Filling the uncertainty gap.

Returns Marketing focuses on where growth is actually won: inside the pipeline. It challenges the idea that marketing’s job ends at handover and makes the case for a more commercially focused role, one that unites sales and marketing to support live opportunities, reduces uncertainty, and keeps deals moving.

Founder-led and grounded in real experience, this session will show how marketing can move from performance theater to bottom-line impact, helping good deals become great ones. It will show how making marketing activity visible in the pipeline will give leaders the confidence to invest where and when it truly counts.

The death of the MQL

This session shows how marketing inside the pipeline changes how performance is measured. When sales and marketing align around live opportunities, outdated lead metrics fall away.

Using unified dashboards, teams gain a single view of deal momentum, enabling better decisions and shared accountability for revenue outcomes.

We will cover:

• Marketing’s role inside live sales opportunities
• Narrowing focus to remove friction and build momentum
• How marketing supports deal progression and confidence
• Real-life examples of marketing proving impact inside the sales pipeline

Meet the Speaker

Ian Ord, Fifth Ring Founder

Ian Ord is the founder, marketing strategist and business development leader. This mix of senior leadership, marketing and sales experience has focused him on one simple truth: marketing only matters if it drives outcomes that leadership can trust.

With years of experience helping B2B leaders break the cycle of vanity metrics and siloed activity, Ian’s work focuses squarely on sales and marketing alignment — not as a feel-good idea, but as a measurable commercial advantage. He’s built his career on helping teams bridge the divide between marketing effort and predictive revenue, turning pipeline friction into momentum and transforming marketing from a cost center into a strategic growth function that ultimately helps clients own the space.

Who should attend

• Business leaders responsible for growth and revenue performance
• CMOs and senior marketing leaders under pressure to prove impact
• Commercial teams who want deals to move faster and convert more reliably

What you’ll leave with

• A clearer understanding of where marketing can influence live deals
• A practical view of marketing’s role inside the sales pipeline
• A framework for reducing friction and accelerating deal momentum
• Language and evidence that resonates with senior leadership