Lessons on Building Pipeline in B2B: Chats with Laurence

Can you say a little bit about yourself and your role at Nutanix?

Hello, I’m very happy to be with you this morning. Thanks for the invitation, first of all. I’m Laurence Lepelley. I lead marketing for Nutanix in France and Northwest Africa coverage. So, I’ve been in the IT industry for 13 years already, quite a long time, and at Nutanix for six years already. For a fun fact, I was interviewed while I was fully pregnant at Nutanix, eight months and a half. That was a really critical moment, but they decided to go with me. It was a very positive sign to me.

So, I’m very happy to be in that company. And I started in field marketing, and then after a year, I got the opportunity to become head of marketing, and more recently, director. It’s been a great journey at Nutanix, and I’ve been leading. That’s awesome.

 

Tell us about what were maybe, some challenges that you encountered on that journey of yours?

Yeah, so I would say the main challenges, the past two years have been really focused on pipeline generation. In my specific region, we had a gap in terms of pipeline generation between our targets and achievements.

For two years, I’ve been partnering with a general manager on this specific topic. We’ve created some pipeline generation days for salespeople, also for inside sales, pre-sales, everybody around us, to start this dynamic and make sure that creating more pipeline will help us get the right coverage to make the quota. That was really business-oriented: first step, create pipeline. Now that this piece is done, we have a new challenge in front of us that is also a key point.

I would say because it comes directly from the salespeople, who need help and support to get in touch with the CXO. So you know what I mean, of course, but reaching the right people, the IT decision maker, is the most important piece they need help with. That’s where I will focus on the coming months and quarter to make sure we can move the lines and create connections for them.

 

How are you approaching that focus in terms of creating connections with the CXO leaders? Are you organising specific events, roundtable events, or what is your marketing strategy in that regard?

“I’m managing France and Northwest Africa, and they have completely different situations between those two areas. In Northwest Africa, we have the right level of engagement, especially in Morocco, and in other countries, we try to piggyback on the CXO Club.
In countries like Senegal or the Ivory Coast, things are similar. So we have a kind of good engagement, I would say. For France, it’s totally different. Our big topic at the moment is to create a community and to get in front of the right people.

As Nutanix, we struggle with this piece, and we’ve been trying and trying. So I took a new angle: we don’t do it fully ourselves, but we rely on partners who are established, who have the connections, and we work with them as a sponsor to be in front of the right people.
It’s a new approach, but we also have our own events where we try to position ourselves on the new stories and the new platform we are providing to our customers. I would say we rely on third parties, but we also engage with our install base. We have two components.”

How would you define success in marketing today?

“Success in marketing is really being trusted by sales, because field marketing is really about creating business with them. We don’t just do marketing for marketing’s sake. What we really want to do is support them in getting new opportunities, new contacts, and start generating leads, and then move towards deal closing.

If the sales and marketing partnership is in place, that is a success for me. Another point is when you start to be copied; it is a good sign. If people start doing the same as what you are doing, then you are heading in the right direction. That is what I measure, because I take care of a region within TMEA. When I see my initiatives spreading across other countries, I think, okay, that was the right thing to do.”

 

Since you mentioned sales and marketing, what is the relationship between sales and marketing at Nutanix? Is there any tension?

“I know that it is sometimes difficult to create this relationship and trust. But I really have a strong relationship with a general manager who leads the salespeople. We partner together when we create the plans, when we deliver, and when we execute. I get support from him, and he gets support from me.

It is going pretty well. We try to take a bottom-up approach. We have programmes coming from corporate, and that is one thing we try to use. But we also initiate discussions locally with field sales. From that, once we have the discussion, we build the plan, adding some programmes when needed.But it is really like a motion that we do together. It is not marketing doing the marketing plan on its own.”

What do you think is the biggest challenge that marketers face today in general? Not only at Nutanix, but in general. How would you approach it?

“I think that the keyword at the moment is really AI. What would we do with AI? That is a question. We do not know it that well. We are like, okay, it can be useful, but how? So I would say at an individual level, practice as much as possible. Try to use the available tools. You will test something, fail sometimes, but learn a lot. That is at an individual level.

Now, when it comes to the organisation itself, it is another discussion because it is much broader. It is about reviewing the processes, how we work, and even sometimes how teams function together. We need to break silos. We need to start completely with a new mindset. And that is where it is difficult, because it is not just buying a tool. It is really a transformation.”

What would you say are the biggest opportunities or tools that marketers have today that perhaps were not available in the past?

“I would say we have a mind of gold, and that is data. Uh-huh. In the past, we did not have so much data about our customers, but also about prospects, how they consume content, what they want to see, what they like, and what they do not like.

And it is not about tracking people just to spy on them. That is really not the point. It is about trying to be relevant in their journey. What do they want to know? When? And giving the appropriate answer.

Because sometimes they are not available. If you try to call them every morning, that is a failure. They have other things to do, and it can be frustrating. But if you know that when there is a signal, they want to receive a case study to understand the use case, and you provide it at the right time, then that is very relevant, I would say.”

Can you tell us how you got started in marketing and what sparked your interest in it?

“Yes, I have a degree in marketing, so I was already on board when I was studying. While studying, I was doing management globally, but the last year was really when we started to focus on one competence, one skill we wanted to develop.

I picked marketing for one reason: I like to understand what others do in the company. I think when you are in marketing, you have this visibility because you need to talk to everyone. Every function is a partner. I like this 360-degree view that you get in marketing. Also, your day-to-day work is different every day.”

 

What career advice would you give to anyone who is starting in the marketing industry?

“I would say, be curious, really. Try to be out in the field, attend events, or have lunch with an executive who is visiting your office to broaden your view as much as possible. Talk to a pre-sales colleague over coffee. Every time you do, you will learn something.

Field marketing is really about creating relationships and trying to understand as much as possible. The more time you spend in the field, the more you read, and the more you deep dive into something, the better you will get.”

 

As the year comes to a close in 2025, how would you reflect on your journey this past year as a marketer and now as a CMO at Nutanix, and what New Year’s resolutions do you have in mind?

Yes, the end of the year is always an interesting time because it is the moment when you look back and see what has been a success, what did not work, which areas need development, and start preparing the plan. It is the moment to sit down and analyse what you have been doing. That is always when you can get new ideas and a fresh perspective to start the new year.

For me personally, it has been a very good year, and I am super happy. I was promoted to director, which was a big step for me. I would say all the work that had been done behind the scenes suddenly became visible and concrete to me. 

Looking ahead to 2026, there is something I would like to try, and it is good to share during this podcast: I would like to start a podcast. I think it is a great idea. People enjoy it, it is easy to consume, and I also want the customer to tell their story. When we do marketing, sometimes we only tell our story: what we do, how we position ourselves, the features we offer. But I would like to understand better how customers decide to use our solution, their contexts, and their challenges. This can lead to new discussions, new ideas, and perhaps doing things even better. 

 

How would you describe the role of a marketing head or director, such as yourself, in one word, and why?

“That is a difficult question to condense into one function like this. But I would say we are bridge-builders. We really try to create connections with our prospects, our customers, and also internally.

We try to understand what pre-sales do, what sales do, and we sometimes create those bridges between different teams because we centralise a lot. For example, I have been leading the flagship event for three years already in Paris, which had 1,200 people at the last edition, so it is quite a massive event. For that, I really need everyone in the organisation. The whole region is mobilised.

I partner on the content with pre-sales, I am on stage with the general manager, and I drive registration with sales and inside sales. Everything comes together, and that is where you can feel the dynamic of the whole organisation.”

 

Would you say that is the most successful event or engagement piece you have hosted?

“Impactful in terms of visibility, but also business generated. I am lucky because this year I will lead the EMEA presence for the Global Conference in Chicago. That is another challenge that I will take on as a stretch.”

 

Reflecting on your professional journey, how important has staying curious been, and was there someone who encouraged or mentored you? 

“Yeah, that’s a good question. So, if I come back to the first piece, when we say what kind of advice, in marketing, you are doing a lot. You are starting with execution because there is an event, there is something to do. So, you are doing the execution. Don’t miss the visibility part, especially after the event, sending information on how it went, numbers, and creating that awareness around you about what was a success.

So, really being visible, not only doing, but also making sure people know what you do. And in terms of mentoring, I have a great example at Nutanix, so I’ve been lucky to partner with Sammy Zoglami. He’s EA. He is SVP.

For me, what is the most impactful when I see him leading the region, the theatre, is that he does that with competence; he’s super competent in his work, but also with warmth. And I think you need both to be a great leader: warmth and competence, to be respected and to inspire people to go in the direction you are guiding them.”