James Tuttiett

Salesloft and Clari announced a merger. I call it a surrender. The legacy SaaS Unicorns are dying. Creative mergers and cap table restructuring is what happens when you burn through $937m in venture money and cannot grow sustainably. The VCs are paying for their mistakes. Employees equity will be crushed. Welcome to the new era of SaaS Wealth Destruction. But don’t worry, there’s a silver lining on the other side … BACKGROUND: When Salesloft acquired Drift in early 2024, I wrote: “To me, this is a merger that marks the beginning of many such mergers across all VC and PE portfolios that will play out in the next 1-2 years.” The Clari + Salesloft merger is another signal that the current winner take all investment and operating model no longer works. Over-capitalization no longer justifies premium pricing. The biggest and loudest conference booths no longer guarantee margins. The game has changed. Expect few years of “Creative Mergers” just to survive what’s coming.  Let’s first review the merged company: Drift + Salesloft + Clari + 9 other smaller acquisitions raised a total of $937M in venture funding and at its peak it had a combined valuation of $6.2 billion. Since the cap table was restructured with this merger; Clari’s real valuation is likely far lower - meaning investors and employees on both sides took a big hit. This is both a warning shot and a beginning of what’s coming. AI is going to accelerate such creative mergers and associated SaaS wealth destruction. Many Unicorns have to undergo this process to stay relevant or slowly fail. Ironically, the smartest Unicorn founders will choose valuation-crushing deals & rush to merge with other Unicorns. While such mergers destroy wealth and indicative of surrender, they are healthy for the overall ecosystem moving forward. Roughly 350 unicorns raised capital in the last 5 years. Many need restructuring. Why Salesloft + Clari merger make sense for the future? The real battleground of the future is CAC. CAC has already exploded in the past few years (60% for large SaaS). A platform like Salesloft + Clari has the potential  to subsidize CAC across multiple solutions and platforms while premium end point solutions will find it hard to survive and justify the ever rising CAC. Buyers are moving away from “Best of Breed” to “All in One” platform purchases. This also helps with the rising CAC. Every vertical will see the rise of multiple MEGA platforms - often a result of combining multiple Unicorns. With Clari + Salesloft’s combined product portfolio, data exhaust and high-quality customer base, Clari has a good shot at positioning itself as one of the MEGA revenue platform of the future. I hope more Unicorn founders have the courage to admit their mistakes and restructure before the music stops. But in the meantime, buckle up and get ready. We will see many more deals like this in the next 12-18 months. Welcome to the era of SaaS Wealth Destruction.

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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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When you run cold calls, data quality is the most important thing you should look for! I’ve been saying it for a while now, and the latest test from Céan Greer and Mark Bangs only proves it again. They ran a head-to-head test: 100 contacts, same persona, same call block. Disclaimer: They are not affiliated with either company, and paid for the data themselves. Lusha - Easy list building directly from Linkedin + HubSpot integration But results included: retired people, landlines marked as mobiles, fax numbers, wrong geographies, inactive numbers… FullEnrich - Higher connect rate (and NEW Hubspot integration) Only “issue”: a few personal mobiles => still far more usable than dead numbers 👉 Conclusion: data quality >>> Integrations and convenience are nice, but if the data isn’t reliable, you’re just wasting time. And as of today, nothing beats FullEnrich on quality.

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6 storytelling frameworks every SDR needs to know. (unless you want to be an SDR forever) Most SDRs get storytelling wrong. And it's costing them promotions and pay-rises. I've seen brilliant ideas die in in meetings. Watched prospects check their phones. Noticed colleagues peers eyes glaze over when they talk. Not because the ideas were bad. But because the story wasn't there. These 6 frameworks change everything: 1) Simon Sinek's Golden Circle ↳ Don't start with what you do. Start with WHY you do it. ↳ Then explain HOW you do it differently. ↳ Only then share WHAT you actually offer. When Airbnb pitches, they don't just say "we rent rooms." They start with "we create belonging." Lead with vision. 2) Minto's Pyramid Principle ↳ Hit them with your main point first. ↳ Support it with clear evidence. ↳ Add details only if they ask. Your busy prospects will love you for this. No more waiting until 15 minutes into your cold call for the punchline. 3) The Pixar Pitch ↳ "Once upon a time..." (set the scene) ↳ "Every day..." (show the problem) ↳ "Until one day..." (introduce your solution) ↳ "Because of that..." (share the impact) ↳ "Until finally..." (reveal the transformation) This structure is pure magic for showing your company's journey or vision and how your prospect can join you. It shifts their belief system and helps them take action. 4) StoryBrand Framework ↳ Your customer is Luke Skywalker ↳ You're Yoda, the guide ↳ Show them how to win Stop making your company the hero. It's not about you. It's about your prospects. 5) What, So What, Now What ↳ State the facts clearly ↳ Explain why anyone should care ↳ Define the next steps Perfect for turning QBR from sleep aids into action drivers. 6) ABT (And, But, Therefore) ↳ Set up what everyone agrees on ↳ Introduce the challenge ↳ Present your solution When you need to be quick and compelling, this is your go-to. Great for 1:1s with your manager. In today's world, the best story wins. It books the meetings. It closes the revenue. It wins the deals. Your dials deserve a story that matches it. Master these frameworks, and watch what happens to: Your quota. Your commission. Your career trajectory. P.S. What's your go-to storytelling framework? ♻️ Repost to help an SDR in your network. Follow Chris Ritson for more SDR content.

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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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Most sales reps HATE their CRMs. 40% of their time is lost in admin work. You know the drill: - Log every lead - Update every field - Report every tiny change But here’s what nobody likes to say out loud: → Salespeople want to SELL, not play data janitor 🤯 Almost HALF of your sales team’s work week is just… clicking, updating, moving stuff around in Hubspot, Pipedrive and other legacy CRMs. Wild. Now, imagine flipping that. Let’s do the math together (AI, hope you’re listening): 1/ Rep spends 40% of their time on admin work. 2/ Give them an AI Native CRM (like Breakcold 🧊🔨). 3/ That 40% is back in their pocket. All selling, zero admin. What happens? - More deals closed per rep - No need to hire extra salespeople to hit targets - Sales teams finally do what they’re paid for: sell The trick isn’t adding more “fluff AI” with fake features. It’s automating the boring stuff: → Lead movement? Automated → Task creation? Automated → Multichannel outreach? One dashboard (Email, LinkedIn, Telegram, WhatsApp) Now you get a happy rep, a happy founder, and a happy pipeline. People think the answer is hiring more salespeople. But you can already sell more with the people you have-if you give them back their time. --- That’s why we built Breakcold as the AI Native CRM for 2025, not 2010. What’s your biggest CRM headache right now?

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I've interviewed 100+ sales leaders. These 9 questions show the Average vs Elite: 𝟏: 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞: 𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 “𝐫𝐮𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥” 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲? Most leaders suck the life out of the room one Salesforce dashboard at a time. A top sales leader can fire up the room with an “us vs the world” mentality even in the ugliest selling environments. 𝟐: 𝐇𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐚 #𝟏 𝐫𝐞𝐩? Everyone can hire a junior or average rep. Can you get the #1 rep to leave their seat and work for you? 𝟑: 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬? Most leaders can coach a deal, but never notice the patterns. Top sales leaders build an internal sales methodology with those patterns. 𝟒: 𝐂𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡: 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐉𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫? I rarely see a top rep learning from their sales manager. Can you level up a rep who might even be better than you? 𝟓: 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐬: 𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥? I heard a rep say “I can’t trust my VP with a deal” the other day. If you’re a top leader, your reps are dying to pull you into their biggest deals because you’re the ace in the hole. 𝟔: 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐒 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩? Most leaders abide by the 17 layers of bullshit forecasting methodology where they hedge their rep’s forecast by 30% because they know it’s wrong. Top leaders fix the real problem: If you rep’s forecast every deal correctly, why do you need to hedge? 𝟕: 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬: 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦? Most sales leaders say “make more phone calls” when pipeline is down. But why would you make more phone calls if your team is batting 0 for 10? 𝟖: 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐌𝐠𝐦𝐭: 𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝? Mediocre sales managers give 2 compliments for every critique even when the rep sucks. Top sales leaders tell the rep how it is from a position of care so they can fix it. 𝟗: 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥: 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧? Who cares if an average rep wants to work for you again. If your A Players won’t work for you again, that means they’ve seen enough. *** Two years ago, I asked Mark Kosoglow to be the co-host of the 30 Minutes to President's Club leadership show. In those 2 years, I’ve learned more from him than I have from any sales leader I could’ve imagined. (and he honestly would've saved me so many sleepless nights as a VP of Sales if I knew all this stuff before. Today I’m grateful to share those learnings with the world. Mark’s Sales Management Operating System Course is live today. Get your launch week discount before Friday: https://lnkd.in/gFuweESQ #sales

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Almost 4 out of 5 B2B sellers missed quota in H1*. Yet they will nearly all use a swiss army knife of sales tech tools, each promising to 'improve win rates', 'revenue success' and 'x10 pipeline velocity'. More tools, more AI, more time selling to the right prospects (in theory), but less quota attainment. The problem is not those tools. Many are great with strong ROI. But the ROI is capped by sales skill and competency. A more productive underperformer is still an underperformer. Investment in tech for productivity and insights comes easy. Improving skills? Coaching? "Isn't that our managers role?" How many organisations are already resigned to 2026 seeing stats like this? Budget planning conversations already planning to reduce organisation revenue goals, because the data says its harder. Tech has not solved underperformance and it won't in 2026 either. *77%, Ebsta (now part of Fullcast) and Guy Rubin's superb benchmark data. Follow if you're not already.

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