Tyler Stuhley

Every SDR leader knows the pain. You finally get your top performer humming, and next quarter you’re backfilling them with someone brand new. That new SDR is learning everything: product, personas, competitors, tools. All before they even get to the hard part…figuring out what to say. Smart leaders bake this ramp into their pipeline models. Some even add “phantom” headcount to cover the gap between fully-ramped reps and the reality that 30% of the team is still learning the basics. The new SDRs heads are spinning as they bounce between six different systems of truth. So it’s no wonder new reps move at a glacial pace. That’s where Roomie AI Spark changes everything. Common Room already brings all your GTM signals into one place. Spark takes it further by turning those signals into natural-language insights that tell reps exactly what’s been happening at an account. Picture this: A champion joins a target account. In the old world, your SDR digs through Salesforce, hunting for context from their last company and stitching together context about the target account. Then they try to Hemingway it into a relevant messsage. It takes 20-30 min per message. In the new world, they hover over the contact in Common Room and Spark instantly surfaces everything — who they are, what’s happened, even Gong call insights from their previous employer. If I’d had this when I led SDR teams, I wouldn’t have needed to model ramp time because ramp time would be cut in half.

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Your first 30 days in a new RevOps LEADER role can be a trap. Note this if you are starting a new RevOps role. Everyone has a "quick fix." Marketing wants attribution. Sales wants the CRM to do their laundry. Finance wants a board deck by Friday. If you say yes to everyone, instead of becoming a better RevOps leader, you’ll end up as a data janitor. I’ve spent more than two decades in GTM and RevOps, and I’ve seen brilliant people burn out in six months because they tried to be the "department of Yes." They became the company’s favorite screwdriver, but the revenue engine stayed broken. The most senior move you can make is saying "No" to the noise so you can say "Yes" to the foundation. I call this the RevOps Charter. RevOps Charter: A grounded, non-negotiable boundary-setting document Here is how I break it down: 1. What We OWN (The Foundation) - The Tech Stack: We decide what tools stay and what go. No "shadow IT" spreadsheets. - Data Integrity: If it’s not in the CRM, it didn’t happen. We own the "Truth." - The Comp Plan Engine: We ensure the math works and people get paid accurately. 2. What We INFLUENCE (The Bridge) - GTM Strategy: We don't set the targets, but we tell the CRO if the targets are mathematically impossible based on current conversion rates. - Hiring Capacity: We provide the data on when to hire the next pod, but we don't interview the SDRs. - Sales Enablement: We provide the "what" (the data), you provide the "how" (the training). 3. What We DON’T TOUCH (The Focus) - Lead Generation: We track the leads; we don't write the ads. - Closing Deals: We fix the friction in the contract process, but we aren't jumping on every demo to "help close." - Technical Support: We aren't the IT help desk for your broken laptop. Why this is needed: When you define these boundaries, you give your team the air cover to actually think. You move from reactive fire-fighting to proactive architecture. Your CEO doesn't need another person to fix a broken report; they need someone to tell them why the pipeline velocity is dropping. Don't be afraid of the word "No." It’s the only way to build a "Yes" that actually scales.

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More SaaS companies should have a President's Club for SDRs Not just AEs. Not just closers. SDRs too. Think about it. The SDR is the first voice , first email & first reason a deal even starts That deserves more than a pat on the back. President's Club tells an SDR - "We see you , What you do matters , You belong at this table." That feeling? It changes how someone shows up to work. Recognition builds #culture. Culture builds #pipeline. Pipeline builds #companies. It all starts with making your SDRs feel like they're playing for something 🙌 Does your company include #SDRs in the President's Club? #saassales #saas #sales

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The most common AE complaint is "My territory sucks." Most of the time, these same AEs have great accounts in their territory they've never touched. The reason for this discrepancy is simple: AEs are over reliant on data from RevOps. Don’t get me wrong - I partner closely with RevOps on territory. We need their analysis to balance and distribute territories at scale. But the models we use for org-wide territory management rely on often imperfect data: revenue, employee count, industry, etc. Even with the best enrichment, data quality is imperfect. So account scoring is accurate enough for macro distribution, but not precise enough for individual prioritization. It’s RevOps job to assign your territory. It's your job to determine where you spend your time. And you should spend your time where you are most likely to make money. I recently built out a territory management guide that will help you spend your time in accounts where you are more likely to win. It’s free today here: https://lnkd.in/gV6uEuRs

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If your CSM doesn't talk to the customer until implementation is done, you've already lost half the renewal. 𝟳𝟯% 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝟵𝟬 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀. I pulled this from our State of Retention report, and it tracks with what I saw at a $40M SaaS company last month. Their CSMs were running QBRs at 60 days like clockwork. But by then, half the at-risk accounts had already mentally checked out. Most CS teams don't have a system that flags when an account goes quiet in week 3. Or when a champion stops logging in. Or when adoption stalls before the first value milestone. So they default to calendar-based check-ins instead of signal-based intervention. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘇𝘆: Some CS orgs don't even start the clock on check-ins until implementation is done! Yeah, I get it if it's a short little install, but if you've got a six-to-nine-month implementation, that means you're going half a year without a single strategy conversation. By the time the CSM shows up, the customer's already decided whether this was worth it. Here's what actually works: Build a 90-day early warning system that starts at contract signature: 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝟏-𝟐: 𝐎𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 Did they complete setup? Hit first use case? Add team members? If no movement by day 10, trigger outreach. 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟯-𝟲: 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Track login frequency, feature adoption, support ticket volume. If engagement drops 40%+ week-over-week, flag it. 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝟕-𝟏𝟐: 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐭 Did they hit the outcome they bought for? If not, you're heading into renewal with a problem, not a relationship. This isn't theoretical. I've operationalized this exact workflow in HubSpot Service Hub for clients moving off Gainsight and ChurnZero. It runs automatically, no CSM lift required. What would you instrument first: onboarding velocity, engagement drop, or value realization? And if you're trying to build this in your CRM and want a second set of eyes on your setup, drop a comment or DM me "90-DAY" — I'll tell you what I'd change.

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I stopped prepping for discovery calls. My close rate went from 12% to 54% if you think prepping harder makes you better at discovery. I did too. I used to spend 30 minutes before every call crafting “the perfect 5 questions.” I had a doc. A structure. A script. And I sounded like a survey. So I tried the opposite for a month. No prep. No script. Just looked at their site for 2 minutes, found one thing that caught my eye, and opened the call from there. Instead of running my list, I dug deeper into whatever they said. Mirrored their language. Asked follow-ups that weren’t on any template. Showed up like someone who understood their world, not like someone ticking boxes. Close rate went above 3x Here’s what I learned: You don’t earn trust by asking the “best questions.” You earn it by actually listening and building on what they give you. The irony? I sound more prepared when I stop preparing.

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Rev Ops in Space: A few weeks back I covered SS3 Discovery, where your offer either gets shaped with precision or quietly loses its edge before the client ever sees it. This week we move to the stage where commercial discipline either protects your margin or gives it away before the negotiation even begins. SS4 — Pricing and Proposal (50%) Your quote is in their hands. You have made the cut. But being at the midpoint means you still have just as much to lose as you have to win. A few things that matter here that most sellers get wrong. Your pricing should be consistent with your deal forecast. If your forecast shows a $500K deal and your proposal comes in at $300K, something is wrong, either your forecast was wrong or your proposal undersells the value. Alignment between forecast and proposal is not a formality. It is a signal of commercial discipline. Your deal structure must protect your margin goals before the proposal goes out, not after the client pushes back. Once a number is on paper it becomes the anchor for everything that follows. Here is the insight that most sales teams miss entirely: negotiate your terms and conditions in the same motion as your pricing, discounts, and margin targets. Pricing and terms have an inverse relationship. The more concessions you give on price, the less flexibility you should have on terms, and vice versa. If you give away both, you have nothing left to protect your margin or your revenue recognition timeline. And that revenue recognition piece matters more than most sellers realize. Your terms and conditions, specifically your acceptance clause allowances, directly affect when you can book revenue. A deal that closes in Q3 but has acceptance terms that push revenue recognition to Q4 is not a Q3 win. Structure your terms to align with your quarterly revenue projections and annual growth targets before the proposal leaves your desk. Exit Criteria: A competitive proposal out to the client with pricing, margin targets, and terms and conditions all aligned. Next week we move into SS5 Negotiation, where deal governance earns its keep and where separating from your competition requires more than just the right price. The rockets are ready. The commercial engine is still being built. #RevOpsInSpace #SpaceEconomy #SalesStages #RevenueOperations #DealGovernance #Forecasting

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Your renewals are being decided by people your CSM has mostly not spoken to yet. I saw 730+ accounts under churn risk for this exact reason across our customers. A leader decides to buy your software, your sales guy introduces them to your CSM, and the leader comes on the kickoff call along with the POC from their end. The leader introduces the POC to the CSM and then never appears in the meetings again. And they will not, and they should not. They have higher priority things to do. It is our job to: - keep them posted over email about major milestones and achievements - travel and meet them whenever you go there - ask them to come to QBRs, and make those QBRs value-driven and not about what we did. They don't want to hear you complete your checklist; they want to hear what value you brought to their business If this is done right, you will see them: - occasionally or always replying back to your major milestone emails - appearing on QBRs - and not hesitating to fight for your renewal

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