerships, and expert positioning.
We also built strong relationships with industry analysts to gain their endorsement.
The upshot? We stood out—and made it into prospect’s consideration sets—in ways billion-dollar companies simply couldn’t.
By staying consistent with this approach for four years, we:
The key? We stopped obsessing over lead counts and focused on building qualified pipeline.
“If we spend $X on [insert trendy marketing tactic], we’ll get $Y in revenue.”
I hear this from SaaS CEOs. All. The. Time. They’re looking for that magic formula—the one that turns marketing spend directly into revenue.
And who can blame them? The idea is appealing:
If only it were that simple.
Today’s B2B buying landscape is fundamentally different:
Buyers are overwhelmed.
Channels are saturated.
The data tells a sobering story. To close a single deal, you need:
And that’s just for one deal. (Source: Hockeystack)
“Which marketing tactic drove this deal?”
It’s a question boards love to ask. The truth? In modern B2B SaaS:
Start asking:
For Product-Led Growth:
For Sales-Led Growth:
Remember: In enterprise SaaS, Marketing builds pipeline. Sales closes revenue. Both must work in concert.
Focus on Pipeline, Not Tactics
Forget About
Why? Because these surface-level metrics don’t predict revenue. They just make marketing teams appear busy.
A SaaS company was spending $300 per lead on traditional lead generation, with troubling results:
We flipped the model:
We simplified access to our content by displaying it directly on a landing page in an interactive format.
Visitors could view the content immediately and had the option to receive a copy via email afterward.
The key insight? Stop treating content like a trap and start using it as a trust-builder.
Read the full case study here.
For enterprise SaaS ($100K+ ARR), you need patience:
By maintaining this approach the following year, we generated 81% of the previous year’s total pipeline by mid-year. Why? Because we stopped trying to rush relationships and started building relationships instead.
“Let’s just double down on cold calling.”
It’s a tempting fallback position. After all, cold calling is:
But here’s the painful truth about cold calling in 2025: cold-calling is Inefficient and costly.
The Real Cost of Cold Calling:
“We don’t need brand building—we’re B2B!”
This mindset is killing your pipeline. Here’s why:
(Sources: HubSpot, Renderforest)
Remember: Companies don’t buy software. People do.
And people need to:
Here’s the cold truth: At any given time, only 5% (or fewer) of your target market is:
The other 95%? They’re either:
This is why cold calling alone is like searching for a needle in a haystack—with a blindfold on.
Skipping brand building is hurting your cold calling efforts.
The good news is that B2B SaaS brand building doesn’t cost millions like consumer brands. (More about how you build SaaS brands later.)
Let me be clear: I’m not suggesting you abandon cold calling. But it needs to be part of a larger strategy.
Cold Calling + Brand Building = Success
When prospects:
They’re 3X more likely to take your call.
Modern B2B purchases:
Here’s a crucial insight: When companies start their buying process, they typically:
The winning approach combines:
Outbound Excellence
Brand Building
Why Both Matter
A SaaS company had made eight acquisitions in five years, resulting in:
We focused on the company's strongest market vertical and refined product messaging to address specific customer pain points.
We launched a 360-degree surround campaign targeting ideal customer profiles through multiple channels, including content, ads, PR, events, and sponsorships.
We developed an edgy creative approach that created an immediate emotional connection and stood out from competitors, ultimately cementing the company's position as an industry leader.
In just 12 months we produced:
But the real win? We transformed from “one of many” to “one of few” in our target vertical.
“We just need to get in front of more prospects!”
I hear this all the time. But here’s the uncomfortable truth...
Getting in front of more prospects with the wrong message is like:
The data doesn’t lie: When your sellers get at-bats, are they striking out? The problem isn’t volume—it’s impact.
When your sales pitch isn’t landing, it usually comes down to one critical problem:
Prospects don’t see how your solution solves their specific pain points.
In my 20 years helping SaaS companies scale, I’ve identified six fatal flaws that kill most sales pitches:
Here’s a counter-intuitive truth: The more features you present, the less compelling your pitch becomes.
Why? Prospects don’t add up features, they average them:
The winner isn’t the product with the most features—it’s the one that solves the specific problem in the simplest way.
But too often, your sellers pitch every possible feature, hoping enough stick to interest the prospect.
If you recognize these flaws in your pitch, stop. Don’t book another meeting until you fix your story.
Modern SaaS selling requires more than a feature list.
You need a Strategic Narrative that:
Think of it as giving prospects a new pair of glasses—helping them see their problem (and your solution) in a completely new way.
A strong strategic narrative becomes:
Get this right, and everything else becomes easier. Get it wrong, and nothing else matters.
When I joined a struggling SaaS company, I found:
I worked with the executive team to define a clear Ideal Customer Prospect profile that clarified why current customers were satisfied and was based on which customers were deriving the most value from the solution and had greatest likelihood of renewing.
I did a customer deep deep dive by listening to dozens of sales pitches with prospects, interviewed successful customers, mapped their buying journey and identified true value drivers.
I then helped the team craft a compelling strategic narrative that positioned them as uniquely qualified to solve a growing problem for companies impacted by Covid outcomes.
After testing and refining the new narrative:
The key? We stopped talking about what we did and started telling the story of why it mattered.
Picture this common scenario:
Your company is growing. You need marketing help. But you’ve never built a marketing team before. So you:
Here’s the problem: Modern marketing isn’t one discipline—it’s dozens:
1. The “Jack of All Trades” Hire
2. The “Output” Hiring Trap
Need a website? Many CEOs automatically hire:
But each creative project needs different specialized skills. And the best creatives rarely want to work full-time for a software company.
3. The “One Agency” Solution
Hiring a single agency sounds efficient, but:
Eventually, CEOs realize they need strategic marketing leadership.
But there’s a catch. The Full-Time CMO Trap:
The real problem at this stage is you need:
But you can’t afford all three in full-time roles.
Follow the Lean Marketing Team Principle.
Build your marketing function using a mix of:
This approach gives you:
1. Full-Time Core Roles
Hire first for attitude and aptitude, over industry experience. The latter can be easily trained, the former cannot. These hires will develop subject-matter expertise and manage other contract resources.
2. Specialized Contractors
Pro Tip: Build a reliable network of specialists you tap on an as-needed, contract basis.
3. Strategic Leadership
4. Agency Partners
A growth-stage SaaS company had:
I quickly identified they had the wrong agency expertise, the agency was given poor strategic direction (even taking direction for AE's) resulting in misaligned tactics. And as a result were burning cash fast!
We replaced the agency with trusted freelance designers and copywriters, adding one specialist in demand generation in-house.
We invested the same media budget, but delivered:
The key? Right expertise, right roles, hired at the right time.
The path to sustainable growth isn’t about:
It’s about making smarter choices with your resources.
Consider a fractional CMO who can:
Working with the right fractional CMO means:
I’m not just another marketing consultant.
I’m a veteran CMO who has:
What Makes Me Different:
What You Get:
✦ Immediate Impact
✦ Executive Experience
✦ Practical Value
Your fractional CMO should bring more than marketing expertise. As your partner, I also offer:
Thought Leadership
Strategic Value
Let’s have a focused 30-minute conversation to:
No pitch, no pressure—just straight talk about getting you the growth you need.
Learn more about me and schedule a discovery call at www.chuckmoxley.com.
2025 by Chuck Moxley, The SaaS CMO LLC No portion may not be copied reproduced without express written permission.