Predictable new enquiries — instead of hoping for referrals.

Your customers google and ask ChatGPT before they call you. This playbook shows IT service providers, infrastructure and SaaS vendors in plain language how to become visible there, build trust and turn it into qualified enquiries — no marketing background required.

  • Where your customers actually search today — and how to show up on Google, LinkedIn and in AI answers
  • How an anonymous website visitor becomes a qualified enquiry — step by step, ready to copy
  • The 5 mistakes that kill B2B marketing in the mid-market — and the numbers that actually matter

44 pages PDF 30 practice questions Plain-language glossary No prior knowledge needed

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Three decision-makers. One problem.

Three decision-makers accompany you through the playbook — composites of real clients and real conversations. You will most likely recognise yourself in at least one of them.

  1. "Website, LinkedIn, newsletter, events, sales support — and now the launch of our managed security offering on top. Lots of activity, hardly any measurable leads. It feels like flying blind."

  2. "Everything used to run on personal contacts and referrals. But my customers now google and ask ChatGPT before they call — and the younger competitors are far more visible online."

  3. "Strong product, excellent references. Yet I keep losing deals to vendors with a stronger online presence — even though their product is weaker."

What all three share: they sell complex technology to technical decision-makers — and technical excellence alone is no longer enough.

Four phases. One system.

The playbook calls it the 4R system: the path from "nobody knows us" to "customers refer us". Not a funnel that ends at the purchase, but a cycle that gets stronger with every turn — each phase with concrete actions to implement right away.

A single yellow beam of light finds the right contacts in a crowd
Phase 1 Reach

Become visible to the right people

How your target audience discovers you without sales lifting a finger — via personal LinkedIn profiles instead of the company page, content from real project experience, and lead magnets with immediate value.

  • The voice-memo workflow: a 3-minute voice note instead of writer’s block
  • Why the "free initial consultation" is dead in 2026 — and what converts instead
  • Ads that deliberately amplify what already works organically
Yellow threads of light connect individual points into a network
Phase 2 Relate

Stay in touch and build trust

Your own email list is the only channel free of algorithm dependency. How a download becomes a relationship — with emails that deliver value instead of noise.

  • The underrated 5-to-10-minute call after every download
  • The 5-step email sequence after the download — pure value, no sales pressure
  • Turning one webinar into a quarter of content
A yellow impulse runs through a control room and triggers the decisive contact
Phase 3 Respond

When warm leads become customers

The moment of buying readiness decides — and most companies waste it because sales knows nothing about the prospect’s history. The solution: every contact lands in the CRM, and sales knows the story before picking up the phone.

  • Marketing and sales as one system instead of two silos
  • Recognising buying signals: who is ready for a conversation — and who needs more time?
  • Entering first conversations prepared instead of cold-calling after the fact
A glowing yellow ring spins as a flywheel in a dark control room
Phase 4 Retain

Existing customers as your growth engine

Existing customers are the booster of the system: references, referrals and reach that no budget can buy. This is how the flywheel closes — every customer drives the next turn.

  • The four customer types: champions, growth candidates, referral partners, problem cases
  • How satisfied customers become active advocates
  • Why new business should drive growth — not carry your revenue
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Generic information has become worthless — anyone can retrieve it in seconds. What remains is trust and real experience. And trust is built by a system of connected activities — individual channels work, but only the system wins.

Built for execution, not for reading cover to cover

Deliberately comprehensive, but built so you need no marketing background and never have to read it in one sitting.

A

Key message & "In 30 seconds"

Every chapter opens with one sentence that states the essential point — and closes with a summary for fast readers.

B

Plain-language boxes & glossary

Technical terms are explained right where they appear. At the back: a complete plain-language glossary — from GEO to buying center.

C

30 practice questions as a reference appendix

From "Where do I start?" through budget and timelines to "Does LinkedIn actually work?" — the questions clients really ask us.

D

Common pitfalls & the metrics that matter

The five killers of every marketing system (perfectionism, impatience, tactic-hopping, data blindness, isolated activities) — and the metrics that lead to revenue.

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PDF · No marketing background needed · Free

The numbers behind the system

2/3

of B2B buying decisions are prepared digitally before the first sales contact takes place

7–12

touchpoints a B2B buyer needs today before purchasing — and rising

pipeline volume in 8 months — client DWP, with exactly this system

+47%

more qualified enquiries — client AMBER, through persistence instead of luck

Real clients, real numbers. Behind both is a system that kept turning month after month — not a single brilliant campaign.

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Christoph Sauerborn

Christoph Sauerborn

Founder & Managing Director, Brixon Group

Industrial engineer (RWTH Aachen), career stops at Bosch, lecturer in digital value creation. Christoph has built hundreds of tech campaigns over the years — incl. for Siemens, Bosch, NTT Data, Celonis and netgo. His thesis: marketing for complex technology is an engineering problem, not a creative problem. The 4R system is the working structure that grew out of it.

Who is this playbook for?

Written for B2B tech companies in the DACH region with 10 to 250 employees: firms that sell complex technology to technical decision-makers — with long buying processes, buying centers of multiple stakeholders, and usually no marketing department of their own.

Built for

  • IT service providers and systems houses (managed services, security, cloud) whose new business runs almost entirely on referrals and existing customers — and who sense that this is thinning out
  • Infrastructure vendors for networks, data centers and hardware, whose buyers decide in committees, have long investment cycles — and today google and ask ChatGPT before they call
  • SaaS and tech product companies with a strong product and excellent references that still lose deals to more visible competitors with weaker products
  • Marketing leads who juggle website, LinkedIn, newsletter and events alone or in a team of two — and finally want a system instead of flying blind
  • Managing directors and founders who want to understand what their marketing budget concretely achieves before investing further — without having to study marketing first

Not built for

  • B2C business models — the system is designed strictly for complex B2B technology with long buying processes
  • Anyone looking for a quick hack: the system takes focus and months, not days
  • Corporations with a 50-person marketing department — it is perfected for teams that have exactly the opposite

Frequently asked

Is the playbook really free?

Yes, completely — and that is deliberate. The playbook is itself a living example of the approach it describes: show substance first, offer a conversation second. You see how we think and work. No catch.

Will this work for my company?

The 4R system is built for B2B tech companies between 10 and 250 employees — from systems houses and infrastructure vendors to SaaS companies. If you sell complex technology to technical decision-makers, it was written for you.

Do I need a large marketing team to implement this?

No — quite the opposite. The system is perfected for companies without a large marketing department. Many of our clients have one or two people in marketing. The playbook shows what to start with and what can wait.

How is this different from other marketing guides?

No textbook marketing. Everything in the playbook comes from practice with real B2B tech companies in the DACH region — including the numbers: pipeline doubled in 8 months (DWP), 47% more qualified enquiries (AMBER). And it is one coherent system, not a loose collection of tips.

Will I get constant sales emails afterwards?

No. You receive the playbook and afterwards content with real value — exactly the nurturing principle the playbook describes. Unsubscribe anytime with one click. We respect your inbox.

Why do you ask for my phone number?

Because we call briefly and courteously after the download — to welcome, not to sell. Exactly the 5-minute call the playbook describes in phase 2. You experience the system first-hand. If you prefer not to, just say so on the call.

The question is not whether you need digital B2B marketing.

The question is when you start. 44 pages that show how predictable lead generation works for B2B technology — free, in your inbox right away.

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