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)

Bont.ai

Together with amazing co-founders, we’re building a software that will basically convert your data into closed deals (yes, also using AI ✨). 

Bringing all your CRM communications in one place, bont does this for you:
👉🏻 analyses all the marketing and sales data
👉🏻 creates a scoring system based on your criteria to bring your forecasting to perfection
👉🏻 uses AI-driven insights to provide valuable advice to your sales reps

bont increases your productivity up to 20% and your conversion rate up to 10%.

A real game-changer for sales teams 📈

CEO and Co-Founder

Teichmann Growth Partners

Teichmann Growth Partners is all about scaling and digitalization - from sales to strategy and more.
We support start- and scale-ups in their growth plans in the following areas:
➮ Implementation of new tools and processes
➮ We implement a clean and successful sales process, define KPIs and handle the implications for the team and the recruiting process
➮ Sparring partner for your questions as a founder, general support as role in the advisory board, board of directors or as an advisor

Managing Partner

hints

I founded hints, in order to create a modern, but affordable solution. The processes of hints are fully automised to keep the overall cost level as low as possible.

Alongside me, a seasoned marketing professional and a skilled developer bring their unique expertise to the table, ushering in innovative solutions.

Founder and CEO

Investor Rating

The purpose of the Investor Rating platform is to provide founders and CEOs of startups with first-hand information about what it's like to work with an investor. It allows individuals who have received funding from or had active funding conversations with venture capital, private equity, or other startup investment firms to share their experiences and insights through reviews. The platform aims to help founders make informed decisions when choosing funding partners and provide investors with an unbiased view of how startups perceive working with them.

Founder

Operation Libero

Board Member

LIO Consulting GmbH

As a Senior Advisor at LIO Consulting, my primary focus is on HR excellence projects, improving HR strategy, HR KPIs, and HR processes. I work closely with clients to help them become the best employer in their industry. By leveraging my expertise in HR analytics and data-driven decision-making, I assist clients in identifying areas of improvement and measuring the effectiveness of their HR strategies. I provide guidance on developing and implementing KPIs that align with their organizational goals. Additionally, I offer insights on optimizing HR processes to enhance efficiency and drive employee satisfaction. With my support, clients are able to elevate their HR practices and create a workplace that attracts and retains top talent.

Senior Advisor

Teichmann Ninja Investment & Advisory

Investor, advisor and board member for dynamic, growing companies / start-ups. Please send enquiries to dennis@teichmann.ninja

Owner

Moodtalk

As a Senior Advisor at Moodtalk, my primary objective is to optimize sales processes and drive revenue growth. With a strong background in sales and consulting, I am passionate about building repeatable sales methodologies that ensure long-term success. By leveraging my expertise, I will identify areas for improvement and implement proven strategies to drive revenue, reduce costs, and enhance the customer experience. My skills include accurate sales forecasting, minimizing ramp-up time for new hires, aligning CRM applications, establishing standards for pipeline and quality reviews, and aligning marketing efforts with sales.

Pult - Hybrid Work Solution

We are supporting Pult in order to further develop their sales strategy and their growth.
Pult is a hybrid-first company, meaning our employees have maximum flexibility. Pult is on a mission to make hybrid work people-centric.

Growth Coach (Advisor)

jacando

With our HR platform, we digitize the entire area of human resources. We see every day with our customers how much time flows into automatable processes and interface management. Through our all-in-one HR platform, we take the HR function to the next level.

Chairman

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 Founder & CEO of jacando, an HR Tech SaaS company, I led a 20-person sales team facing these exact challenges. jacando provided an all-in-one HR platform to streamline recruiting, employee management, and talent management—yet despite strong demand, scaling sales efficiently remained a struggle.

We tried everything—more leads, more emails, more playbooks. Nothing moved the needle.

Then we discovered the power of real-time sales signals. By implementing a scoring model and AI-driven alerts, we increased our close rate by 20% in just 90 days.

That experience cemented my passion for sales—not just as a function, but as a dynamic, data-driven craft that balances strategy, psychology, and execution. This passion led me to found bont.ai, where we help sales teams stop losing deals due to missing insights. Our AI-driven pipeline prioritization, deal insights, and guidance ensure reps focus on the right deals at the right time—driving higher conversions and more predictable revenue.

What I Do
🔹 bont.ai (CEO & Co-Founder) – Transforming sales with AI-powered deal intelligence.
🔹 Teichmann Growth Partners (Managing Partner) – Helping startups scale with sales and growth strategies.
🔹 Investor & Advisor – Supporting B2B tech startups in optimizing sales and operations.

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

Dennis Teichmann

We Gave Every Sales Rep AI Tools. 87% Never Used Them Past Week 2.

One of our Bont clients is burning €8,400 monthly on AI licenses.
Usage after 60 days? Three people. Out of forty-two.

The CFO called me last week:
"Dennis, we're paying for digital dust collectors."

𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 1: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆𝗺𝗼𝗼𝗻
Everyone logs in. Plays with the AI.
"This is incredible! It writes perfect emails!"
Usage: 100%. Enthusiasm: Maximum.

𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 2: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻
"Wait, how do I integrate this with our CRM?"
"Why is the AI suggesting I call retired contacts?"
"This takes longer than doing it manually..."
Usage drops to 13%.

𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 4: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁
AI tools become that gym membership from January.
Everyone knows they should use them.
Nobody does.
€8,400 monthly. Three active users.

But here's what actually worked:

𝗪𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 "𝗔𝗜 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀"

Not training everyone on everything.
Pick three power users. Make them experts.
Let them show others specific wins.

Real examples that clicked:
→ AI for competitive battlecards: Pull competitor weaknesses in seconds
→ Automated follow-up sequences: But only for specific deal stages
→ Deal risk scoring: AI flags when champions go silent

The uncomfortable truth:

Your team doesn't need AI tools.
They need someone to show them ONE thing that saves them ONE hour.

Start there.
Not with the 47-feature demo.
Not with the integration roadmap.
Not with the ROI calculator.

One person. One use case. One win.
Then another.

We tracked adoption across 12 Bont implementations:
- Traditional training approach: 19% adoption after 90 days
- Champion approach: 71% adoption, same timeframe
- Monthly burn rate dropped 62% (killed unused licenses)

The brutal reality:

Tools without training is just expensive shelfware.
But training without champions is just expensive theater.

Your AI vendor promised transformation.
What you got was another tab nobody opens.

The fix isn't more tools.
It's fewer tools with deeper usage.

How much are you spending monthly on tools gathering digital dust? 💡

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

Yesterday I watched a €400K VP of Sales spend 47 minutes searching through emails for a calendar invite.

The board meeting started in 13 minutes.
He still hadn't found the revenue forecast someone sent Tuesday.

This wasn't unusual. It was Thursday.

Last month, I shadowed five sales executives for a week.
What I saw physically hurt:

9:14 𝗔𝗠: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆
VP opens inbox. 1,847 unread.
Searches "Q4 forecast." 
312 results.
Opens 23 emails looking for the latest version.
Finally finds it. Meeting's already started.

10:45 𝗔𝗠: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗣𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗰
Board member asks about pipeline coverage.
VP scrambles to update CRM while screen-sharing.
Manually changes 12 deal stages.
Everyone watches him type.
"Sorry, just need to... okay, there we go."

2:30 𝗣𝗠: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿 𝗠𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘆
"Didn't we have a call with Siemens today?"
Scrolls through three calendars.
Checks four email threads.
Teams, Outlook, Gmail, CRM.
Call was yesterday. They no-showed because the invite went to spam.

4:15 𝗣𝗠: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗲-𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗹𝗲
Big opportunity review in 15 minutes.
VP manually pulling data from six places.
CRM shows $2.3M. Spreadsheet says $1.8M.
Slack thread mentions $2.7M.
Goes with "approximately $2M" and hopes nobody asks.

One executive told me:
"I'm not a VP. I'm a highly paid admin assistant who sometimes makes strategic decisions."

His time tracking was brutal:
- 31% searching for information
- 24% manual CRM updates 
- 19% building reports that already exist somewhere
- 11% reconciling conflicting data
- 15% actual strategic work

€400K salary. 15% productivity.

Here's the uncomfortable truth:

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴.

Drowning in tools that don't talk.
In data that doesn't match.
In emails they'll never catch up on.

The math is devastating:
€192/hour executive time.
Spent on €15/hour tasks.
That's €177 per hour of destroyed value.

But the real cost?

While your VP updates Salesforce:
→ Your competitor's VP is coaching their team
→ Your deals are stalling without senior input
→ Your reps are making the same mistakes
→ Your strategy is dying in an inbox

I watched one VP transform this.

Killed the manual work.
Automated the admin.
AI handled the data reconciliation.

What'd he do with the time?

Jumped on 10 customer calls.
Saved three deals worth €850K.
In one week.

That's the difference between a €400K admin and a €400K executive.

The painful reality:

Every minute your executives spend connecting dots is a minute your competition is connecting with customers.

Your VP's not supposed to be searching for calendar invites at 9 AM.
They're supposed to be closing deals.

But here we are.
Watching €400K talent do copy-paste.
While revenue walks out the door.

What percentage of your executive's day is actually executive work? 💡

47 dead deals. €12.3M lost. Same three signals every time.

Here's the truth:
These deals didn't die from competition or budget cuts.
They died from silence.

Not the silence you expect.

I'm talking about the quiet death that happens while everyone's still talking.
Meetings still happening.
Emails still flowing.
Champions still "pushing internally."

Meanwhile, three signals were screaming that these deals were already dead:

**Signal #1: The Stakeholder Fade**

Week 1: 8 people on the call
Week 4: 5 people
Week 8: Your champion and someone from procurement

Watch who stops showing up.
When decision makers delegate down, they've already decided.
Just not in your favor.

**Signal #2: The Energy Shift**

Early calls: "How fast can we implement?"
Later calls: "Walk me through the ROI again?"

When conversations shift from future state to justification, you're not selling anymore.
You're defending.
And defenders rarely win.

**Signal #3: The Calendar Creep**

First meeting: Scheduled same week
Second meeting: Two weeks out
Third meeting: "Let's reconnect after the holidays"

Time kills all deals.
But it kills them slowly, so you keep hoping.

Here's what our data showed:
→ Nearly 90% of deals showing all three signals died within 30 days
→ Average time wasted: over 4 months per dead deal
→ Resources burned: around 70 hours per rep

The brutal part?
Every single rep saw these signals.
They just explained them away.

"Big companies move slowly."
"They're just being thorough."
"My champion says we're still good."

Your champion isn't lying; they're likely just as confused.

So what actually works?

**Call it out directly.**

"I've noticed our stakeholder group is shrinking. Should we be concerned?"

"The energy feels different than our early calls. What's changed?"

"These delays usually mean something's off. What aren't we addressing?"

Most reps won't do this.
They're scared of the answer.

But here's the thing:
A fast no saves you months. A slow maybe costs you a quarter.

We built these exact patterns into our AI because human optimism is expensive.
€12M expensive, apparently.

Your deals are telling you they're dying.
Are you brave enough to listen? 🚨

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Talks about #growth, #startup, #scaleups, #leadership, and #entrepreneurship

The €12M Revenue Graveyard: Mapping Where B2B Deals Actually Die

One of our clients mapped every dead deal from last year.
47 opportunities. €12.3M vanished.

Wasn't where they expected.
Not negotiation (8%). Not security review (4%). Not even procurement (11%).

77% died in three places their CRM couldn't track.

𝗗𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗭𝗼𝗻𝗲 #1: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗳𝗳 (31% 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲)

SDR spent 6 weeks building trust.
Handed to AE who started from scratch.

Buyer's actual feedback: "Your first guy really got us. The second one asked if we'd heard of your company."

Deal velocity dropped 68% at handoff.
Response times went from hours to weeks.

𝗗𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗭𝗼𝗻𝗲 #2: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗲 (24% 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲)

Week 4: Champion + manager. Excited.
Week 8: Finance joins. Questions everything.
Week 12: Legal appears. Needs contracts.
Week 20: Procurement arrives. Starts over.

Each new stakeholder reduced close probability by 30%.
By week 20, champion had zero influence left.

𝗗𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗭𝗼𝗻𝗲 #3: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁 (22% 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲)

Three-month POC. Perfect technical success.
Deal still died.

The POC proved the tech worked.
Also proved their team would revolt.

Buyer: "We're not ready for this transformation."

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗱:

Handoff fix: SDR joins first 3 AE calls. Just bridges context.
Result: 73% survival rate.

Committee fix: Map all stakeholders week 1. No power by week 6? Walk away.
Result: Saved 400+ hours on zombie deals.

POC fix: 30 days max. Measure adoption, not features.
Result: POC-to-close rate up 47%.

The brutal truth?

These deals didn't die from competition.
They died from self-inflicted complexity.

My client's head of sales stared at this data:
"We spent all year optimizing our sales process. Should've been simplifying it."

€12.3M taught them one thing:
The buyer's journey matters more than your sales process.

What's killing deals in your pipeline right now? 🎯

I fed 3 years of my lost deals into our AI.
It found the €2M mistake I've been making since 2019.

The pattern was brutal:
We were chasing dead deals for months.
Deals that died in week 3 but stayed in our pipeline until week 20.

Not because reps were lazy.
Because nobody told them the champion had quit.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 €2𝗠 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻:

Our AI tracked every lost deal against LinkedIn data.
Found something terrifying:
In 67% of our dead deals, the champion changed jobs during the sales cycle.

We never noticed.

Still sending proposals to dead email addresses.
Still forecasting deals with ghosts.
Still wondering why they went quiet.

Meanwhile, their replacement was buying from our competitor.

The data made me sick:
- Average time wasted per ghost deal: 14 weeks
- Rep hours burned: 1,100+ annually 
- Pipeline fiction: €2.1M of phantom revenue

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗲 𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗱:

Champions don't announce their departures.
They just fade.

"Let me loop in Sarah from my team" = I'm transitioning out
"Still pushing internally" = I don't work here anymore
Meeting invites from new names = Your champion is gone
LinkedIn profile update = The deal died 3 weeks ago

But we kept selling to empty chairs.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄:

Every Monday, we run the Champion Check:
- LinkedIn scan on every active deal
- Email engagement tracking (sudden drops = red flag)
- New meeting attendees trigger immediate verification
- 2 weeks of silence = pick up the phone

Caught 8 champion changes last quarter.
Saved 5 of those deals by rebuilding with the replacement.

Here's the uncomfortable truth:

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗖𝗥𝗠 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴
→ Shows contacts, not relationships
→ Tracks activities, not engagement 
→ Counts emails to people who left 6 months ago

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹
→ It's the quarter you wasted chasing it
→ It's the 10 real opportunities you ignored
→ It's the rep who burned out pushing rocks uphill

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀
→ That your champion still works there
→ That silence means they're "working on it"
→ That people tell you when they leave

We built this into bont because human optimism is expensive.
Really expensive.
€2M expensive in my case.

The brutal reality:

Half your pipeline is probably talking to people who don't work there anymore.

Your forecast is fiction.
Your deals are ghosts.
Your reps are wasting their lives.

Check LinkedIn right now.
I dare you.

How many of your "active" champions changed jobs in the last 90 days? 👻

We Analyzed 1,847 Won Deals: The 3 'Life Signals' That Predict 91% of Closes

Most reps are chasing ghosts while real buyers are screaming "take my money" in ways they can't hear.

We pulled CRM data from 23 bont customers. 1,847 closed-won deals.
Found three signals that predicted success with 91% accuracy.

𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹 #1: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻

That proposal you sent 6 weeks ago? If it's still getting opened every 3-4 days, you're not dead. You're being discussed.

We tracked 500+ deals:
- Opens stop after week 2 = 87% chance of losing
- Regular opens after week 6 = They're building consensus

One rep saw his 2-month-old deck opened 47 times in one week.
Called: "Seems like there's renewed interest?"
They'd just gotten budget approval. €340K closed 10 days later.

𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹 #2: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲

Your prospect isn't researching you. Their entire team is.

The pattern:
- 5+ LinkedIn views from same company
- Website traffic from multiple IPs
- Colleagues asking about your expertise
- Getting tagged in relevant discussions

They're not evaluating your product. They're vetting YOU.

One founder noticed his blog getting traffic from a prospect's domain. Then the CFO viewed his LinkedIn. Then random technical questions appeared.

They were validating: "Can we trust this person?"
€185K deal. No second demo needed.

𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹 #3: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹𝘀

Here's the uncomfortable truth: If you're chasing, you've already lost.

Follow-up patterns from our data:
- 10+ follow-ups: 12% close rate
- <5 follow-ups: 73% close rate

Real buyers don't need convincing. They need to convince themselves.

Best reps sent this after 3 attempts:
"Seems like this isn't a priority. I'll close your file. You know where to find me."

41% responded within 48 hours with the actual blocker.

The brutal reality:

You're not losing deals from lack of follow-up.
You're losing them by following up with the wrong people.

Focus on the ones giving life signals:
- Still opening old emails
- Colleagues researching you at 9pm
- Multiple stakeholders engaged

Everything else is noise.

What signal have you been ignoring that's telling you everything? 🎯

Your top reps follow their discovery script for exactly 3 minutes and 12 seconds. Then they throw it away. And close 3x more deals.

Several companies I work with started tracking their discovery calls.
Found the same pattern everywhere.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗹:

Minute 1: "Tell me about your current process..."
Buyer shares something unexpected.
Rep follows the script anyway.
Trust eroding.

Minute 2: "What are your main challenges?"
Buyer mentions unknown competitor.
Rep stumbles back to safe questions.
Connection dying.

Minute 3: "Who's involved in the decision?"
Buyer already answered. Twice.
They realize you're performing, not listening.
Deal's dead.

Top performers use scripts as launch pads, not railroads.

First 3 minutes: Follow the framework
After minute 3: Chase the conversation

One rep closed 73% more deals after we analyzed his calls:
"I was having two conversations. One with my script, one with the buyer. The buyer always lost."

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵:

We tracked script adherence vs close rates:
- 90%+ script adherence: 19% close rate
- 40-60% script adherence: 61% close rate

Your discovery script is training wheels.
Useful for new reps.
Deadly for experienced ones.

𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:

Instead of: "What's your budget?"
Explore: Financial impact of status quo

Instead of: "Who makes the decision?"
Understand: Power dynamics and internal politics

Instead of: "What's your timeline?"
Uncover: What's driving urgency (or killing it)

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆:

Every time your rep chooses the script over the conversation, they're choosing compliance over connection.

Buyers feel it.
That moment when reps ask something already answered.
When they pivot to their next scripted question instead of digging deeper.

That's when you lose.

One client tested this:
Week 1: Strict script adherence
Week 2: Scripts as guidelines
Week 3: Themes-based discovery

Results:
- Meeting-to-opportunity: up 44%
- Average deal size: +€31K
- Rep satisfaction: highest ever

Your best reps already know this.
They start with the script.
Then throw it away.
That's when discovery actually begins.

Which scripted question kills more deals than any other? 🎯

One of our clients lost a €10M deal last month.
Perfect playbook execution. Every step by the book.
Deal died anyway.

Their CEO called me: "Dennis, I need you to see what happened here."

The buyer had just fired their last vendor mid-contract.
Massive implementation failure. CTO almost lost his job.
Trust was shattered.

Their rep?
Slide 1: "Let me show you our implementation methodology!"

The room went cold.

He kept going. Discovery questions. ROI calculations. Reference customers.
Textbook perfect.
Completely wrong.

What the buyer needed:
Someone to acknowledge their pain.
Someone to promise "never again."
Someone to show they understood the scars.

What they got:
Slide 17 of the standard deck.

Here's the uncomfortable truth:

**Your playbook assumes a neutral buyer**
→ No baggage from past failures
→ No political landmines to navigate
→ No scars from vendors who burned them

**Reality is messier**
→ Every buyer has a story you don't know
→ Every RFP hides a fear you haven't uncovered
→ Every "process" masks a human need

**Following the playbook means missing the moment**
→ When they need empathy, you show slides
→ When they need flexibility, you quote policy
→ When they need a partner, you act like a vendor

They salvaged that deal.
But only after throwing out the playbook.

Started over. No slides. Just conversation.
"Tell me what went wrong last time."

Two hours later, they understood.
Six weeks later, they closed.

Not because they had better features.
Because they had better ears.

The brutal reality:

Your playbook is optimized for the average deal.
But no deal is average.
Every buyer is fighting a battle your slides can't see.

Great reps know when to follow the map.
Elite reps know when to burn it.

What's the most expensive playbook mistake you've witnessed? 🎯

"Stop asking questions. Start listening to mine."

That's what saved a €320K deal that should've taken 8 calls.
Closed in 2.

One of our clients just flipped discovery on its head.
Their rep—Anna—was stuck with a notorious tire-kicker.
You know the type. Takes every meeting. Never buys.

First call starts.
Anna opens her mouth to begin discovery.
The buyer cuts her off:

"Before you start your questions, I have seventeen of my own."

Most reps would panic.
Anna shut up.

For 55 minutes, she answered:
- "How does your integration actually fail?"
- "What happens when your biggest client churns?"
- "Who's your worst customer and why?"
- "What did your last implementation disaster teach you?"

Brutal questions.
Zero slides shown.
No features mentioned.

End of call, the buyer says:
"You're the first vendor who didn't bullshit me. Send me a contract."

Second call: negotiation and signatures.

Done.

Here's what actually happened:

**The buyer already knew what they needed**
→ They'd researched for months
→ Talked to peers who used us
→ Read every case study

They weren't testing our product.
They were testing us.

**Discovery is dead backwards**
→ We interrogate buyers like suspects
→ We hunt for pain we can solve
→ We force them through our process

Meanwhile, they're sitting there thinking:
"Do these people actually get it?"

**The questions they ask tell you everything**
→ Integration questions = they've been burned before
→ Churn questions = they're scared of commitment
→ Disaster questions = they value honesty over polish

Anna didn't need discovery.
The buyer did it for her.

Here's the uncomfortable truth:

Your buyers are 57% through their journey before they talk to you.
They've already diagnosed their problem.
They know what they need.

They're not looking for a consultant.
They're looking for confirmation.

The smartest reps are flipping the script:

**Let them drive**
"What would you like to know about us?"
Watch what they ask first. That's what matters most.

**Answer the question behind the question**
They ask about price? They're really asking about value.
They ask about implementation? They're really asking about risk.

**Stop performing, start conversing**
Discovery calls have become theater.
Buyers can smell the script from miles away.

The brutal reality:

While you're following your 47-step discovery methodology, your competitor is having a real conversation.

Your BANT/MEDDIC/whatever framework assumes buyers are idiots.
They're not.
They're testing if you are.

Ever had a buyer take over your discovery call? What happened? 🎯

I Analyzed 1,000 Lost Deals Running Through bont. 73% Failed This One Trust Test

Our AI flagged something disturbing across our customers' pipelines.

Same question killing deals everywhere:
"Can you show us how it works?"

Sounds reasonable. Normal even.
But it was destroying close rates.

Here's what bont's data revealed:

When buyers ask for demos before sharing their problems, they're not buying.
They're shopping.
And shoppers rarely become customers.

The pattern across our customer base was brutal:
→ Demo request in first 10 minutes
→ Rep jumps into presentation mode
→ 45 minutes of features nobody asked for
→ "We'll think about it" (translation: no)

We dug deeper into those 730 failed deals.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱:

Not "Show me your product"
But "Show me you understand my problem"

Not "Prove your features work"
But "Prove you've seen this before"

Not "Give me a demo"
But "Give me confidence you won't waste my time"

Here's the uncomfortable truth:

Buyers who demand demos early don't trust you yet.
They're using your demo as a screening tool.
To eliminate you.
Not to select you.

One of our clients tested a different approach.

When prospects asked for demos, their reps started responding:
"I could show you features for an hour. But without understanding what's broken in your process, I'd be wasting your time. What triggered this conversation internally?"

Initial resistance: massive.
Close rates: up 47%.

Why?

Because they stopped being vendors who demonstrate.
Started being advisors who diagnose.

The brutal reality:

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻:
→ It comes before discovery
→ It focuses on features over outcomes
→ It answers questions they haven't asked

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻:
→ It addresses specific problems they've shared
→ It shows only what matters to them
→ It proves you listened, not just prepared

Those 730 lost deals taught our customers something painful:

The buyers weren't failing their test.
They were failing the buyers'.

Buyers wanted a doctor who diagnoses before prescribing.
They got salespeople with slides.

Now we track something different in bont:
Time to first value conversation.
Not time to demo.

Because here's what those 270 successful deals had in common:

The demo came third.
Problem first.
Trust second.
Then, and only then, the product.

Your prospects are testing your reps from minute one.
Just not the way they think.

The data's screaming at us:
Stop showing. Start diagnosing.

What's the earliest demo request your team should've rejected? 🎯

"Get me to the decision maker!" every sales training screams.

But here's the problem: The decision maker doesn't exist anymore.

Last month, I watched a rep chase the CFO for weeks.
Perfect pitch. Great rapport. CFO loved it.
Deal died anyway.

Why?

The "junior analyst" he ignored vetoed it in Slack.
The IT manager he never met killed it in committee.
The end users he skipped revolted in a Teams channel.

Welcome to modern B2B, where decisions are made in group chats you'll never see.

Here's the uncomfortable truth:

**The org chart is a lie**
→ Titles mean nothing when influence lives in Slack threads
→ The "VP" might have less sway than the trusted IC
→ Real power hides in informal networks

**Consensus killed the decision maker**
→ Average B2B deal now involves 11+ stakeholders
→ Each one has veto power
→ Nobody wants to stick their neck out alone

**The real decision happens before the meeting**
→ By the time you present, opinions are formed
→ The pre-meeting slack channel is where deals die
→ Your champion is fighting battles you don't even know about

I learned this the hard way with a €180K enterprise deal.

Spent three months courting the C-suite.
CEO loved us. CTO was on board.
Lost to a competitor who spent time with the implementation team.

They won in the break room, not the boardroom.

So here's what actually works:

**Map the invisible org chart**
→ Ask: "Who else gets pulled into these decisions?"
→ Track: Who's CC'd late in email threads
→ Notice: Whose name keeps coming up

**Build a coalition, not a champion**
→ One supporter isn't enough anymore
→ You need allies at every level
→ Especially the ones without fancy titles

**Sell to the shadows**
→ The analyst doing the research
→ The manager who'll own implementation 
→ The team that has to live with your solution

The brutal reality:

While you're chasing the "decision maker," your competitor is building relationships with the people who actually decide.

Modern B2B isn't about finding one person with a budget.
It's about understanding how decisions really flow through organizations.

Your CRM says "talk to the VP."
Reality says talk to everyone.

Who's the most influential "non-decision maker" you've ever sold to? 💡

€280K deal lost in 7 minutes to a competitor charging 3x more.

Reported by one of my clients.

Here's the call breakdown with timestamps:

**[0:47] The Feature Trap**
Prospect: "Does your solution integrate with Salesforce?"
Their rep: "Absolutely! We have deep integrations with..."
*Spent 3 minutes on features nobody asked about*

Meanwhile, the competitor answered: "Yes. But more importantly, how are you handling lead routing today?"

**[2:31] The Pricing Fumble**
Prospect: "Your competitor is significantly more expensive..."
Their rep: "Exactly! We're 70% cheaper with the same capabilities!"
*Instant commoditization*

The competitor's response they learned later: "We're priced for companies serious about revenue operations, not just cost-cutting."

**[4:12] The Reference Panic**
Prospect: "Can you share similar companies using your solution?"
Their rep: "Let me get back to you with some case studies..."
*Trust evaporated*

Competitor had three customer champions on standby for immediate intros.

**[5:48] The Silent Champion Death**
The prospect's head of sales stopped talking at this point.
Their rep didn't notice.
Kept pitching to the ops manager who'd already checked out.

**[6:35] The Desperate Close**
Their rep: "If we could start next month, would that work?"
Prospect: "We need to evaluate all options first..."
*Translation: You've already lost*

The brutal truth about why they lost:

It wasn't price. It wasn't features. It wasn't timing.

They lost because they acted like a vendor while the competitor acted like advisors.

Every timestamp above shows the same pattern:
→ They talked about themselves
→ Competitor talked about the customer
→ They defended their position
→ Competitor explored problems

The €280K wasn't lost in that call.
It was lost in how they trained their team to show up.

Here's what they changed immediately:

**Killed feature-vomiting**
Now every product mention must follow a customer problem.
No exceptions.

**Banned defensive pricing**
Price is positioning, not mathematics.
Own your number or lose to someone who does.

**Made references mandatory**
Every rep now has 5 customer champions ready to jump on calls.
No scrambling. No delays.

**Track engagement, not attendance**
Who's talking matters more than who's listening.
When decision makers go quiet, they call it out.

**Rewrote their close**
From "When can we start?" to "What's still unclear?"
Pressure kills deals. Clarity creates them.

Six months later:
Win rate against that same competitor up 67%.
Average deal size increased by €45K.
Sales cycle dropped by 3 weeks.

The recording of that failed call?
Now required viewing for every new rep.

Because sometimes your worst loss becomes your best teacher.

What expensive lesson transformed how your team sells? 🎯

You're chasing dead deals while live ones are screaming for contracts.

After tracking 892 deals through Bont's platform, I found 5 signals that mean "close this NOW."
Not next quarter. Not after another demo.
Now.

𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹 #1: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻

Your champion checks your profile 3x in one week.
Their boss views it twice.
Someone from procurement shows up.

They're not browsing. They're building a case.

When decision makers start researching YOU, not your product, they're selling internally.
The deal is hot. Move fast.

𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹 #2: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗛𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿

"Can you send that security questionnaire?"
"We need the implementation timeline again."
"Do you have customer references in our industry?"

Three document requests in 5 days?
They're not shopping. They're justifying.

Someone with a budget just asked for proof.
Your champion is scrambling to provide it.
Feed them everything. Now.

𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹 #3: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗗𝗶𝘃𝗲

Early calls: "Show us what it does."
Now: "How would this work for our Phoenix team specifically?"

When questions shift from features to implementation, they're mentally buying.
When they name specific teams and scenarios, they're already picturing it live.

Generic interest is dead. Specific application is alive.

𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹 #4: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻

First meeting: 2 weeks to schedule
Second meeting: 1 week out
Third meeting: "Can you do tomorrow at 2?"

Urgency doesn't lie.
When calendars suddenly open up, priorities have shifted.
You just became important.

𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹 #5: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻

"We're also looking at [Competitor X], but honestly..."
"They showed us their solution. Quick question about yours..."

When they start sharing intel about other vendors, you're winning.
They're not comparing anymore. They're confirming.

Here's what Bont's data revealed:

→ Deals showing 3+ signals closed 73% faster
→ Average contract value: 31% higher
→ Churn rate: 67% lower (they actually wanted it)

The brutal truth?

Most reps miss these signals completely.
Too busy following up on dead deals.
Too focused on pipeline coverage.
Too scared to push when the moment is perfect.

Your buyer is screaming "I'm ready!" in data.
But you're still scheduling another "check-in call."

The uncomfortable reality:

The best deals don't need convincing.
They need courage.
The courage to recognize the moment and strike.

When every signal points to yes, stop selling and start closing.

What signal tells you a deal is ready to sign TODAY? 🎯

The 90-Second Deal Death Detector: How bont Spots Dying Deals Before Reps Do

Last week, bont flagged 31 deals as "dead walking" for one of our clients.
Their sales team thought our AI was broken.
We were right about 29 of them.

Here's the uncomfortable truth:
Deals don't die suddenly. They bleed out slowly while everyone pretends they're fine.

I got obsessed with this pattern after analyzing data across our customer base.
€47M in "committed pipeline" that was never going to close.
Reps burning 70+ hours per quarter on corpses.

So we fed bont three years of deal data from our clients.
312,000 opportunities. Every email, call transcript, calendar pattern.
Looking for the moment deals started dying.

𝗗𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹 #1: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗳

Healthy deal: 3.2 days average between touchpoints
Dying deal: 8.7 days and growing

When momentum dies, the deal is already dead.
Your champion isn't busy. They've given up.
bont catches this shift 3 weeks before reps notice.

𝗗𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹 #2: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗩𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗰𝘁

Week 1: Economic buyer on every call
Week 4: "They'll join next time"
Week 8: You're talking to procurement

bont tracks email domains on threads.
When decision makers stop appearing, you're selling to ghosts.
Pattern recognition caught this 91% of the time.

𝗗𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹 #3: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘆

Early emails: "When we implement..." 
Later emails: "If we move forward..."

From certainty to possibility.
From ownership to distance.
bont analyzes sentiment shift across every interaction.

Subtle? Yes.
Accurate? Terrifyingly so.

But here's where it gets interesting:

bont doesn't just predict death.
It prescribes intervention.

𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹 #1?
Alert: "Schedule executive alignment call within 48 hours"

𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹 #2 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱?
Alert: "Stakeholder re-engagement required - suggest bringing in your CPO"

𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹 #3 𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴?
Alert: "Confidence declining - pivot from selling to diagnosing concerns"

Results across our client base after 6 months:
→ Saved 47 deals worth €18.3M that would've died
→ Killed 189 zombies 6 weeks earlier (saved 4,200+ hours)
→ Rep confidence up 34% (they trust their pipeline now)

The brutal part?

Every rep FELT these signals.
They just explained them away.

"Big companies move slowly"
"Q4 is always quiet"
"My champion says we're fine"

One client's head of sales threw his laptop when he saw bont's analysis:
"We knew. We all bloody knew. We just kept pretending."

Human optimism is expensive.
bont doesn't have feelings. Just patterns.

We're not replacing reps.
We're replacing their blind spots.

Because the uncomfortable reality is:
Your reps know which deals are dying.
They're just too invested to admit it.

bont? It'll tell you in 90 seconds.

What signal do you ignore even though you know it means death? 🎯

"We just lost our top rep. What now?" DM from a VP of Sales

My response shocked him:
"Your revenue's about to go up."

Sounds insane. Yet, my experience expected something different.

I am tracking what happens after companies lose their #1 performer.
Most companies saw a drastical (20% or more) saw revenue increase within 90 days.
Not despite losing them. Because of it.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝗥𝗲𝗽 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗽

Your best rep isn't just closing deals.
They're hoarding them.

The pattern we found:
→ Top rep controls 40% of pipeline
→ Rest of team gets scraps
→ Nobody else learns to hunt
→ Team becomes dependent on one person

When they leave, panic sets in.
"We're doomed without Sarah!"

But watch what actually happens:

𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 1-2: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗹𝗲
Everyone fights for the orphaned accounts.
Suddenly, your B-players are talking to A-prospects.
Energy shifts. Hunger returns.

𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 3-4: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
That "average" rep closes a deal the top performer sat on for months.
Another finds opportunities your star missed.
Team discovers they're better than they thought.

𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 8-12: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲
Pipeline distributes more evenly.
Three reps hit quota instead of one at 300%.
Team resilience builds. Single points of failure disappear.

One client's numbers after losing their top rep:
- Month 1: -18% (expected)
- Month 2: +7% (surprising)
- Month 3: +31% (shocking)

Why? They stopped being a sales team with a star.
Started being a team of sellers.

The uncomfortable truth:

Your top rep might be your biggest liability.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴:
→ Learned helplessness in others
→ Political games for lead distribution
→ Excuse culture ("Well, I'm not Sarah...")

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴:
→ Other reps from developing
→ Process improvements (they don't need them)
→ Team collaboration (why share when you're winning?)

Here's the harsh truth:

Great individual contributors often make terrible team dynamics.

When that VP asked what to do, I told him:
"Stop trying to replace them. Fix what made you need them."

Build systems, not dependencies.
Create hunters, not order-takers.
Distribute opportunity, don't concentrate it.

Because here's what the data screams:

The best sales teams don't have heroes.
They have systems that create consistent winners.

Your top rep leaving isn't a crisis.
It's your chance to build resilience, not dependency.

Has losing your "best" person ever made your team stronger? 🎯

I ran 500 sales calls through AI. Found €3M in missed revenue hiding in grammar.

Not kidding.

My client's best reps were blind to 14 buying signals.
Every. Single. Call.
The patterns were so obvious, their head of sales threw his laptop across the room.

I showed them the transcripts.

**Signal #1: The Timeline Bomb**

Actual call from a lost €85K deal:
Buyer: "Can you walk me through the Salesforce setup again? We need to present this Thursday."
Rep: *Launches into 12-minute feature demo*

The AI caught what the rep missed:
"Present Thursday" = They're building a business case RIGHT NOW.
Rep should've dropped everything to build their champion's slide deck.
Instead, they talked features while the buyer needed ammunition.

Deal died Friday morning.

**Signal #2: The Grammar Switch**

Early in call: "If we were to implement something like this..."
27 minutes later: "When your team comes onsite..."

IF became WHEN.
Hypothetical became concrete.
They'd mentally bought.

But the rep kept selling.
Pushed three more demos.
Talked them right out of the deal.

**Signal #3: The Deadly Pause**

I mapped silence patterns across all 500 calls:
- 3-second pause after pricing = processing
- 7-second pause = checking mental budget
- 12+ seconds = already decided yes, working logistics

When reps jumped into those long pauses to justify?
Close rate tanked 31%.
When they shut up?
Buyers said "That works."

**Signal #4: The Competition Tell**

"We're also looking at [Competitor]" = You're in the race
"We looked at [Competitor]" = Past tense. You've already won.
"Does yours handle X like [Competitor]?" = They want you but need this one thing

The AI caught reps missing these tense changes in 73% of calls.
€2.1M in misread pipeline because humans don't parse grammar under pressure.

My client stared at the data.
"We spend €200K annually on sales training. How are we missing this?"

Simple.
Your brain physically can't track 14 patterns while also running discovery.
Can't count pause duration while handling objections.
Can't parse verb tenses while building rapport.

The uncomfortable truth:

Your "rockstar" reps aren't better sellers.
They're just unconsciously catching 3-4 more signals than everyone else.
Those extra signals? Worth about €400K per rep annually.

We baked this analysis directly into bont.
Because watching deals die from missed signals physically hurts me.

These patterns were hiding in plain sight.
In every call.
Costing millions.

Your team is on calls right now.
Missing these signals right now.
Losing deals right now.

What would 500 of your calls reveal? 🎯

Your sales tech stack is eating 31% of your selling time.

Last month, one of our clients did the math.
Their reps spent 2.5 hours daily feeding tools.
Actual customer conversations? 3.8 hours.

The tools meant to help were slowly killing them.

They had everything:
- Conversation intelligence
- Sales engagement platform 
- Lead scoring AI
- Pipeline analytics
- Call recording software
- Email tracking
- 6 other "must-have" tools

Total cost: €380K annually.
Total chaos: Priceless.

Here's what their day actually looked like:

**Morning: Tool Olympics**
Log into 5 platforms.
Update 3 dashboards.
Sync 2 calendars.
Check 4 notification feeds.

45 minutes gone. Haven't opened email yet.

**After every call: Documentation Hell**
Update CRM fields.
Tag the conversation.
Score the opportunity.
Log next steps in two places.
Upload call notes.

20 minutes per call. Multiply by 8 calls.

**End of day: Reporting Theater**
Fill out forecast sheets.
Update pipeline stages.
Complete activity reports.
Explain why the AI's score doesn't match reality.

Another hour burned.

The brutal part?

Their reps were getting dumber.
The tools were thinking for them.
AI told them who to call, what to say, when to follow up.

Muscle memory died.
Instincts atrophied.
Sales became data entry with a quota attached.

So they did something radical.

Killed half their stack.
Kept only what directly helped customer conversations.
Gave reps their time back.

Results after 90 days:
- Selling time increased 48%
- Pipeline velocity up 22%
- Rep satisfaction jumped (they could actually sell again)
- Saved €190K in licenses nobody missed

Here's the uncomfortable truth:

**Your stack is a crutch**
→ Tools can't replace judgment
→ Data can't substitute for conversation
→ Automation can't build relationships

**Complexity kills productivity**
→ Every tool adds friction
→ Every integration breaks eventually
→ Every dashboard needs feeding

**The best reps need the least tools**
→ They trust their instincts
→ They read the room, not the score
→ They sell, not administer

We're building AI at bont.
But we're obsessed with one metric:
Time saved, not features added.

Because the painful reality is:

Most sales tools are solving problems that shouldn't exist.

Your reps don't need another dashboard.
They need time to actually talk to humans.

How many hours do your reps lose to "productivity" tools? 💡

We had a pipeline so big, it felt like we’d need a forklift.

This was five years ago at jacando, right in the middle of COVID. Suddenly, everyone wanted to talk HR software and digital transformation.

It was exciting. The sales board was overflowing and my team was pumped. 
But underneath, something was off.

Week after week, nothing closed. 
Nobody told us, but most of those companies weren’t real buyers. They were just desperate, talking to every vendor, hoping for magic. 
We spent hours chasing leads that would never go anywhere.

One Friday, I made a decision that scared everyone.

We slashed our pipeline in half. 
Only the leads that truly matched our ICP stayed. 
The rest—gone.

At first, it felt like we’d failed.
But something happened.

Suddenly, every conversation mattered. 
Our closing rate shot up. 
The sales team had a focus again. People felt motivated, not lost.

The real lesson? Bigger isn’t always better. 
Don’t be afraid to cut loose the noise and work on what really fits.

If you’re drowning in leads but starving for deals, maybe it’s time for a bold move.

Ever tried a pipeline purge? 
What happened next?

Day 127. That's when your deal dies.

We mapped 312 enterprise deals and found the killer pattern.

Think about that.

You've been nurturing this opportunity for four months.
Your champion's excited.
The business case is solid.
Everyone's aligned.

Then someone new shows up to the meeting.

"Just want to understand what we're committing to here..."

Deal dead within two weeks.

Analyzed CRM data from 10 companies—this pattern destroyed €52M in pipeline last year.
Same story every time:

→ The CFO who "just has a few questions" (killed 38% of deals)
→ The new VP who wants to "revisit priorities" (killed 25% of deals)
→ The board member who "knows another vendor" (killed 19% of deals)
→ The security architect who suddenly cares (killed 15% of deals)

But here's what nobody talks about:

**These deal killers were always there.**

We just pretended they didn't exist.

Our champions said "don't worry about them."
We believed it because we wanted to.
We focused on the people in the room, not the ghosts outside it.

The uncomfortable math:

Average enterprise deal: 6.8 stakeholders
Average stakeholders we actually engage: 2.3
The 4.5 we ignore: 73% of the voting power

We're literally selling to less than 30% of the decision.

**What actually works:**

Map the invisible stakeholders by week 3.
Not week 20.

Ask your champion directly:
"Who's going to hate this idea?"
"Who wasn't invited to our meetings but should've been?"
"Who shows up late and changes everything?"

They know. They always know.

Then do something radical:

**Invite the skeptics early.**

Get the CFO on call #2, not month 4.
Loop in security before they become the emergency.
Find the CEO's trusted advisor before they whisper doubts.

Some smart teams now track what they call "Ghost Coverage":
What % of hidden stakeholders have we identified?
What % have we actually engaged?
Below 60% by day 30? The deal's already at risk.

Teams that implemented this framework saw:
Win rate up 31%.
Deal velocity improved by 43 days.
Surprises down 67%.

Your deal killer isn't joining late by accident.
They're joining late because you let them.

Time to start hunting ghosts. 👻

Who's the hidden stakeholder that killed your last enterprise deal?

What if I told you most sales forecasts are just expensive guesses?

Let’s get real: “Gut feel” is legendary in sales.
That sixth sense, that little voice whispering, “We’ll crush this quarter.”
But here’s the problem:
Gut feel only works until it doesn’t.

Imagine your pilot announcing, “No instruments today, folks. I’ll just wing it.”
Panic, right?
Yet sales leaders do this every quarter.

Why?
Because it feels empowering.
It strokes the ego.
But it’s risky business.

Here’s what happens when you trust your gut over data:
→ You overcommit on resources.

→ You underdeliver on results.

→ Your team loses faith in the process.

→ Your board loses faith in YOU.

So, what if we challenged the status quo?

What if we stopped applauding “hero” sales reps who call their shot with zero evidence?
What if we started rewarding the teams who use data like a compass?

Datadriven clarity isn’t about stripping away the human element.
It’s about giving every human a fair shot at success.

Imagine a world where:
↳ No deal is left to chance.

↳ Every forecast is grounded in evidence.

↳ Teams collaborate based on facts, not folklore.

It’s not just possible—it’s necessary.

Would you trust your company’s future to someone driving with their eyes closed?
If not, why let your revenue forecasts run that way?

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Dennis Teichmann

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