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
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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)

What happened when the Founder CEO of a 7-figure agency (me) has been on paternity leave for 10 weeks straight...

First, finishing Q4 >10% ABOVE ambitious booking targets.
With me gone for all of November + December 2025.
Yes, I wrote a 10 page Sales Enablement GDoc.
No, it was not what helped most to succeed.
What really helped was qualified pipeline.
And indeed a rockstar team of "Drivers".

Second, "Drivers Only" is 1 of our 3 Core Values.
It includes to take charge, to lead, to take action.
Every single team member did that, proactively, WITHOUT ME.
Or my huge ego aside, probably a lot more than with me working.

Third, it proved that SalesPlaybook is resilient and operating well.
"If the company needs you all the time, it is not worth much".
(Most agencies work only if the founder works.)
Wise words from our board a while ago.
Glad we're directionally correct here.

Fourth, it seems it gave both the team and me perspective.
That "Manu & Manual processes" do not matter THAT much."
That the team is allowed, able & willing to take decisions alone.
That I contribute positive impact, but it is not critical for survival.

Thank you Florian Lussi Miltos S. Erik Steffen Eric Mattner Erik Plischke Luke Schneider Diego Sosa Fabian Geissler Matteo Treichl Christoph Karger Alen Cerovina Constantin-Alexandre Papadopoulos Jan Fischer for making the above happen + also Jeremias Meier Patrick Trümpi Lars Mangelsdorf Julius Göllner Timo Mueller for your support.

Now truly looking forward to scale sales quickly again here.
I've never been more confident in SalesPlaybook success.
Still Day 1.

Helping DACH B2B software firms to scale sales quickly, efficiently & without 6-figure mistakes with done-for-you pipeline generation, fractional sales & HubSpot services.

After 3 years on Salesforce, this B2B software firm completely moved to HubSpot for Marketing, Sales & Customer Success in <3 months.

Like most companies, they were hesitant at first.

Because CRM migrations are notorious for:
- Misaligned processes with low adoption
- Broken data and data quality issues
- Low adoption and frustrated teams

Here’s what the client appreciated with SalesPlaybook
- A structured, hands-on migration approach from start to finish
- Clear mapping and adaptation of Salesforce processes into HubSpot
- Deep HubSpot, Software & GTM expertise, not generic CRM consulting

CRM migrations do not work with "good morning, go-live & goodbye."
They require onboarding, training, and continuous optimization.
So revenue teams do not get a new CRM.
They get to buy back their time.
And scale sales quickly.

One line from the client that stuck with me from this 5-Star Review:

“We switched to HubSpot and are not looking back.”

I have never seen a CxO say "I miss Salesforce...".

👉 “Considering a Salesforce → HubSpot switch this year?”

No alternative text description for this image

How to grow impressions by +8‘000% & members reached by +15‘000%:


Post 0 for 10 weeks while on paternity leave. 

Then post reasonably valuable content. 

Sounds feasible for most CxOs here. 

Just not happening a lot.

Due to capacity or fear. 

👉 Share below?

Vertrauen im Vertrieb ist die neue Währung. Nicht Technologie. Nicht Budget.
Wer in B2B "kaufen lassen" will in 2026, muss eines verstehen:
Ohne Vertrauen kein Meeting. Ohne Meeting kein Umsatz.
Das gilt in DACH noch 10x mehr als in den USA.
Hier ein paar unbequeme Wahrheiten:

1. Kunden, die Dich nicht kennen, kaufen nicht.
- Vertrauen ist die Eintrittskarte in den Entscheidungsprozess.
- >70% der B2B Software-Deals scheitern nicht an der API-Doku.
- Sondern am als zu hoch empfundenen Risiko des Buying Centers.

„𝘞𝘦𝘯𝘯 𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘢𝘴 𝘬𝘢𝘶𝘧𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘩𝘵 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘧  𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘬𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘯 𝘑𝘰𝘣 𝘮𝘦𝘩𝘳.“ 
Das ist die stille Angst auf der anderen Seite.
Nicht, ob Du jetzt CHF 30 oder 50k willst.

2. Vertrauen ≠ Reichweite.
- Niemand kauft, weil Du "laut, VC-backed & 10x" bist.
- Kunden kaufen, weil Du ihr Problem besser löst als sie selbst.
- Dafür brauchst Du Relevanz und Tiefe, nicht Likes & Clickbait.

3. Vertrauen muss skalierbar werden.
- Heute: LinkedIn Content, Case Studies, E-Books.
- Früher: Persönliche Beziehungen, Netzwerke, Messen.
- Auch Heute: Software + AI, um früher zeitlich möglich zu machen

Wenn Du Aufbau & Skalierung von Vertrauen heute nicht systematisiert?

Kannst Du morgen im 2026 Sales nicht skalieren ("ohne sauteure Leute").

Most "AI GTM B2B SaaS" in 2026 is too much, too confusing.
Ocean.io is one of the few that consistently just f***ing works.

I've been 10+ years in the GTM Tooling space (Salesforce in 2012...).
But I struggle to understand what "the market leaders" do.
Salesforce, Apollo, Gong, ZoomInfo, 6Sense etc?
Those stopped working for <500 FTE firms.

Here’s why I love "niche" solutions like Ocean.io :

It does ONE job really, really well:

“Show me companies that look like my best customer.”

That’s it. Not 14 features, 9 use cases and 3 clouds.

If let's say Personio is your #1 customer. 
Just type in Personio. Get 14,000 lookalikes.
Filter for DACH + 50–200 FTEs. Get 60 real prospects.

That’s who you should call in January 2026.
Not some inflated number from an SDR scraping LinkedIn.

We do not need more "GTM Tech."

We need a few tools that help us execute.

Daniel Ryan 🐨 is also one of the friendliest humans I know.
So just chat him up if it seems useful?

("Disclaimer": Yes, we use ocean.io with almost all our clients.)

Switzerland "Scaled paternity leave 5x" in 2021.
From 2 to 10 days for dads welcoming a new family member... 😐️ 
Don't know how this is supposed to welcome a new family member. 

For context, I took 10 weeks off from late October 2025 to early January 2026.
(That is still <50% of what my wife has been taking off for both our sons!)

As a Founder CEO of a 7-figure agency, I "get" some of the concerns.

1/ "But the company needs me to run the firm."
SalesPlaybook is still at <20 FTEs, so yes, a challenge for small firm.
But even more motivation to "raise" your team to function without you?
And for the 2025-minded ones - is this not the same for women as well?

2/ "The dad can anyways contribute 0 to the family in the first months."
I completely disagree here - even if it is "unpleasant & inconvenient".
Yes, I don't give milk (Matteo argues my boobs are too small.)
Yes, I can even give milk via a bottle, and carry Alessio.
But most of all, I can help my spouse to recover well.

3/ "Clients want to see the Founder CEO all the time".
Honestly, not at all in my experience - with a great team.
"How can I get less Manu & more Luke", one client asked me.
"Just sign this 6-figure quote here & you're great to go."
The client DID sign the 6-figure deal on the spot.
Still want to have lunch with him.
Because I want, not need to.

4/ "But it has always been that way - women nurture, men work".
Now you lost me, like completely. Common, it is 2026 now. 
Even if Switzerland only approved women to vote in 1971.
Besides losing out on 50% of the potential workforce.
Every human deserves to fulfill their work potential.
If the person wants & commits to it indeed.

Now if you are an (aspiring) young dad reading this:
- I do not judge you if you work 7 days a week, 8am-10pm
- I do not judge you if you do not work at all and stay home
- Just please don't claim "I'd love to, but.......<excuses 1-4>?

Zylon had 39k+ GitHub stars in <2 years with PrivateGPT.
Backed by top-tier VCs, but without a revenue engine.
Here's step-by-step how they fixed it to 5x revenue.

1. Built their first enterprise sales motion
- ICP: NOT (anymore) "everybody that cannot use ChatGPT"
- 3-5 Specific niches: Credit unions, local banks, academia
- Clear buyer journey stages, fast follow-ups, playbooks
- Hands-on sales call reviews & coachings from experts

2. Converted traction into pipeline
- Increased sales velocity with improving message-market-fit
- From “GitHub stars” to "great enterprise contracts"
- Matured early inbound into recurring customers

3. Professionalized LinkedIn Brand Building
- Go from posting 2x/month to 2x/week
- Founder-first Point of Views from real experience
- Viral hits with > 1 Mio. impressions & 1'000+ engagements

4. Prepared & hired their first GTM professional
- Invested a lot into "Right Person, Right Seat, Right Enablement"
- Found & hired a top sales rep that "did it before" in their field
- Helped founders be ready to delegate without losing control

Look, there is no "Silver Bullet" to scale sales quickly in 2026.
But there is a right sequence of doing the right things right.
But here from Iván himself sharing his thoughts?
https://lnkd.in/ep6k9r3b

Lifting your close rate by 20% in 90 days by replacing standard playbooks with signal-driven sales | Co-Founder & CEO at bont | Business Angel

As a serial entrepreneur with over 10 years of experience in strategy consulting, I am committed to driving 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐁2𝐁 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 in the digital age. 🚀

𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬

𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 & 𝐂𝐄𝐎 𝐨𝐟 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨 (2012-2023):
•	Grew the HR Tech SaaS company from zero to several hundred clients. 	
•	Achieved annual recurring revenues in the mid-seven-figure range. 	
•	Successfully executed an exit to a strategic buyer in 2022 and transitioned out as CEO shortly thereafter. 	
•	Learned the critical importance of data-driven decision-making in sales.

𝐂𝐨-𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 & 𝐂𝐄𝐎 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐭 (2024 - 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭):
•    Our mission at bont is to transform sales processes for B2B companies by leveraging data-driven insights and AI technology.     
•    We aim to move beyond traditional sales methods and create more effective strategies that empower sales teams to make informed decisions quickly.     
•    We focus on integrating 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚-𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞, including: 
– 𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Identifying high-potential leads and optimizing outreach strategies, as well as implementing targeted campaigns to maximize engagement and conversion. 
– 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Using AI tools to provide insights that help close deals faster and improve retention, and personalizing customer interactions to identify upsell opportunities.     
•    By using AI-powered deal intelligence, we help sales teams prioritize their efforts and make better decisions, ultimately driving higher conversions and more predictable revenue. 

𝐓𝐞𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐧 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬:
•    Managing Partner advising scale-ups and startups on growth strategies and investor decisions. •    Passionate about supporting emerging B2B tech startups in optimizing their sales and operational processes.     
•    Co-founder of Investor Rating, a platform designed to streamline investor evaluations and enhance decision-making for startups and investors alike.

Outside of work, I’m a dedicated father of two, living near Bern. I love staying active and embracing new adventures. My roots in East Frisia give me a diverse outlook that enriches my professional life.

Let’s connect—whether to exchange ideas, explore collaboration, or discuss innovative sales growth strategies. 🌟

Dennis Teichmann

"We rely on gut feeling. We know our clients better than any data."

This was the challenge from a CEO, super skeptical of our data-driven approach.

His team had always done sales a certain way. They trusted their instincts. They were close to the client. In his mind, data was a distraction from the real work of selling.

Instead of arguing, I made a simple proposal:
Let's give it a try.

We took a small group of his sales reps. We used data to highlight only the deals that were statistically more likely to close, ignoring the ones that just "felt" strong.

The outcome surprised him.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁
The reps weren't threatened. They were energized. They saw that data understood the entire pipeline better than any single person's gut feeling could. It gave them confidence.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲
The numbers followed. The data-prioritized deals started converting at a higher rate. The test group began outperforming the control group who stuck to gut-feel.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲
This was the most powerful part. Their clients felt better understood. Why? Because they were being served at the right time, with the right measure. The outreach was relevant, not just relentless.

The CEO who told me data couldn't work is now one of its biggest advocates.

🚀 Boosting B2B Revenue & Retention with AI | Co-Founder & CEO at bont | Investor & Advisor

The worst advice in B2B sales?
“Just keep chasing.”

I hear it constantly. It's the go-to advice from managers who mistake activity for progress.
And our data shows it's detrimental to revenue.

We analyzed thousands of sales sequences inside bont.
The pattern was brutal: Chasing a customer who isn't ready doesn't create urgency.
It creates annoyance. And kills potential deals.

This is what gut-driven chasing looks like in the data:

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗽

→ Follow-up #7 to a prospect who hasn't opened an email in 6 weeks.
→ The "just checking in" call after 30 days of total silence.
→ Pitching features when their only signal was a single whitepaper download.

It's wasted effort, based on a playbook from 2015.

Chasing only works at one specific moment:
When the buyer is already moving.

Top performers don't chase blindly. They track buyer movement.
They see the signals—the pricing page visit, the case study download, the renewed email engagement—and they act on 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵.

Stop chasing every lead.
Start chasing the right signals.

Your pipeline review isn’t a review. It’s a weekly ritual of optimism.

Everyone shows up with “updates.”

Stages move.

Next steps get typed.

And the forecast still misses.

Because most pipeline reviews track seller activity:

Logged call ✅
Sent follow-up ✅
Did the demo ✅
Updated stage ✅

None of that proves the buyer moved.

So you end up with motion that looks like progress.

And a pipeline that feels “full”...

While the deal is quietly dying.

If you want a pipeline review that predicts revenue, stop asking:

“What did we do this week?”

Start asking:

“What did the buyer do that proves this deal is alive?”

Here are 3 buyer movement signals that matter more than any CRM stage:

Stakeholders expand
A new person shows up without you begging for it.

Buyer effort increases
Security review. Implementation questions. Document requests. Timeline details.

Buyers don’t do work for deals they don’t plan to close.

Time compresses
Meetings get scheduled faster. Next steps get tighter.
Urgency shows up in calendars before it shows up in words.

Quick rule for your next pipeline review:

If none of these 3 buyer movements happened in the last 14 days...

It’s not pipeline.

It’s hope.

What’s the clearest buyer movement signal you trust more than stages?

We're training B2B sales leaders for a job that won't exist in 5 years.

Most sales leaders today are professional data archeologists.
They dig through reports.
They try to spot patterns in messy CRM data.
They spend their week chasing reps to translate "this feels strong" into a real forecast.

This is not leadership. It's manual analytics. And its days are numbered.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁

In the near future, the sales leader will not 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦 insights.
They will be delivered by AI.

- The most realistic forecast.
- The next best actions for a stalled deal.
- The hidden risks across the entire customer portfolio.

AI will handle the "what" and "why." The leader's job is to act on it.

Their role will no longer be running reports and trying to understand the dynamics behind them.
AI will deliver those dynamics.

The sales leader of tomorrow isn't a better report-runner.
They're a commander who receives perfect intelligence and focuses only on making the right strategic moves.

Forecast accuracy isn’t a sales problem. It’s a data model problem.

Most CEOs think bad forecasts come from bad reps.

They don’t.

They come from a broken model.

Because the model most companies use is this:

Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
“Commit”

That’s not forecasting.

That’s storytelling.

Here’s why stage-based forecasting keeps failing:

Stages are opinions
“This is a Stage 3.”
Translation: I feel good about it.

Stages are lagging indicators
By the time you move a deal to “late stage”, the buyer already decided.

You’re just updating the CRM after reality happened.

Stages are easy to game
When pressure goes up, stages magically go up too.
Not because deals are healthier.
Because humans don’t like bad news.

The fix is boring, but it works:

Stop forecasting with stages. Start forecasting with signals.

The signals that actually predict outcomes are not “how confident your rep feels.”

They’re observable buyer behavior:

Signal #1: Momentum
Time between touchpoints is shrinking (alive) or expanding (dying).

Signal #2: Stakeholder health
More real stakeholders showing up (alive).
Fewer showing up (dying).

Signal #3: Buyer effort
Docs requested. Security reviews. Implementation questions.

Buyers don’t do work for deals they don’t plan to close.

Signal #4: Champion risk
Silence. Delegation. “Let me loop in...”
Or the classic: job change during the cycle.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

If your inputs are wrong, your forecast will be wrong.

Not sometimes.
Every time.

Quick deal-health rule for sales leaders:

If 2 of these 4 signals are missing by day 30, stop calling it “real pipeline”:

Momentum is not increasing
Stakeholders are not expanding
Buyer effort is not showing up
Champion risk is rising
Downgrade it.

Or kill it.

A fast “no” saves you a quarter.
A slow “maybe” destroys it.

What’s one signal you trust more than a CRM stage? 🎯

Most inbound doesn’t go cold.
It gets mishandled.

The usual pattern:
Reply comes in → rep sends calendar link → silence → “just checking in” → dead.

One KPI changed everything for us: time to demo.

Before we optimized, it took ~20 days on average to get from inbound to demo.
Afterwards, we cut it to ~10 days.

We booked fewer demos, but they had real interest:
Conversion went from 15% to 33%.

Here’s what worked: a simple 72-hour protocol that forces clarity fast.

Hour 0–12: Confirm the problem
One question:
“What made this urgent this week?”

Hour 12–36: Send a value drop
One short, relevant insight that helps a Head of Sales make a decision.

Hour 36–72: Send the breakup
“Looks like timing isn’t right. I’ll close this out. If it becomes a priority, reply with ‘restart’ and I’ll make it easy.”

That last message works because it removes pressure.
Serious buyers hate being chased. They like choosing.

Do you track “time to demo” today? If yes, what’s your current average? If not, why not?

Most B2B SaaS teams are drowning in sales data.

Everyone talks "data-driven," but almost no one knows what to do with the numbers.
So they collect everything, act on nothing, and confuse activity with progress.

Here's the real problem:
Too much data, not enough focus.

You want to fix this in one week? Here's how:

Step 1: Pick three questions that actually matter.
- Where are deals stalling?
- What activities move deals forward?
- What signals show a buyer is serious?

Step 2: Cut every metric that doesn't answer those questions.
No exceptions.

Step 3: Make these your north star.
- Every meeting revolves around them
- Every dashboard spotlights them
- Every conversation starts with them

Suddenly the fog lifts.
You see patterns, not just numbers.
Your team acts with purpose, not just reports for the sake of reporting.

Most teams drown in data.
The best interrogate it and demand answers.

Your sales playbook is probably useless.

I was asked about the most counter-intuitive insight I've found in our data at bont.
It’s not some obscure metric.
It's this: Standard playbooks don't work.

In fact, the more rigid the playbook, the worse the performance.
It's a brutal pattern. Sales leaders invest months building the "perfect" process, only for it to gather dust.

Here's the core problem.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗽

Your playbook tells a rep what to do on Day 7.
But it has no idea what the buyer did on Day 6.

It’s a map drawn last year for a landscape that changes every hour.

Playbook Thinking:
"My sequence says to send the case study now."
"The champion fits Persona A, so I'll use Pitch A."
"It's been 5 days, time for the 'gentle nudge' email."

This isn't selling. It's paint-by-numbers.

The most effective teams have stopped trying to follow a static script.
They think on data, signals, and information.

Signal-Based Thinking:
"The champion just re-watched our integration demo. I'm calling their Head of IT."
"They downloaded a competitor comparison guide. My next email will focus on our key differentiator."
"Their engagement dropped 2 days after the proposal. The deal is stalled. I need to find out why."

Stop forcing your team to follow a rigid process.
Start teaching them how to read the signals.

Most pipeline reviews are just wishful thinking.

Reps cling to deals they "feel good" about.
Managers trust gut instincts and happy talk.

But deals don't die overnight. They leave clues.

AI doesn't care about hope or stories. It watches the signals:
No recent activity
Weak buyer engagement
Skipped steps in the process
Slipping deadlines

Here's what AI sees in real client pipelines:
35 percent of deals are magically set to close on the last day of the current or next month.
Even in November, you'll spot deals marked for a heroic close on December 31.
Apparently, Santa delivers contracts too.

Pattern: end of month fantasy land.
Reality: most of those deals are already dead.

AI catches these games in real time, while everyone else keeps chasing ghosts.

You want a cleaner, more predictable pipeline?
Let AI show you what's dead weight.
Then act on it.

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Manuel Hartmann

Dennis Teichmann

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taplio

The Battle

Manuel Hartmann

Dennis Teichmann

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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);}Manuel Hartmann's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreManuel Hartmann's LinkedIn Performance