Manuel Hartmann's Linkedin Analytics

AI in sales can even win buyer trust in seconds. If you leverage AI as competitive edge, not a secret. But most people still "bet on smoke and mirrors.” I've regularly seen "professionals" going as far as: - Let in AI note takers without telling prospects - Craft "personal" videos at scale with AI - Copy-paste terrible cold email copy These all kill trust, because you do not say what you do: Use AI. Here’s what Patrick Trümpi sees working well in 2025 - Be candid: “Let me pull this up with my AI assistant.” - Frame AI as your support, not substitution. - Give better answers faster thanks to AI. Why this seems to work well in my experience: - Buyers appreciate speed and honesty. - Leveraging innovation builds trust. - You shift from “just another rep”... - ...to a “trusted modern advisor" A "fun fact" - that turns out to be very useful: - The moment we tell buyers THAT we use AI - Buyers ask us HOW we use AI well - Because this IS an edge in 2025 👉 Get the full "The Future of GTM" podcast episode in the 1st comment.

5 Revenue Operations learnings for Private Equity-backed firms: 1/ Everyone wants RevOps. Almost no one is ready. - Most firms want a "business control tower". - But they’re flying with zero instruments. 2/ No CRM = No visibility = No control. - You can’t run GTM on gut feel at scale. - No clean pipeline, no feedback loops, no process clarity = chaos. 3/ You can’t optimize what you can’t see. - Pipeline, conversion, velocity, acquisition costs, retention - All meaningless if data is broken or missing. 4/ 6-figure mistakes happen when dashboards lie. - Scaling without an integrated CRM is expensive. - "Strategic bets" are honestly just guesswork. 5/ Before RevOps, fix fundamentals - Implement & establish a clean CRM. - Map the buyer journey. - Align GTM handoffs. 👉 Get the full The Future of GTM Podcast episode with Marcus Bening here on Spotify (https://lnkd.in/eNWE77fw) and YouTube (https://lnkd.in/eQPhWr_V).

99% of LinkedIn Go-to-Market content is generic as I see it. So I embark to create 1% that is not - via deep podcast episodes. Here are the first 5 of the The Future of GTM Podcast episodes with: 001 Patrick Trümpi: How AI AND Human Intelligence work together 002 Julius Dany: Why cold calling is unreasonably effective in 2025 003 Constantin-Alexandre Papadopoulos How to win negotiations 004 Marcus Bening How Revenue Operations drives Private Equity gains 005 Florian Lussi: How to build Pipeline Generation in 2025 that works Every episode is built around these 3 key components: 1/ No fluff: Just real-world learnings from world-class operators 2/ First Principles: We go deep into WHY things work - with(out) AI 3/ 2025-ready: AI is not the future - it is already here. Be(come) ready Tune in here for hands-on Future of GTM insights: - Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eBwbDNke - YouTube: https://lnkd.in/eQPhWr_V Also, who shall I get on the show? Tag the person below👇

Sales people leveraging AI on sales calls isn’t the problem. Hiding it is - because it can destroy hard-earned trust If you bring an AI assistant to a sales call that - Knows your product cold - Has all your case studies ready - Learnt the FAQ + API documentation by hard - And it can answer faster and better than you? That CAN be an amazing buyer experience - if it is authentic. But don’t pretend it’s all you. Buyers aren’t stupid. They’ll spot the lag. Your shift in tone. Script-reading. And when they do, they won’t care how good your AI is. Because you tried to fake it till you make it. Human trust trumps technology. Here's what to do with AI: - Say you use it. Clearly. - Tell buyers when it's the AI responding. - Use it to support you, not impersonate it. In sales, trust is like your compounding asset. So don't destroy trust before you've even built it. 👉 Get the full The Future of GTM Podcast episode with Patrick Trümpi here on Spotify (https://lnkd.in/eTKZ2sds) and YouTube (https://lnkd.in/eQPhWr_V).

Progress = Learning x Hard Things/Pain Do not obsess over learning to avoid pain. Because here is the pattern: A) Easy now = hard later. B) Hard now = easy later. Just did my hottest, slowest 5K run of 2025. Remaining it home was the easy now option. Going out at 32 degrees the hard option. This was not about the run. This was to to train my „hard now muscle.“ ÄNext week, you will have at least one decision to make where: Option A feels easy now. Option B is hard now. Both are safe. Pick B. Not every time you have a decision. Chill. Enjoy life. Recover. Sleep. But train the „hard now muscle“. It saves you a lot of future pain.

5 tough 2025 Pipeline Generation truths most CEOs still ignore: 1/ Senior buyers don’t want to talk to junior reps. - They don’t have time to wait and waste. - They expect proficient help, fast. - Junior reps can't do that. 2/ AI will outperform most SDR, soon*. - Great buyers want your solution NOW - They want a rep that is fluent in product, pricing etc. - AI is available 24/7, polite & knows the case studies cold (* This will happen WAY sooner than in 5-10 years as I see it...) 3/ If your GTM feels slow, your buyer will move on. - Sales is Service. - Response time is part of your brand. - Software is no longer appointment-based. It’s availability-based. 4/ Your monetization model must match your GTM. - Enterprise buyers crave high proof before low price. - Transactional GTM doesn’t work if the sale needs trust. 5/ You don’t need more leads. You need more sales pipeline. - Right buyer. Right message. Right moment. Right channel. - Automate outreach where it helps. Then be PERSONAL. Your 2025 Pipeline Generation needs to serve buyers, not sellers. 👉 Get the full The Future of GTM Podcast episode with Florian Lussi here on Spotify (https://lnkd.in/eDdQ3kGi) and YouTube (https://lnkd.in/eQPhWr_V)

Most B2B SaaS GTM stacks I see are fragmented, fragile & expensive. That's why I experiment with a GTM Stack GPT for a 10–200 FTEs... Here's the average Status Quo I witness on a weekly basis - 12–20+ tools across Marketing, Sales, CS & Ops. - Each team buys & operates their own stack. - Functions operate in silos, not as GTM. - The customer journey breaks 3-5x. A few thoughts how to get lower costs, fewer tools & less headaches: - Get on average to 40% of your team in revenue (Marketing, Sales, CS) - Gain the courage to “Rip & Replace” your current stack in 2–6 weeks - Aim for 1 Single Source of Truth, not 10+ "duct-tape-integrations" Curious on your take of the "Custom GPT Movie" below?

2 years ago (or honestly less 😅 ), our HubSpot reports were useless. Nobody really trusted the reporting 100%, so we argued emotionally. We argued emotionally over conversion, velocity & pipeline etc. Then we rebuilt the system: - Mandatory fields per stage. - Weighted pipeline forecasting. - Weekly CRM Hygiene Dashboard. - Separate dashboards for SDR, AE, CS for our clients. - 20 core reports (not 50-100 "because you can") used religiously. Result: - Pipeline reviews became <30min action sessions, not 90min debates. - GTM motion changes like sales velocity & retention flagged earlier. - Forecast accuracy much higher. 👉 Your CRM is only as good as your Sales Operations design. Kudos to Erik Plischke for this amazing asset!

Stop asking yes/no questions and forcing buy/no buy decisions. Most sales reps are still "Hunting For Yes", but learning 0. They push a decision to “Do you buy this offer, today?” But that’s a a dangerous dead-end. A yes without commitment is worth 0. Do this instead: 1. Ask open questions. - Instead of “Do you like the offer?” - Try: “How specifically will you make this buying decision?” 👉 The goal isn’t a quick yes. It is to learn. It is to truly understand. 2. Offer choices, not ultimatums. - Instead of “This is my best & only option: Take it or leave it?” - Try: “Most customers go with annual, but do you prefer quarterly?" Between, Italian restaurants do this very well in "B2C": - No "Do you want a coffee?" "Do you want a digestif?" - But "Espresso or coffee? Limoncello or Grappa? - You are always choosing, never rejecting. AI is changing a lot, but the best reps win with timeless psychology. 👉  Get the full The Future of GTM Podcast episode with Constantin-Alexandre Papadopoulos here on Spotify (https://lnkd.in/eTBXBf9b) and YouTube (https://lnkd.in/eQPhWr_V).

5 things B2B SaaS founders can learn from Hendrik Schneider, Christian Berger and VARIO Software AG (they "bootstrapped" to 90 FTEs...) 1️⃣ Truly nail Product-Market-Fit - Buyers remain customers for "double-digits" - 10+ years - Word-of-mouth from happy customers is a key channel - There is no huge sales team for their size 2️⃣ Make both senior & more junior sales operators successfull - 2 sellers have 20+ years experience - some at VARIO - Talent from VC-backed competitors join their ranks - Sales talent stays for years, not just quarters 3️⃣ Embrac that "Sales Is Service" - VARIO's sales team earns buyer trust by expertise - They truly help prospects solve problems - In-the-field presence drives credibility 4️⃣ Master the generational transition with cultural stability - Senior leaders display 0 ego to pay forward - The CEO drives evolution, not revolution - Scaling sales does not destroy trust 5️⃣ "What is nothing without how" - Reps schedule the next call on the call - They take the time to visit prospects in person - And they follow-through on "lost" deals consistently 👉 What is your take on "Bootstrapped" vs VC-backed B2B Software? Big shout-out here also to Constantin-Alexandre Papadopoulos as the best (also dressed) sales & negotiation coach I personally know!

99% of B2B software firms never hit 8-figures profitably due to a lack of repeatable pipeline generation from a scaleable channel. Here is a "Pipeline Playbook" that still works if your ICP is on LinkedIn: 1/ Give away 10x value: Content so good competitors would charge for and try to steal your. No "Comment Below BS". No gimmicks. Just value. 2/ Niche Webinars: "Write for one person, and one person only". Even 10 live attendees can result in 5-figure weighted pipeline -> ARR. 3/ Signal-based outbound: Target ICPs on LinkedIn based on real buying signals such as specific website visits, webinar engagements & more. 4/ Automate ICP identification, enrichment & outreach. Ensure what you would do manually happens, every day, without SDRs. 5/ AI-powered GTM Stack: Build the above on 80% auto-pilot. Because us founders are honestly to unreliable to execute consistently. Your economic buyers want relevance, not pseudo-personalization. So give it to them, repeatably, predictably, at scale. ♻️ Share this to help your network & follow Manuel Hartmann for more?

Moving away from Salesforce to HubSpot within weeks can seem hard. Not because it's impossible, but because there is no blueprint. The mental journey I see many CEOs & CROs going through here: - "I hate Salesforce, it's very expensive, clunky & not adopted." - "I'd love to pay less, do more & run GTM as one system." - "But I don't know how to replace it with a better CRM..." - "...without breaking GTM momentum - so I keep it." Here’s how to migrate from Salesforce to HubSpot in 6-8 weeks without burning out your team or stalling growth: 1/ Start with alignment, not data mapping. - Most teams rush into exports, workflows, and field mapping. - Week 1: Focus on "How shall Marketing, Sales & CS work, together?" - You co-design lifecycle stages, pipeline logic, SLAs, and handovers. - This strategic clarity reduces rework by 60% downstream. 2/ Handle implementation like a product launch: coordinated & crisp. - You build automations, integrate tools, and set up dashboards in cycles - Week 2–5: Treat your CRM setup like a new product. - It needs owners, delivery sprints, test cases, with feedback loops - Go live per function (Marketing/Sales/CS) to avoid "a Big Bang Blocker" 3/ Refinement > perfection. - User adoption isn’t one training, it’s a process. - By Week 6–7, your CRM is live, but not perfect. - This phase isn’t cleanup, it’s feedback absorption. - You ship dashboards, iterate data structures, and lock in attribution 4/ Ensure lasting impact - Drive adoption with enablement sessions, 1:1 jour fixe & power-users - Week 8+: No one “attends training” & magically adopts a new system. - Revenue often accelerates, because Marketing, Sales & CS collaborate. 5/ The real win? - You don’t just replace a system with Salesforce. - You (finally) get to operate GTM in an integrated way. - You buy back your & your team's time while saving $$$. Look, if you're stuck in Salesforce but not using 80% of its potential? You are not alone. But go for the transition if you feel it is the right thing?

What gets measured, gets done: Proud "Top 50 🇨🇭 Sleeper" right now. Here's the 5 surprising things I got in 1 "WHOOP Week to "fix my sleep". 1. Sleep consistency matters more than you think - I underestimated & messed up sleep consistency over duration - I know I will wake up 07:30 every day, and shall get to bed by 22:30 - WHOOP "fired my iPhone alarm" and got the phone out of the bedroom 2. Waking up at night? Not a big deal - I used to stress about waking up 2-5x a night - Turns out that's OK if I drop back into REM / deep sleep quickly - I know care much more about what I do OUTSIDE of sleep to fix sleep 3. External accountability drives internal discipline - I know that watching YouTube, having 1-2 beers & Co. hurt sleep - But know I got a direct quantified feedback loop on score + rank - Having that external accountability helps me maintain discipline 4. Sleep is a more integrated system than most people pretend it to be - "I sleep badly, so I need to fix sleep - that's all" - not true - Connecting habits, workouts, recovery longitudinally helps - I love the simplified proxies via HRV (heart rate variability) & heart rate 5. Gamification works - even & especially for "grown-ups" - Competing for a 95-100% Sleep Score & Top 50 spot makes me care - Investing 5–10 minutes/day of micro-insights & nudges is doable - "The Sleep Game" works to tackle sleep more relaxed 👉 How do you tackle sleep, especially as an entrepreneur & parent?

We hit 750+ registrations for next week's session with HubSpot on i.a. How to Scale Social Selling through LinkedIn Pipeline Generation! Slides are ready (built in Interlaken before Swiss Economic Forum 😄). Truly excited & a bit nervous to discuss next Wednesday on how to: - Why >99% of B2B entrepreneurs never hit profitable 8-figures - The Future of (Signal-Based) Outbound: Dead or Alive? - Connecting with new ICP contacts daily, at 0 effort - Distribute deep content competitors charge for - Scale the above via LinkedIn events to then - Connect & convert warm ICP prospects - without expensive 1:1 calls for pipeline 👉 Secure your spot here? (Also if you cannot attend live to get the full slide deck)? https://lnkd.in/e4msqeD5 Big shout-out to - Fabian Hartmann for making this happen & - Sam Szuchan for doing this together! (P.S. Yes I scheduled this post on Friday night since Tue 08:30 in a car.)

"GTManu" grew up with Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross. Was amazing to have "Lunch with the Legend" & discuss GTM 2025. 2025 Pipeline Generation = Systems + Psychology + Human connection NOT more "rolling this up your inbox", templates & AI spam. But most B2B software CxOs still deploy & operate 2020 playbooks. Spray more emails. Add more tech. Hire more SDRs. Fail. Go again. Here are 5 specific things I've learnt from Aaron: 1️⃣ No fancy dress code, 0 ego, all human Aaron is in the Top 0.00001% in B2B SaaS GTM. Yet he shows up as a human, in a T-shirt, curious. Compare this to the average sales "professional" sense of entitlement. 2️⃣ Outbound email became a race to the bottom Every new tool (SalesLoft, Outreach, ZoomInfo etc.) got adopted fast. When a channel works, it gets worked more, making it work less. Saturation kills effectiveness, asking for more efficiency. AI & tech in general is accelerating this downward path. 3️⃣ Be Human & Personal again NOT "Hey , saw you are at . Truly homo sapiens, meeting in person, pick up the phone. Have a curious human dialogue to ask, learn, share, help. 4️⃣ Human Conversation Aaron and I talked maybe 15min purely about GTM. Te rest was about family, learning, happiness. That’s honestly where the human fun is(?). 5️⃣ Gratitude & Openness Aaron did so much already for B2B Software GTM. He's been a true champion for human interaction. So I am grateful to have that 1:1 conversation. 👉 Follow Aaron Ross & Manuel Hartmann for "Future of GTM" content?

"Cold calling does not work for us in 2025" Picking up the phone is not broken, but some expectations are. Most people give up after hearing 95 no’s. And then say “cold calling doesn’t work.” But here’s the reality: - You might need to make 100 calls to book 5 qualified ICP calls - That's a 5% conversion rate from outreach to booked ICP call - That's WAY better than >99% of Outbound "Engines" So if you need to make 200 calls to book 10 ICP calls - so what? Yes, it is hard, uncomfortable & can feel even painful. It's easier with LinkedIn Brand Building + Signal-Based Outbound. But please stop blaming a whole channel for your lack of resilience? 👉 Get the full The Future of GTM Podcast episode with Julius Dany here on Spotify (https://lnkd.in/eZGrj8Bt) and YouTube (https://lnkd.in/eQPhWr_V).

What I learned about Go-To-Market from lifting 10 tons today. Nothing directly. But indirectly? A lot. Because GTM isn’t about “genius ideas”. It’s about doing the right reps consistently, inside the right system. Here’s how today’s workout maps back: 1. Have a clear plan. 10 tons sounds big. 200 x 50kg less so. Broken down: 5 sets × 10 reps × 4 compound exercises. Same in GTM: big revenue goals feel overwhelming — until you slice them into repeatable activities across sales, marketing, CS. 2. Prioritize proven fundamentals. Bench press. Rows. Squats. Deadlifts. No fancy machines. In GTM: stop chasing shiny hacks. Focus on the few levers that consistently compound — ICP clarity, outbound, qualification, pipeline velocity. 3. Execute the plan. Once the plan exists, execution becomes mechanical. Most teams don’t fail because of poor strategy. They fail because they skip reps. 4. Choose your environment. I train next to people curling my bench press weight. Surround yourself with people 2-3 years ahead. The market rewards those who stay a few levels above average. 5. Show up. Today could have been a 0-ton day. Instead, it’s 10 tons. Same with GTM. The worst pipeline is always the one you don’t build because you skipped prospecting today. Consistency beats complexity. Always.

It's frustrating to see all the 6-figure mistakes B2B software firms make. So I'm just going to share these 7 deep assets, no "Comment Below BS". LinkedIn will probably not give this post much love, but here we go: Here's what we've built upon helping 400+ entrepreneur clients scale sales quickly, efficiently & without expensive mistakes: Sharpen your Go-To-Market Strategy, positioning & messaging to build & scale ICP (Ideal Customer Profile): awareness, trust & demand & more: 👉 https://lnkd.in/er9RmsgW The full Pipeline Generation Guide 2025 with proven playbooks on how to scale pipeline with LinkedIn Brand Building & Signal-Based Outbound with AI & automation instead of SDRs & paid ads by Florian Lussi: 👉 https://lnkd.in/eNNhznuF For the ones who still dare to go cold outbound in 2025 here is your Ultimate Outbound Guide for B2B entrepreneurs on how to get cold emails, LinkedIn DMs & cold calls still hitting that inbox without wasting time & your primary domain & reputation by Florian Lussi: 👉 https://lnkd.in/eAG9GQZs Sales conversion, velocity & initial deal size are at an all-time high due to scared buyers that don't want to lose their job, so here are 30+ hands-on tactics on how to close bigger deals faster without expensive tools & losing your top talent to the competition: 👉 https://lnkd.in/e4PCnDsN Too many CEOs & CROs are still playing too many GTM motions without a unified language across marketing, sales & customer success on a professional Revenue Architecture, so here is our Winning by Design Launchpad by Christoph Karger & myself: 👉 https://lnkd.in/eQvXiG_B Most CRM setups cost B2B software firms more license fees than they buy back founder & revenue team time. Scale sales efficiently with HubSpot with 30+ proven hands-on operating systems by Erik Steffen & Miltos Stavridis: 👉 https://lnkd.in/e8Rbcdtu Too many CEOs still need Spreadsheets, Sales Stories & stupid manual work to maintain the reports & dashboards they truly trust, so here is how to fix that to make your CRM your Single Source of Truth by Erik Plischke 👉 https://lnkd.in/e9uUX8U2 Now take all that. Run & execute. All the best of success! There is no paywall, no catch, no "comment below". 👉 But if you find it useful, share this to help your network?

Remote-first is not (only) a perk. It is also a competitive advantage. Here is what I have learnt from building & scaling SalesPlaybook 0 to 7-figures: 1/ Talent density > physical presence - Top talent isn‘t moving to your HQ. - They love their family & flexibility. - They don‘t need micro-managers. 2/ Quality of life = productivity - 0 commute, 100% flexibility - Outcomes > office status - Energy goes into work 3/ Quarterly offsites > daily office small talk - We do quarterly in-person retreats - 100% focused interaction, 0 email - „Sprint 2 days“ to setup success The future of work is not remote-only. It is surely nor office-only. It is about top talent. And creating a great environment for it that provides flexibility for world-class execution. (Writing this leaving from Zurich to Berlin.)

Gaza is first and foremost in a humanitarian crisis. This is not about politics, but avoiding a Lost Generation. I met this great talent via TAP's 4th cohort that is still in Gaza. He’s been working remotely for months, working despite the chaos. I truly admire his unwavering commitment to help his family. Food prices have 3x'd, Staples like flour are unaffordable. 40% of his salary vanishes in transaction fees. His income can’t sustain his family of 8. And then his mum broke her leg. There are may people like him. This war has already destroyed far too much. Let’s please not let it result in a Lost Generation. So if you get an email like this one - help? Sponsor a career. Change a life. 👉 https://lnkd.in/ei4bTWsK Cheers, a fellow human, committed to positive impact, not hate. Christian Vezjak Nour Zaqout Tabea Müller