My one message
Fix first
Speed to lead, reimbursement and onboarding
Before buying more leads.
2026 commitment
~4,850
New users, capped by 10 CPS. Target was 5,400.
Stretch ~4,950 with CPS quick winsMarch 2027
630 → 700
630 committed with 14 CPS, 700 with 50 starts per CPS.
Diagnosis 1 · Q3 funnel
At plan conversion, the same leads would have delivered ~1,970 starts, not 1,200
Kaleido wins once the patient sits with the doctor. We lose people before and after that moment.
Source: case data pack, table 3. Plan rate = 0.55 × 0.50 × 0.65 × 0.90 × 0.92. The grey gap at the end is around 770 starts.
Diagnosis 2 · Why leads drop out
65% of drop-outs are process issues we can fix ourselves
6 days
From lead to first contact. The target is 2.
100+
Leads per Customer Success colleague per working day. A capacity issue, not a motivation issue.
Diagnosis 3 · Onboarding capacity
CPS capacity is the ceiling – more leads in Q4 will not create more Q4 starts
With around 10 weeks from lead to start, the leads we create in Q4 are the starts of February and March.
Maximum today
450
Starts per month: 10 CPS × 45. Q3 ran at 400, already 89% utilised.
Needed in Q4
600
Starts per month to reach 5,400. Not possible with 10 CPS, whatever marketing does.
March 2027
630
With 14 CPS × 45. Reaching 700 needs 50 starts per CPS or 16 CPS.
What I would challenge
Four questions for my first week
Cohorts, not quarters
Q3 starts come mostly from Q2 leads. Is the 77% a time lag or real drop-out?
How big is the queue?
How many prescribed patients wait for approval or onboarding today, and for how long?
Attribution and lead definition
First or last touch? Is a lead defined the same way in every channel?
Small samples, hidden trends
HCP survey n = 60, about ±12 pp. Webinar attendance rate rises, but attendees fall from 150 to 95.
From my experiencePerfood: launched a prescription DiGA in a brand-new category and found that prescriptions start with the physician. 15% above revenue plan.Full example
- Situation
- Perfood launched a prescription DiGA in a brand-new category. Most doctors had never prescribed one.
- My role
- As Head of Marketing and Brand I led the funnel analysis and owned the positioning.
- What I did
- I mapped drop-out at every stage: website and landing page visits, paid social leads, sign-up forms, the newsletter journey, prescriptions and activation. Patients with an electronic prescription activated their code in only about 14% of cases, against 50–60% for paper prescriptions. Surveys of patients and doctors showed the main bottleneck: doctors didn’t know or trust DiGAs. So I put physicians first, with CME-accredited webinars (German doctors need 250 CME points every five years) and direct outreach by fax to practices we already worked with.
- Result
- 15% above revenue plan.
- Today I would
- Invest even earlier in physician education.
Plan · Q4 2026
Q4: empty the pipeline, plug the leaks
Q4 starts come from people already in the system. New material needs 14 working days of approval, so Q4 relies on process and approved content.
Pipeline sprint
Every prescribed and approved patient followed up with Sales and Market Access. CPS calendars kept full, scheduling and admin moved off CPS.
Speed to lead
Auto-reply within 1 hour and lead scoring, HCP referral and search first. From 6 to 2 days.
Insurance clarity
Coverage check and FAQ from approved content, template letters for practices, rejections tracked by insurer.
Reactivation
Re-contact Q3 leads who stalled. 27% only waited too long.
Shift spend
Paid social down to retargeting. Money moves to search and HCP referral.
Q1 into approval now
Because of the 14-day review and the holidays, January material goes in by end of November.
From my experiencePerfood: owned the marketing plan and full budget in a fast-growing start-up, employee 22 of 130. 15% above revenue plan.Full example
- Situation
- A start-up growing from 22 to 130 people with fixed revenue targets, launching a DiGA for people with type 2 diabetes.
- My role
- I owned the marketing plan and the full budget and led a team of five.
- What I did
- For doctors I built an online webinar system with CME accreditation, sales material for practices and fax campaigns. For patients I cut paid social and shifted around 60% of that budget to Google search, which delivered more completed sign-up forms. I front-loaded the budget at the start of the year, when people set new habits – a strong emotional moment for type 2 diabetes, where weight loss plays a big role. Then I reviewed all online spend every month across social, influencers, Google and individual keywords: try, invest, evaluate, shift. Around diabetes congresses and awareness days I doubled the budget for that occasion.
- Result
- 15% above revenue plan.
- Today I would
- Put an even stronger share into HCP material and education right from the start.
Plan · Q1 2027
Q1: build the funnel for 700, in step with capacity
HCP confidence
34% → 45% with regional, case-based sessions for diabetes educators, built on the EASD data.
More centres
180 → 240 prescribing, starting with the largest of the 420 centres that did not prescribe in Q3.
Capacity
4 new CPS. Prep videos, group and virtual onboarding to reach 50+ starts per CPS.
Qualified leads
4,400 → 5,400 a month via search, HCP referral and community.
| Audience | Key message | Main channels |
|---|---|---|
| People with type 1, especially Dexcom users and pump users near renewal | Small, light, run from your own phone – and we help you with your health insurance | Search, website with coverage check, community, retargeting |
| HCPs, diabetes educators, practice teams | Strong real-world data (72% time in range) and little extra work: we onboard and support the claim | Field material, regional sessions, practice events, mailings |
| Distributor stores | Easy to recommend, Kaleido to touch, fast follow-up | Staff training, demo units, top stores first |
All messages subject to Medical/QA approval and the German healthcare advertising law.
Plan · Onboarding capacity
Freeing up CPS time: 50+ starts per CPS
CPS set up the pump, connect the DBLG2 app and the Dexcom G7, start automated mode, follow up in the first weeks and train practice teams – plus a lot of organisation and travel. Marketing can make each onboarding shorter; the process I build with the Regional Sales Managers.
Prepared patients
Short videos and an online module before the session. Patients can already try the DBLG2 demo app.
Group onboarding
Three to five patients at once in larger centres.
Virtual onboarding
Starter kit at home and a video session for tech-savvy users. Saves travel time.
Automated follow-up
Reminders and a day-3 video for the first set change. Routine questions go to Customer Success.
Admin off CPS
Online scheduling, a readiness checklist and the “Your road to Kaleido” tracker.
Train-the-trainer
Certified educators in high-volume centres onboard with CPS supervision. Needs Quality and Regulatory approval.
March 2027
14 × 50 = 700
Only about 11% more per CPS. At 55 per CPS it would be around 770 – an assumption, not a promise.
Q4 reality check
60 per CPS
Needed for 600 a month in Q4 – a third more within eight weeks, with holidays. Not realistic.
Q4 quick wins
+3–5
Starts per CPS in November and December from admin offload and full calendars. Stretch for 2026: ~4,950.
Videos go through Medical/QA: produced in November to be ready in January.
Plan · Creative ideas
Five creative ideas – each one fixes a leak
Kaleido is a design product: ten colours, two pumps – one you wear, one that charges. The ideas build on that.
Your road to Kaleido
Parcel-style tracker by text and email: appointment, prescription, insurance, onboarding, start.
Leak: waiting (27%)Will my insurance pay?
60-second coverage check online and by QR code in waiting rooms and stores – “yes, and we help with the claim”.
Leak: insurance doubt (38%)Pick your colour
Choose one of ten colours at prescription stage. A small colour card builds ownership before the pump arrives.
Leak: drop-out after prescriptionKaleido in 15 minutes
Short in-practice sessions for diabetes educators, with an onboarding kit and one real case.
Leak: HCP confidence (34%)Creators who switched
Micro-creators and ambassadors who truly switch, like Amelie: content for retargeting, plus run clubs and cooking workshops they host.
Leak: lead quality (36%)How I run them
Small tests, funded from the €20k reserve and shifted social spend. Q4: tracker and coverage check on approved content. Keep or stop after 4 weeks.
From my experiencePerfood: the millionfriends community – live events with influencers, press and real user stories.Full example
- Events
- Yoga and cycling events and a live cooking class with a Michelin-starred chef and invited press, each with up to 30 guests – half of them influencers who shared it on social media.
- Content
- Influencers created metabolism-friendly recipes with us, and our online cooking sessions reached up to 150 live viewers.
- Result
- New followers and newsletter sign-ups, content, press coverage across Germany and real stories from people using the product.
- For Kaleido
- The model behind “Creators who switched”: a run club and cooking workshops on carb counting, hosted by creators together with local diabetes educators.
Plan · €330,000 budget
Money goes where starts are cheap and qualified
€55k a month against €45k in Q3. Q4 gets €145k because starts are capped by capacity; Q1 gets €185k to build February and March starts.
| Area | Budget | Q3 cost per start |
|---|---|---|
| HCP programme | €65k | €89 |
| Congresses and events | €45k | new |
| Search and website | €70k | €82 |
| Paid social, retargeting only | €45k | €192 |
| Community and ambassadors | €35k | €89 |
| Distributor in-store | €25k | €118 |
| Speed to lead and insurance support | €25k | new |
| Reserve for tests | €20k | – |
| Total | €330k | avg €113 |
Phasing (€k)
Oct 50 · Nov 55 · Dec 40 · Jan 55 · Feb 65 · Mar 65
What I stop
Broad paid social lead ads (36% qualified), the monthly standard webinar, weak distributor stores and new creative in Q4.
Congresses and events: Herbsttagung ~€10k (booth likely booked; material, demo units, follow-up) · diatec + T1Day ~€25k · patient day ~€5k · DDG Kongress prep ~€5k. ATTD runs on the global budget. Cost per start: Q3 spend ÷ attributed starts, case data pack table 4.
Plan · Monthly targets
Starts follow capacity: ~4,850 in 2026, 630 in March
Assumes about 10 weeks from lead to start, qualification rising from 48% to 53% and reimbursement from 80% to 87%.
The gap of 70 starts between the two lines is what marketing and Sales win together.
| Month | Leads | Qualified | Prescriptions | Starts | CPS capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | 4,400 | 2,160 (49%) | 670 | 430 | 450 (10 CPS) |
| November | 4,700 | 2,400 (51%) | 760 | 450 | 450 |
| December | 3,900 | 2,030 (52%) | 640 | 370 | ~400 (holidays) |
| January | 5,000 | 2,600 (52%) | 840 | 430 | 450 (4 in training) |
| February | 5,300 | 2,810 (53%) | 925 | 540 | ~540 |
| March | 5,400 | 2,860 (53%) | 945 | 630 | 630 (14 CPS) |
2026 new users · how ~4,850 adds up
Circles = material to Medical/QA (14-day review). diatec leads become starts from April; for March it counts through HCP confidence and new prescribing centres. Booth overruns come out of the reserve first.
2026 commitment
~4,850
3,600 + 430 + 450 + 370, about 10% below 5,400. Stretch ~4,950 with CPS quick wins.
March 2027
630 → 700
630 committed. 700 with 50 starts per CPS, a joint lever with Sales.
Delivery · Team and EMEA
One direct report, many shared colleagues: clarity is my lever
Marketing Associate
Owns the weekly dashboard, webinars and distributor work. Weekly 1:1 and one growth goal.
Brand & Creative
One quarterly brief, ranked. Reuse EMEA assets. Briefs batched to the 14-day review.
Social Media
A monthly German plan I prepare, measured on qualified leads, not reach.
Agency
Through Brand & Creative, no side briefs. Facts, audience and one KPI.
| Weekly rhythm | What | With whom |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 30-minute funnel review: leads, first contact, prescriptions, starts, CPS load | Sales lead, Customer Success, Associate |
| Wednesday | EMEA sync on briefs and priorities | Brand & Creative, Social Media |
| Thursday | Approval pipeline check | Medical/QA |
| Friday | One-page update with six KPIs | EMEA Marketing Director, Country Director |
From my experienceBuilt and led a team of five at Perfood; delivered a global brand locally with central teams at Spaces (IWG).Full example
- Situation
- At Perfood I built the marketing team from scratch. At Spaces, part of the IWG group, I delivered a global brand locally with central teams who did not report to me.
- My role
- At Perfood I defined the roles we needed and hired them: two junior graphic designers, a PR manager, a performance marketing manager and a copywriter. At Spaces I was the local link to the global marketing team.
- What I did
- At Perfood we split responsibilities by category, ran our work through Notion and Figma and reviewed dashboards at the start and end of every week. Each team member regularly taught the others about their own field, and I sent them to workshops and certifications and ran sessions on goal setting. At Spaces we had regular global meetings and shared project tools that connected plans, goals and processes; our campaigns combined my local ideas with the global structure, adapted to Berlin’s target group.
- Result
- Both junior designers grew – one into a graphic designer, one into a senior graphic designer.
- Today I would
- Set up an AI-supported Monday update for every team across countries on news, process changes, wins and mistakes – and add regular coffee chats across countries.
Delivery · Sales and other functions
One funnel, one goal: starts
Field reps and RSMs
Shared lead definition, 48-hour follow-up, the same Monday numbers.
CPS
Lead volume tied to capacity; pre-onboarding material shortens sessions.
Market Access
Rejections by insurer, coverage check, template letters, and a fax-ready prescription and claim pack for practices we work with.
Medical and QA
Six-month approval calendar and pre-approved modular content.
Customer Success
Auto-reply, lead scoring and a call guide; insights flow back into messages.
Distributor
Through Sales: staff training, demo units, results per store.
“Marketing leads are poor quality”
Listen first – the data partly agrees, with paid social at 36% qualified. Review real cases together, agree one lead definition and measure lead to start. I change the marketing, not the definition, and ask for first contact within 48 hours in return.
From my experienceneotiv: run marketing and sales as one unit for a medical device. Customer base +20%.Full example
- Situation
- neotiv sells a medical device for cognitive assessment to clinics, practices and public institutions – long buying processes with several decision-makers.
- My role
- As Head of Commercial Strategy I set up marketing and sales as one unit.
- What I did
- I built a direct lead handover: at a dementia congress, doctors registered through flyers with tracked links, their details went straight into our CRM (Pipedrive), sales followed up within five days and the CRM reported the outcome back to me. When sales and marketing disagreed about our sales material, I collected anonymous feedback from the sales team and feedback from doctors, analysed it with AI support and rebuilt the material from what both sides said.
- Result
- Customer base up 20%, driven by a new congress presence, better sales material, the CRM integration and a newsletter funnel.
- Today I would
- Replace the single weekly meeting with live dashboards and feedback loops – and aim for follow-up within 48 hours, not five days.
Measuring success
Six KPIs a week – and six signals to change course
Starts tell me what happened ten weeks ago. Time to first contact tells me what will happen in ten weeks.
| Weekly KPI | Type | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first contact | Leading | ≤ 2 days from November |
| Qualification rate | Leading | 53% by March |
| Prescriptions per week | Leading | ~220 in March |
| Reimbursement rate | Leading | 87% |
| Starts vs CPS capacity | Outcome | Full use |
| Cost per start | Efficiency | < €100 average |
| If … | … then |
|---|---|
| First contact > 3 days by mid-November | Escalate, add capacity, slow leads |
| A channel < 40% qualified for 3 weeks | Move its budget |
| Reimbursement < 83% in December | Target top insurers with Market Access |
| CPS hiring slips | Fewer leads in Feb–Mar, more HCP work |
| Webinars < 100 attendees | New format straight away |
| Starts −10% two months running | Re-plan, release the €20k reserve |
Monthly: aided awareness 22% → 26% · HCP prescribing confidence 34% → 45% · prescribing centres 180 → 240.