Daniel Beley

When quotas are hit, most leadership teams take that as proof their system works. But what if hitting quota is actually a red flag? In Varicent's 2025 SPM Market Spotlight, we surveyed over 1,400 revenue and operations leaders and uncovered a surprising contradiction: 90% of sellers say they expect to hit their quotas.  But only 31% of sellers believe those quotas are realistic. Why does this gap matter? When teams consistently hit unrealistic quotas, it doesn’t mean the plan is working. It means something else is compensating.  Often, that looks like a few top reps pulling most of the weight, rushed deals at quarter-end, or margin-eroding discounts.  It’s not a sign of sustainable growth. It's a sign of friction. High-performing organizations approach quotas differently: ● They align targets with actual market opportunity, using territory data, account potential, and realistic benchmarks.  ● They measure median attainment, not just the average, to see whether success is spread across the team or carried by a few.  ● They monitor the ratio of activity to outcomes to make sure seller effort translates into sustainable pipeline and revenue. Real growth is not about whether the number is hit. It’s about how it’s hit. If you're using quota attainment as proof of strategic alignment, it might be time to take a closer look. Access the research here: https://hubs.ly/Q03sG4kD0 The 2025 SPM Market Spotlight unpacks how top-performing companies are redesigning quota models to drive scalable, equitable growth. 

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95% 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐈. But most sales teams are still stuck in manual mode. BetterCloud's 2025 𝐒𝐚𝐚𝐒 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞-𝐮𝐩 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥: 𝐀𝐈 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐥 → But automation isn’t.  → Most GTM teams are still buried in repetitive tasks like prospecting, enrichment, follow-ups. 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐦 → 60% of IT teams say manual ops limit their strategic focus.  → Sales teams feel it too: context-switching, data clean-up, scattered systems. 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 → 70% prefer unified SaaS platforms over cobbled-together point tools.  → Seamless AI workflows are the future. 𝐀𝐩𝐩 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 → Teams use ~106 SaaS apps on average.  → That’s fewer than last year, but still messy for GTM workflows. 𝐀𝐈 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐚 “𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐞-𝐭𝐨-𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞” → It’s table stakes.  → Sales teams who automate early get compounding returns in pipeline, precision, and productivity. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧. 𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

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If AI isn’t in your GTM strategy, you don’t have a GTM strategy. The GTM leaders winning today aren’t just executing playbooks. They’re shaping how AI transforms customer acquisition, sales, and revenue operations. Most GTM leaders treat AI as a side project. But in today’s fast-evolving landscape, your grasp of AI isn’t just a personal advantage, it’s a competitive moat. The power of AI-driven GTM leadership: 1. Credibility and market authority     Customers and peers trust leaders who understand the next wave of change. Sharing AI insights positions you as a forward thinker shaping the future of revenue growth. 2. Talent magnetism and team evolution     The best talent wants to work with leaders who stay ahead of the curve. Showing your AI expertise signals to top performers that you’re building for the future, not clinging to the past. 3. Pipeline acceleration and operational leverage     AI isn’t just tech, it’s leverage. Smart use of AI tools and strategy can shorten sales cycles, personalize engagement at scale, and open new market opportunities. How to get started: • Go from “reading about AI” to “testing AI”: share what you learn along the way. • Engage with other AI-in-GTM voices: collaboration accelerates your learning curve. • Tie AI insights back to GTM outcomes: revenue, efficiency, and market positioning. A GTM leader’s AI fluency isn’t optional. It’s a strategic advantage. The best GTM leaders don’t just run teams, they shape conversations, influence industries, and unlock new growth levers. If you want to learn fast, learn from the top voices already leading the AI-in-GTM conversation 👇  1. Dharmesh Shah  2. Yamini Rangan  3. Jacco van der Kooij  4. Saanya Ojha  5. Jason M. Lemkin       6. Liza Adams  7. Aaron Levie  8. Nicole Leffer  9. Kieran Flanagan 10. Maja Voje      11. Kevin "KD" Dorsey 12. Kyle Norton 13. Santosh Sharan 14. Jordan Crawford 15. Alex Lindahl      16. Jonathan M K. 17. Greg Isenberg 18. Allie K. Miller 19. Sam Jacobs 20. Jake Dunlap Who would you add?

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What if the secret to GTM success isn't about following proven strategies? What it's breaking the ones that everyone assumes are untouchable? 𝗜𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟳, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗲𝘁: sell a phone with fixed, pre-installed software and keep a tight grip on the user experience. The "herd" believed this was the only viable business model. But Apple didn't follow the leader. They went against this ingrained herd mentality, asking a different set of questions: "What's NOT being done? What assumptions are begging to be broken?" 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗽𝗽 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗲. The idea of letting third-party developers build and sell their own software was seen as risky and unnecessary by everyone else. Yet, this completely unconventional GTM move unlocked a new, multi-billion dollar ecosystem and transformed the smartphone into an indispensable device. The traditional players were stuck in their old playbooks. They were disrupted entirely because their competitors couldn't see, let alone copy, this new GTM channel. Most GTM teams play follow the leader and lose. Here’s the thing 👉 GTM “alpha” doesn’t come from blending in. It’s what you build when you zig while everyone else zags. For years, I watched teams stick to the same old playbooks: 👉 Copying email templates from the web 👉 Reused campaigns like "AppSec for Dummies" 👉 Trying to one-up each other at big conferences 👉 Chasing the “best practices” from last year’s SaaS summit 👉 Running the same sequences, using the same tools, hoping for magic 👉 Scaling sales teams because that 'scales' the pipeline 👉 Using the same data from the same databases as everyone 👉 Attaching themselves to whatever new Gartner acronym was released Guess what happens? Everyone sounds the same. Prospects tune out. The market gets noisier. We've always been flipping the script at Clay. Instead of asking “What’s working for others?” we started asking: → What’s NOT being done? → Where are the gaps no one else is willing to try? → What assumptions are begging to be broken? GTM Engineering became our superpower. Here’s how we do it: ✅ Invent new roles ✅ Perpetual experimentation ✅ Hiring a non-traditional sales team ✅ Giving more creative freedom to employees ✅ Connect data, AI, and workflows in ways that feel weird at first (but work) ✅ Kill the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mindset ✅ Produce micro-shows that experiment with content formats ✅ Combine roles (sales + solution engineering wrapped into 1) We don’t wait for the market to tell us what’s next. We build it. (sometimes it’s messy, but that’s where the fun starts) “Make it work, then make it great.” That’s the mantra. The result? Unlocked outsized wins, playbooks (that continually change), and a brand that's tough to copy. If you want real GTM alpha, stop following the crowd's 'best practices'

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