Neal Goyal

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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For most salespeople, the scariest thing you can do is let a prospect talk to your customers unsupervised. We do it every time. We don't have a prep call and we for SURE don't hand a customer a script. No "let's make sure we pick the right reference." Instead it's - here's the list, go talk to whoever you want. This note came in after a Dallas visit 2 weeks ago. The part that got me wasn't anything about the product. It was that what stood out to them was how our customers talked about working with us. Weezie and System Beauty both gave up a real chunks of their day for a prospect trip. These are people with genuinely brutal calendars and they showed up and offered their time anyways. As a founder, this is it for me. Trust. That's the whole business. Sarah Hamer and I can build features forever, but if people don't believe in us, none of it matters. And the fact that our customers willingly spend hours with strangers because they genuinely trust us and believe in what we're doing? That's not a sales tactic. That's just what happens when you actually deliver. So, to the customers who believed in us early, before there was anyone for them to call, thank you. To those same customers who now willingly offer up a real chunk of their day to talk to our prospects, thank you. And to our RetailReady team for making an impression worth that call in the first place, thank you.

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Most SDR agencies will take your money even if you're not ready. I won't. After working with dozens of SaaS founders, I learned something the hard way — bad timing kills campaigns before they even start. So now I have 3 filters I run before I say yes to anyone. Signal #1 — You already closed at least 5-10 customers manually If you haven't sold it yourself yet, you don't know WHY people buy. And if YOU don't know... how will an outsider figure it out? Outbound doesn't find product-market fit. It amplifies it. Signal #2 — You can tell me exactly who your best customer is Not "SMBs" or "B2B companies." I mean — the industry, the title, the pain, the trigger that made them buy. Vague ICP = wasted emails = burned domains = zero pipeline. Sharp ICP = outbound that actually prints meetings. Signal #3 — You're not expecting magic in 30 days Outbound is not a vending machine. It's a slow burn that compounds. Founders who understand this? They become long-term partners. Founders who don't? They churn in 6 weeks blaming the copy. Here's the truth nobody tells you — Outbound help doesn't fix a broken foundation. It builds on top of a solid one. If all 3 signals are green for you, we should probably talk. If they're not — I'll tell you exactly what to fix first. No pitch. No pressure. Because the best clients come from honesty, not desperation. Drop a 🙋 in the comments if signal #1 hit different for you. Want me to adjust the tone, add a CTA, or make it more/less personal?

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BREAKING: Apollo.io just launched their MCP App on Claude! I tested both Apollo's & Clay's Claude MCP so you don't have to: Setup [2min] → Claude > Settings > Connectors > Apollo > Clay With both connectors live in the same chat, the execution test began 1: Prospecting & Discovery Prompt: 'Find CTOs at Series B SaaS companies in NY with 50-200 employees" Apollo: →Claude translated the request into an Apollo People Search ↳Results returned from Apollo's database in 42 seconds I also tested: →Tech stack targeting →Recently funded companies →Decision makers at named accounts →Companies actively hiring [Job posting signals] Clay: -Clay is optimized for enriching companies you already know -It is not designed for broad discovery from scratch [without domains] Dif: ✓ - Apollo enables discovery + search inside Claude ✗ - Clay Primarily enhances predefined lists 2: Enrichment Prompts: →Enrich a single contact →Bulk enrich 25 contacts →Enrich company [funding, tech stack, news] →Pull job postings Apollo: →100% accurate enrichment on 25 leads →Outputs were written back into Apollo →Apollo remained the system of record Clay: →22/25 accurate enrichment results →Outputs lived inside the chat session and didn't sync to Clay →Preserving the data required exporting Dif: ✓ - Claude pushed research, enrichment and data continuity into Apollo ✗ - Clay couldn't 3: CRM Actions Prompts: →Create a new contact record →Update an existing contact →Retrieve a contact already in CRM Apollo: →Contact created directly inside Apollo →Contact updated without leaving Claude →Record retrieval respected user permissions Clay: →No CRM write functionality →No ability to create or update Clay records Dif: ✓ - Apollo enables real write actions inside Claude ✗ - Clay does not provide CRM execution in Claude 4: Campaigns Prompts: →Add a contact to a sequence →Check which contacts are enrolled →Remove a contact from a sequence →Show all active sequences + performance stats Apollo: →Sequences returned instantly →Performance stats visible inside Claude →Contacts added directly to live sequences Clay: →Does not manage outbound sequences →No execution layer tied to campaigns Dif: ✓ - Apollo completes the outbound activation step ✗ - Clay stops at enrichment 5: The full outbound loop Prompt: →Find leads →Enrich contacts →Create contact records →Add to a live sequence Apollo: →Completed full search →No tab switching →No CSV exports →No API keys Clay: →Supports enrichment →Does not execute full outbound loop end-to-end Strategic difference: Apollo turns Claude into a workspace | Clay is an enrichment layer If your goal is drafting insights, both work If your goal is running outbound, only one completes the loop To help, I built 21 Claude-ready prompts for Apollo. It Includes: -Prospecting -Enrichment -CRM actions -Sequencing -Outbound loops Link in comments #Sponsoredpost #Ad Thank you Apollo for sponsoring this post.

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