Manuel Hartmann

Founder & CEO@SalesPlaybook | Build & scale B2B sales without trial & error

Transforming B2B SaaS Sales in the DACH Region

With over 5 years of experience, I built SalesPlaybook from CHF0 to 30k MRR in under 18 months and scaled it to a 7-figure annual revenue with fewer than 6 FTEs. I’ve supported 300+ B2B SaaS and Professional Service Entrepreneurs to:
- Achieve EUR 0-10 Mio. ARR in under 3 years profitably
- Accelerate ARR growth by over 5x from 0-1 Mio. in less than 18 months
- Close 10-50x larger deals through Message-Market-Fit & Value Selling
- Implement & optimize HubSpot Sales Hub & Outbound Sales from scratch

Career Highlights:
- 2009: Launched sales career with 3-figure NPO donations
- 2012: Reached 6-figure sales with sportscars@Tesla
- 2014-2016: Led 7-figure CRM transformations@Accenture
- 2017-2019: Managed 5-figure AI SaaS@Onedot
- Present: Driving 5-figure deals@SalesPlaybook

What I Offer:
- Pipeline Generation: Developing and executing strategies to build robust sales pipelines.
- Sales Enablement: Equipping sales teams with the tools and training needed for success.
- HubSpot Services: Comprehensive implementation and optimization of HubSpot CRM

Personal Interests: 
- I’m an avid UFC fan, active (kick)boxer, snowboarder, and musician (piano + e-guitar). 
- I enjoy taking on challenges like writing a book in under 30 days or completing 1,000 push-ups

Education: Master’s Degree in Business Innovation from HSG with MBA Exchange in Canada

Let’s connect if: 
- You're a B2B entrepreneur looking to scale sales quickly, efficiently & without 6-figure mistakes
- You identify as a Top 1% talent on hunger & drive, urgent curiosity, intelligence & integrity

Founder & CEO

Join 220+ customers to build & scale sales with the #1 B2B SaaS Startup Sales Journey Partner in DACH.

All the expert sales help you need to fast forward your B2B SaaS Startup.

👉 Book a 1:1 Sales Assessment Call: https://thesalesplaybook.com/bookacall
👉 Get proven hands-on sales resources: https://thesalesplaybook.com/resources
------
Track Record:
❖ 0-2M booked ARR in <15 months by finding message-market-fit in <9 months (boostbar)
❖ 0-7 figure ARR in <12 months by hitting message-market fit, setting up outbound sales engine & more (Kyan Health)
❖ 0-7 figure ARR in <18 months by hitting message-market-fit, building outbound sales & training first sales hires (Archlet)
❖ >10 projects to 50+ subscriptions to exit after building outbound sales from 0 (Airica)
❖ 0-2M+ ARR in <18 months by building a sales team from scratch (rready)
❖ 5x MRR by building scalable sales & hiring first sales rep (Turbit)
❖ Ramp 5 SDRs to quota in less than 3 months (Beekeeper)
❖ 4x annual revenue after closing 700k deal with Fortune 500 company by leveraging value-selling (novoMOF)
❖ 2x MRR in 6 months by niching down on Ideal Customer Profile (Houston & Ko)
❖ 370k+ deal closed through hands-on support, approaching 7-figure revenue (56k.Cloud)
❖ 2x ARR in 9 months by 10x'ing ACV by 10x, winning 100K+ deals & hitting 90% reply rates (Classtime)
❖ 2x MRR in 3 months, from 5-10k deals to EUR 150k contract, hitting 30% booking rates (wowflow)
❖ 2x MRR in 6 months from group coaching sessions & more (Houston & Ko)
❖ 250k ARR deal closed by changing their positioning & negotiation approach (Linimex)
❖ <5% to 80% opening and 30%+ reply rates on scalable outbound sales (TRESIO)
❖ 2x MRR in 6 months by niching down on Ideal Customer Profile (Houston & Ko)

Chris van Praag⚡️

Supered

Do you wish your knowledge base, LMS, enablement, onboarding and SOPs could be delivered on the platform they were designed for? 

Now they can.

Supered is a Digital Adoption Platform and Delivery System that delivers and enforces your sales processes along with continued training with in-platform enablement. 

All without leaving the platform you use to drive Revenue.

RevOps: Never tell anyone twice. Enforce Processes and deliver Enablement in platform without the need for a quick call, Email or even a Slack message.

Sales Reps: Spend less time looking for answers and more time selling. Supered gives you the information you need, where and when you need it.

Leaders: Ensure processes are followed, Platforms are used correctly and data is accurate without the need for repeat training .

I'm the Founding AE for EMEA. 

If any of the above sounds helpful -  Let's chat

✌🏼

Account Executive

Sprocketeer

An active part of an independent community serving and championing the HubSpot Super Admin. 

Get connected and stay informed with HubSpot Super Admins across the globe. 

Sharing knowledge and best practices to help each other grow better.

Apollo.io

In this contractor role, I provide video content creation and guidance to support the growth of the Apollo TikTok Channel. 

I also advise on the output, ideas and strategy as part of a team of creators, to ensure posts are best suited for the channel and drive the best results.

The project is goal oriented, with a heavy focus on people first, value driven content that is authentic to the Apollo Brand, while aligning to TikTok style content.

Content Creator / Consultant

Sales Feed

Ideation, Production and Posting a range of content for various social channels for the whole sales community to learn, laugh and crush their quota.  Subscribe to our awesome weekly newsletter at https://www.salesfeedmedia.com/

Content Creator

Vidyard

Helping the Sales and Marketers to engage and delight their customers with the power of video.

- Collaborating with Vidyard customers to share and improve success with video
- Evangelising the benefits of video to create more awareness about the impact of video across the sales and marketing funnel.
- Sharing Tips, tricks and feature updates from the number one video hosting and creation platform for business - Vidyard.

Community and Video Strategist

Enabling businesses to unlock the power of video across their teams to gain more insights from their content, book more meetings and close more deals.

If your sales team are struggling to sell virtually and their message is not getting through to your ideal customers, video is the perfect way to help.

Our brains process video content 60,000 times quicker than text, and it can enable your team to convey emotion, personality and complex information in less time than it takes ot write an email.

Vidyard customers book more meetings and close deals quicker when the unlockl the power of video.

Account Executive (EMEA)

BabelQuest

As one of the world’s leading HubSpot Service Providers - and one of the only Elite tiered partners in the UK I worked with businesses looking to scale up using the HubSpot platform.

New Business Development

iCanHelp.uk

Start up business providing technology support, training and workshops for Oxfordshire and surrounding area.  iCanHelp provides personal and small business consultation to improve clients relationship with their technology, extend their product lifespan and enhance the way they work.

Founder

The Abbey Cinema

General manager of all operations for the daily running and setup of a hugely popular startup independent cinema.  Delivering an exceptional customer experience through effective programming, resource planning and day to day management along with ensuring Kitchen and from of house hygiene standards are of the highest order.   As a start up, I am also heavily involved in the creative process of marketing, promoting and increasing the success of the business through creative means and responding to customer feedback.

General Manager

Apple

A role which required strong communication, enthusiasm and a passion for improving the customer experience. A fast paced role which requires calm under pressure and quick decision making whilst managing a multitude of complex processes and responsibilities. Technical knowledge and an empathetic nature along with problem solving skills are key whilst resolving customer issues in a timely, efficient and positive manner.

Front of House
- Managing customer flow and experience
- Introducing Customers to Apple ecosystem and informing of products and services.
- Problem solving and developing solutions.
- Improving productivity through resource planning and building team knowledge and confidence.
- Project management and efficient delivery of product launches.

Genius Bar
- Effective resource planning
- Breaking down complex processes.
- Improving customer experience
- Strong technical learning skills and an empathetic manner.

Leader

SMB and SME account manager for Apple. I support customers to grow their business through the effective implementation and rollout of Apple technology.  The ability to understand a business and their needs is imperative to foster a strong working relationship and continued growth.  

The role requires the effective utilisation of CRM tools to manage and deepen client relations whilst providing consultancy and training to ensure that the technology was implemented effectively.   

Effective analysis of KPIs to establish targeted outbound sales as well as building community for our existing accounts to broaden the relationship with existing clients.

B2B Manager

Senior sales and lead technology expert for Apple.  The role involves deep understanding of all Apple products and an ability to understand customer needs and recommend products, services and solutions appropriately.  Coaching and supporting other colleagues on the floor to be better equipped to recommend products and ensuring the customer experience is second to none every visit.

Expert

Hit The Floor Magazine

Content creation for features, daily news and reviews for the popular web-based magazine.

The role involves a wide range of content creation including blog posts, social media as well as news and features for both online and print media.

Editorial Assistant

Salesperson with a passion for content.

I'm just doing stuff and good things keep happening.

My wife and I just cancelled all of our kids after school clubs.

Each month we were paying about £200 for Kung-Fu, Football, dance, drama, French and Spanish classes. 

I barely saw my kids before 5pm. It was out of control.

Now, I pay £7 for Duolingo and I've outsourced the exercise to a family offshore for £25/mth.

They send us an email on what they've been doing which we review as a family every week.

Aside from the financial benefits, I see it as a massive win for the family.

We now spend every evening together in front of the TV and the savings mean we don't have to cancel any of our streaming services.

Why is no one talking about this?

Chris van Praag

Sales is tough. Might as well laugh about it ⚡️Content Creator ⚡️ Full Cycle Seller @ Supered

Kids are off sick today. The difference in their experience to mine is wild

This millennial whiplash should be taught at school

Sick days for me (a 90s kids)

- My Parents: "Can you walk? Good. I'm going to work, don't answer the landline"
- Their expectations: "Stay in bed unless you're going to throw up"
- Entertainment: Seeing how long I could keep my eyes open without blinking and racing raindrops going down the window
- Food: Dry toast. Always dry toast.

Sick days now:

- Me: Answering Zoom calls while checking in every 30 minutes to see if their pillow needs fluffing
- My Expectations: "Try and rest, we'll go for a walk if you're feeling up to it"
- Entertainment: Unlimited streaming of whatever they want... and every show has 14 seasons
- Food: Dry toast. (Some things never change)

I'm grateful to be able to stay home and not lose a day of work to care for them, but were 90s sick days a character-building experience?

Temporarily moved my family to Montréal back in September, and now I’ve only three weeks left in Canada. 🇨🇦 

It has not been plain sailing. 😆

5am starts (for the timezone, not the hustle), settling kids into a new school, a tiny apartment, and a desk that definitely is not a desk.

But it has allowed us to experience a life that isn’t ours.

City living, unforgettable experiences, different routines and giving the kids opportunities we could never have given them back home.

After more than a decade in retail, doing something like this was unimaginable.

Grateful to Supered⚡ and 100% remote work that made it possible.

👇 Ever thought about living and working somewhere new for a while?

Sales is tough. Might as well laugh about it ⚡️Sales Content Creator ⚡️ Full Cycle Seller @ Supered

Commit -> Mostly Likely -> Best Case -> Unforecasted -> Close Lost

Who’s felt pipeline heartbreak like this?

Look Mom I made it. 

LinkedInLunatics alumni 2025. 

Yes it was satire, but until I start getting up at 5am to cold call from a cold plunge and gatekeeping my skincare & prospecting routine behind a $99 course -  I'll take it.

Satire is the LinkedIn growth hack of 2025.

This was my most successful post in months.

Is it time to double down or should these sort of posts be saved for the real LinkedIn lunatics?

It's the most wonderful time of year (for an annual review)

Jordan Peterson was less than pleased to be put on a PIP.

Follow me for insightful thought leadership like this.

If you're not closing enough deals, ask yourself:

Could I defeat a Grizzly bear if it attacked me?

The psychology behind selling and fighting a wild animal is identical.

On a primitive level, your nervous system treats both as threats. 

Losing  registers as a loss of status.

It could be a deal you forecast for Q4, or your place in the food chain, it doesn't matter.

Either way you look weak.

When you're trained to defeat a 7 foot tall 400lb wild animal you're teaching your subconscious:

- I can handle any situation
- I can overcome challenges
- I can update my forecast in the woods alone at night

Most sellers will hear "no" and assume that the prospect doesn't want to move forward.

Same way they'll see an angry bear and think - "I'm F**ked"

When someone is trained to fight a bear, they have the confidence to tell a prospect they're signing by the end of the week.

Start fighting more wild animals and watch your close rates go up

Thoughts?

I've sent emails that were good enough to be opened and read

But they didn't convert because they promised too much. 

"We helped a HubSpot partner scale to Elite in 5 months"
"Onboard a sales team to your CRM in weeks not months"
"Delivered 100% process enforcement for an Enterprise org"

All true.

But someone else's story.

Lately I've been shifting away from big claims and customer successes and leaning toward the actual pain I’m hearing:

For me that sounds like:

“I’ve been speaking with sales leaders frustrated at users not following their process or who want to have more effective 1:1s and more accurate forecasts."

It works because there are far more people LIVING with the pain than people who’ve successfully solved it.

The goal is to find them and start a conversation.

Lead with curiosity, and the conversation opens up on its own.

Video published on the Apollo TikTok and IG. 

You can use Apollo to find the right numbers for your ideal prospects and even sequence emails to get that reply!

Shoutout to the closers, the PIP dodgers and everyone in between.

SaaS sales survivor since 2020. What about you?

HI GREAT TO CONNECT, DO YOU WANT A LIST OF ALL COMPETITOR CUSTOMERS? I CAN GUARANTEE LEADS. WHEN DO YOU HAVE 30 MINUTES?

Picture the scene:  You're two drinks down at the company party contemplating a french exit, when the band starts playing this banger:

Heads start turning, eyes quizzical.

Is that?

No. Surely not?!?

The Sales team think it's another PTSD flashback.

 But everyone is experiencing it at the same time?

And then...

A collective motion to the dance floor, arms grooving, legs twitching. 

It's the vibe of anticipation, the sound of potential, the theme tune of the gatekeeper before they tell you:

 "ThEy'Re nOt aVaiLaBLe CaN yOu SeNd aN eMaIL?"

An outpouring of individual frustration coming together in collective harmony.

The team are united in grief of what was.

And yet are thirsty for what will be.

The song plays for 38 minutes, no one takes a bathroom break.

This wasn't a work event, it was the greatest night you ever lived.

And it all happened because someone booked Brekky Boy for the company party.

(I have no idea if Brekkyboy are available for corporate shindigs, but I'll put their website in the comments and you should definitely give them so much money they can't say no)

FUN BONUS FACT FOR GETTING THIS FAR: Brekky Boy currently holds the Guinness World Record for longest live performance of the Cisco phone hold music (10hrs).

#sales - What are you thankful to Marketing for?

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate.

Next week, I'm team captain for some EMEA #Sales legends in a special webinar happening next week.

I'm in Sales...Get me out of here! 🏝️🕷️

Hosted by my good buddy Tom Boston, and brought to you by MySalesCoach it's going to be full of fun with a gentle sprinkling of sales coaching insights.

I don't know if Ashleigh Early will have to eat bugs on Zoom, but if she does, you probably want to be there to witness it. 

Grab your spot via the link in the comments and come cheer on my awesome team:

David Rolls
Harry Monkhouse
Jan Benedikt Mundorf
Holly Allen

Or send commiserations to the losing stinky blue team

Matt Banks
Callum Matthews-Mackay
Lauren Reeves
David Wilkins
Mike Day

Weds 19th November 9am EST (2pm GMT)

LET'S GO TEAM RED ❤️

⚡️ I make your LinkedIn feed less boring ⚡️ Helping revenue teams enforce their Processes ⚡️ Sales Content Creator ⚡️ Follow me I’m funny ⚡️

Visit Montréal and experience 3 seasons of weather in 6 weeks. 😆

Then get one season for 20 weeks!

-9 degrees today ❄️🥶❄️

Is it like this anywhere else?

A wise person once told me:

"Time limited discounts work, but ONLY if the remaining objection is price."

Before this, I assumed I could expedite other objections using a time limited discount as the catalyst to drive the deal forward.

As if my prospect would run to the stakeholder group like Charlie Bucket and work tirelessly to ensure we met this date.

Which ultimately served my interests instead of theirs.

🫠🫠🫠

Since then, I've learned discounts don't drive deals forward at all.

And they often create MORE PROBLEMS if you bring them up too early.

Anchored a prospect at a discounted price for end of month and then the deal pushes?

You're left with two options:

1) Extend the pricing (potentially look silly or dishonest) 
2) Remove the offer (risk confusing or upsetting the customer)

Here's what we do at Supered⚡ that help us use discounts as a value add:

⚡️ Be open about pricing early
We have pricing listed on our website (shocker right?) and don't make custom pricing until much later in the deal (if at all).

⚡️ Understand the path to purchase
No point offering a time limited discount to someone who literally doesn't care if it's full price or 90% off

⚡️ Make a realistic timeline
Be open about your typical buying cycle and understand theirs. I've run 4 day sales cycles and 180 day buying cycles for the same product, the timeline was everything to do with the customer.

What about you?  How do you manage discounts so they work for your deal cycles?

BTW: This post was partially inspired seeing Black Friday shoppers today. 

What's the bet that many of them have a list of things they already planned to buy but waited until this weekend to make the purchase?

taplio

The Battle

Manuel Hartmann

Chris van Praag⚡️

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreChris van Praag⚡️'s LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Manuel Hartmann

Chris van Praag⚡️

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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);}Chris van Praag⚡️'s LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreChris van Praag⚡️'s LinkedIn Performance