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)

You raised capital. Now "the ARR clock is ticking".
When do you "hire" AI, a human, or do it yourself?

What CRM setup do you need, at what stage, why?

How do you scale sales pipeline & ARR, not costs?

Startups do not lack ambition, but open dialogue.

That's why we are co-hosting a "closed door" GTM breakfast with HubSpot & Workist within START Global Summit.

Operators sharing openly what breaks and what works.
0 slides, 0 BS, 40 Seed/Series A founders & revenue leaders.
Markus Bimüller sharing how he's saving EUR 200k, per year.

3 key topics that I got asked weekly about:
1/ Scaling Complexity vs ARR
- When is an "enterprise tech stack" a growth blocker?
- How do I avoid adding too much complexity, too early
- How do I do less to grow better, already before 7-figures?

2/ Scaling Efficiently ≠ Slow Growth
- How do I build a "Revenue Factory" instead of silos?
- When is hiring people the wrong answer to do more?
- Is scaling efficiently an excuse to grow slowly? (Nope...)

3/ "Open Operator Q&A"
- "Raw" questions on GTM tech, hiring, fundraising & more
- Candid feedback on where "the LinkedIn hype" is untrue
- What still truly works in 2026, and what is truly "dead"

👉 Join Markus Bimüller, Fabian Hartmann & me on Friday 20th March@St. Gallen to discuss how to scale revenue, not costs? https://lnkd.in/eaQTUkFC

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

Cold Calling ist nicht tot. Aber 2026 oft einfach "zu spät".
Weil B2B-Entscheider Lösungen ohne Sales evaluieren.
Hier ist die Realität aus 400+ B2B-Kunden in DACH:

Das Problem: Der Call kommt nach der Entscheidung
- Wer nur am Skript optimiert, optimiert am falschen Ende
- Weil Käufer googeln, LinkedIn lesen & ChatGPT prompten
- Weil Bewusstsein & Vertrauen vor dem ersten Gespräch entstehen

Aufmerksamkeit ohne Kontext ist kein Dialog
- Executive-Led Content schlägt anonyme Brand-Posts
- Klare Positionierung am Markt schafft Wiedererkennung
- Wiederholung einer Kernbotschaft > 20 austauschbare Themen

Wenn man dich nicht einordnen kann, spricht man nicht mit dir.

Weil Vertrauen vor, nicht im Erstgespräch Gespräch entsteht
- Menschen, nicht Logos schaffen Vertrauen
- Ehrliche Einschätzungen, nicht Features
- Kunden Case Studies, nicht "Immer 10x"

Ganz ehrlich: CEOs als sichtbare Experten bauen mehr Pipeline auf als jeder Junior SDR mit schlechten Outreach-Sequenzen

Und nein, zum Hörer zu greifen und anzurufen ist NICHT tot.

Aber bessere Opener & Fragen im Call geben bessere Deals.

Und genau das ist der Shift vom Cold Call zum Warm Call
- Gespräche starten auf Augenhöhe
- Inhalte werden aktiv referenziert
- "Einwände" werden zu Dialog

Der Call bleibt. 
Das Telefon bleibt.
Der Mensch bleibt.

Mit "Rückenwind" durch starke Persönlichkeiten & Point of Views.

👉 Hier gerne der gesamte Artikel zum Thema beim aus meiner Sicht #1 Calling-Partner in DACH speziell für B2B Software REP - Revenue Excellence Partners - thanks for having me Julius Dany Robert Borchert Rebecca auf'm Kamp & Felicia Moser & Julius Göllner!

https://lnkd.in/e9xk8SDC

If my CEO asked me as a CRO to 4x scale ARR from 2.5 to 10 Mio. ARR within 2 years with minimal additional headcount, 0 external funding at low risk, here’s exactly what I would do"

First: I would NOT hire 5 more people.

More people on a broken system just create more entropy.

At 2.5M ARR, you typically do not have a growth problem.

You have a focus, process & pipeline problem.

Here’s what I'd do step-by-step:

1/ Pick one "sport", not 2-5.
- Most 2–4M companies try to do
- Enterprise (think 100k ultramarathons)
- Mid-market (think half-marathons)
- SMB (think 5k runs)
- PLG (think 100m)
Usain Bolt does not do Marathons.
Natascha Badman does not sprint.

Here's what I would do instead:
- Define a tight ICP of 2,000–5,000 target accounts
- Align on 1 ACV band (e.g. 30-100k) -> GTM Motion
- Build messaging for Decision Makers & Champions

2/ (Re)Build the revenue engine before pushing the gas
If you cannot answer these 5 minutes, you can't scale:
- Which 20% of channels drive 80% of ARR?
- What pipeline coverage do I need for 10M?
- Where does churn and expansion happen?

What I would do:
- Replace "CRM Theater" with a single source of truth
- Map the full lifecycle: Awareness → SQL → Closed → Expansion
- Track NRR (Net Revenue Retention) as aggressively as New ARR
   (100% NRR at 5M ARR means you only need to add 5M for 10M!)

3/ Scale 3-5x pipeline without 3-5x headcount
Scaling from 2.5 to 10M with 50k ACV means:
- You need ~150–180 active customers.
- That requires 3–5x more qualified pipeline.
- Without adding 250-400k in annual costs.

Here's what I would do instead:
- Define your TAM (Total Addressable Market
- Invest into a solid LinkedIn GTM Engine via content
- Run signal-based outbound, not generic AI spam
(Creating text is free. Losing Trust is expensive. 

Ignore all the "Outbound is dead. Everything is dead."
Outbound still works beautifully, IF 
- It is tied to real, relevant triggers
- It is synced, continuously with CRM
- It is stacked upon high awareness & authority

Not when you send 2,000 "Quick Question" emails.
But when you turn CxOs into KPIs: Key Persons of Influence
CxO-led sales doesn’t scale. But CxO-led trust does.

Here's what I would do:
- Position 1–2 executives as category voices
- Publish 2–3 sharp, buyer-relevant posts per week
- Align outbound messaging around this Point of View
- When a prospect receives an email or LinkedIn DM then
- ...and already knows you from LinkedIn, velocity + win rate works

Your goal is to 
A/ Build the engine within 2-4 weeks
B/ Validate the engine within 2-4 months
C/ Scale the engine within 2-4 quarters

Once you know: "If I put X in, roughly Y comes out."
Then you press "the Fast & Furious NOS button".
Before that, please do NOT press the button.
Because scaling chaos is a death spiral.

Some CROs try to "brute-force" growth from 7- to 8-figures.
If you were a CRO, what would you prioritize first and why:
A) Pipeline, B) Process or C) People?

As a Founder CEO, I get pitched 10+ sales tools a week.
95% are noise. Only about 5 I use +/- daily, like Surfe.

Here is why it "made my 95/5" cut: 0 context switch.

Context switching kills consistent concentration.

Every time you need to jump LinkedIn x CRM x Gmail:
- You lose momentum
- You delay follow-ups
- You forget tasks
- It sucks energy

Surfe fixes 3 common issues here:

1/ Fill the CRM from LinkedIn without leaving LinkedIn
- Create a Contact, Company and/or Deal in seconds
- Assign a task to myself or a colleague quickly
- See context such as existing deals instantly

2/ Instant contact creation + enrichment
- Add a LinkedIn profile to HubSpot in one click
- Find the right email directly within seconds
- Write an email after sending a connect/DM

3/ Better CRM data = Better Deal Flow
- Deals in 2026 fail because the rep only knows 1-2 contacts
- I now add +3-5 Budget Holders + Influencers to my Champion
- In this way, I map the full buying center to my deal at the start

👉 Connect to David Chevalier if this makes sense for you as well?

(And yes, you get my email address + even mobile phone no.
Send me that Loom video if you can truly solve a problem for me...)

"Dad, humans & guinea pigs are obviously not animals, because they have no tails!" - "KI: Koala Intelligence" aka Matteo (my 4-year-old).

OK, let's rewind time to 5 minutes before that statement.

Matteo: "Dad, are we also animals?"

Manu: "Matteo, what do you think, and why?"

Matteo: "NO dad, we are OBVIOUSLY not animals!?!"

Manu: "OK, you told me your opinion. So why not then?

Matteo: "Because all animals have tails, and we do not."

Manu: <Thinking, actually for quite some time...>
           <Thought many animals have no tail...actually not>
           <Scanning fish, birds, reptiles, insects, mammals....   >

Manu: "Hmm...interesting statement indeed. 
           So anyway, tell me, if a living being had no tail...
           ...would it then not be an animal, according to you?"

Matteo: "Yes dad, as I already told you, of course!"

Manu: <"ManuGPT", belated result : Guinea Pigs!>
           Guinea pigs have no tail, so they are no animals then?

Matteo: "Yes, obviously dad, humans and guinea pigs then!"

Manu: "Amazing son, I truly love your thought process here!"
----
"BONUS Dialogue"
Matteo: "Dad, do I know get a guinea pig as a pet?

Manu: "If you still want, maybe once you go to Kindergarten"

Matteo: "So when can I go to Kindergarten?!?"

Manu: "This summer, upon Mid-August."

Matteo: "When is this summer, Mid-August?"

I will always love dialogue with my kids more than any AI ever!

(Yes, this post was pre-scheduled since Wednesday=Dad Day.
Yes, I will most probably reply to 0 comments here today.)

I’ll take 1 view from a committed DACH B2B Software CRO triggered to have a deep conversation over 100,000 views from "influencers" any day.

Every. Single. Time.

Look, I am perfectly happy on a personal level without LinkedIn.

I posted 0,0 times during my 10 weeks paternity leave.

The whole point of this platform is (or was?) 
to help fellow professionals elevate their game
learning from trusted advisors about their expertise.

Not to amass followers.
Not to bath in impression screenshots.
Not even "Comment Below" engagements.

It has always been about scaling B2B Buyer Trust.

Here is an uncomfortable truth:
100k view posts often have LESS impact than 1k views.
Because "the nerdy, but useful stuff" is less "click-baity".

So I will remain adamant of rarely posting that stuff:
- "Everything is Dead, AI solves everything"
- "Unrelated Selfie meets shallow GTM stuff"
- "VCs are evil and the world is a tough place"

But I will keep posting about what revenue leaders care about:
- How to scale B2B Buyer Trust
- How to solve the right problems in the right sequence
- How to avoid 6-figure pipeline, process & people mistakes
- How to leverage tech to buy back your time to be a human

If this resonates, I would shift your strategy:

1. Write for the 5 "Economic Buyers" who can actually say yes
- Use their CxO/VP language, not "creator-influencer-speak"
- Address board-level pressure, not surface tactics
- Talk in revenue, costs, profit, risk & proof

2. Signal depth, not popularity
- Share a sharp Point of View, not copied frameworks
- Show trade-offs and second-order effects
- Be so specific that consumers tune out

3. Measure the right leading indicators
- Profile views from ICP titles, not impressions
- Inbound from decision-makers, not "influencers"
- Conversation & pipeline quality, not comment count

The LinkedIn algorithm rewards dopamine attention.

Revenue rewards deep authority & trust.

Scale authority & trust?

----
Thanks for Diego Sosa for sharing the table and Shield for creating it.

Better Private Market Data for Funds, Banks & M&A Teams | Chief Revenue Officer @ openthebox | Pavilion Belgium Lead

With nearly a decade in the strategic growth and marketing landscapes, I've focused on propelling B2B businesses to new heights, currently at openthebox. Our mission is to revolutionize the business data market with innovative solutions that align with Mediafin's vision. My role is to infuse the organization with diverse perspectives and industry expertise, fostering a culture of continuous growth and value creation.

Since joining openthebox, I've been instrumental in building a robust B2B growth engine, leveraging my expertise in social networking and new media. My approach combines strategic planning with tactical execution, utilizing social media marketing to enhance our market presence and drive revenue. At Pavilion and RevGenius, I continue to expand my network and knowledge, ensuring our team remains at the forefront of industry trends and best practices.

Jona Koekelcoren

Just because you're a startup, doesn't mean you should only focus on the short-term. 

That's why we want to make sure the next generation of financial services professionals learn to work with the best-in-class tools for the future, and today.

Happy and proud to renew our partnership with Vlerick Business School, giving their students access to openthebox, and allowing them to explore structured financial and ownership data in the private market, just like professionals do.

We went to Vlerick Business School's Mergers, Acquisitions & Buyouts Conference yesterday, and it was so valuable that... 

We forgot to take a group picture. To make sure Amelia wouldn't get mad at me, I had ChatGPT generate this version of a previous conference so it would look like we took one yesterday. Don't tell her. 

It was great to see existing customers like M80 Partners and Van Reybrouck among others, meet new people, and get a feel for what's on the minds of people in our local space (spoiler: it's mostly AI). 

And great, just like last time, to see Robin (aka David Clarkson) and Seppe (aka James Taylor) work the room again. Along with Steve of course, but I had no picture of the 4 of us to run through ChatGPT.

We asked 80+ decision makers in financial services in Belgium, and the results are clear. 

Lots of intent, not enough foundations, clarity and direction. We’re very much in the early stages of the local AI wave. 

Data you trust, especially, is key in supporting any AI initiatives. 

Some of our customers at openthebox have been building this data layer for years. They’re ready for what’s coming. Some are only just getting started now. 

We support these customers with our custom APIs. 

➡️ Interested in knowing more about our API offering, and how the best are using it to position themselves for the AI wave, among other things?  

Drop me a message here or at jona.koekelcoren@openthebox.com.

AI Readiness Report Results

Slack's brand strategy: 

"Creating a "human" B2B brand that is approachable, playful, and deeply focused on user experience, rather than just technical features. By using a freemium model, community-driven growth, and a distinct, colorful visual identity, Slack positions itself as an essential, friendly tool for modern teamwork."

openthebox's brand strategy:

How we built a cold outreach campaign that smashes every single benchmark by 3-5X ?

We built a cold email campaign that gets:

❇️ 94% open rate
❇️ 15% reply rate
❇️ 10% demo booking rate
⚠️ And the first batch hasn’t even finished running yet! 

And the secret so far… Zero AI. 

Basic foundations:
👉🏻 Your list is holy - give it full attention 
👉🏻 Come up with a strong hook 
👉🏻 Make it HYPER relevant and personalized

Key principles:
🔑 Always respect the stranger who didn’t ask for your email in follow-ups - every interaction is a brand-building or -destroying touchpoint, don’t create the latter

🔑 Small batches. This ensures the personalization, which ensures the success. The success reduces the need for big batches. Moreover, we don’t have 100 reps. Weekly batches getting a 4-week sequence ensures you are sending a good amount emails every week. We suspect our demos booked rate can still rise. With inbound and cold calling added in, our calendar and pipeline get filled. 


🤔 What’s next? 

Now that we know this works, we see two areas where AI can help:

🔹 Account Research / Enrichment: automatically enrich the data we use to build this flow
🔹 Copy creation (based on our template) and merging data - only requiring a human in the loop for final edit & sending

This way, GTM Engineering makes a ton of sense. Not if you’re just scaling up campaigns that people ignore. It’s still quality over quantity, and you will still need to do cold calls and actual marketing. There are no shortcuts. 

Comment “Playbook” and I will send you nothing. 

Hope this was insightful!

Always a good time when Vincent King and Luca Burigat come by. 

Even more honoured to present them with our first ever Deal Toy for an excellent partnership. 

On to more lunching & learning!

𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻, 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲. ✅

Vincent King and Luca Burigat from WAD Capital stopped by our offices at Mediafin this week. The format was simple: 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀, not just a product update.

They walked us through their real workflow. Deal sourcing, list building, financial analysis. Their CEO-led acquisition model runs on speed, and they're already exploring how our ownership mapping can sharpen their edge even further.

We also presented them with our first Deal Toy. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝘂𝘀𝗵 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱, and WAD Capital has been exactly that for us.

These conversations are why we build. You learn more in an hour with customers than in a week of internal planning. 🤝

Looking forward to the next one!

📸openthebox team: Filip, Robin, Jonas, Jona, Jeroen, Seppe

The deals that quietly die after six months are often the most expensive ones you'll ever work on.

Pure P&L drag, costing you management fee without ever providing any ROI.

What a dead deal actually costs:

🔴 Opportunity cost: every week on a dead deal is a week not spent sourcing a live one
🔴 Bandwidth drag: senior attention is finite; misallocated early, it compounds across the pipeline
🔴 No return on time invested: no fee, no carry, nothing to offset the cost
🔴 Pipeline distortion: teams hold back on new targets while a deal still looks alive
🔴 Sunk diligence costs: legal, financial, and advisory fees hit the P&L with zero offset

Deal decisions get made under time pressure, rarely with a complete picture. So capital and bandwidth get allocated to deals that shouldn't have passed the first filter.

The teams generating strong deal flow kill bad deals faster than everyone else. Speed to disqualification is a sourcing metric, not just a diligence one.

If I see one more Peter Steinberger post...

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