AE @ Gong | Closed Won 🦙 | 5x President's Club

Creating raving fans @ Gong. Founder of Closed Won. Dad to Monty 🐾 

Brian LaManna

Seeing my name on a NY Times Square billboard is not something I had on my 2026 bingo card... but nor was baby monkey Punch... so here we are. 

Huge thank you to the team at trumpet 🎺 for making that happen.

(The NY Times Square billboard... in case that needs clarifying)

Beyond the surreal moment, I want to give them a genuine shoutout for what they actually helped me accomplish this year.

I used Trumpet in every single enterprise deal I ran. Every one. Deal rooms became a core part of how I sell.

The results backed it up:
-Win rate went up
-Sales cycles got shorter
-Average sale price grew

That's the trifecta. 

And a big piece of that came down to having a professional, organized space where buyers could engage, internal champions could sell on my behalf, and nothing got lost in a 47-message email chain.

2025 was a proud blowout year for me, and Trumpet was part of that story. 

Grateful for platforms that actually move the needle.

Thanks, Trumpet 🎺

Brand partnership • AE @ Gong | Closed Won 🦙 | 7x President’s Club

6 non-negotiables for me to uncover in every sales cycle.

Without it, you're likely to lose often to 'no decision.'

And no - this is not MEDDIC.


It's the concept of 'why change' and why an investment is required.


1. 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲-𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐨𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞

How to ask:
↳ "Gong aside, what are the top 2-3 strategic priorities you're most focussed on."
↳ "What company-specific objective does Gong align most to, in your eyes?"


2. 𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐭

How to ask:
↳ “For this new launch, through your lenses, what's the biggest single risk to making this a success?”


3. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞

How to ask:
↳ "What metric is that most affecting today?"
↳ "Where is that at today?"


4. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞

How to ask:
↳ "In an ideal world, where would you want to get that to?"


5. 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐎𝐈

How to ask:
↳ "If you bridged that gap, have you done the math on what that would be worth?


6. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤.

How to ask:
↳ What have you already done to try and solve that?



Uncover these 6 and stop status quo from eating you alive.

But you won't uncover all 6 of these on the first call

Discovery is a never-ending process

Not just a sales stage


P.S. Closed Won Club is opening back up in  10 days !!! Be on the waitlist for the full discount: https://lnkd.in/gRwyxSti

AE @ Gong | Closed Won 🦙 | 7x President’s Club

Software stocks just got crushed. $400B wiped out in a week.

ServiceNow down 50% from peaks. Salesforce off 40%. Even Palantir down 30%+ despite crushing numbers.

What happened? New AI models released from Anthropic changed the narrative overnight.

For the first time, investors are asking: "What if AI replaces software altogether?"

Here's the fear: Companies now have three options instead of two:

1. Buy your SaaS software
2. Evaluate 2-3 competitive options
3. Build their own / use AI agents

But here's what most miss:

As a fast growing company, would you rather pay $100K annually for best-in-class software… or divert your finite engineering resources to build, maintain, train on, and secure your own tool. 

Instead of using those engineering resources to focus on your own product/offering.

Similar to COVID, this is a moment where the strongest SaaS companies get stronger, and weaker ones fall off. 

The companies at risk? Simple point solutions with seat-based pricing that's easy to replicate.

It'll be easy to identify the "winners" a few quarters from now. 

Companies that show YoY revenue is accelerating. They are AI beneficiaries . 

Those slowing down? Their stocks will get decimated. And their down fall will become sell fulfilling. 

Exposing which companies actually have a moat, and which were just renting one all along. 


P.S. Think we see this trickle through to the private markets next... funding will dramatically slow for Software companies and "ChatGPT wrappers."

I've spent 2.5 years selling to CRO's and VPs of Sales

If you can't hold your own negotiating, you'll get eaten alive.

Here's my always / never rules for negotiating:

𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬:
-Confirm you are vendor of choice
-Be consultative + work together
-Require a live phone / Zoom conversation
-Still schedule a next meeting after finalizing
-Share levers for better pricing (users, products, longer term, etc.)


𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫:
-Negotiate before the 1-yard line
-Try to negotiate over email / text
-Negotiate with a non Decision Maker
-Assume that pricing is the most important
-Use discounting as a crutch for a bad business case



Negotiating is all about learning what's most important to your prospect

That is only learned through strong discovery with the right person

It's not a you vs. them situation 🤝


P.S. Buzzing the 1st masterclass today for Closed Won Club, with Palantir's previous Head of Commercial Sales (ksa) speaking to us... waitlist here for spots in March: https://lnkd.in/gRwyxSti

I’m not sure I would have been successful in 2018 as an SDR if it wasn’t in office. 

Fresh out of college, I had no idea what I was doing. How to open Salesforce, make a dial, what to say, how to handle an objection. 

We learned from screwing up together, laughing, and following each other around when we had one live. 

When we went remote in March 2021, I was pissed. I LOVED being in office. 

A few months later, I LOVED being remote. 

I had an extra 90 minutes. I started working out daily, eating healthier, and got way more done. 

It hit me how much time I was losing between the commute and office chit chat. 

I joined Gong in 2021 in big part because it was remote. I’d never consider mandatory in-person. 


2023 - we opened up a Chicago office for Gong. I went 1-2x a month.

2024 - I started going 2x a week. Was great to see people, grab lunch, and “mix it up.”

2025 - I go every single week. Sometimes once. Sometimes 4x. 

I love hybrid. Never being forced to be in office…

But having that option should you wish. 


Can anyone else not make up their mind between in-person and remote?

Or just keep flip flopping like me? 


P.S. No real point to this post other than sharing things aren’t always black and white. And it’s OK to change your opinion. OG Chicago BrightEdge crew photo below.

Nice guys finish last in sales too.

Being a pushover or a happy ears seller is a good way to get walked all over.

Selling is a 2-way street that is flow of gives/ges.

You have to respect yourself for:
-Your expertise
-Time you prepare for each meeting
-Knowledge in how best to help buyers actually buy
-Time that could be going towards another prospect or customer.

I recently had a prospect go dark for 30 days after committing to an April timeline.

When we got a meeting for early May, most sellers would just be happy they are back online and roll over.

I decided instead to call out the elephant in the room.

A few (real) questions I shared:

“Last time we spoke was April 3rd. We mutually agreed on a timeline to finalize in April and put forward a proposal that reflected that. Why did we not hear from you until early May?”

“Timelines change and we understand that… my ask moving forward is you communicate with us, just as I will with you. Is that a fair ask?”


Respect your time and expertise as a seller.

Because if you do not, no one will.


P.S. Closed Won Club opens up again in <7 days... waitlist just crossed 300+ here: https://lnkd.in/gRwyxSti

Relias team - thank you for inviting me to your Sales Kickoff!

I’ve been lucky enough to work with them for the last 2 years and they are some of the best humans you will meet. 

I got to lead an hour session on leadership deal inspection + coaching. 

And how to leverage amazing platforms like Gong to work smarter, not harder. 

Special thank you to Michael Miller Lara Badanes, MBA Taylor Seus Candace Wallace

Hope to be back in the future for 3 years in a row! :)



 P.S. The healthcare workforce is stretched THIN. That's why 14,000+ healthcare orgs turn to Relias for education, training, and workforce enablement solutions. Awesome people doing amazing things ❤️

Most painful (lost) deals I remember.

-One that had a DocuSign out for signature around March 15th, 2020. The team took a few extra days to look it over... COVID hit... and they never ended up signing.

-6 month evaluation, decided they were going to move to us from a larger competitor, and then not realizing they had an auto-renewal. I take fault for not pressing harder on this.

-21 month deal cycle that continued to push quarter after quarter for a variety of excuses, despite promising interest. Nothing as painful as a super long deal cycle with twists and turns. Eventually turned it Closed Lost.

-Running a successful evaluation with someone who told me "I am the decision maker and signer on this" ... when it came to sign, someone else blocked it from happening. Lesson learned... if someone blurts out "I am the decision maker" .... they are most definitely not the decision maker 🤣


Quickly learned to never celebrate a deal until it's signed.

Time really does kill deals sometimes.


P.S. Redesigned the website around Closed Won Club at https://closedwon.xyz/ ... how do we like it?

One of my favorite workflows right now involves Gong + Clay + Salesforce — and it's solving a problem every sales organization faces. 

Someone new joins a call. They're clearly a stakeholder. Maybe even the economic buyer. And they never make it into Salesforce.

It happens constantly. You want the right contacts attached to your deals. 

Here's the fix:

Gong's SFDC managed package already lets you push new contacts from a call directly into Salesforce. That part alone is huge. 

But here's where Clay takes it to the next level...

Once that contact hits Salesforce, Clay can enrich it. 

Verified email, accurate title, LinkedIn profile, company data — all automatically appended to the record. 

No bad data. No half-filled contact records sitting in your CRM.

Your buying committee is complete. Your data is clean. And you stop losing threads on your most important deals.

If you're running multi-threaded enterprise deals and not using this combo — it's worth 30 minutes of your time to set up.

What's your favorite Clay workflow?


P.S. A new partnership with Clay!!  Will be sharing video content of real Gong + Clay workflows. Excited to share (anonymously) how my most strategic customers are using both together.

In Year 2 of being a solopreneur, I’ve gone back to back on 6 figures in revenue.

Here’s my tech stack as a Creator (in order of cost)...

Digital Consultant
Video Editor
ConvertKit (email list, automations)
Kajabi (Closed Won Club)
Delphi (AI self)
Senja (testimonials)
Pay Kickstart (checkout)
Unbounce (landing pages)
Quickbooks
Zapier 
Wordpress
WP Engine
Video Shoot
Tax Professional
ChatGPT
Claude
ZenBusiness (Annual LLC Filing)
X
Squarespace / Google Domains
Google Workspace
Google Storage


Solopreneur over here - and an army of consultants + tech around me. 

Wild how quickly this list grows 😅 

Any thing I'm missing?

At my last company, we were required to fill out a field “NSTW” prior to every call. 

Hated having to do the admin work. But it trained my brain.
 
NSTW: Next Step to Win

This is your ideal outcome / next step from the conversation, plus 1-2 backup options. 

Now, I do it in every deal in my own notes and add it to a Mutual Success Plan.

I'll jot out all steps we've done so far to show mutual time invested.

Then I'll add the next 2-3 ideal steps in the process.
 

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘂𝗽, 𝗜 𝘀𝗮𝘆: 
"Hey Shane - I spent some time last night building a mutual success plan to keep us fully aligned and wanted to get your thoughts on something if that's cool."
 

Plant this seed at the beginning of your call and come back to it at the end. 

Critical: Do not show more than 2-3 next steps to avoid overwhelming.

It’s a compass for what success looks like, not a full roadmap.


Great backdrop (sharing your screen) for your discovery of their decision process too.

MSP template: https://closedwon.xyz/msp/

Happy Friday all.

Head of Benelux @Personio | Unlock the Power of Your People

Over the past 12 years in SaaS, I’ve seen firsthand where most Founders and Revenue leaders fail: 

- No structured Go-To-Market strategy → Running multiple GTM motions at once. Growth stalls, especially beyond the home market.
- No consistent sales process → Relying on individual performance instead of repeatable systems. No scalable growth engine.
- No clear revenue insights → Looking at blended metrics instead of pinpointing what drives conversions. Low rep productivity, declining ARR per FTE.

I get it. Day-to-day operations take over, and revenue inefficiencies stack up.

The bad news? You’re responsible for fixing it.

The good news? I can help you and your SaaS business.

How I help B2B SaaS teams ($5M-$25M ARR) scale faster:

- GTM & Sales Strategy – Structuring inbound, outbound, and partner strategies across SMB, Mid-Market, and Enterprise.
- Sales Process Optimization – Improving conversion rates and reducing reliance on top performers.
- Playbooks & Execution – Building structured systems, coaching frameworks, and checklists for consistent revenue growth.
- High-Performing Teams – Hiring, developing, and structuring commercial teams with clear accountability.

Results I’ve helped drive:

→ Increased sales team efficiency by 2X through scalable sales team structuring and skill development frameworks.

→ Improved win rates to 25% by implementing structured tactical and operational Go-To-Market tactics.

→ Built GTM playbooks that accelerated ARR growth for early-stage and scaling SaaS companies to $10M ARR.

How we can work together: 

1. Coaching & Advisory – Hands-on support to build a scalable sales engine.
2. On-Demand Sessions – Solving your biggest sales execution challenges.
3. GTM Playbooks & Frameworks – Proven templates for predictable growth.

Scaling isn’t about luck. It’s about building the right systems.

What’s blocking your revenue growth today? Let’s fix it.

DM me and let’s chat.

Koen Stam

Anita has made President's Club 3 years straight. Last year she hit 183% of target while spending Q1 as interim sales leader. Earlier this month, she told 500 colleagues exactly how she does it.
 
It disappointed half the room.
 
If it were up to her, she would keep it quiet. She even called me out on stage. 
"Koen is going to put this on LinkedIn."
 
She was right.
 
Half the room wanted a template. A single tactic. A checklist they could copy.
 
Anita gave them something harder. Pure execution rigor.
 
Here are five things she does consistently that most reps skip.
 
1. She qualifies out early. And she never stops running discovery, even deep into a deal.
 
2. She maps every internal stakeholder. The blockers, the influencers, the people who show up late and kill deals.
 
3. She brings peers and leaders into deal reviews to pressure test risk. Not to show off. To find what she is missing.
 
4. She pulls in partners and customers to validate quality. Social proof from people who are not on her payroll.
 
5. And the thing that ties it all together. She runs every deal through trumpet 🎺, builds a Mutual Action Plan, and uses video to stay present when she is not in the room.
 
No shortcut. No magic script.
 
Just a rep who refuses to wing it on a single deal.
 
That is what 183% looks like up close.

Leading International @Personio | Building community @Pavilion | Architecting Growth @Winning By Design | Showing revenue teams what’s next @GTM OS

3 years ago I bet on async selling. This week my face was on a Times Square billboard.
 
Let me rewind.
 
In 2022 we started using Digital Sales Rooms. The belief was simple. We needed to digitalize how we collaborate with buyers.
 
Mutual Action Plans became the core of every deal. One shared workspace. One URL. Every resource, every next step, every stakeholder aligned in one place.
 
We chose trumpet 🎺 as our platform. 12 months ago I became a Brand Ambassador. And across 1,000+ LinkedIn posts over the last 36 months, async selling has become the concept I return to more than any other.
 
Because I see what it does to pipeline every single week.
 
The numbers tell the story. Win rates across all deals were 67% higher when trumpet was used. Average deal value increased by 57% (amazing enablement work done here by Aaron and the wider enablement team led by the amazing Gesine.
 
Those are not industry benchmarks. Those are ours.
 
What Nick and Rory have built at trumpet goes beyond a Digital Sales Room tool. They are building a category. And the speed of their progress has been remarkable.
 
This week they put my face on a Times Square billboard alongside Brian LaManna, Hailey Linz, and Aoife Coburn from Gong, HubSpot, and Stripe.
 
Proud product user. 
Proud ambassador. 
Proud band player.
 
3 years of betting on async. The data did the talking. The billboard was just the receipt.

I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Co-chapter Lead the Netherlands 🇳🇱 at Winning by Design Growth Institute!

In 2017 I implemented Winning by Design at Teamleader and something clicked.
 
Bowtie. 
Data model. 
RRR emails. 
Compelling event. 
Emotional vs Rational impact. 
Critical event. 
First impact. 
SPICED. 
SP3V.
 
Every framework made sense. Not because it was trendy. Because it was grounded in how buyers actually buy.
 
I walked out thinking: this is how it should work everywhere.
 
Eight years later, I still think that. Every company I have touched got better when I applied these fundamentals. Every single one.
 
And I have watched enough companies do the opposite. More tools. More headcount. More complexity. Still wondering why growth feels broken.
 
The ones that win have better systems underneath their growth. Better process design. Better architecture across the entire revenue engine.
 
That is what Winning by Design called Revenue Architecture. Now it has evolved into Growth Architecture.
 
Together with André, my partner in crime for over five years and a true operator who lives this work every day, we are launching the Dutch community for the Winning by Design Growth Institute.
 
15+ founding members are already in.
 
On Thursday March 26th we are hosting our first informal introduction here in the Netherlands.
 
This is for founders who are done guessing. 
For GTM operators who want proven systems. 
For fractional leaders who want real frameworks behind their work. 
For investors who want their portfolio companies to scale with structure.
 
If any of that sounds like you, DM me "Growth Institute" and I will send you the details.

I’m grateful that I was named one of Sprouts.ai’s 20 GTM Evangelists to Watch in 2026.

If there’s one thing I’m convinced of heading into next year, it’s this:

Go-to-market in 2026 will reward focus, not noise.

Buyers are more informed.
Sales cycles are less predictable.
AI is raising the output bar for everyone.

In that environment, activity is easy.

Clarity is rare.

The teams that win will not be the ones launching more initiatives or stacking more tools.

They will be the ones who:

• Define the ICP with precision
• Run tight cross-functional feedback loops
• Build scalable systems with clear ownership
• Use AI to amplify output, not replace judgment

I’ve seen too many teams dilute impact by chasing five priorities at once.

Growth rarely stalls because of a lack of effort.
It stalls because of misalignment.

The fundamentals still compound.

We’ve seen this firsthand while scaling regional GTM engines and building AI-amplified teams.

1. Clear positioning.
2. Disciplined pipeline management.
3. Shared revenue ownership.
4. Relentless iteration grounded in customer reality.

Grateful to be included alongside operators who live this every day.

Congrats to Stephanie Valenti, Steph Reck and my friend Jonathan Moss.

And great to be on this list with Dale Zwinzinski, Sophie Buonassisi, Sarah Allen-Short, Andrew Ettinger, Joshua Bruton, Alice Wyatt, Sonali S.., Beau Brooks, Matt Schalsey, Jessica Kao, Joon Choi, Alex Richards, Kiva Kolstein, 🐰 Jen Igartua, Marcus Bening and Elizabeth McCalley.eth 🦋.

Strong company to be in.

If you’re building GTM for 2026, double down on what compounds.

The market is getting louder.

The leaders who bring clarity will be the ones worth watching.

Yesterday I interviewed Stefaan, CHRO of efficy in front of 1,500+ colleagues. He reminded me again what actually drives long-term growth.

In times of AI, leaner teams, and constant change, he came back to something simple:

Hire the right people.
Retain them.
Develop them.

That’s the foundation.
 
When I reflect on Personio and our Benelux and International journey, that’s what made the difference.
 
The day before Valentine’s feels like a good moment to recognize three leaders who are celebrating four years with us.
 
Four years of building teams and developing talent.
 
Iteke, our Country Manager for Benelux.
 
Yes, she has driven consistent new logo growth. But what stands out more is the team she built. Average tenure well above three years. SDRs growing into AEs. AEs becoming some of the most consistent performers in our international organization.
 
That only happens when a leader spots talent early, invests in it, and stays committed.
 
Julia, who leads our Account Management and CSM team.
 
She started as an Account Manager and quickly set the standard for what great looks like. When we combined AM and CSM into one team, she stepped up. Seeing her grow into leadership and raise the bar across the team has been great to watch.
 
Most of her team is internally developed talent. That’s not luck. That’s focus.
 
And Romy, our People Business Partner.
 
From day one, she has been a true partner to the business. Supporting leaders. Challenging us. Helping us develop talent the right way. Since January, we’re officially working together across our international organization.
 
I honestly believe the impact of a strong People Business Partner is underestimated in many companies. Retention and development do not scale without it.
 
These three are a reminder of something I strongly believe:
 
You don’t scale markets. 
You scale people.
 
Retention is a growth strategy.
 
Thank you for four years. I’m grateful to work alongside you and look forward to building a lot more together.

We’re hiring (again) a Regional Marketing Manager for Benelux.

I honestly wished I didn’t have to share this role already early 2026.
At the same time, I’m genuinely excited about what the next chapter can bring for our Benelux team.

When I started as Country Manager at Personio 3.5 years ago, we had no local marketing leadership in the region.

Over the past three plus years, that changed in a big way.

Together, we built a strong presence in Benelux and shaped a real HR community in the market.
Breakfast sessions, dinners, roadshows, and events in our office.
Long term relationships with HR leaders, practitioners, consultancies, and technology partners.
A clear step forward in brand awareness and how we show up locally.

Marketing also grew into a full 360 role across the entire customer journey.
From account-based collaboration with sales and demand generation with partners, to supporting existing customers with experience, renewals, expansion, and advocacy.

That foundation is strong. And it matters.

Now one chapter comes to an end, and we’re opening the door for someone new to take ownership and build on what’s been created.

As Regional Marketing Manager Benelux, you’ll own the regional marketing strategy and execution end to end.
You’ll work closely with Iteke, Rachid, Jeroen, myself, and the wider International team, alongside Amir, Phoebe, Patricia, and obviously Tara.
This is a role for someone who enjoys real ownership, cross functional collaboration, and long term impact in market.

Big shoes to fill.
A strong foundation to build on.
And a team that’s ready for the next phase.

If this sounds like you, apply or reach out directly.
If someone comes to mind, I’d really appreciate a referral.

Regional Marketing Manager Benelux (d/f/m)

I'm excited to announce the launch of Winning by Design Growth Institute in the Netherlands together with my buddy in crime André.

Most SaaS companies are adding more tools, more headcount, more complexity. And wondering why growth still feels broken.
 
I have spent eight years watching this pattern repeat.
 
The companies that win do not win because they have more. 
They win because they have better systems underneath their growth. 

Better process design. 
Better architecture across the entire revenue engine.
 
That belief started in 2017 when I first applied Winning by Design's frameworks at my time at Teamleader. 

Bowtie.
Data model.
RRR emails.
Compelling event.
Emotional vs Rational impact.
Critical event.
First impact.
SPICED.
SP3V.

And that transformed into Revenue Architecture.
And that has transformed now into Growth Architecture. 

The systematic approach to how customers actually buy and how teams should be built around that motion.
 
I remember thinking: this is how it should work everywhere.
 
And every since I can't let it go. 
Not because it was trendy. 

Because the fundamentals were so practical, so grounded in real buyer behavior, that every company I touched got better when I applied them.
 
Eight years later, I am turning that conviction into something bigger.
 
Together with André, my partner in crime for over 5+ years and a true operator who lives and breathes Revenue Architecture, we are launching the Dutch community for Winning by Design Growth Institute.
 
15+ founding members are already in.
 
In a month from now (mid March, watch the event invite) we are hosting our first informal introduction here in the Netherlands.
 
• This is for founders who are done guessing. 
• For GTM operators who want proven systems. 
• For fractional leaders who want real frameworks behind their work. 
• And for VC, PE, and investment firms who want their portfolio companies to scale with structure.
 
When everyone has access to the same AI tools, your systems become the last compounding advantage you control.
 
André and I would love to see you all for the first meetup in Amsterdam. 
Reach out to either of us for details.

PS. Thanks to the entire team of Winning By Design and especially Jacco van der Kooij for the trust, empowerment and above all bringing Growth Architecture to everyone who wants to grow smarter in the Netherlands.

3 years of ChatGPT. Thousands of prompts.
 
And I still had to explain who I am every single time.
 
That was the moment I knew it was over.
 
Here is what broke it for me.
 
I write LinkedIn posts, a Substack newsletter, and GTM playbooks every week. Content is how I build trust with founders and GTM operators.
 
And for 3 years, every time I opened ChatGPT, I started from scratch.
 
Pasting my tone of voice. Explaining my audience. Describing what I do and do not write.
 
And still the output read like it could have come from anyone.
 
I tried Claude on a random Wednesday. Built my first project.
 
Uploaded my writing instructions. What to write. How to structure. What to avoid.
 
Then I uploaded 20 previous LinkedIn posts, a few newsletters, and two GTM playbooks I had already written.
 
Something shifted.
 
I recorded a voice note on a walk. Raw thoughts, unfiltered. Pasted it into Claude.
 
And what came back read like me. My words. My rhythm. My edge. No cleanup needed.
 
That never happened with ChatGPT. Not once in 3 years.
 
Here is why it works:
 
1. The instructions tell Claude how I write. My rules, my formatting, my voice.
2. The uploaded content shows Claude what my writing actually looks like in practice.
3. Memory compounds. Every conversation makes the next one sharper.
4. My voice input is always the starting point. The raw thinking stays mine. Claude shapes it, it does not replace it.
5. It pushes back. Questions my structure. Challenges a weak hook. ChatGPT just said yes to everything.
 
The workflow is simple. I think out loud. Claude builds with me.
 
The output sounds like a human who has done the work. Because the input came from one.
 
If you want to try this, start here.
 
Create a project. Upload your best previous work. Write clear instructions on who you are, who you help, and how you talk.
 
Then give it a voice note and see what comes back.
 
Most GTM operators are still using AI the same way they did 12 months ago.
 
Are you?

We grew 135% in Benelux.

Now we’re building an AI-amplified GTM team.

Three and a half years ago, Benelux was an opportunity for Personio.

Today, it’s a growth engine.

We built real presence in the region.
Deep relationships in the HR community.
Sales, marketing, and customer success operating as one motion.
Local execution with international backing.

The result?

135%+ year-over-year growth.

But breakout growth is not the goal.

Durable growth is.

And that requires a different kind of team.

We’re hiring across the entire GTM motion in Benelux:

1. Business Development Representatives 
2. Senior Customer Success Manager
3. Regional Marketing Manager
4. Solutions Engineer

From pipeline to expansion.
From first conversation to long-term customer impact.

And equally important:

We are building an AI-amplified organization.

AI is not a side experiment here.
It’s how we operate.

If you join this team, you should already be working daily with tools like Claude Code, Opus 4.6, Loveable, and others.

Not just testing.
Actually building.
Automating.
Improving your own output.

The future org we’re building in Benelux and internationally is simple:

People first.
Amplified with AI.

If you’re already building with AI daily and want to help shape the next phase of growth in Benelux, we should talk.

Saturday morning. 45 minute walk. No music. Just me and something my CRO told me in January that I keep coming back to.

“How you start Q1 defines how your full year gets shaped.”

We had a rough start. Pipeline was slow. Energy was off. The kind of January where you tell yourself there is still time.

Fast forward to today. Halfway through Q1. Almost at 100% year to date. Last week was one of our best weeks for new business all year.

What changed?

Not a new playbook. Not a new hire. We stopped drifting and started correcting. Early.

Here is the thing most operators miss in Q1. You get pulled into execution fast. Day to day takes over. Deals move. Fires start. You feel productive.

But the big programs that define your year need to get shaped in Q1. Delay those and you delay pipeline. Delayed pipeline means delayed conversion. Delayed conversion means your new customer cohort shows up late. And late adoption compounds into a weak H2.

A strong Q1 sets up a strong H1. A strong H1 carries momentum into H2. The math is simple. The discipline is not.

This morning I went out with the dog (she is lovely to babysit André 🐶) and the kids first. Then I kept walking. Alone. 45 minutes, maybe 60. No agenda. Just letting my brain process the week, the last 7 weeks, and the 6 weeks we have left in Q1.

What do I need to keep doing. What do I need to stop. Where do I need to course correct.

You do not have to do this weekly. You do not even have to do it monthly. But some cadence of structured reflection is the difference between operating with clarity and just being busy.

I have started using Claude as my reflection partner. Not for answers. For structure. Every reflection compounds on the last one because it remembers context. It turned scattered thinking into a system.

Busy calendars will always win if you let them. Reflection is how you take back control.

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Last week I stood on a stage in front of 500 people celebrating a big win.
That moment was built far away from the stage.

What most people never see is the work underneath.
The hard conversations.
The steady improvements.
The time spent by individual contributors, managers, and leaders getting better when nobody is watching.

That work compounds.

This is where performance reviews matter.

Not as a process.
Not as an HR requirement.
But as one of the few moments leaders have to slow down and look honestly at what is really happening.

Not just results, but trajectory.
Not just what someone delivered, but what they are actually capable of.

When done well, performance reviews create clarity.
Where someone is genuinely strong.
Where they are stuck and avoiding it.
Where the role fits them today.
And where it is starting to stretch or limit them.

This applies to individual contributors and to leaders.
It also applies to us as peers.

Calibration is critical. It forces you to test your judgment against other leaders, not just trust your own view.

For me, this only works if leaders walk the walk.

Performance reviews cannot be rushed, delegated, or treated as a formality. They are a leadership discipline.

At Personio, we are just starting our annual Performance Growth Cycle. One formal cycle each year, anchored by mid year reviews and regular quarterly check ins. Not because the calendar demands it, but because performance compounds when feedback has a clear rhythm.

The questions I keep coming back to are simple, and uncomfortable:

• Where has this person grown over the last period
• Where have they plateaued
• What would meaningfully raise their impact next
• What needs to change from management to make that possible

When leaders take this seriously, performance improves and holds.
If they don’t, results may still happen, but they are fragile.

The moments on stage are earned long before they happen.
Performance reviews are where that work becomes visible.

How are you making performance reviews meaningful, not just procedural, in your organization?

I scaled a SaaS company from 2M to 10M in under 3 years.
 
The playbook that worked was the opposite of what most teams attempt.
 
We narrowed instead of expanded.
 
Netherlands first.
 
Belgium could wait. The book of business was not large enough and I did not care.
 
We trimmed our ICP from "50 to 500 employees" to something so specific it included industry, desk vs non-desk ratio, and tech stack attributes.
 
We gave our CSM veto power over new pipeline.
 
If we could not make a customer happy, we did not accept the deal.
 
Pipeline went down.
 
Win rates hit 34%. ACV went up. Cost of acquisition dropped.
 
Every growth ceiling I have hit in the last decade taught me the same thing.
 
The answer was never more channels, more headcount, more spend.
 
The answer was better execution, better focus, better discipline on what actually moves pipeline.
 
I spent the last months turning that lesson into a system.
 
The GTM Channel Reset Playbook.
 
12 steps across 3 phases. Built on 10+ years of GTM leadership and backed by 100,000+ signals from operators and founders.
 
It includes a self-assessment, a full workbook, an implementation timeline, and a cadence pack to keep the system running.
 
I am publishing it in 3 parts this week on my Substack.
 
Part 1 and 2 are free. Monday and Wednesday.
 
Both designed so you can take what you read and apply it in your day to day immediately.
 
Part 3 drops Friday exclusively for paid subscribers, including the full workbook, implementation timeline, and cadence pack.
 
Part 1 drops today.
 
This playbook is also the foundation of my first GTM OS Cohort.
 
12 weeks. Weekly office hours. All the learnings from 10+ years of scaling SaaS companies, packaged into one program.
 
Starting April.
 
Keep an eye on my posts in the coming weeks.
 
Link in the comments.

We have run 100+ deal reviews over three years.
 
The ones that actually moved deals forward all share one thing. 15 minutes per deal. Here is the system.
 
45 minutes. Three deals. 15 minutes each. Hard stop.
 
Before the session, nobody prepares a narrative. Gong already captured the calls. MEDDICCC (yes 3 C's) fields are populated. The data is there before anyone walks in.
 
We don't ask "how is the deal going." We open with the qualification score and go straight to the weakest field.
 
One field. One gap. One action.
 
The AE doesn't defend the deal. The AE owns the takeaway. They close the loop before the next review. If the gap is still open, we know exactly where the deal stands.
 
No storytelling. No 30 minute walkthroughs. No manager rescuing deals on Friday because nobody caught the weakness on Tuesday.
 
This changed how our team closes.
 
In 2026, pipeline is shrinking. Win rates are dropping. Buying committees are growing. You cannot afford deal reviews that hide structural gaps behind narratives.
 
Deal reviews are one piece of a bigger system.
 
I spent the past weeks building a full Deal Progress and Closing playbook. Structured discovery. Weighted qualification scoring. Stage gates built on evidence. Multithreading protocols. Momentum tracking. Forecast governance.
 
Every component comes with an implementation timeline and the infographics to run it.
 
The full playbook is on my Substack.

How do you recharge after a lot of travelling and a busy working week?

In the last 3 years, I’ve written more than 1,000 LinkedIn posts. 

They brought likes and reach. 
But DMs brought the real revenue. 
Now my DMs are broken as I know it is for you too. 

LinkedIn helped me grow. 
Build a network of 34,000+ connections. 
Connected me with brilliant people globally.

But here’s the truth: 
None of my best relationships started with a post. 
They started in the DMs.

I used to think writing daily was the best way to create opportunities. 
And it does work. 

But in B2B SaaS, real conversations starts 1-on-1. 
Not in the feed. 
But in private conversations.

• Founders pitch investors
• Leaders connect with peers
• SDRs open new outbound accounts
• AEs follow up with all stakeholders after demos

All in the LinkedIn inbox.

And that inbox? 
It’s chaos.
 
Unread threads. 
Missed follow-ups. 
Leads lost in noise.

LinkedIn never built a smart inbox. 
And for years, I worked around it.

Then Nick Broekema pointed me to @Mitchell Tan 📮. 
Founder of Kondo: Superhuman for LinkedIn DMs, the inbox LinkedIn never built.

Now I can:
• Archive clutter
• Label messages
• Surface hot leads
• Move fast, stay organized

Kondo feels like a superhuman for LinkedIn DMs. 
Kondo is a superhuman for LinkedIn DMs. 
I’ve used it for 6+ months now. 
It’s a game-changer.

If your inbox is overflowing try it. 
It brought clarity to my chaos.

Try it for fore here.

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The Battle

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Brian LaManna's LinkedIn Performance

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