Rachael Wheatley
- Specialism:Strategic marketing and business development for B2B products and services, mainly those with longer sales cycles.
- Track Record: Marketing Director at Morgan Cole law firm; Head of Marketing at Jordans; Ovation Finance; Watts Group; Spidergroup Digital & Technology; Foot Anstey; Haseltine Lake
- Offer: Outsourced marketing director services for scaling B2B companies, including audit and marketing strategy and plan development; building your marketing capability; aligning marketing, sales and service; market scoping and research; competitive analysis; mentoring and training.
- Rachael says: “Iwill work with you to ensure you find, win and keep more of the right clients.”
- Try me
Having spent 20 years working in-house, 12 years as a marketing consultant and trainer, and then three years as managing director of a small growth consultancy, I came to a career pivot point. I knew I had a lot of experience and knowledge to offer and wanted to build up a good relationship with a small number of companies where I can add tangible value and do so by working as part of their team.
I set up my consultancy business in 2009 after I was made redundant. I looked at in-house marketing director roles but, for various reasons, ended up doing BD training for professional services firms as a freelancer. The business morphed over the years to be more focused on marketing and BD training and consultancy.
Two of the clients I spoke with around 2015 asked for external support. After initial conversations and scoping out the services, I proposed the outsourced marketing director offer, which I’m happy to say both took up. One of the relationships lasted for several years, the other was for an interim period until they were sold.
Three key learning points along the way. The first is the need to talk and be really clear about expectations early on, to check you and the client have the same understanding about what you’ll be doing!
The second is that, as an outsourced marketing director, there needs to be at least one marketing person employed in-house who will help you do the doing. Otherwise, you’ll end up being an expensive marketing manager, which is not a good way to get best value.
The third is to build relationships across the business—other members of the board, managers, people in different teams. It helps you get under the skin of the business and, in my role, is essential to understanding the true value and support great marketing can provide.
Working as a Portfolio Executive means I can be flexible for clients, for instance, if they need extra days or additional help implementing a strategic project. I can get my teeth into something meaty, and I feel energised by working with others. It also means I have some work-life balance.
I hope for long-term relationships with a handful of clients where I continue to work closely with visionary CEOs to help them achieve their goals. Increasingly, I’m working with values and purpose-driven companies—I enjoy working for those businesses to help them build value for all stakeholders.