The hottest Sales Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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The 10 most common GTM myths about early-stage SaaS

Startup Business Tips 🚀 • 43 implied HN points • 27 Jan 24
💼 Business Startup Marketing Sales Podcasts Growth
  1. Having a great product is not enough, you need effective marketing and sales to succeed.
  2. Adding a free plan may not always solve the problem of acquiring paying clients, and freemium may not be suitable for all businesses.
  3. Tracking lost reasons properly, understanding the value you offer, and analyzing churn are crucial aspects that impact the success of a SaaS business.

Can GTM out hire it's data problem?

Human Capitalist • 19 implied HN points • 21 Feb 24
💼 Business Marketing Data Employment Sales Technology
  1. Companies are changing how they think about growth. They want to be efficient and use data smarter, rather than just trying to grow for the sake of it.
  2. There’s a big push to hire more data roles in go-to-market (GTM) teams. This is seen as important for improving things like sales and marketing efficiency.
  3. Positions like RevOps and Chief AI Officers are becoming popular. Companies want these roles to help them run better and innovate with technology.

The Ultimate SaaS Messaging Framework for early-stage Startups

Startup Business Tips 🚀 • 64 implied HN points • 07 Oct 23
💼 Business Startups Marketing Sales Growth Framework
  1. Messaging is the foundation for sales & marketing assets like homepage, demos, sales decks.
  2. The 5-part Messaging Framework includes understanding the market, ideal customer profile, competitive alternatives, product, and value proposition.
  3. Creating your own Messaging Framework is essential for consistent communication and effective sales & marketing activities.
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Starbucks Shares Plunge After Sales, Earnings Miss

Dr.John B’s Newsletter • 8 HN points • 01 May 24
💼 Business Finance Sales Earnings Market Profitability
  1. Starbucks experienced a significant drop in sales and earnings, leading to a plunge in shares due to a 4% decrease in global comparable store sales
  2. The decrease in sales was particularly notable in China where competition with lower prices impacted transactions and average spend negatively
  3. Despite new store openings, Starbucks struggled to offset the declining sales in existing cafeterias due to various factors like colder weather, cautious consumers, and conflicts globally

ServiceTitan: Benchmarking the S1 Data

Clouded Judgement • 11 implied HN points • 18 Nov 24
💼 Business Finance Technology Sales Marketing Economics
  1. ServiceTitan is a platform designed for trades industries, like plumbing and HVAC. It helps businesses manage things like scheduling, customer service, and payments.
  2. The company has a big market opportunity, aiming to capture a larger share of the $1.5 trillion spent on trades services annually in the U.S. and Canada.
  3. ServiceTitan has shown strong revenue growth at 26% over the last year and has a focus on improving its financial metrics, including gross and operating margins.

Sales and Marketing and Dev Ops, Oh My!

Sarah's Newsletter • 99 implied HN points • 26 Apr 22
💼 Business Sales Marketing Operations Efficiency Automation
  1. Efficiency in operational teams is crucial for the overall effectiveness of an organization. They play a vital role in supporting other departments to work faster and better.
  2. Operational teams like SalesOps, MOps, and DevOps have unique functions but share a common goal of increasing efficiency and saving time for the organization.
  3. Current tools and practices in operational teams can still involve manual tasks, hindering efficiency. Providing education and support for scale is essential for driving true efficiency across all operational areas.

Services That Scale

Build To Scale • 19 implied HN points • 14 Dec 23
💼 Business Entrepreneurship Management Startups Sales Customer Service
  1. Professional services can be a significant revenue enabler and differentiator for enterprise software companies.
  2. Implementing a 'Concierge' offering can help address customer challenges and lead to larger subscription deals.
  3. Offering hands-on assistance during implementation and troubleshooting can increase customer satisfaction and improve product-market fit.

Here comes Tesla's Cybertruck...

Jon’s Newsletter • 19 implied HN points • 22 Oct 23
💼 Business Automotive Sales Marketing Financials Manufacturing
  1. Tesla's Cybertruck will officially launch on November 30th, after four years since the first prototype was shown. It's been a long wait, and the design changes led to new manufacturing processes.
  2. There is huge demand for the Cybertruck, with over one million reservations already. However, it might take a year to a year and a half for it to start making significant money for Tesla.
  3. Analysts predict Tesla could sell between 75,000 to 250,000 Cybertrucks per year by 2025, potentially bringing in up to $30 billion in revenue if sales reach Musk's higher estimates.

Wiz: Visible Vulnerabilities

The Product Person • 19 implied HN points • 13 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Startup Cloud Computing Sales Product Development
  1. Wiz achieved remarkable success with $10 billion valuation by rapidly growing in the cybersecurity industry.
  2. Wiz's founding team had a strong background in security from Israeli Intelligence, and previous successful ventures set a solid foundation for their new startup.
  3. Wiz's swift growth was boosted by their cloud-first approach and fast product implementation, attracting high-profile customers and significant funding.

Stop thinking and go to market

Nate is Learning • 19 implied HN points • 14 Jun 23
💼 Business Market Analysis Product Development Sales Decision-making Entrepreneurship
  1. When testing new markets, go straight to market with your offer instead of wasting time on research.
  2. Going to market quickly gives you real-time feedback, helps you make money, and uncovers the truth about product-market fit.
  3. By engaging real buyers, you will shorten your learning curve, spend less money, and make sales in the process.

Losing always sucks. Even writing this sucks

Brick by Brick • 45 implied HN points • 05 Jul 23
💼 Business Sales Engineering Value Execution Customer Insights
  1. Losing sales opportunities can be a great learning opportunity for both sales and engineering teams.
  2. Sales losses can occur due to reasons like lack of alignment with customer needs, inadequate value proposition, and price constraints.
  3. To learn from sales losses, it's important to assess gaps in perceived value, interview customers for insights, and continually review reasons for lost deals.

Why Your 'Disruptive' Product Isn't Getting Traction

Superfluid • 39 implied HN points • 02 Aug 23
💼 Business Startups Marketing Sales Product Development Market Analysis
  1. Changing consumer behavior is hard for startups, and it takes more than just a good product to do it.
  2. Before building a product, understand the market deeply, including the barriers to change and existing strategies.
  3. To succeed, focus on what you're really selling, craft a smart GTM strategy, and work progressively to change the market.

Guide #8: Best practices for choosing your marketing channels

Tiny Empires • 36 implied HN points • 16 Aug 23
💼 Business Marketing Entrepreneurship Sales Strategy Customer Acquisition
  1. Focus on marketing channels that give you the best return on investment for your time as a solo-founder.
  2. Be very targeted in your marketing efforts and ask yourself how much it costs to acquire a customer for each channel.
  3. Choose 2-3 marketing channels to focus on, consider direct sales outreach, and think creatively about where your ideal customers are.

How products exploit our biases

Gentle Nudge • 2 HN points • 19 Jun 24
💼 Business Consumer behavior Psychology Marketing Sales Decision-making
  1. Biases are judgments with little or no logical rationale behind them, affecting our decisions despite lacking justification.
  2. Biases are ideal tools for marketing as they are often subconscious and common among people, making them effective for a wide range of individuals.
  3. Marketing strategies exploit biases like decision fatigue, scarcity bias, and anchoring effect to influence consumer decisions and drive sales.

#37 The definitive guide to SaaS funnels

Organic SaaS Growth • 1 implied HN point • 12 Dec 24
💼 Business Marketing Sales SaaS Growth Strategy
  1. SaaS funnels are key to making a business successful. They help you understand your customers and improve sales.
  2. A clear funnel can lead to steady growth and better marketing decisions. Without one, it’s tough to know where to focus your efforts.
  3. You can get help creating or improving your funnels. Having an expert audit your current system might boost your performance.

1000 Skills Conference: Day Two Recap

Day One • 159 implied HN points • 26 Sep 20
💼 Business Skills Online Learning Profitability Productivity Sales
  1. Day Two of the 1000 Skills Conference focused on the importance of skills - learning online, profiting from skills, and combining skills for more income.
  2. Attendees emphasized the value of uniqueness to stand out, the need to master a skill before moving to others, and the importance of focusing on attention for productivity.
  3. Resources like 'Sell your Sawdust', 'The Rule Of Five', and 'The Sales Guide' were recommended to aid in skill development, productivity, and sales proficiency.

The Weekend Digest

Day One • 179 implied HN points • 10 May 20
💼 Business Branding Sales Focus
  1. Start your week with a plan on Sundays to set a purposeful tone.
  2. Failing to plan is planning to fail - prioritize organization for success.
  3. Benefit from the valuable insights in newsletters if you missed out on them during the week.

What it means to be an interim leader; Early stage Enterprise sales tactics; How to retain top talent

Femstreet • 18 implied HN points • 07 Jan 24
💼 Business Leadership Sales Talent Management Open Source Communication
  1. Being an interim leader is like a guest star appearance in your favorite TV show.
  2. Early stage enterprise sales tactics include not having a VP of Sales in seed-stage startups and focusing on wedge strategies.
  3. Retaining top talent involves creating shared benefit quadrants to move the organization forward efficiently.

The perfect cold email: TAPSA framework, trigger events & tips on CTAs, subject lines, and copywriting

Startup Business Tips 🚀 • 21 implied HN points • 23 Sep 23
💼 Business Marketing Sales Entrepreneurship Communication Tips
  1. The TAPSA Cold Email Framework consists of Trigger, Assume Pain, Solution, Action, and a good opener is crucial for a buyer-centric approach.
  2. Cold emails require concise copywriting, creative subject lines, clear CTAs, and leverage trigger events for relevance and engagement.
  3. Use trigger events to identify prospects interested in your product, connect with their needs, and structure your email opener effectively.

The Ultimate B2B SaaS Pricing Guide for early-stage startups.

Startup Business Tips 🚀 • 25 implied HN points • 12 Jul 23
💼 Business Entrepreneurship Marketing Startups Sales SaaS
  1. The guide provides 5 steps to start with your SaaS pricing, emphasizing the importance of understanding customer pain and choosing a value-based pricing model.
  2. Key pricing fundamentals include isolation effect, price anchoring, incentivizing yearly payments, avoiding undercharging, and collecting pricing-relevant insights for continuous pricing optimization.
  3. The post shares inspiring SaaS pricing examples and expert advice on the significance of learning speed over productivity in startup success.

Building CAUSL - Episode 3: Ideal Customer Profiles

CAUSL Effect • 19 implied HN points • 10 Mar 23
💼 Business Marketing Sales Customer Service Entrepreneurship Market research
  1. Finding your ideal customer is important but not easy. You need to identify who can truly benefit from your product and has the budget to spend on it.
  2. It's crucial to consider factors like location, job title, and company size when defining your ideal customer. This helps you focus your efforts on the right leads.
  3. Don't limit yourself to specific industries; every problem can have a solution. Keep an open mind about potential customers to avoid missing out on opportunities.

Referral Sales + Importance of Content Distribution + GTM Miro Templates

Startup Business Tips 🚀 • 8 implied HN points • 02 Mar 24
💼 Business Sales Marketing Startup Content Distribution Growth Strategies
  1. Referral sales is a powerful strategy to get intros and referrals with the right 'sales blurbs' from warm leads, helping build trust and increase win rates.
  2. Successful content marketing involves thorough research, planning, creation, distribution, and optimization, with distribution being as crucial as creation.
  3. Utilizing GTM Miro Templates can streamline processes like building ideal customer profiles, crafting messaging, designing homepages, and creating sales decks.

How to handle top customer objections, create powerful case studies & measure product-market fit.

Startup Business Tips 🚀 • 17 implied HN points • 23 Aug 23
💼 Business Sales Customer Service Marketing Product Development Entrepreneurship
  1. Create a concern-handling template with objections, responses, and additional resources segmented by buyer journey.
  2. Develop powerful case studies by analyzing existing clients, conducting interviews, and creating various types of social proof.
  3. Measure product-market fit with the Sean Ellis Test by asking users how disappointed they would be without the product.