Chad Knutson

I’ve reviewed 100s of discovery calls. The #1 difference between AEs converting 40% and AEs converting 70%+ of first calls is the number of problems discussed. And the top reps discuss fewer. Reps that don’t convert go wide, trying to find anything and everything to tie their product to. They think: “The more problems I find, the better chance I have of solving some of them.” Reps that convert go deep into the most important problems uncovered. They think: “I need to attach to a problem worth solving.” I built a discovery capture sheet that will help “guide” your conversations to go deep, instead of wide. You can get it here in this blog post (ungated and no cost - just make a copy): https://lnkd.in/gCaUJ4ZD

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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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You know the #1 thing I tell sales reps they need to improve on if they want to be more successful in sales? It's not any specific technique. It's business acumen. If you understand all the different aspects of business, how everything works together, the different roles and KPIs, how people are measured, etc. you become far better at every level of sales including: - Your messaging when it comes to prospecting - Your ability to qualify opportunities in and out - Your understanding of business impact and root cause AND Your ability to negotiate. I dove into this and much more with Giuseppe Conti on this week's episode of the Make it Happen Monday podcast. How else do you see business acumen impacting your ability to sell?

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When did 40-50%+ attrition rates on SDR teams become okay? "It's part of the grind running an SDR org." And the kicker...it's mostly voluntary attrition. Reps are choosing to leave the org. From our work with dozens of SDR teams, attrition happens for a few reasons: ⛔️ Toxic culture You know...the smile and dial stuff everyone's always talking about. Fear-based leadership. Unrelenting focus on hitting dial activity. Strict adherence to scripts and cadences. This is the obvious one. ⛔️ Lack of role-specific enablement I see this all too often. Enablement is strapped on bandwidth, so SDRs never get role-specific training. The "last mile" training/coaching around what to do when a prospect picks up a cold call and says "hello." How to write great emails, subject lines, etc. SDRs attend enablement sessions meant for AEs, then have to translate that into their outbound approach. ⛔️ No career track (a big one) SDRs are no longer getting promoted to AE in 10-12 months. Orgs are struggling to hold onto SDRs for 1-2+ years because there isn't a place for them to go. Ideas: - Create a "belt system" where reps can earn promotions: SDR 1, SDR 2, etc - Give them extra responsibility (like owning the playbook) - Make them a team lead - Build an AE development program to start AE training when they're still SDRs ⛔️ Inexperienced front-line managers 99% of sales orgs spend 6-7 figures on rep training every year, but ZERO on manager training. You have managers that don't know how to run proper 1on1s, weekly team meeting, coach around skills, etc ⛔️ Poor AE/SDR alignment Still seeing this one a lot. Alignment is basically three AEs bossing around one SDR on what accounts they should reach out to. There has to be specific guidance that allows SDRs to work autonomously. What helps an SDR hit quota vs. pleasing their AEs is often in conflict. Fix that immediately. ~~~ What would you add to the list?

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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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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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It’s finally here: The 2025 Top 50 SaaS Quota Attainment Report is officially live. This research from Lunar Research Labs digs into the state of SaaS sales performance across 50 leading VC-backed companies. Inside you’ll find: - Average quota attainment benchmarks across the industry - How GTM org design (BDRs, Demand Gen, RevOps, Enablement) impacts performance - Trends in ramp time, deal sizes, and quota stability Benchmarks to measure your own team against If you’re a Founder, CRO, GTM Exec, or a seller that wants to know what good looks like — this is built for you. 3 ways to access the full report: 1️⃣ Download it directly on our site (link in comments) 2️⃣ Comment below and I’ll DM it to you 3️⃣ DM me directly and I’ll send it over And when you read it - curious to hear your take on the findings. Which data points resonate most with your experience?

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