Every August the same refrain echoes through sales teams: “You cannot get hold of anyone”. For those working internationally, particularly with European clients, it is even more pronounced…

…So, if your prospects are out of office, what can you do that is genuinely valuable? The answer lies in using August not as a waiting room but as a control room. This is a time to assess, clean up and align your go to market efforts before the final push.

Over the years I have had the privilege of working with some brilliant businesses. Forward thinking teams, the right people in the right roles, and critically, the right technology stack already in place. CRM? Present and correct. Marketing automation? Ticking along. Customer success tools? Absolutely. On the surface, it is all there.

So why do things still break?

Marketing has never been more complex.

From campaign strategy and brand storytelling to SEO, paid media, data tracking, content operations and funnel experimentation, the modern marketing function is no longer just a creative department. It is a commercially driven, technology-enabled growth engine. Yet the path to senior marketing leadership is still largely shaped by generalist experience rather than operational expertise.

So what does that mean for growing businesses trying to make sense of it all?

When it comes to choosing the right CRM platform to support your B2B sales and marketing efforts, two tools consistently stand out from the crowd: HubSpot and Salesforce (SFDC).

This is not a comparison designed to criticise either tool. It is about highlighting the strengths and benefits of each platform from a B2B commercial perspective, focusing on how they support sales, marketing, and the wider revenue function.