I told 140 people we would hit plan when we were at 23.6%
Plus why the same Digital sales room lifted Spain 118% and left the UK flat, and the one move that wins the last 48 hours of a quarter.
Week in the Trenches as GTM operator: Trust The Process
The deals closed in the last days of the quarter. But the lessons were about what I set up weeks earlier and what I made myself stop doing in the final hours.
From my week as a GTM operator. 3 lessons. 1 play to steal. Read time ~5 min.
Save this. 3 lessons from my week running sales across 4 regions at a quarter close, turned into moves you can run today.
Send it to 1 founder or GTM operator who reads everything and ships none of it.
The 90-second version
Spain’s win rate rose 118% from one change: digital sales rooms. The UK ran the same tool and went flat. That gap is execution, not the tool.
I posted our forecast to 140 people while we were at 23.6% closed with 8 days left. Saying the number in public is how you turn it into a commitment.
In the last 48 hours of a quarter, the worst thing a leader can do is show up with questions. Stop pushing. Be available for escalations.
The thread: you build the system early, you commit to it in public, then you trust it when it counts. Leadership at the close is restraint, not pressure.
Read time: 5 min
The set-up
35 degrees in the Netherlands, 2 days left in Q2. On Thursday I hosted 40+ HR professionals at a customer dinner while 4 deals moved on WhatsApp and Slack across 3 countries. One rep signed a 50k deal at the table.
55 quarters in sales, and I still catch myself thanking the wrong half of the team first. Reps get the applause. Deal desk, legal, and implementation are the half that makes the contract signable. Hold that thought; it runs under everything below.
Hi, it is Koen Stam and welcome to GTMcraft: The Future GTM Operator. This newsletter is built from 100,000+ GTM signals collected from 100+ operators and founders, combined with 13+ years of my own lessons and failures from the trenches. I write at the intersection of go-to-market practice and AI-powered systems for founders scaling 0 to 10M+ ARR.
100,000+ GTM relevant signals from LinkedIn, Newsletters and Podcasts indexed. 100+ playbooks structured. 3 GTM operator jobs across 3 GTM motions (SMB, MM, ENT). Same recipe. Now all part of the GTMcraft Operator Room.
Consider joining? (send me a DM for access).
Lesson 1: A digital sales room lifts win rate, but only if reps actually run it
I started async selling and digital sales rooms in Benelux 3.5 years ago. This quarter the data landed at our GTM leadership review. Across the international team, win rate up 43% and MRR win rate up 57% for deals run through the room. Spain was the outlier: win rate up 118%, MRR win rate up 388%. Same tool, same rollout, the UK was flat to slightly negative.
That gap is the whole lesson. When the same tool wins for one team and not another, the variable is execution on the room, not the tool. Rita in London proved it. She would not touch the room and was skeptical it did anything. I challenged her with the data, she started running it, and now she is an evangelist. Skeptic to evangelist, on evidence, not on a mandate.
Steal this: Pull your win rate split by reps who run your sales room well versus reps who do not. The spread is your execution gap, and it is coachable this week.
The rule: When a tool wins for one team and not another, fix the execution, not the tool.
Lesson 2: Predictability is leadership currency, so I put the forecast in public
I have been in this role since last summer, and June carried all of Q2’s new-business pressure. On June 18, 8 days out, we were at plan 50k, closed 11.8k, so 23.6%, with a 38.2k gap and 77.2k of pipeline. I posted to 140 people in our international Slack that we would hit plan. My words were that soon it was going to rain MRR and new logos.
That is a bet on predictability, made on purpose. Predictability earns investment, because saying what you will do and then doing it is what lets the business plan around you. The forecast held for 4 weeks even while the closed number lagged, and Gong deal health backed the call the whole way. Friday close: 27.7k for the month, 55.3% of target, with the quarter at 82.8%. The number was always going to land late. Saying so in public changed how the team worked the final week.
Steal this: Post your number where your team can see it, before it feels safe. The public commitment shifts the last week from hoping to closing.
The rule: Predictability is the currency. Say what you will do, then do it.
Lesson 3: In the last 48 hours, lead less
Here is what 55 quarters taught me about the close. The instinct is to push harder. It is the wrong instinct. By the final 48 hours, sales is a process and there is only so much you can still change. Showing up as a leader with questions and pressure only pulls reps off the deals.
So this quarter I did the opposite. Set the scene, coach to the process, be available for escalations, then get out of the way. The pipeline you built weeks ago is the pipeline that closes. Standing over it does not add a deal; it only adds noise.
Steal this: For your next close, block your calendar to be reachable for escalations and cancel every “where are we” check-in. Trust the pipeline you already built.
The rule: At the close, be available, not in the way.
This week’s playbook drop
Separate from the lessons above, here is what I built over the weekend. Every Saturday I run the GTM Signal across 40+ newsletters, and the strongest problems become plays. This week’s signal was Defend The Base: the revenue you already earned the right to is leaking. 3 new plays came out of it.
The T-120 Renewal Motion Play. Work every renewal from 120 days out, on hard signals, not vibes. Outlined in full below.
The Value-Unit Pricing Play. Put a value unit between your price and your cost, so a buyer cannot look up your cost and route around your markup.
The AI Shortlist Play. Buyers shortlist you through AI before a rep ever hears about it. Own the answer before they ask.
Play: The T-120 Renewal Motion Play (v1)
Fixes: Renewals get decided 120 days out, but you show up at T-14. The base leaks while the CRM still reads green.
The 5 steps:
See the leak. Compute real net revenue retention by segment, not blended, and name the one segment bleeding the most.
Build the T-120 board. List every renewal in the next 120 days, on the auto-renewal date, one owner per account, sorted by revenue at risk.
Score risk on hard signals, not vibes. Band every account red, amber, or green on 3 forward signals only.
Trigger the action, not the score. Attach a named play to each band, and for every red book the exec value review this week.
Compound it. Turn each save into a repeatable motion and set a QBR cadence that proves value before the renewal window.
Template (the T-120 Renewal Risk Rubric):
Signal 1, champion engagement: green if replied in 30 days, amber 30-60 days, red 60+ days or gone.
Signal 2, usage trend last 60 days vs prior 60: green flat to up, amber down 1-20%, red down 20%+.
Signal 3, exec sponsor: green in seat and engaged, amber in seat but quiet, red left or reorged out.
Band = worst of the 3. Red, book the exec review this week. Amber, re-engage the champion. Green, line up the expansion ask.
Paste this into your AI:
Here is a CRM export of accounts renewing in the next 120 days with usage and activity data [paste]. For each account: compute the usage trend, find the last champion reply date, flag sponsor status, then assign a red, amber, or green band using the rubric above. Output a table sorted by ARR at risk, largest first, with the recommended action per row.
Want the full GTMcraft Play? DM me or reply on this email for access.
What else happened
Gave an internal candidate who did not advance a full written feedback doc, which meant switching from manager mode to assessor mode and naming things a 1:1 never would. Trumpet MCP with Claude is now live and auto-builds sales rooms from Gong call intel. The Benelux country sales leader hire is getting to a decision stage. That was my week (publicly shared, so you can hopefully learn from it).
One question for the room: when a play works for one team and not another, did you fix the tool or the execution? Reply and tell me which one you got wrong last.
Go deeper with GTMcraft, the room for Founders & Operators
You do not need another newsletter. You need the system under it.
Read the plays. Every play, live and current, in the Operator Room.
Download for your archive. Take the PDF or workbook offline.
Get the markdown. Drop the raw play into your own stack or AI tool.
Build your own. Use the GTMcraft Notion databases (100,000+ signals) to spin up a play for your exact motion.
The full Plays database is past 100 and growing every week.
Curious to see a sneakpeak of GTMcraft, DM me or reply on this email.
See you inside GTMcraft’s Operator Room,
Koen
Your (human) GTM Agent
