The B2B marketer’s survival guide to conquering pipeline anxiety and burnout
Discover how personal agency and generative AI are transforming overwhelmed B2B marketers into strategic revenue leaders. Act decisively, influence effectively, and sustain peak performance in times of chaos.
Coming August 2025
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Master the New Rules of B2B Marketing in the Age of AI
In today’s digital-first world, buyers control the journey and avoid sales reps, leaving marketers to drive growth with fewer resources while AI threatens their roles. This chaos demands personal agency—the superpower to act with clarity and control your future. Some Assembly Required provides a proven framework through four pillars:
- ACT decisively amid uncertainty
- LEARN continuously for market disruptions
- INFLUENCE stakeholders to drive alignment
- THRIVE under pressure while maintaining well-being
Drawing from three decades of experience, this book combines tactical GTM strategies with AI-powered skills to build sustainable growth engines.
Personal Agency is Your Competitive Edge
AI and digital transformation aren’t a passing fad—it’s permanently reshaping how marketing strategies are developed, executed, and measured. This seismic shift makes personal agency more critical than ever for B2B marketers. While AI automates the mundane and amplifies our capabilities, it cannot replace the strategic decisiveness, adaptive problem-solving, and emotional resilience that define high-agency B2B marketers.
What’s in the book?
Learn how a strong personal agency, combined with generative AI, will help you thrive in chaos and focus on more strategic, creative, and higher-value work. Most importantly, rediscover the marketer you were meant to be—passionate and genuinely excited about your purpose.
Chapter 1
The (Short) History of B2B Marketing
Modern B2B marketing has undergone rapid evolution in just 30 years, from print and direct mail to mobile and social media, and now digital and AI business transformation.
The future belongs to proactive marketers who anticipate and adapt to future disruptions, shaping markets rather than simply serving them. With historical context, discover why resilience and reinvention have always been part of marketing’s DNA.
Chapter 2
Why Your Personal Agency Matters
Personal agency—your ability to act decisively amid uncertainty—has become the ultimate superpower for B2B marketers. High-agency marketers take decisive control of their current reality to deliver the best outcomes.
This chapter lays the foundation for the book through the four pillars of agency—Act, Learn, Influence, and Thrive—to accelerate your transformation from a reactive lead-gen tactician to a proactive revenue leader.
Chapter 3
Help Buyers Buy
Today’s B2B buyers complete 70 percent of their journey through anonymous digital self-service before engaging sales—if they engage at all. Only 5 percent of prospects are ready to buy at any given time, making traditional lead generation a losing game.
Master the art of identifying high-intent accounts while nurturing the 95 percent who aren’t ready yet. Your agency grows when you shift focus from reactive lead capture to proactive buyer enablement.
Chapter 4
Master Your GTM Fundamentals
Most pipeline failures stem from weak foundations—undefined ICPs, siloed teams, and single-motion strategies—rather than poor execution. In a digital-first marketplace, sustainable growth demands rock-solid fundamentals and constant refinement.
Learn how to build a stable platform for confident decision-making through data-driven ICPs, multiple GTM motions, and genuine sales-marketing pipeline collaboration.
Chapter 5
Meet Buyers Where They Are
Modern B2B purchases involve 16+ decision-makers navigating 400+ touchpoints across 15+ digital channels. At the same time, most self-service buyers will complete a purchase without speaking to a sales rep.
Learn to orchestrate seamless experiences at scale by striking a balance between digital efficiency and human engagement—giving buyers the personalized journeys they expect across every touchpoint.
Chapter 6
Ask The Right Questions
While generative AI promises to revolutionize marketing, few companies have achieved true AI maturity. The gap lies not in technology but in knowing how to partner with AI through strategic prompt engineering.
Free your mental bandwidth for strategic thinking by mastering the art of generative AI prompting. By automating workflows, you strengthen your agency’s ability to focus on creativity and thoughtful, high-impact decisions.
Chapter 7
Get Personal
Bad data is silently destroying your pipeline and wasting marketing resources. Meanwhile, privacy regulations and the slow death of third-party cookies require new approaches to personalization.
Learn how to shift from lead-centric uncertainty to account-centric clarity with compelling content powered by high-quality data—ultimately engaging the right prospects who are ready to buy today.
Chapter 8
Tell a Good Story
In today’s commodity marketplace, 60 percent of buyers can’t distinguish between vendors. Compelling narratives become your ultimate differentiator. Stories are remembered 22 times better than facts, and strong brands capture more market share.
As a high-level agency storyteller, you will evolve from a feature marketer to a vision creator, crafting strategic narratives that cut through noise, inspire action, and deliver revenue impact.
Chapter 9
Speak the Language of Pipeline
Marketing teams stuck with “arts and crafts department” reputations lack one critical skill: speaking fluent pipeline. True sales alignment requires shared metrics, joint accountability, and the courage to “own a number.”
Master the metrics and frameworks that connect every activity to pipeline impact—and yes, you might even start enjoying those weekly pipeline calls!
Chapter 10
Put Yourself First
Sustainable high performance isn’t about working harder—it’s about treating your mind and body as strategic assets. With 68 percent of marketers feeling anxious and disconnected, burnout has become an epidemic.
Protect your agency through the three pillars of wellness: physiology, focus, and self-talk. Self-care isn’t selfish but essential for delivering consistent results without sacrificing your health.
Chapter 11
Never Stop Learning
Marketing leadership turnover and digital transformation have become a way of life. In this disruptive environment, continuous learning isn’t professional development—it’s survival.
Build your “kitchen cabinet” of advisors, create resume-making moments for others, and define your purpose in one powerful sentence. Intentional skill-building and community, future-proof your agency for whatever comes next.
Resources
The Swipe File
Don’t recreate the wheel. Over the years, I’ve built a library of tried-and-tested templates, Generative AI prompts, frameworks, best practices, and other valuable tools.
These assets are free to download on this website by clicking here.
Meet the Author
Randy Brasche brings 30+ years of B2B marketing leadership to companies from Oracle and Genesys to Series B/C startups Folloze, Zignal, and Euclid Analytics. Early at Oracle, he evangelized Larry Ellison’s revolutionary Network Computer vision.
Today, as Principal of Adaptive B2B Solutions, Randy helps hypergrowth SaaS companies stand out through strategic storytelling and ABM programs. He’s authored three “For Dummies” books on IT compliance and customer experience. A San Francisco native, Randy lives with his partner and their corgi Zoe (the real boss).
Who is the book for?
Emerging Marketers
Build the confidence and skill sets to create a pipeline with purpose—even in the face of extreme uncertainty. Establish a rock-solid GTM and generative AI foundation that puts you on the fast track for career growth and limitless potential for your future.
Senior Marketers
Rediscover why you fell in love with marketing—before pipeline meetings crushed your soul. Learn how AI can free your mind to focus on strategic activities. Most importantly, find your newfound purpose, control your destiny, and remain healthy and happy.
Sales and Revenue Teams
Achieve greater alignment with your marketing counterparts and speak the same language of “pipeline.” Learn how to collaborate, set shared goals, and build a personalized buyer and customer journey that delivers a predictable pipeline and sustainable growth.
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