Brett Queener (Salesforce employee #7, three decades in GTM) drops a signal I've been watching compound across operator conversations: when AI commoditizes explanation and education, the center of gravity shifts back to physical presence. His data point — 75%+ of early-stage pipeline now coming from events — isn't nostalgia for trade show booths. It's rational response to a new risk calculus. When buyers are betting careers on products that didn't exist six months ago, and every vendor can articulate value propositions equally well through AI-assisted content, the trust-building happens face-to-face. Field marketing isn't having a moment; it's becoming the primary signal in a world drowning in equally articulate noise.
The deeper pattern here: Queener's arguing that 'right to win' now resets every 30 days because building is no longer a moat. If that's true — and the pace of agentic software development suggests it is — then the GTM operators who win are the ones who can compress 'deploy before you close' cycles and build trust faster than competitors can copy features. This isn't about abandoning digital motions. It's about recognizing that when everyone can explain equally well, the competitive advantage moves to execution speed and relationship density. Field marketing becomes the forcing function for both.
What makes this particularly relevant: Queener's not a community-led-growth evangelist or event vendor. He's a VC partner who's watched Salesforce/HubSpot ecosystems become what he calls 'boat anchors' as AI collapses traditional sales motions. His thesis — vertical software more defensible than horizontal platforms — compounds with the field marketing observation. If you're selling into a vertical where trust networks are dense and face-to-face access is achievable, you have structural advantages that horizontal AI tools can't easily replicate. The companies doubling down on field marketing aren't being romantic. They're reading the terrain.