👋 Hey, I’m George Chasiotis. Welcome to GrowthWaves, your weekly dose of B2B growth insights—featuring powerful case studies, emerging trends, and unconventional strategies you won’t find anywhere else.
This note is brought to you by Above Apex.
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Last week, we got our first lead from ChatGPT.
By “we,” I mean Restartt.
But not for the reason you’d think.
Here’s how it happened and why it matters.
(Plus: a mental model I developed from this.)
A case of self-reported attribution
One of the first questions we ask on intro calls is this:
“So, how did you find us?”
I know…
Nothing fancy.
Standard sales stuff.
Helps us fill out the CRM.
In this particular case, the prospect replied:
“We were looking for SaaS agencies with a Greek founder, and your name came up first.”
Our reaction:
“Ohh, good to know. So… ChatGPT then.”
Two things before we continue:
I’m from Greece.
It’s not the first time I’ve worked—or been on a call—with someone from Greece.
Over the years, my first agency (Minuttia) had several clients from Greece.
And I’m connected with many Greeks who are in the SaaS space.
So, naturally, there’s a lot of inbound interest from there.
That’s not unusual, by the way.
Just like you probably attract interest from your home region, I do too.
So I shouldn’t be surprised that a Greek-founded SaaS company wanted to work with someone like me.
That’s what I’d like to say, because the truth is, we didn’t see that one coming.
After all, who would’ve thought “Greek founder” would be a search attribute for finding a SaaS agency?
The problem with marketing
One of the biggest problems in marketing is that it’s still viewed—mostly—as a deterministic activity.
Author’s Note: Obviously, I’m oversimplifying here. Marketers face several challenges, especially in today’s environment. I’m focusing on the deterministic perception of marketing solely for the purposes of writing this note.
Many people who don’t ‘get’ marketing see it as an inputs → outputs → outcomes machine.
You input X, get output Y, and hope for outcome Z.
Sounds logical, right?
And if that holds, then the customer journey is linear and well-defined.
But in reality, it’s fragmented, non-linear, and often totally random.
The thing is…
We’re overly fixated on the idea that we (marketers) control the customer lifecycle journey.
We build touchpoints and design systems to lead people from one stage to the next.
But in this—and many other cases—we don’t have nearly as much control as we think.
Marketing doesn’t work like that. (At least not anymore.)
The Trail Mental Model
Stop and think for a second.
Marketing isn’t a straight path to your desired outcome…
…but a winding, unpredictable one.
Your job isn’t to lead everyone in your SAM all the way to the end.
At least not most of the time.
And let’s be honest—it’s not helpful to think about marketing this way.
I know that’s what they told you.
And I know your KPIs or OKRs are based on that mental model.
But your job as a marketer isn’t really that.
You’re a guide, not a carrier.
Your job is to leave as many trails as possible.
Those trails should exist—and stay fresh.
Your audience may or may not follow them.
Your job is to be present where it matters most.
But you can’t guarantee people will stay on track.
Or that they won’t take a path you never considered.
So no, your job isn’t to own the journey.
And it’s certainly not to carry prospects from point A to point B.
Your job is to ensure that you show up wherever the journey takes you.
You facilitate the journey and make it as seamless, smooth, and short as you can.
That’s a much better way of thinking about what we do.
If we understand the what, the how gets much easier.
Final thoughts
Marketing isn’t easy.
And it’s only getting more difficult.
I know—because I’m in the trenches too.
That’s why we need to spend more time educating the world around us on what’s changed.
It’s the only way to navigate toward a future we’re actually excited about.
Thank you for reading today’s note, and see you again next week.