Nick Metz

Introducing GTM Mentors APAC, a new series by talking tenets. Episode #1 Nathan Schubert: The new SaaS economics of Go To Market - Implications for Sellers & Sales Leaders A GTM and RevOps expert with a unique background, he's also been an AE. Most recently he was Head of GTM - New Products with Go1. He believes that unit economics are broken in many SaaS orgs. Lean is better to combat the challenges of unit economics and the importance of optimizing CAC payback time. The way in which SaaS companies achieve this can have far-reaching implications for AEs. If done well, AEs could find greater support from a unified sales, marketing and RevOps team, be laser focused and intentional on a the right customers, at the right time. Done poorly, AEs will face more pressure to do much more, with less support. 🔗 Listen or Watch now (Links in comments).

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“Top sales reps don't get laid off”   I've seen this a few times recently.   On paper it's hard to dispute.   But let me tell you a quick story.   In 2021 I helped a pre-IPO firm build their GTM team in ANZ.   We spent a year recruiting the best folk in the industry.   AEs. SEs. CSMs. Channel. SDRs.   All genuine A-players.   They did great. Signed some big logos. Tracking well.   Then the CEO announced they were pulling out of ANZ.   The entire team was let go including the VP.   It was properly shit. We felt terrible but no one saw it coming.   Now I can't speak for the rest of the world, but if hiring in APAC you've got to take this into account. Many SaaS firms completely pulled out of region here. Stop assuming good people dont get laid off. Being ignorant will cost you.   #techsales #gotomarket #saasrecruitment

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The top decile enterprise sales leaders I’ve met enable their reps with one thing in particular, that the bottom 90% neglect. Across the several hundred revenue, sales, and value leaders I’ve spoken to as we’ve built Minoa, there’s a recognition that proving value and ROI is tough. Now, hand that responsibility over to a rep too busy dealing with admin, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for miscommunication and lack of customer buy-in. We get this question all the time - “how do I get reps to adopt our value selling initiative”? This frames it as an issue related to rep discipline, when the problem has nothing to do with this. It’s not that reps don’t see the point - they just don’t know how to navigate communicating the quantitative impact of your product’s value. The very best sales leaders empower their reps with clear frameworks of how quantitative impact (be it for revenue, cost, time etc.) maps to value drivers and use cases. Proving value can be hard, but having the power to communicate and match product value to measurable business outcomes in a long and complex sales cycle cuts through the noise. At Minoa, we help set up the value frameworks, calculations, and guardrails that give every single rep the ability, and more importantly the confidence, to use data and quantitative impact to sell on value.

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Day 2 of Building Maven Club Why isn’t anyone discussing the GTM insights in the APAC market? I listen to quite a lot of podcasts (my recent favorites are Greg Isenberg from Late Checkout and Colin and Samir —go check them out). I think listening to experts from different fields can really help me reflect and improve as a founder. However, one thing I realized is that there are so many channels talking about insights in US/EU markets, but very few focus on APAC markets, and almost none of them focus on GTM. Localized GTM strategies are incredibly important in APAC markets, especially in Asia, where the culture and business practices differ significantly from those in the US and EU. McDonald's offers different flavors or items in various markets (btw, I tried the spicy chicken nuggets at Kyoto's McDonald’s—they're great, but McWings here in HK still have my heart). You can't apply the same GTM strategies across different markets. This is what I aim to uncover here at Maven Club. I want to bring you GTM insights for APAC markets and share how founders and GTM leaders here think and strategize when entering new markets, so that you can learn from their experiences and thrive in your own roles. Subscribe here for FREE if that's something you want to learn as well! - https://lnkd.in/g9fDrV5R Oh btw, I just posted a newsletter at Maven Club on how a YouTuber built a $20M coffee brand in 5 years. You might be interested as well :) Cheers!

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How much ARR do you generate for every $1 you spend on Sales and Marketing? The answer is your magic number. It's probably my favourite GTM metric. It normalises well across companies and timeframes. Here's how Monday has performed over the last 10 Quarters. Surprisingly it's fairly middling. Much worse than companies like Atlassian ($2.34), Datadog ($1.07), Crowdstrike ($0.83) But better than companies like Asana ($0.19) , Docusign ($0.16) and Box ($0.06)

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Sometimes the Next Catch (New Client Win) is the One You Let Go 🐟🐟 Just like a sales acquisition person or leader, I would find myself getting straight back into the field in anticipation of catching that next big deal. This past weekend we were back out in the harbour as my son wanted to reel in another big fish. This is following my sons big catch the previous week when he caught his largest fish ever—a King Fish. Before long, he hooked another big one, and our hearts raced together as he reeled it in. You can read more about that one here https://lnkd.in/g78pPExk This one was a beauty too — big, strong, and everything you’d imagine when you dream of landing the “big one.” But as he brought it closer and got a good look, we made a choice: he let it go. Why? Because not every big fish is the right catch for you. This can sound familiar to customers. This fish didn’t suit what we were after or align with the experience we wanted. Watching it swim away gave us a sense of clarity and reminded me of an important lesson in sales and business: Not every opportunity is worth taking. As salespeople, we’re wired to chase and win. Seeing a potential new customer or deal can spark that same excitement, but it’s critical to pause and ask: Is this the right fit for me, my team, and my business? Here’s why letting go of the wrong opportunity can be the best decision you make: 1. Values Matter – In fishing, respecting the fish and the environment matters. In sales, respecting your values and the alignment with a customer’s goals is crucial. If there’s a mismatch, it’s better to walk away than force a deal that may not work out. 2. Focus on Your Strengths – Catching a fish you can’t handle—or taking on a customer that doesn’t align with your expertise—can distract you from what you do best. Channelling energy into the right opportunities builds momentum and confidence. 3. Long-Term Thinking – Letting a fish go allows it to grow or find its place elsewhere. In sales, saying no to a misaligned customer makes space for the right one. It’s about quality over quantity and relationships built to last. The moment I watched that fish swim away, I felt peace. It wasn’t a loss—it was a choice to stay true to what matters most. Have you ever turned down a customer or deal because it wasn’t the right fit? What helped you make that call, and what did you learn from the experience? Let’s share stories and lessons in the comments. Sometimes, the hardest decisions are the most rewarding. #SalesLeadership #CustomerAlignment #StrategicDecisions #FishingForSuccess www.victors.nz

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Tanya Neary, APAC Sales Director at Culture Amp told me they have a "𝐘𝐚𝐲, 𝐰𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝" slack channel! Unlike most sales environments where failure is feared, Culture Amp celebrates it, turning it into a powerful tool for growth. This approach creates an environment where team members feel safe to try new things, even if they might fail. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥: 1. Learning accelerates 2. Results improve 3. Retention increases 4. Innovation thrives It is no surprise that Culture Amp is one of the most successful tech startups founded in Australia. 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤? If there is none, maybe it’s time to rethink your approach. Because in sales, as in life, the only real failure is not trying at all. 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩-𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘚𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘗𝘰𝘥𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵, 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦: Site: https://lnkd.in/g8FcTm79 Youtube: https://lnkd.in/gR_7ZcHk Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gF5wE-fc #EmbraceFailure #GrowthMindset #Innovation #Resilience #Leadership #ProfessionalGrowth #switchgears

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Too many sales leaders are obsessed with scaling: - More calls - More leads - More emails - More meetings - More opportunities Without nailing: - ICP - Discovery - Messaging - Buyer journey - Value proposition Better to 2x what works than to 10x what doesn’t.

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Sales Leaders - should you hire in Q4? The Great Debate! Q4 - possibly the most critical in your financial year, and if you're one of the majority whose Q4 also coincides with the end of the calendar year and holiday period, should you be throwing additional hires into what is already a very complex mix? 👍 Pros of Q4 Hiring 👍 🟢 Talent Availability Q4 often sees a larger pool of candidates as job seekers who paused their search during the year re-enter the market. This offers the chance to find a strong fit for your team during a time when options are more abundant. 🟢 Reduced Competition With many companies slowing down recruitment during Q4, competition for talent decreases. This can make for a smoother recruitment process, as candidates may be more receptive to offers. 🟢 Budget Benefits End-of-year budgets can sometimes allow for more flexible or enhanced compensation packages, which can attract high-caliber candidates. 👎 Cons of Q4 Hiring 👎 🔴 Holiday Distractions The holiday season may create scheduling conflicts, making it difficult to organize interviews or assessments. Careful planning is required to avoid disruptions in the hiring process. 🔴 Limited Onboarding Time Bringing on new hires in Q4 often means a shorter onboarding period before year-end. This may pose a challenge if your training is complex or requires extended integration time. 🔴 Timing Uncertainty Candidates might prefer to start a new position in the new year, potentially leading to delayed start dates and affecting project timelines. ☝ Making the Right Decision In summary, choosing to hire in Q4 depends on your company’s specific needs. Think about what your strategic goals are for the year ahead and make a calculated decision based on the above criteria. Anything further to be added?

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Sean’s Sales Tip 🚫 Focusing solely on increasing the pipeline to meet sales quotas is a misguided strategy. It is akin to saying I will risk $300 in the slot machine, instead of $200 to make a win. 🔔 Salesforce's recent decision to require 3x pipeline coverage, up from 2x, rang the alarm bells for me. 💸 Such an increase demands significant effort and resources, leading to a dramatic rise in customer acquisition costs (CAC) and other bid related costs without guaranteeing an equivalent increase in revenue. 🤔 Think about the optics of this announcement. You are saying to your sales teams it is OK to lose 66% of your deals now, instead of 50%. 🎯 The emphasis should shift from maximizing pipeline to optimizing win rates and accelerating deal velocity. Step 1 🏆 Improve Win Rates Improving win rates is a more efficient and cost-effective approach to achieving sales targets. For instance, a modest increase in win rates from 20% to 25% can yield substantial revenue gains with no extra pipeline required. Step 2 🚀 Accelerate deal velocity To enhance deal velocity (and also win rates), salespeople need to focus on creating pain, recruiting, and equipping champions within the client organization so that your deal gets done and becomes a priority. 💡 Prioritizing win rates and deal velocity over pipeline growth is a smarter and more sustainable strategy for achieving sales quotas. This means that Sales Leaders need to be trained in how to coach their teams effectively and for them to get out of the office more often.

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New Customer Alert: VPA Australia 💪 vpa.com.au is now stopping coupon extensions from leaking and auto-injecting codes at their checkout! Supplement brands' use of athlete ambassadors often leads to mass referral coupon code leaks. Causing misattributed sales and over-paying commission fees. Know another supplement brand struggling with coupon code leaks? Let's chat! #eCommerce #Shopify #Veeper #dtc #stopcouponleaks

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No.1 principle that boosted our appointment rate AND show-up rate by 37% 🚀 The inertia to commit to a meeting and show-up is a big bottleneck for lots of sales teams at the moment. A prospect expresses some interest, then goes cold. A prospect books in a meeting, then fails to show-up. And all of a sudden, communication dies and the funnel crumbles. So you have to reflect on what makes people move in the first place. Value. Free value. Lead magnets. So you should apply these principles throughout and drip feed value throughout the entire sales cycle, not just for top-of-funnel. For example, we will offer half a lead magnet to a prospect to take a sales call with us - like a list of leads - and half a lead magnet to show up to the call - like a list of verified phone numbers for those leads. The strategy is a little gimmicky and you'll get a few "freebie seekers" swelling the pipeline, understandably, but on the whole, it has a profound impact on engagement metrics. The key is to ensure you build a system to generate valuable, personalised lead magnets efficiently. StackOptimise P.S Check below to get 30 tried-and-tested lead magnet ideas 🧲 

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SWAT teams rather than armies. Hearing this phrase from lots of sales teams recently. And there is lots of logic - to a smaller highly trained (and coached ;-) elite team rather than a larger team, whether SDR’s or quota carriers. Here’s the drivers… - Sales Efficiency, the obvious one. Growth at all costs is gone, presumably forever. Cost of acquisition and sustainable growth are now key. - Raise The Bar, a smaller elite and well coached (couldn’t resist this time) team removes the weakest performers, the time and resources spent trying to pull them up and raises the bar for everyone on the team. - Bottom Up Economics, teams resourced based on on actual pipeline not multiplying quotas by team size. Quota carriers, even if good prospectors, can’t and arguably shouldn’t create all their own pipeline. If you don’t have the pipeline from SDR’s and inbounds, the team is bloated. - Elite is easier , With a smaller well chosen/recruited team, it’s more realistic with time and resource to help make them elite. And with an elite team, everything is easier. - Cheaper, it’s not just sales efficiency. It’s cost and budgets. They are smaller and what is possible or affordable has changed. What are you doing to create your SWAT teams?

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Here's the stark facts in sales today. - 31% of reps are making quota - Nearly half (44%) of deals slip - Sales cycles are double digits longer, win rates are double digits down - Inbound leads are down - Salesforce recognised the need to increase pipeline coverage to by 50% (from x2 to x3) Most of those we speak to recognise all these challenges. But they are stuck. "Do more with less" is the message. They have cut teams and fought for those remaining. Their organisations are stuck with blind hope and knives sharpening. The only solution they know is to fire and replace. Because the real problems aren't acknowledged. The market has changed and it's harder. But are teams are not more skilled. The same teams, that could achieve in the old world are failing in this one. And the last message anyone wants, is we need to spend some money to solve that. "That's your job isn't it?" cries the leadership to time-starved managers and leaders. Anyone want to guess what's going to happen to sales manager average tenure (already at an all-time low of 18 months)????

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Tactical things AEs can do to increase their Win Rates & Average Deal Size. ➡ Slow Down: Particularly in the early stages of the sales process. Go deep in discovery to identify and implicate pain. The bigger the business problem you attach to, the larger the deal. ➡ Deal Qualification: Again, particularly crucial at early stages. Don't invest your time or cross functional resources in opportunities you a) can't win or b) are tied to surface level customer pain. Qualify out early and often. ➡ Sales Process Rigor: Don't skip stages. Meeting the exit criteria between stages, particularly if they're customer verifiable, will help you develop solid opportunities and not end up with a bunch of stalled S2-4 deals in the pipeline. ➡ Multi-Threading: Identify a Champion, build a Champion, and earn the right to engage the broader buying committee, including the EB. ➡ Exec Alignment: Facilitate Exec to Exec relationships and do it early. Many AEs leave it too late or don't do it at all.   ➡ Cross Functional Partnership: e.g., Services, Solutions Consulting, Value Advisory, Customer Success. Bring them in early. They will help you identify and implicate business pain, communicate business impact and increase the buyer's confidence in your ability to deliver value post sale. It will also help you multi-thread. ➡ Creative Commercials: Particularly key in the midst of increased budget scrutiny and tool consolidation. Creative commercials e.g., multi product bundling, multi year step ups, etc can help increase your size of a pie that isn't necessarily expanding. #sales #salesenablement #salesleadership

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Worryingly, selling for many sales teams is tougher this year than it was last year. Five must ask questions to coach your sales team on asking their prospects this quarter, when every deal will be getting scrutinised: 1. When you take this to your CFO, what will you tell them is the key reason this is a product you need to invest in? Listen to your prospect's own rationale and 'pitch' for when they take this to the CFO. How compelling does it sound? If it doesn't clearly transmit that its going to reduce costs, create more revenue, or reduce risk - then its a sales pitch you are going to have to re-shape for them. 2. What key business metric can you see changing as a result of using our product? Uncover whether your prospect is thinking of you as a 'surface level pain' solution (e.g. 'make things a bit less manual') or whether they are thinking of you as a solution to a big massive business problem. People WON'T buy surface level pain solutions in this climate. 3. If your boss reacts negatively to this, would that be the end of the conversation? Understand truly how much influence/power your prospect's boss has AND whether your champion will fight for the deal if it gets initial pushback. How much is your champion REALLY a champion? 4. I'm pretty sure every new investment will likely be getting scrutinised right now. What is it about this one that you think will get buy in from the business? Call out the elephant in the room. We're in a tough selling climate. You don't need to pretend that it isn't. Ask your prospect to confirm why the business will care about solving the problem you solve 5. Whats happening in the company that would make this a high priority for you? Prospects have lots of problems. But the problems that are going to get solved are the ones that have ripple effects through the company. That are being felt on multiple levels. If you aren't on that top three priority list, its a deal you should likely not be spending time on. Incorporate these questions into your team's sales conversations, and if nothing else - you'll get more clarity on your forecast.

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Just talked to a top SDR in APAC. Here's how he consistently attains over 200% of his target. His most effective channel is cold calling. 🔷 Call after lunch when prospects are more relaxed. 🔷 Set the agenda at the start to manage expectations. 🔷 Attend all AE calls to understand why users love the product and refine messaging. 🔷 Use a power dialer to maximize calls during key times. 🔷 Even if a meeting isn’t booked, gaining insights (like competitor info) is valuable for improving future messaging. 🔷 If a meeting isn’t booked but you learn something, use that information when reaching out to others in the company. 🔷 Highlight your best accounts and share them with your AE for cold calling. Timing is crucial, so increase your chances. What's your top tip for lead generation? Subscribe Maven Club for insights from top GTM leaders!

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Calling all B2B sales professionals. With our friends at Aircall, we need your help with our State of Sales Coaching survey 2024. 3-5 minutes of your time could win you amazing prizes - the latest AirPods, Sonos speaker, Nespresso machine, and of course MySalesCoach scholarships. Sales coaching is widely considered the most critical function of a frontline sales leader. Previous studies demonstrate that it significantly boosts win rates and quota attainment. However, many sales organisations find it challenging to establish and execute an effective sales coaching culture and strategy. Our survey seeks to identify the key trends, best practices, and impacts of sales coaching in 2024. You'll be first to get the study published in October packed with insight, data and trends. Leaders and Individual Contributors should complete the survey - with scholarship places up for grabs for each. Your voice really matters, complete today for a chance of these amazing prizes and to be first with the report. Link here to complete - https://lnkd.in/eKRcTPXV

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Forecast accuracy is massively important for an AE and if you can crack it consistently you will stand out from your peers 👨🏽 🧍‍♀️ Key to this is really understanding your own psychology 🧠 Undoubtably you have ambition ✅ Certainly an aspiration to high achievement ✅ BUT 🥊 If it’s raining. It’s raining. No amount of ambition or aspiration for sunshine will make the rain stop ☂️ Forecast based on your objective read of reality 📕 Easier said than done ✔️ Something that can help is partnering with another AE on your team and challenging each other 🙏 Because even if your manager is super good - sometimes you can become tone deaf to their constant questioning on deals 🙋🏽‍♀️ A different voice can be beneficial 👍 Seek it out 👀

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