Building the Field Marketing ↔ Sales Partnership

I spent three months planning a series of regional events. Eight cities. Executive roundtables in each market. Total budget: $85K.

The events went well. We had 180 executives attend across all markets. Meaningful conversations. High engagement. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

I sent the lead list to sales and waited for pipeline to flow in.

Three weeks later, sales had followed up with exactly 28% of the attendees.

I asked our regional sales director why. His answer was blunt: "Most of these people aren't in our territory plans. We're focused on our target accounts, not random event attendees."

That's when I realized I'd built the entire field marketing program backwards.

I'd treated field marketing like demand generation—run events, collect leads, send them to sales, hope they convert. But sales doesn't work that way. Sales has target account lists. They have territory plans. They have deals already in progress.

Field marketing can't operate in parallel to sales. It has to operate in service of sales.

The question isn't "How many leads can we generate from events?" It's "How can events help sales close the deals they're already working on?"

That realization completely changed how I approach field marketing. Here's how we rebuilt the partnership.

The Misalignment That Wasted $85K

The fundamental problem: I was running field marketing like a centralized marketing function. Sales was running territory plans like... well, sales.

My field marketing approach:

• Pick cities based on market size and opportunity
• Run events to generate net-new awareness and leads
• Collect contacts and send them to sales
• Measure success by attendance and lead volume

Sales' territory approach:

• Focus on 50-100 named accounts per territory
• Work deals methodically through the pipeline
• Ignore net-new leads unless they fit the territory plan
• Measure success by quota attainment

These two approaches had zero overlap.

I was generating leads in markets where sales had no capacity. I was hosting events that didn't include sales' target accounts. I was measuring success by metrics sales didn't care about.

The result: Sales followed up with 28% of event attendees because 72% of them didn't fit their territory plans or weren't strategic accounts they cared about.

I'd spent $85K to generate leads that sales would never work.

What I should have done:

Before planning a single event, I should have asked sales:

• Which territories are you prioritizing?
• Which accounts are you actively pursuing?
• Which deals are stuck or moving slowly?
• How can events help you accelerate these specific opportunities?

Instead, I planned events in a vacuum and hoped sales would care.

The Territory Alignment Framework That Changed Everything

After that expensive lesson, I rebuilt our field marketing approach around a simple principle: Field marketing exists to help sales hit quota in their territories.

The new framework:

Step 1: Start with sales' territory plans

Every quarter, I now meet with each regional sales director and ask:

• What are your top 20 target accounts this quarter?
• Which deals are in your pipeline right now?
• Where are you struggling to get meetings?
• Which accounts have gone dark?

I take notes. This becomes my event planning brief.

Step 2: Design events around sales' needs

Instead of "let's run an event in Boston because it's a big market," I now ask:

• Do we have target accounts in Boston that would attend?
• Do we have deals in progress that an in-person event would help move forward?
• Would a Boston event help sales break into new accounts they're pursuing?

If the answer to all three is "no," we don't run the event in Boston. We run it where sales actually needs help.

Step 3: Build invite lists collaboratively

Sales gives me:

• Target accounts we're pursuing (not yet in pipeline)
• Active opportunities we want to accelerate
• Customers we want to expand

I build event invite lists around these specific accounts. Then sales reviews the list and adds context:

• "This account is high-priority, let's make sure the CTO attends"
• "This deal is stuck, an event might break the stall"
• "This customer is up for renewal, invite them to the VIP dinner"

Step 4: Sales owns pre-event outreach to their accounts

Instead of marketing sending generic event invites, sales reps personally invite their target accounts:

"I know you're evaluating [category]. We're hosting an executive roundtable next month where [peer companies] will discuss how they solved [specific challenge]. Would you like to join?"

This personal outreach from a trusted sales contact dramatically improves registration rates for target accounts.

Step 5: Sales attends the event and owns follow-up

Sales reps attend events in their territory and have conversations with their own accounts. Marketing facilitates, but sales owns the relationship.

After the event, sales follows up within 24 hours. Not marketing. Sales.

The result of this new framework:

Before (Lead Gen Approach):

• Event attendance: 180 people
• Sales follow-up rate: 28%
• Opportunities created: 8
• Pipeline influenced: $340K
• Cost per opportunity: $10,625

After (Territory Alignment Approach):

• Event attendance: 95 people (smaller, but more targeted)
• Target account attendance: 62 (65% of attendees were sales' target accounts)
• Sales follow-up rate: 94%
• Opportunities created: 18
• Pipeline influenced: $1.2M
• Cost per opportunity: $4,722

We cut attendance in half but more than doubled opportunities created because we invited the right people and sales actually followed up.

The Account-Based Event Strategy That Wins Enterprise Deals

The territory alignment framework worked well for regional events. But we needed something different for enterprise accounts.

Enterprise deals have 6-12 people in the buying committee. They take 6-18 months to close. They require relationship building with multiple stakeholders, not just one champion.

Standard field marketing events don't work for enterprise. You can't accelerate a $500K enterprise deal with a 90-minute roundtable and a follow-up email.

We needed an account-based event strategy.

What this looks like:

For target enterprise accounts (accounts we're pursuing but don't have a deal yet):

Sales identifies 3-5 enterprise accounts they want to break into. We design a custom event specifically for decision-makers at these companies.

Example:

• Target: CIOs at three F500 companies in healthcare
• Event: Private dinner with our CEO and a prominent healthcare CIO (customer)
• Format: 8 attendees total (3 prospects, 3 customers, 2 from our team)
• Topic: "Healthcare IT Modernization: Lessons from CIOs Who've Done It"
• Goal: Build relationships and establish credibility with impossible-to-reach prospects

Cost: $8K for the dinner

Outcome: Two of the three target accounts agreed to exploratory calls. One turned into a $420K opportunity.

For active enterprise opportunities (deals in progress):

Sales tells us which deals are stuck or moving slowly. We design events that move these specific deals forward.

Example:

• Situation: $680K enterprise deal stuck in legal review for 60 days
• Event: Private product roadmap session with our CPO and the prospect's product team
• Format: 2-hour session, prospects only (no other customers), deep dive into roadmap + Q&A
• Goal: Build confidence in our product vision and address technical concerns blocking the deal

Cost: $2K (venue, catering, our CPO's time)

Outcome: Deal progressed to contract negotiation within 2 weeks. Closed 30 days later.

The insight: Account-based events aren't about generating leads. They're about giving sales a reason to deepen relationships with specific, high-value accounts.

These events cost more per attendee but generate dramatically higher ROI because they're focused on moving specific deals forward, not generating random leads.

The Sales Buy-In Strategy That Actually Works

The biggest challenge in building a field marketing program isn't budget or logistics. It's getting sales to actually care.

Sales has quota pressure. They don't have time for marketing's "nice to have" events. They need programs that directly help them close deals this quarter.

Here's how I got sales buy-in:

I stopped asking sales to support field marketing. I started asking how field marketing can support sales.

The question shifted from:

• "Can you help us promote this event?" (marketing's agenda)

To:

• "Which deals are you struggling with, and how can an event help you close them?" (sales' agenda)

This reframe changed everything.

I created a field marketing request process for sales:

Sales can now request custom events for their territories or accounts:

• Tier 1: Enterprise account-based event ($5-10K budget, CEO or exec involvement)
• Tier 2: Regional account event ($2-5K budget, targeted roundtable)
• Tier 3: Virtual event (low cost, can be deployed quickly)

Sales submits a brief request form:

• Which accounts or deals is this for?
• What's the business objective? (break into account, accelerate deal, expand customer)
• Who needs to attend from the prospect side?
• What outcome would make this event successful?

I approve requests based on strategic value, not just geography or market size.

This process gave sales ownership. They're not being asked to support marketing's events—they're requesting events that help them hit quota.

The result: Sales reps became advocates for field marketing because they saw direct value to their deals.

I measure field marketing success by sales' metrics:

Instead of:

• Event attendance
• Lead volume
• Cost per lead

I now measure:

• Pipeline created or influenced (sales' metric)
• Deal velocity for event-touched deals (sales' metric)
• Target account engagement rate (sales' metric)

When I present field marketing results to the CRO, I lead with: "Field marketing influenced $2.1M in pipeline this quarter, which represents 18% of total pipeline."

Not: "We ran 12 events with 340 attendees."

Sales cares about pipeline. So I measure pipeline.

The Joint Planning Process That Prevents Misalignment

The biggest mistake I made in my first attempt at field marketing was planning events in isolation.

I'd build a quarterly event calendar, get it approved by the CMO, then tell sales "here's what we're doing."

Sales would nod politely and then ignore most of it because it didn't align with their priorities.

The new approach: Joint quarterly planning with sales leadership

4-6 weeks before the quarter starts:

I meet with the CRO and regional sales directors for a 2-hour planning session.

Agenda:

1. Sales presents their Q[X] priorities:

   • Territory focus areas
   • Top 20 target accounts per region
   • Deals that need acceleration
   • Accounts that have gone dark

2. I present field marketing capacity:

   • Budget available
   • Event formats we can execute (regional dinners, roundtables, webinars, etc.)
   • Timeline constraints

3. We collaboratively plan the event calendar:

   • Which regions get events this quarter?
   • Which target accounts should we invite?
   • Which deals can events help accelerate?
   • What outcomes define success?

4. We assign ownership:

   • Sales owns: Account selection, personal invites, event attendance, follow-up
   • Marketing owns: Event logistics, venue, catering, materials, measurement

Output: A joint field marketing plan that both sales and marketing are committed to.

The key insight: Sales won't support marketing's events. But they will support their own events that marketing helps them execute.

Joint planning makes field marketing a shared initiative, not a marketing initiative that sales is asked to tolerate.

The Regional Execution Model That Scales

Early on, I tried to run all field marketing centrally from HQ. I'd plan events in eight different cities while sitting in San Francisco.

This didn't work. I didn't understand local market dynamics. I didn't know which venues worked. I didn't have relationships with local prospects.

The insight: Field marketing has to be field-based, not HQ-based.

Our regional execution model:

For regions with dedicated sales teams (5+ reps):

We assign a field marketing POC (either a dedicated field marketer or a regional sales rep who owns marketing coordination).

Their responsibilities:

• Own the local event calendar (2-3 events per quarter)
• Build relationships with local venues and vendors
• Coordinate with regional sales on target account selection
• Execute smaller regional events (dinners, roundtables, happy hours)
• Report results back to central marketing

Central marketing's role:

• Provide budget and guidelines
• Supply event playbooks and templates
• Support larger events (conferences, customer events)
• Measure aggregate results

For regions without dedicated sales teams (<5 reps):

Central marketing runs 1-2 larger regional events per year (instead of quarterly smaller events).

The result: Regional execution scales field marketing beyond what central marketing could do alone.

Last quarter:

• Central marketing executed 4 large events
• Regional field marketers executed 18 smaller events
• Total events: 22 (vs. 8 when central marketing did everything)
• Total pipeline influenced: $3.2M (vs. $1.2M centralized)

Distributed execution lets us do more events in more markets without expanding headcount.

What Actually Works for Field Marketing ↔ Sales Partnership

After rebuilding our field marketing program from scratch, here's what works:

Territory alignment comes first. Don't plan events based on market size or opportunity. Plan events based on where sales needs help closing deals in their territories.

Start with sales' target accounts, not broad lead gen. Field events should be designed to engage specific accounts sales is pursuing, not generate random leads.

Sales owns account selection and invites. Marketing can't effectively invite sales' target accounts. Sales reps need to personally invite their own prospects.

Joint planning prevents misalignment. Don't plan field marketing in isolation. Plan it collaboratively with sales leadership every quarter.

Account-based events win enterprise deals. For high-value enterprise accounts, design custom events (dinners, roadmap sessions, executive briefings) that move specific deals forward.

Measure what sales measures. Pipeline influenced, deal velocity, and target account engagement. Not attendance and lead volume.

Distributed execution scales. Empower regional sales teams to run smaller local events. Central marketing can't be everywhere.

Sales buy-in requires serving sales' agenda. Stop asking sales to support marketing's events. Ask how events can help sales close deals.

Before rebuilding our field marketing approach, I ran 8 regional events that generated 180 leads and influenced $340K in pipeline. Sales followed up with 28% of attendees.

After implementing territory alignment and account-based event strategies, we ran 12 events that engaged 95 target accounts and influenced $1.2M in pipeline. Sales followed up with 94% of attendees.

Same budget. Same team. Completely different approach to partnership with sales.

The uncomfortable truth is that most field marketing programs fail because marketing treats them like centralized demand gen campaigns instead of sales support functions.

Field marketing only works when it's built around sales' territory plans, target accounts, and deal priorities.

If sales doesn't care about your field marketing events, it's not because sales doesn't value events. It's because your events don't align with what sales is trying to accomplish.

Fix the alignment. Build the partnership. Measure what sales measures.

Or stop doing field marketing and invest in channels that actually support sales.