At B2B Marketing, we believe that becoming the commercial marketer is imperative in today’s competitive climate. One of the six essential skills to achieving this is strategic thinking: having the ability to look at what your business is looking to accomplish, and thinking about how you can support that through marketing. And in this blog, Kieron Matthews, Founder, Greenheart Endurance Ltd delves into a mindset all CMOs should be embracing.
The burden on a CMO’s shoulders has never been greater, broader, or more complex than it is today. In an era of relentless accountability, CMOs are expected to deliver not just results, but miracles.
No surprise then that our industry is obsessed with dissecting the journey from brand to demand, conversion attribution, influencer ROI, pipeline “wizardry,” MQLs, SQLs, ABM, and whatever acronym is in vogue to deflect tough conversations.As one client recently confessed to me over coffee: “It’s exhausting and lonely work.”
But it doesn’t have to be…
Mise en Place for Marketing
Before I became a consultant, I trained as a chef. The most important discipline I learned was mise en place. French for “everything in its place.” It’s the practice of preparing, organising, and arranging every ingredient, tool, and team member before service begins, so that every dish can be delivered smoothly and without delay.
The same applies to marketing…
In almost every agency review I’ve managed, the top three complaints from clients and agencies mirror the problems.
Clients
- Too slow
- Not creative (or not as much as before)
- Too expensive
Agencies
- Last-minute or urgent requests
- Unclear briefs
- Inefficient processes
These frustrations feed each other. And more often than not, the root cause is a lack of “mise en place”. Marketing simply isn’t set up to run smoothly.
Where ROI Really Starts
If you’re only interrogating ROI at the end of the process, you’re already too late. Instead of obsessing over “working” media spend, look at the non-working spend: your agency relationships, fee structures, ways of working, remuneration models, and talent.
Here’s three things to focus on now:
- Define scope clearly – Know exactly what you need and pay for outcomes that match your goals.
- Be radically transparent – Align on fees, models, and deliverables, then park it and get on with the work.
- Disrupt ways of working – Cut inefficiencies, speed decisions, and challenge habits that slow value creation.
Run a Health Check – Not a Pitch
As a specialist in B2B agency ecosystem management, it may sound counter-intuitive to say this, but not every challenge should trigger a pitch. Before you go down that path, I’d encourage you to work through these three issues with your agency first.
Bring in an independent advisor, whether a procurement lead or external consultant to help. They provide the time, structure, expertise and impartiality needed to act as a trusted intermediary between client and agency, often resolving issues without the cost and disruption of a full pitch process.
What it will deliver
By applying a mise en place mindset to marketing, you create clarity, speed, and accountability across your ecosystem. Instead of firefighting, teams work with purpose; agencies bring back creativity; budgets stretch further; and ROI becomes measurable at every stage, not just the end. Ultimately, it delivers stronger relationships, faster value creation, and a marketing function set up to thrive.
Boring, But Brilliant
It may sound unglamorous talking scope, fees, and processes instead of campaigns and creativity, but get this foundation right and everything else becomes easier. You’ll see smoother delivery, stronger ideas, more efficient spend, and ultimately, a far more enjoyable roadmap to ROI.
Marketing doesn’t need to be exhausting or lonely. With the right mise en place, it can be energising, collaborative, and yes even fun again.
