Paul Cassidy

Every sales org has a pipeline: Stage 1. Stage 2. Forecast. Commit. You can recite it in your sleep. But when it comes to renewals? Crickets.... There’s no real-time view of customer risk. No weekly trendline. No forward-looking model that projects retention. Isn't that kinda bonkers? You FORECAST growth, but you DISCOVER churn...usually when it’s too late to fix. The big mistake is presuming retention is a lagging indicator, when it would be more accurate to define it as a neglected one. Think about it...most CS dashboards read like a rearview mirror: - Usage metrics. - Ticket volume. - NPS. Useful? Sure. Predictive? Nah. Because churn doesn’t start when a customer says they’re leaving. It starts months earlier when their exec sponsor stops showing up. If you can spot the risk early, you can unlock more levers: - Re-engage power. - Reset the value narrative. - Escalate to commercial. - Offer roadmap visibility. - Re-map success metrics post-reorg. But none of that works if your team can’t see it coming, which is why you need a churn forecast...just like you do for revenue. Build a churn pipeline. Treat it like sales. Some things to build into this: 1. Define churn stages. Just like deals, risk evolves: - Stage 1 (Early): No exec alignment, lagging adoption, stakeholder turnover. - Stage 2 (Mid): Value not realized, weak champion, limited engagement. - Stage 3 (Late): Renewal live, buyer pushing back, pricing/legal blockers. Assign clear criteria. Surface it in Gainsight, CZ, or Salesforce. Manage it like opportunity stages. 2. Assign prevention plays. Each stage should trigger a play: - Stage 1 = exec outreach + roadmap session. - Stage 2 = commercial review + value plan. - Stage 3 = C-level call + tailored retention offer. Codify this. Don’t let reps improvise. 3. Forecast it weekly. Revenue leaders inspect pipeline weekly. CS should do the same with churn. Ask: - How many accounts moved stages? - What’s projected retention by segment? - What % of at-risk logos have exec visibility? Also, share your churn forecast with the CFO. If the CFO sees new logo pipeline every Monday, but doesn’t see churn risk until Q4? That's no bueno. Start sending a weekly churn report with: - Total ARR at risk. - ARR by churn stage. - Stage progression. - Active recovery plays. - Forecasted retention (with confidence levels). This reduces surprises while also forcing accountability. Why? Because churn is rarely a CS failure, but it's often a product gap, pricing mismatch, or sales promise that aged poorly. When churn is forecasted, it becomes EVERYONE'S problem. Which it is. tl;dr = you don’t “discover” churn. You forecast it. You stage it. You act on it. Just like sales.

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How to turn your AEs into a winning team: - product positioning - Discovery training - Command of the message - Great CRM setup - Nice Sales deck - listen to Calls in Gong ^^ tasks split across marketing, RevOps, AE leader, enablement. How to turn your SDRs into a winning team: - map the TAM - learn a variety of decision maker titles - cold calling training - set up email infrastructure - buy and set up multiple data tools - learn copywriting for exec communication - learn about SMTP, DMARC, DKIM - run complex math to determine how many leads are needed - collaborate with marketing for MQL handoff - optimize sequence settings to prevent bottlenecks - validate CRM data to prevent bounce leads - learn LinkedIn strategy for messaging prospects - learn to leave proper voicemails - run discovery on inbound leads - build a variety of sequences - run the math on A/B testing messaging - pass proper notes to the AE - follow up with leads that ghosted the AE - handle phone objections different than email ones - test a variety of tools, and fight for budget contstantly - help SDRs career plan and understand comp plan ^^ worst of all, the SDR manager has to do 90% of this in their own! Then SDRs and SDR leaders are paid less than their AE counterparts. Then when things aren’t working the SDR team is cut while the AE team is trained. How does this make sense? Been saying it for years #SDRsMatter

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Coaching your frontline sales managers can increase the entire sales team's performance by as much as 20% Some other data points: 👉🏻Companies that invest in coaching see an 788% ROI through increased productivity and employee retention. 👉🏻Reps are 21% more likely to hit quota with the right leadership. 👉🏻Revenue per seller can jump as much as 50%. Compelling, isn’t it...？ So why is it that sales management training & coaching comes so low down on the priority list when the results are so impactful? In many cases sales managers have been promoted because they were top salespeople, but the skills needed to be a high performing Individual Contributor (IC) are very different to those needed to lead a team (where you go quite literally from 'I' to caring about 'We'). Without the right training and coaching, most are left to figure out on the job - neither of which is optimal for the individual or the company. Ok, so yes, at this point there is a shameless plug for my revenue coaching services, but the results are truly special when a revenue leader with potential and talent (but still learning on the job), can fast track through effective coaching... So what does coaching with me look like: 🌟Personalised 1:1 sessions tailored to your needs 🌟Assessment of skill & knowledge gaps against a revenue leadership maturity model 🌟Clear coaching plan with tangible outcomes 🌟Access to best-in-class playbooks & frameworks (as well as practical guidance on how to execute on them).  Who's my coaching for: ✅First-time sales leaders stepping into new VP/CRO roles ✅Experienced SaaS leaders taking on new functions or geos ✅Ambitious leaders with an 'always learning' mindset ✅SaaS companies that want to increase sales performance by 20% 🎯This quarter’s offer: Book five coaching sessions and your sixth is on me. If you are interested in finding out more, please email me at [email protected] Apologies for cringy photo - it's me at my desk following a coaching call - tenuous link to the post I know :)!! #thefemalesalesleader  #softwaresales  #salesleadershipcoaching  #saas

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90% of SaaS reps overcomplicate objection handling. They’ll write 15-slide decks or “strategic” follow-up emails. But the best objection-buster I’ve ever used took one line: 👉 “Here’s how to get your CFO to approve this tool in 7 minutes flat.” That line alone turned stalled deals into signed contracts. Why? Because it gives the buyer exactly what they need (ammunition to win approval internally). We spun that same core message into multiple weapons: • “The ROI calculator CFOs can’t argue with” • “Your boss will literally thank you for sending this” • “The lazy AE’s guide to instant approvals” Different flavors, same impact: we made the champion look like a genius inside their org. The lesson? You don’t always need “new messaging.” You need the right angle for each buyer. One insight. Three angles. Pipeline unlocked.

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STOP doing what 99% of salespeople do I've helped scale 2 startups to $10M+ ARR... And trained thousands of sales reps across 500+ enterprises. Here's what I've noticed: Most reps are stuck using outdated techniques from 2010. They pitch features ❌ They chase prospects ❌   They wonder why deals fall through ❌ Meanwhile, the top 1% are using these psychological triggers: 𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 Stop asking "Are you interested?" Start saying "When we move forward..." The brain defaults to agreement when presented with inevitability. 𝟮. 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗦𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 After stating your price, shut up. The first person to speak loses. Silence creates psychological pressure that closes deals. 𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 "This might not be right for you..." triggers loss aversion. People want what they can't have. Use scarcity as your secret weapon. 𝟰. 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 Don't just say "other clients love this." Say "3 Fortune 500 CEOs told me this exact solution saved them $2M last quarter." Specificity sells. 𝟱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 "Imagine walking into your office 6 months from now, knowing you solved this problem..." Paint the picture. People buy the future, not the present. The brutal truth? The difference between average and elite isn't talent. It's psychology. Which skill will you try first? ⬇️ ♻️ Repost to help your network and follow Gaurav Bhattacharya for more. P.S. If you're building/leading a revenue team & want early access to our agentic AI that triples pipeline, comment "Agentic".

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