Stephanie Eberhardt

If your chatbot report says “15,000 chats this month” throw it in the bin. That’s like a sales manager boasting about how many calls the team made, without telling you how many deals closed. At Kandid, we’ve stopped caring about vanity metrics like: Total chats Messages exchanged Time spent chatting Because none of these matter if the needle isn’t moving where it counts. Here’s what we do track: ✅ Cart Value generated Did the bot actually help people make a decision? ✅ AOV Lift Is it nudging users toward higher-value carts with smart guidance? ✅ Revenue Uplift How much money did it contribute directly to your top line? These are the numbers that tell the real story. One of our partnered brands doubled their conversion rate on PDPs after replacing their FAQ-style widget with Kandid. Same traffic. Same products. Different outcomes.That’s what D2C brands need to optimize for outcomes, not interactions. If your current chatbot is reporting everything except impact on revenue, it’s time to ask why.

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Economic slowdown? Demand for sales tools and agencies is booming in Germany. Yesterday at Berlin SaaS Week (ARRtist), the Sales & Pepper Podcast came back.... Big thanks to Dominic Klingberg, Gerald Zankl, and the Bluebird Recruitment team for bringing so many founders, GTM leaders, and operators together. The energy in the room felt like a signal: everyone is searching for ways to grow again. Here’s what I noticed from talks with Björn W. Schäfer, Julius Göllner, Julius Dany, Alexander P. Mueller, Michael J. Jaeger, .. • Sales tools, cold calling companies, and agencies are getting more attention than ever. A founder told me (sales agency) that they are not signing any new contracts for this year. • Creativity and execution are now at the center of every conversation. • High-performing sellers are stepping up, focusing on customers-not just volume. The old playbook of huge SDR teams and centralized lead engines? Fading. Instead, the power is shifting to the individual seller. → Sellers are closer to the customer → Teams are smaller, sharper, and more autonomous → Every deal is personal, every conversation matters My take: In the next 3–5 years, sales teams could shrink by 50%. But they will be twice as effective and customer-focused. The future of sales is not about more people. It’s about better people, sharper systems, and real connections. Where do you see the biggest shift in your sales process right now? We’re just getting started. 🚀 #Sales #GTM #BerlinSaaSWeek #B2B #SalesLeadership #SalesAndPepper

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💡 Ever felt like you spend more time switching between tools than actually getting work done? I’ve seen so many SMBs struggle with this: ● One tool for CRM ● Another for invoicing ● A different one for project management ● And yet another for time tracking & billing 👉 The result? Lost time, scattered data, and way too many subscriptions draining the budget. That’s why I was impressed when I discovered 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐮𝐦 𝐏𝐒𝐀 — an 𝐚𝐥𝐥-𝐢𝐧-𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 that actually brings it all together: ✅ CRM ✅ Projects & time tracking ✅ Billing & invoicing ✅ Resource & financial management And here’s the kicker: it starts at just $15/𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐫. (SMB-friendly pricing that doesn’t feel like enterprise bloatware 👌) I’ve always believed productivity comes not from doing more things… but from doing the right things, faster. And when your tools are unified, you finally get the clarity to focus on growth instead of admin chaos. If you’re curious, they’re even offering a 14-𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 — worth exploring if you’re tired of juggling 5 different apps. 𝐓𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰: https://lnkd.in/d-Tqy99G 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭: https://lnkd.in/dgNEMRPX 🚀 Would you stick with multiple tools, or switch to an all-in-one solution like this? #Productivity #SmallBusiness #CRM #BusinessAutomation #WorkSmarter #FutureOfWork #SMBTools #SaaS

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Personalization isn’t impressing, it’s annoying. No personalization is most of the time better. Everyone wants to automate their outbound. Everyone wants to scale. But there is a fine line between relevance and creepiness. → When you mention my LinkedIn activity after I liked one post three months ago, you are not being smart. You are being weird. Great personalization is not about “surprising” the prospect. It is about showing you understand their context and potential problems. → AI can help you scale personalization. But it can also make you sound robotic, invasive, and lazy. ☑ Here is what I do : If I would not say it face to face, I would not automate it. ☑ Here’s how I keep it simple : → Start with structure. ↳ “Noticed you’re expanding in X or have teams in Y.” ↳Show why you’re reaching out. → Play on timing. ↳Funding, growth, big moves, that’s your trigger to connect, not pitch. → Own the cold. ↳“Hi, was just interested to know how you’re dealing with X and see if [my company] can improve it.” No gimmicks. Just respect. → Steal context from the ground up. ↳The best way to personalize a message to a C-level? ↳Talk to their team first. ↳Understand their current setup, the tools they use, what’s missing, and show up with arguments that make sense. Not “here’s what we do,” but “here’s why we fit with what you already have.” ♻️ 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱.

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Leading sales teams remotely isn't easy. Doing sales remotely is not easy either. One important thing I learned leading salespeople all over Europe over the last 5 years: You should schedule time together often. Here are a few regular sessions I usually put in our calendars: 1️⃣ Cold Calling Day (once a month): The whole team (SDRs, AEs, Operations) meets to call for one full day. Set a target for the day and see what the team can achieve together. We often booked > 25 meetings on one day. Helped us get closer to the revenue target. 2️⃣ Outreach / Cold Calling Sessions (2-3 hours, two times a week): The whole team focuses on outreach. These blockers are important for all salespeople to not losing focus on pipeline creation. You might as well be doing it with the whole team. At the beginning of the session, we usually do a warmup with some mock calls. The hardest part: Keep doing it over a long period of time. 3️⃣ Weekly Sales Team Meeting (1-1.5 hours): Everybody shares what they achieved last week (the most important advancements and new pipeline). There is usually a list of topics that need to be discussed. And knowledge should be shared (especially in early-stage companies). Everybody contributes. 4️⃣ Weekly Call Coachings (1 hour): A sales rep is sharing a recorded call with everyone beforehand. And the whole team is giving feedback on that call. By showing parts of the recording. 5️⃣ Weekly 1-on-1s with every sales rep (30 min) Agenda: 1. How are you doing? 2. What is going well / where do we have room for improvement? 3. What do you need help with? 4. Career & personal development 5. Other topics? 6️⃣ Weekly coaching on methodology with the whole sales team (60 min): Someone prepares a late-stage deal by answering the following questions: "What is the pain/ use case?" "What happens if they do not implement our solutions?" "Who is the Champion, and how do you know?" "What is their personal benefit of implementing the solution?" "Who else is involved? What does each care about? "Who is the Economic Buyer?/ Decision Board?" "What is their timeline?" "Do we understand the decision criteria for the people involved in the decision-making steps?" "What is the biggest risk of losing the deal?" Then, the team asks questions. Result: 2-3 immediate action items that help mitigate the risk of losing the deal. Learning and growing together. That is it. Anything else you are doing regularly with the whole team?

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SaaS Sales is taking a different direction in 2026. It isn’t about net new logos anymore. It’s about not losing the ones you already have ----- Some facts: → According to Bain & Company, increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can boost profits significantly (up to 95%) → Gartner predicts that by 2026, customer retention will become the top priority (P0) for most SaaS companies as acquisition costs continue to surge and buyer scrutiny intensifies → Every SaaS company is screaming about “growth” but bleeding customers out the back door. Retention isn’t just key, it’s mission-critical Double down in account management, or else you’re already behind. → Build more champions vertically & horizontally, not just contacts → Go deeper into the business, not just wider → Collate & collaborate to make renewals a no-brainer Retention isn’t something you do after the sale. It IS the sale. The companies who get this right? They’ll win 2026. And beyond. #b2bsaas #b2bsales

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Back to Fundamentals: Making sure the foundations are solid We are preparing for our annual Hg Growth Summit, where we will gather our C-Level go-to-market leaders from across the Hg portfolio, this year in the beautiful city of Vienna, it will be great to be back there. While preparing the content and thinking about the topics we are going to be covering, it got me thinking about the work we do, with our companies across the Hg portfolio. One truth consistently emerges, in that strong GTM fundamentals remain the bedrock of sustainable growth, even as AI reshapes our industry. It is easy for companies to chase the next shiny object while the foundation is unstable beneath them. Money gets poured into AI tooling while pipeline hygiene remains broken. New products are launched without fully establishing product-market fit for existing ones, and expansion into new geographies becomes a priority, before mastering their core market. Before rushing to implement the latest AI tool, ask yourself: Have we truly mastered the basics? The companies consistently outperforming their peers share several foundational strengths: - Rigorous, data-driven qualification that predicts conversion accurately - Crystal-clear ICP definition that sales & marketing actually use in daily decisions - Disciplined pipeline management with realistic forecasting, not wishful thinking - Cross-functional alignment on what “good” looks like, with shared metrics across GTM - Talent management discipline, identifying underperformance early and accelerating ramp time for new hires The macroeconomic headwinds of 2025–2026 will only magnify these weaknesses. With expanding buying committees and shrinking budgets, companies with weak fundamentals will be punished. My advice? Fix your foundations first. Strong GTM fundamentals drive higher revenue growth and create the platform for AI acceleration. Without them, you’re building the house on sand. 👉 We are now debating, how these core fundamentals are evolving, and why what worked yesterday may not work tomorrow, more to come... #SaaS #GTM #RevenueGrowth #SalesEffectiveness

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𝐎𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐔𝐬𝐲𝐤’𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐖𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐲 (𝐧𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 😅) When people ask what company I work for and what we actually do, I usually go with a simplified PROS pitch. But it made me realise: I should start sharing more here about what I’m learning in pricing and revenue management—because it’s seriously interesting and can make a real impact on growth. So, here’s a quick one for today 👇 Please, allow me to push the horses here. In B2B, pricing is more than just a number—it’s an efficiency & growth engine. Yet many companies still rely on Excel spreadsheets or outdated tools to manage increasingly complex quoting and pricing. If you're in Pricing, SalesOps, or leading Digital Transformation, check out what can be improved: 🔹 70%+ efficiency gains in quoting workflows; 🔹 20% higher win rates thanks to AI-driven pricing; 🔹 5% revenue growth from smarter deal management; 🔹 2% margin uplift by cutting pricing errors; These are real outcomes - not just nice benchmarks. 💡 With a SaaS solution that tackles these areas you can: ✅ Deliver real-time, tailored pricing across all channels; ✅ Handle quotes with up to 10,000 line items (yep, really); ✅ Automate approvals and stay in control of pricing governance; ✅ React fast to market changes with AI-powered recommendations; ✅ Integrate with Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, SAP & more; Whether you’re managing long-term agreements, complex deals, or scaling your digital commerce - smart pricing and quoting can unlock huge value. That's it for today. Like & Comment #PricingStrategy #CPQ #PriceOptimization #B2BSaaS #DigitalTransformation #SalesEnablement #EMEA #RevenueGrowth

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𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗣𝗦𝗣𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗢𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 — 𝗤𝘂𝗶𝗲𝘁𝗹𝘆 Not too long ago orchestration used to be a niche strategy for merchants with complex routing needs. But lately, PSPs have started building their own orchestration features even though it goes against their original value prop. So why are they doing it? Let’s break it down 👇 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻? Orchestration is the logic layer that lets merchants: → Route transactions across multiple PSPs/acquirers → Retry intelligently based on decline codes → Optimize based on cost, FX, or approval rates → Tokenize independently of any one provider It gives merchants control and flexibility, which is useful for global scaling, retry redundancy, or markets where no one PSP dominates 𝗣𝗦𝗣𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻-𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 Traditionally, orchestration was done via independent platforms like Spreedly, Primer, or VGS, but now? PSPs are joining in → Checkout.com launched their own orchestration feature last year → Adyen enables multi-provider retries via RevenueAccelerate → Nuvei and Payoneer are also developing their own routing → Stripe allows multi-gateway setups through Connect in some enterprise flows These tools look like orchestration but are baked into the PSP’s platform 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀? 🔹To win bigger merchants → Sophisticated companies want redundancy, control, and better approval rates. Offering orchestration helps PSPs stay in the conversation 🔹To reduce churn → If orchestration is built-in, it’s harder for merchants to leave 🔹To improve margin → With smart routing, PSPs can push volume to lower-cost rails or proprietary acquiring where they make more 🔹To fight true orchestrators → If merchants use independent orchestration layers, they're less dependent on any single PSP 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 What looks like orchestration isn’t always true orchestration In many cases: → Merchants still can’t bring their own vault → Routing is limited to partners within the PSP’s ecosystem → Retry logic isn’t fully transparent or configurable → The PSP is both player and referee So while it can reduce friction, it introduces subtle platform lock-in, especially when merchants want to switch or test new providers 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 The growth of PSP-native orchestration shows the strategy is working, but merchants should be cautious. True orchestration = freedom to choose, configure, and exit, all on the merchant's terms If you're optimizing payment stack performance, make sure to ask: → Can I bring my own token vault? → Can I see, own, and control all routing logic? → Can I easily add/remove any gateway or PSP that I want? Source: Nuvei, Adyen, Primer 🔔 Follow Jason Heister for daily #Fintech and #Payments guides, technical breakdowns, and industry insights

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