Josh Trach

we're making progress with a Slack app that automates driving more & better practice / outputs / behaviors with your AEs & other sellers… goal: make role-playing practice more manageable, realistic, & consistent while applying it to actual deals during prep ofc we're plugging into AI for some fun feedback loops too 😊 our next phase is seeing how more teams react to decide what to build for early customers. we can focus on anything you're looking to improve right now: outbounding, cold calling, disco, negotiation, storytelling, improv, forecasting, testing champs, etc... let me know if you want to test it out with your team, or it's easy to get started with the link below. thx!

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The path to $10MM ARR is about finding your repeatable, scalable sales motion. The formula is simple, but not easy. It looks like this: Effort + Enthusiasm + Messaging + Lead Quality = Results When you are scaling a sales team, your job is to manage the inputs. Those are the things on the left side of this equation. If you can reduce the variability of the inputs, you will have more consistent results. Put another way. Consistent inputs leads to consistent outputs. Let's break it down... 1. Effort is the driver for your sales performance. You cannot scale without consistent effort. Effort includes the velocity of sales activity (phone calls, emails, meetings, etc.). Effort also includes the way that you execute your sales activity. This is your sales process and sales playbook. You can improve the quality of your effort with learning and development. 2. Enthusiasm is an amplifier for your effort. You have to act like you want to earn the business. A little enthusiasm goes a long way in closing more business. I've found that you can't teach enthusiasm. You must hire for it. 3. Messaging is how you get prospects to believe what you believe. Your messaging is your value prop. It's how you approach your ICP. It's the way that you convince customers that their current version of the world is no longer acceptable and they must make a chance. The best messaging illustrates the consequences of inaction. 4. Lead quality drives your conversion rate You have to stay focused on your ICP. The more variable your lead quality, the more inconsistent your sales results. The best effort, enthusiasm, and messaging are helpless if you are focused on the wrong accounts. This is the formula for predictable, repeatable, scalable sales. Manage the consistency of your inputs and you will have consistent outputs. What about you? What's your formula for repeatable results?

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Everyone in your revenue org has a different view of what's going on. Learn how to leverage it: VPs: “We’re tracking behind on our Q3 revenue target. We need to increase our ACV by doubling down on Enterprise opportunities.” Sales Managers: “We’re tracking behind our Q3 revenue target. We don’t have enough opportunities to double down on. We need to increase our outbound activity to drive pipeline.” Account Executives: “I’m behind on my Q3 target. Building more pipeline isn’t going to help me this quarter. I need to close at least 50% of my open opportunities to get back on track (even though my average is 25%).” Same Problem. 3 Completely Different Approaches. If you work in revenue enablement, you have the unique opportunity to be a bridge between team members at every level. Here’s what that sounds like… To VP’s: “If we want to increase our team’s ACV by moving up market, we’ll need to audit how we qualify opportunities and make sure we’re getting the right stakeholders involved in discovery. Do you have time to collaborate on a new rubric for our SDR’s and AE’s to qualify champions? I’d expect this to take about 3 months before we start seeing consistent results. Is there any opportunity to focus on mid-market win rate in the meantime?” [Once approved, go to your sales managers] To Sales Managers: “I understand we need more activity, but until our reps are identifying the right people to get on a call, it’s going to be wasted effort. Leadership is working on a new qualification framework for next quarter, but in the meantime, you can still hit your target by focusing on moving more of your existing pipeline in S2 & S3 into later stages in the sales cycle. What are some high-value deals that you feel are stuck right now?” [Then, go to your reps] To Sellers: “Your managers have identified some deals that are stuck in the early stages of the sales cycle. In the past, I’ve noticed you tend to use discounts as a lever to push deals through faster. How would you go about advancing these deals if you weren’t able to discount them at all?” By taking the time to listen to different perspectives from across the org, Enablement becomes a force multiplier that get’s everyone moving towards the same goal.

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The most common thing I'm hearing from companies right now is low 'early stage' deal conversion. TOFU stagnation. If you are speaking to companies within your ICP and struggling to translate demand into pipeline, there's one thing I'm seeing more than anything else that is the root cause of why. You're finding pain.... but you're not building on it. Certainly not quantifying it. It's not enough to just find it. It'll end up with no action.

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The transition from founder led sales -> a repeatable GTM motion is hard... Extremely hard. There are so many things to consider to mitigate risk and get as many repetitions on closed loop feedback as quickly as possible. -> what profile of a rep should I hire -> how to assess the right talent -> SDR or AE or growth hacker type or both -> what channels should we be testing -> what does good look like? What does great look like? -> how do I know if we’re making progress? And so much more… We’re discussing all this live next Tuesday at Kiln. If you’re in Utah, come check it out: https://lnkd.in/eQ9dyJK4

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You're thinking about renewals wrong. 66% of your renewals will be decided when you’re not in the room. Want higher NRR? Here’s the non-obvious CS strategy that's key to SaaS renewal: Hold customers accountable! In our current economy, customer acquisition is harder than ever. Every board of directors is obsessed with net recurring revenue (NRR). And they should be. After all, close rates are down (18%) and so are deal values (21%). There is no easier source of revenue than an existing customer. And nothing more painful than losing a customer, when all of the time, effort, and expense of building the relationship goes to waste. So of course we invest in the process. We hold our weekly meetings. We educate our champions. We have quarterly QBRs. We find success stories. But too often, we’re talking to one part of the organization. And we lose visibility to what happens when we aren’t in the room, when our champion needs to roll out or deliver using our stuff. It’s hard to see around corners in companies. A simple question suddenly gets hard to answer: Did they train the users they said they would? Did they share out the data or results? Did they get the feedback needed to tune the offering? When I worked at Ariba, which went from $0 to a $4B IPO in 4 years, we had a saying: Success has 3 ingredients: your people, your process, and our software. In other words, 66% of success depends on the customer. If they don’t do their part, they won’t get the value they bought from you. That’s a problem for them. But also a problem for you, because that’s a customer who won’t renew. Why should they, when the value didn’t happen, whoever’s “fault” it was? You need to flip the script. Accountability means asking the hard questions. Was the data delivered? Was it understood? When is the feedback coming? If the answers weren’t there, escalate to the economic buyer. They are at risk of not getting the value they bought. That should be a red flag for them and us. Are they still committed to the project? How do we get back on track? With all of our weekly tactics, we often lose sight of the most important question of all. Why did the customer buy in the first place? If the customer didn’t do what they said they would, that's bad news. And it’s 100% our fault. Want the renewal? Hold customers accountable.

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I meet and talk with 5-10 of the greatest GTM minds on the planet every week. CRO’s, VPs of Sales, CMO’s. 100% agree that getting outbound right is one of the hardest parts of their business, why? 1. Recruiting is hard again The same voices that sold tech sales as an easy path to 6 figures are now the voices saying the BDR role is dead. They sold a bill of goods to people who didn’t understand how hard this role is, are surprised these people who chose a path because it was sold as “easy” aren’t performing, and now have ulterior motives to pivot to a new message. Hard jobs are hard to recruit for. 2. Lack of Leadership 2020 through mid 2022 we had a bunch of capital bloat and talent bloat enter the market. Just like we have overvalued “zombie” companies we have overvalued “zombie” leaders who don’t know how to coach good habits for this type of market. Outbound was easy from 2014ish to summer 2022. 8 years is a long time, most of the voices we hear only know those times or only know what type of sales motion. 3. Absolute statements muddy the waters I've been around the block enough to click on their profile and see their track record. 99.9% of folks make these statements only sold transactional commodity technology, sold to GTM teams, or in most cases – only both. What works depends on multiple factors: ASP, buyer persona, and complexity of your sales process/customer’s buying process. Depending on what you sell – sometimes you are going to need to pick up the phone or send a note to get someone’s attention. That will NEVER change. 4. Generational consideration for career pathing is key BDR is still hands down the best route to market for future AE’s. You have to learn to prospect and get meetings before you can run a meeting, qualify, and manage a deal. No argument from me on CAC math – thousands of products require veracious qualification, deal management, and creating customer consensus. You can not run those types of deals and prospect. If any Voice had EVER done that type of role or ran a team that did, they wouldn’t say what they are. For BDRs to stick around for more than 14 months, you need steps in the BDR path where comp, responsibility and role grow over time. 5. Results are tanking Point 1&2. You are the equivalent of a fire fighter that starts a fire then takes the glory when you put it out. I absolutely loved the movie Backdraft – but stop it. These are the ideas of “not famous” GTM people. People who spend all day serving their customer and developing their people – not posting on this platform. They don’t care about clicks, followers, or impressions. They care about revenue and earnings. Outbound is hard. It (almost) always has been. Ya’ll need to block the noise and focus on what works for your business and try everything. Even the hard stuff. #AllGasNoBrakes #DialedIn

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3️⃣ reasons why retention must be more emphasized in vSaaS. 1️⃣ Winning the Control Point This is foundational table stakes to the vertical SaaS playbook. There’s no expansion opportunity if you churn customers here. Winning the Control Point is your anchor that opens up the multi-product play that will eventually grow your ARPA. 2️⃣Setting Up Multi-Product In order to deepen the anchor, and become the operating system of your accounts, both in workflow and data, product education and customer marketing are a must. Marketing has to be able to convey brand narrative and messaging that shows a roadmap to a seamless workflow and operation if surrounded by your ecosystem of products. 3️⃣ Extending the Value Chain The pinnacle of the vSaaS business model, according to David Yuan, is being able to sell to different stakeholders both forward and backward. You can never achieve this pinnacle if retention is not one of, if not, the top metric for marketing post-acquisition. Marketing no longer stops at pipeline generation, but now will be integral in shaping a future narrative that builds demand for your product ecosystem. Shoot me a DM if you want to go deeper into the topic and see what this looks like in practice! #RevenueEngineering #GTM #VerticalSaaS #DemandGeneration #Evron #vSaaS

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Are you building an SDR/BDR function? Stop what you are doing and read this. Megan Hardy is some you need to learn from - I’m stoke I get to learn from her EVERYDAY She’s really brilliant. She’s freaking cool. She’s got a fire to win like no other. She’s a builder. She’s a wife and mother with an awesomely cool family……..ask Chester Hardy….he’ll agree 😁 She cares about her people……..but doesn’t put up with nonsense. She done this multiple times….. She’s been an SDR (multiple times), AE (multiple times), run enablement (multiple times)…… Built a kickbutt SDR/BDR organization multiple times……… Read the dang thing….. She knows her stuff……. https://lnkd.in/gFG7qSem. #sdr #bdr #sales #saas #enablement #rockstar #leadership #restauranttech #wfm #leader

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If you're an AE, here are 5 easy ways to generate more ARR without “being salesy:” 1. Interview your company’s top customer. Narrow in on the account pushing your product team to create the newest and best features. 2. Understand exactly what makes them a big spender and innovator in their field. The goal is to understand who at that organization is behind a big initiative that leverages your product and services to maximum capacity. Example: At my old company (a conversational AI provider), our top customer believed in getting the whole company rallied behind delivering the best customer service. The head of contact centers led that initiative. 3. Create a “transformation blueprint” around them. Understanding the who, the what, and the why will make it easier for you to design a blueprint for how a company’s key executive can transform its operations (consultative) vs trying to convince them why they should use your product and services (salesy). Example: Because I knew from our top customer that the head of contact centers was typically neglected in strategic initiatives, I had a blueprint to get them further up the queue with their C-Suite. That’s a compelling proposition for that type of executive. 4. Recruit your top customer and other experts to position the credibility of this transformation. Use your time, energy, and attention to orchestrate meaningful conversations between your top-performing customers, your best internal experts, and your prospects. Example: Positioning small, intimate roundtable discussions was where I spent a lot of my time as a strategic seller. Then, we delivered amazing “white glove” experiences in these sessions where our customers did the selling, our experts answered the questions, and I simply coordinated a good experience between all 3. 5. Repeat for your top accounts. Once you have a repeatable blueprint, your position and status change. You become more of a “keyholder” to an exclusive VIP club where executives can level up their career (power position) vs asking them to try their luck on a small pilot of an unknown product (weak position). The big picture takeaway: Learn to think like a strategic business operator rather than a salesperson and watch your commission checks expand significantly. 🐝

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Scaling isn’t about hiring more people. PEOPLE DON’T CREATE DEMAND. Sure, adding headcount looks like growth on paper. But without demand, they’re just added costs—not revenue drivers. Let’s think about this. How many of your reps are consistently hitting quota? Are you maximizing revenue per FTE? What’s happening with activity levels, pipeline health, win rates, and conversion rates? Is there room to optimize? And what about ACV and ARPU? Are you leaving money on the table? Could better automation, smarter AI, or streamlined processes shorten sales cycles? Is your tech stack doing its job, or just adding complexity? (Believe me, it happens). Can smaller customers self-serve via PLG? Is that even a possibility? How are your SDR-to-AE ratios? Is Customer Success stepping in early enough, or just post-sale? Please, please, please: answer those questions before you even think about adding headcount. But scaling isn’t just about zooming into the details. It’s also about stepping back to see the bigger picture. How’s your LTV:CAC ratio? Are your pricing and packaging strategies protecting margins—or eroding them? Is churn under control? How’s NRR? GRR? Are you capitalizing on upsells and cross-sells? Again, how much can you gain before adding costs? Then there’s the market. I know, I know, it's getting longer. But it's critical (and sometimes ignored). Are you nearing saturation? Is there room to grow, or is it time to explore new verticals or product lines? And let’s come back to demand. Really? Really. People don’t create it (yes, I’ve said it before—and spoiler alert—you’ll hear me say it again). Can your inbound-outbound engine scale? Is inbound strong enough to support growth, or are you overly reliant on outbound? Outbound isn’t getting any easier. Without the right balance, more reps just add noise—not results. Are you adding quality behind quantity at the top of the funnel? Is your messaging resonating with ICPs? Are marketing and sales truly aligned to convert intent into revenue? If you’re going upmarket, is your product-market fit proven? Is the whole company ready—not just GTM, but Product, Dev, and Ops? Scaling isn’t about throwing people at the problem. It’s about building a machine that works—and works well. Clear, repeatable processes. A documented, applied enablement strategy. Teams trained and empowered with the right tools and data. And the most important piece of the puzzle: people. They are (by far) your most important asset—but only if they’re set up for success. Diversity, creativity, and motivation within your team is what really drive results. Scaling isn’t just a numbers game; it’s a people game. Are you creating an environment where your team thrives? Beyond the slogan, are you? Fix what’s broken. Optimize what’s working. Empower your people. Then scale. Because scaling isn’t about more—it’s about better.

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Want to know the most critical meeting in your customer journey? It's the kickoff call. So many SaaS founders underestimate the power of a strong kickoff call. It's not just another meeting - it's the foundation of your entire customer relationship. Get it wrong, and you're setting yourself up for churn before you even start. Nail it, and you'll unlock a flywheel of retention and referrals that can supercharge your growth. I've developed a 3-phase strategy that transforms kickoff calls from a potential liability into a powerful asset. Want the full playbook? I've broken it down step-by-step in my latest video, including the exact SOP we use at SaaS Academy. Check it out now ↓

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The initial pain point Jaldi was built to solve was optimizing cold calling for inside sales teams. You may be asking yourself, "Usman, isn't cold calling dead?" The short answer is no. Cold calling is not only growing in popularity, but is the channel many decision makers PREFER to be contacted through, 57% to be exact. With a flood of message based automation tools many channels have lost their effectiveness. (Think of your escalating unread email inbox). If you're wondering, "How can I increase my qualified lead volume?", it may be time to invest in a strong cold calling team. It works for us at Jaldi too. #sales #jaldi #startup #marketing #coldcalling #salesmanagement #leads #leadmanagement #deals #dealflow https://lnkd.in/dtZZQfTj

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Here's a crazy Monday stat...say you're a GTM leader at a startup, looking to implement AI into your process / team. Well, you're in luck because there are 1200+ AI tools built SPECIFICALLY for sales teams right now...🤯 My brain hurts just thinking about what that equates to in time / money on demos, testing, and (in many cases) churn. To save everyone some time, we hosted a roundtable with The GTM Circle last week where we talked about the tools sales teams at early-stage startups are ACTUALLY using today, here are some of them. What did we miss 🤷🏼‍♀️? 🤖 General Anthropic / Claude Google / Gemini Meta / Llama 3 OpenAI / ChatGPT Perplexity 🎨 Content & Personalization at Scale Bardeen Beautiful.ai Copy.ai Clay Octave Omneky TOPO YC 24 Unify 📇 CRM & Customer Engagement Apollo.io Copilot Chatbase HubSpot Copilot ZoomInfo Copilot ⚙️ Automation & Productivity Fathom Grain Momentum.io Read AI Salesroom superwhisper 📈 Analytics & Reporting Roadway Zebra BI 🎥 Video Creation & Editing Loom Midjourney OpusClip Soul Machines Synthesia

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Most sales and QBR decks look like an amateur put them together.  That is likely because the AE/SE/CSM did 98% of the content. I have reviewed over 500 sales/qbr decks this year. There are an average of 4 very nice corporate slides and 25 that look like Cookie Monster made them. If you sell to mid market+ accounts, hire a slide designer.  It’ll cost you a couple thousand dollars a year and it will make you stand WAY out compared to your competition.

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Sequence is absolutely *crushing* its GTM content engine. Worth checking out their most recent report "Sequence Principles" detailing tactical revenue lessons from 100+ B2B companies. Some highlights: 1. Clear ICP messaging (B2B sales leadership) 2. Easy scrolling/skimming ability across sections 3. Real-time founder testimonials (like Sasha Orloff) 4. Highly tactical advice (i.e. packaging, bundling, metrics) 5. Simple design without overwhelming folks w/ dense content Highly recommend taking a look - big s/o to the Sequence team ⚡

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The number one reason sales leaders tell me they don't know the funnel metrics off the top of their heads? Because they're in Hubspot / Salesforce. Quite often followed by an explanation of how they are going through a Salesforce to Hubspot transition, or in the process of tidying up the data. A good CRM is worth its weight in gold (appreciating software doesn't weigh anything) but sales leaders should be obsessed with the funnel metrics not waiting to get the answers from a software system. Too harsh?! #salesleadership, #gotomarket, #saas

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Pipeline Heroes use scripts in cold calls. Scripts that induce: Curiosity Dont target the meeting as the only purpose of the call Scale follow-ups and next actions for those in ICP, but not in market Treat conversations as reconnaissance and a cornerstone of a relationship with a stranger PipelineHeroes use scripts because they are professionals and want to be Accountable Measurable Scientific

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"Are You Just Chasing Partner Referrals? Stop." The quarter’s almost over. Revenue targets are looming. Partners have customers. But here’s the thing: You’re asking the wrong question. If you’re treating partners as nothing more than a lead-gen source, your partnerships are going to fail. Here’s why. Partnerships are a long-term, scalable strategy for exponential growth—when done right. They drive long-term revenue and customer loyalty by delivering complementary solutions that solve real, strategic problems. It’s not just about getting referrals—it’s about creating value that benefits everyone. When partnerships are done right, they align with your larger growth goals and foster collaboration across teams. To succeed, you need: - Executive buy-in, all the way down to product, sales, marketing, and customer-facing teams. - Strong, multi-threaded relationships across your partner’s organization. - The right resources, processes, and internal alignment to operationalize them. From experience, companies that treat partners as transactional lead sources often see diminishing returns over time. But those that invest in true, strategic partnerships consistently build stronger revenue streams and customer trust. So, instead of asking, “Where are the referrals?” maybe ask this: “How can we operationalize partnerships to better align with our growth strategy and deliver more value to customers?” #SaaS #Partnerships #RevenueGrowth #CustomerSuccess #ExecutiveLeadership

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