Jeff Kirchick

"How can CS be a revenue-driver when I can fire half my team and NRR stays the same?" Until Customer Success can find quantifiable evidence that they have a higher ROI than another AE hire, they'll always be a cost center. That's what happens when you solve for churn. You start playing not to lose. You meet with every account regardless of tier. You fret over each escalation, not by the amount of ARR at stake, but by how angry the account seems. Fear of conflict drives your decision-making. You have every customer insight at your fingertips. You have 360-degree customer intelligence. You reach out proactively at the first sign of trouble. But it doesn't make a difference. And it won't. Because the people who make CS tools are ALSO solving for churn. And CS can't be accretive with tools made for support and risk reduction. Just listen to the man himself: "Customer Success has gotten worse over the years. Much worse…We're seeing a fundamental shift where CSMs are expected to be revenue generators, but they're using systems designed for customer support." - Jason M. Lemkin If I'm honest, I'm kinda over Customer Intelligence. And I'm not even 100% sure what Commercial Intelligence is. We need Expansion Intelligence. #customerexpansion #nrr #customersuccess

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Sales teams lose days each month to manual busy-work. Let’s fix it 🚀 Ask any AE where their time goes when not selling and you’ll get painful answers like CRM admin. The 25 Customer Trends Report shows reps spend just 28% of their week actually selling; the rest is swallowed by data entry and internal ping-pong. Meanwhile, HubSpot research finds 32% of sellers burn an hour or more every single day just updating their CRM, and estimate they could claw back around 2 h 15 m per day with smart automation. That’s a whole work-day lost every week. https://lnkd.in/e3PZN5ju saleslion.io blog.hubspot.com Why does that matter? Because time is revenue. If your £100k seller spends only a quarter of the week in front of customers, you’re paying £75k for copy-paste. McKinsey’s work on sales automation shows organisations that digitise low-value tasks can lift revenue 10-20% while cutting cost of sale, yet most teams still rely on swivel-chair processes. mckinsey.com That’s where Nova comes in. As the AI engine at the heart of Launched, Nova plugs into your stack, learns from real-time intent signals and takes the grunt-work off your team’s plate. She auto-captures every call, enriches CRM fields, writes personalised follow-ups and surfaces next-best actions so reps can engage up to 10× more prospects per user per day and marketing slashes costs by up to 30 %. The result? More conversations, shorter cycles and happier humans. Stop letting admin tax your top performers, let Nova do the heavy lifting and give your sellers their week back. #SalesAutomation #RevOps #Productivity #AI

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Most SDRs aren’t actually selling. They’re stuck at building lists, researching accounts, and switching between tools. That’s admin work, not revenue work. Hire a GTM engineer to handle qualification, scoring, signals, and CRM uploads. Now your reps start the day with ready-to-call leads. Less busy. More productive. Are your reps selling… or just staying busy?

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Please, for the love of revenue, stop opening your pricing call by pulling up the proposal and running through the price. You’re not a waiter dropping the check at the table. If the prospect says, “We just want to review the price,” that’s your signal to slow down and give context to the conversation. Every pricing call should start by confirming: - current challenges or problems to be solved - desired outcome for their business - how your product or service is going to deliver the outcome for them Once you are aligned on these three things, you can move forward with showing the price. This is especially important when a new evaluator joins the call. For example, you have been working with a champion who gets to the point where they want to see the price. You schedule the call to review the commercial terms. They invite the CFO or the economic buyer. That CFO has no context for value that you are going to deliver. They haven’t felt the pain you’ve been unpacking over the last few weeks. That's your job to give them the right context. Price only makes sense when you understand the current challenges and desired outcomes. That’s why I always start pricing calls the same way: “Before we jump into numbers, I just want to make sure we’re aligned on the goals of this partnership. Can we quickly revisit the challenges you’re solving and the outcomes you’re targeting? I want to make sure the proposal maps to that.” It’s a hard thing to say no to. And it does two important things: It gives you a chance to reinforce the value. It opens the door for new information or things the buyer hasn’t told you yet, but that will matter in the decision. I have lost many sales opportunities in my career by rushing to show the pricing. I thought moving fast meant being efficient. But I skipped the context. So the next time you have a pricing call, slow down. Frame the conversation. Align on the value of the partnership. Then move on to the commercial terms. ______ If you need help structuring that conversation, I’ve got an executive summary template that makes this easy. Comment "Summary" and I'll send it to you.

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Ask any AE how their top deal is going and you'll get a confident answer. Ask them to prove it and you'll get silence. That gap between confidence and evidence is where pipeline reviews break down. Managers hear updates built on memory and optimism. Deals that need intervention don't surface until it's too late. We built Deal Review in Brevian to close that gap. Deal Review automatically synthesizes meeting conversations, MEDDPICC data, CRM activity, and stakeholder engagement into a structured assessment of every deal. Three things that make it different: - Every signal traces back to something actually said, measured, or observed - Five pipeline signals (Champion, Risk, Buyer Urgency, Velocity, Qualification) roll up into a composite Attention Level that tells you which deals need intervention today - The analysis adapts to deal stage, so a closing call isn't evaluated the same as a discovery call Full breakdown: https://lnkd.in/gmfjU-_u #salesintelligence #AI #B2Bsales #pipelinemanagement

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Your SDRs move slow. Your market doesn’t. In 2025, sales teams win with agility. Markets shift. GTM strategies evolve. New products launch overnight. And if your SDR team can’t keep up, your pipeline’s at risk. Bad news: Most internal teams aren’t built to move that fast. Good news: Outsourced SDRs are. Here’s why they’re built for the modern sales org: 🔄 Pivot to new ICPs without missing a beat 🚀 Launch-ready teams, no hand-holding required 📊 Real-time reporting to optimize on the fly 🎯 Performance-based models (not just warm bodies in seats) The future of SDRs isn’t in-house—it’s on-demand. Want to pick the right agency to keep your pipeline fast, flexible, and future-proof? We’ve got the guide for you 👇

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“PE Growth TAILWIND”: Growth At Risk? Why "Pre-Suasion" Is The GTM Edge PE Operators Can’t Afford to Ignore | Part 1 of 4 If buyers are ghosting your intro calls, deals are stalling, or your messaging sounds just like everyone else’s - you’re not alone. In markets this crowded & noisy, even great offers get ignored. But there’s a smarter way to stand out: it starts BEFORE the pitch. It’s called “Pre-suasion.” Pre-suasion is how top teams shape belief, trust & urgency - before they ever ask for the deal. Today’s post is Part 1 of a 4-part series on applying “Pre-suasion” across the GTM journey - from Marketing to Sales to Customer Success - to drive faster organic growth & higher valuations in PE-backed businesses. First, what is “Pre-suasion,” and why should you care? Pre-suasion is the strategic act of shaping your buyer’s attention & mindset before you deliver your message - so they’re more receptive to what comes next. Dr. Robert Cialdini coined the concept in his book: Pre-Suasion, A Revolutionary Way To Influence And Persuade. The concept is built on a powerful insight: “What we present first changes how people respond to what comes next.” In other words, before you pitch or propose – you need to “prime” your buyer. Sure, psychology is nothing new in business, but it is not widely, consistently, or, in some cases, correctly used across GTM - especially in the lower middle market. And it’s not about manipulation. It’s about ethical, evidence-based influence that prepares your buyer to want what you're offering before the ask. So, why does it matter? Without Pre-suasion, PE-backed businesses risk: 1. Generic messaging that doesn’t resonate 2. Lack of buyer urgency 3. Underappreciated value limiting pricing power & upsell/cross-sell 4. Disjointed messaging across Marketing/Sales/CS teams - killing trust 5. Low sales conversion rates, slower growth & lower exit valuations Instead, by using more Pre-suasion throughout GTM, you can: 1. Differentiate faster in competitive markets 2. Create a consistent narrative across GTM functions 3. Increase conversion rates by "priming" belief & urgency 4. Shorten sales cycles by framing trust & relevance early 5. Drive higher customer expansion The next 3 parts in this LinkedIn series will dive into high-impact ways to apply Pre-Suasion across GTM: Part 2: Pre-suasion Is Your Marketing Edge: Frame First, Convert Faster Part 3: Pre-suasion: Your Hidden Lever for Faster Sales Conversions Part 4: Customer Success That Retains Before It Renews & Expands So, if you're a PE-backed CEO/CRO, PE Operating Partner or a growth leader looking for a new edge in competitive markets, I invite you to follow this series. Don't miss it. ------------------  👍 React to support  💬 Comment with your views  ♻️ Please repost this to also help others  ➕ Follow Brian Gustason💡for more PE growth tips #PrivateEquity #PortfolioGrowth #GTMStrategy #ValueCreation #RevenueGrowth #OperatingPartner

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Dialler Infrastructure, Compliance & SDR Efficiency — Field Notes from a Recent Roundtable As pressure builds to do more with less, revenue teams are re-examining the dials behind the dial: what tools actually connect, what workflows scale, and what practices stand up to scrutiny across global markets. An independent session this week brought together GTM leaders and RevOps to compare experiences. Key signals below — zero hype. Infrastructure > InterfaceMost diallers rely on third-party carriers (Twilio, Bandwidth, etc.). That means performance is often a black box — with up to 9 carrier-level hops before a call connects or fails. Ask your vendor: • Who controls your carrier infrastructure? • Do you monitor and manage spam flagging? • How much of the stack is built vs. borrowed? Sentiment: ConnectAndSell vs. Parallel DiallersIn regulated markets — think DACH, Southern Europe, and parts of APAC — ConnectAndSell stands apart. Human-assisted outreach avoids early recording, navigates switchboards, and clears legal reviews (including German works councils and corporate counsel sign-off). It’s not built for volume blitzing. But it is built for trust and precision. By contrast, US-style parallel diallers (Nooks, Orum) perform well in North America. Outside that, success is patchy — particularly where recording or line spoofing laws require careful handling. Call Behaviour Still Matters • Office lines are making a comeback. Teams training SDRs to navigate reception outperform those relying on scraped mobiles. • Persistence wins. Most meetings are set on the 2nd, 3rd or even 7th attempt. One-and-done is a mindset issue, not a strategy. Common SDR Time-Wasters • ‘Admin’ that’s really last-mile enrichment • Tool fatigue and constant context switching • Overthinking messaging mid-sequence Solutions: Pre-enrichment, tighter call blocks, cleaner workflows. Compliance as a Competitive Advantage Navigating regulated markets isn’t just about avoiding penalties — it’s about gaining access. • Human-led calling = better deliverability + legal clarity • Early recording and heavy automation = red flags in some jurisdictions • Local trust matters — especially in multi-region GTM Final Word: Don’t be distracted by dashboards. Focus on infrastructure, behaviour, and legal fit. Velocity is great — until it trips compliance. Sometimes the best strategy is to slow down just enough to land the call and keep the door open. — If your dialler strategy needs pressure-testing — or you’re balancing multiple regions with mixed results — happy to compare notes.

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