Lifting your close rate by 20% in 90 days by replacing standard playbooks with signal-driven sales | Co-Founder & CEO at bont | Business Angel

As a serial entrepreneur with over 10 years of experience in strategy consulting, I am committed to driving 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐁2𝐁 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 in the digital age. 🚀

𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬

𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 & 𝐂𝐄𝐎 𝐨𝐟 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨 (2012-2023):
•	Grew the HR Tech SaaS company from zero to several hundred clients. 	
•	Achieved annual recurring revenues in the mid-seven-figure range. 	
•	Successfully executed an exit to a strategic buyer in 2022 and transitioned out as CEO shortly thereafter. 	
•	Learned the critical importance of data-driven decision-making in sales.

𝐂𝐨-𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 & 𝐂𝐄𝐎 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐭 (2024 - 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭):
•    Our mission at bont is to transform sales processes for B2B companies by leveraging data-driven insights and AI technology.     
•    We aim to move beyond traditional sales methods and create more effective strategies that empower sales teams to make informed decisions quickly.     
•    We focus on integrating 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚-𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞, including: 
– 𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Identifying high-potential leads and optimizing outreach strategies, as well as implementing targeted campaigns to maximize engagement and conversion. 
– 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Using AI tools to provide insights that help close deals faster and improve retention, and personalizing customer interactions to identify upsell opportunities.     
•    By using AI-powered deal intelligence, we help sales teams prioritize their efforts and make better decisions, ultimately driving higher conversions and more predictable revenue. 

𝐓𝐞𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐧 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬:
•    Managing Partner advising scale-ups and startups on growth strategies and investor decisions. •    Passionate about supporting emerging B2B tech startups in optimizing their sales and operational processes.     
•    Co-founder of Investor Rating, a platform designed to streamline investor evaluations and enhance decision-making for startups and investors alike.

Outside of work, I’m a dedicated father of two, living near Bern. I love staying active and embracing new adventures. My roots in East Frisia give me a diverse outlook that enriches my professional life.

Let’s connect—whether to exchange ideas, explore collaboration, or discuss innovative sales growth strategies. 🌟

Dennis Teichmann

"We rely on gut feeling. We know our clients better than any data."

This was the challenge from a CEO, super skeptical of our data-driven approach.

His team had always done sales a certain way. They trusted their instincts. They were close to the client. In his mind, data was a distraction from the real work of selling.

Instead of arguing, I made a simple proposal:
Let's give it a try.

We took a small group of his sales reps. We used data to highlight only the deals that were statistically more likely to close, ignoring the ones that just "felt" strong.

The outcome surprised him.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁
The reps weren't threatened. They were energized. They saw that data understood the entire pipeline better than any single person's gut feeling could. It gave them confidence.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲
The numbers followed. The data-prioritized deals started converting at a higher rate. The test group began outperforming the control group who stuck to gut-feel.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲
This was the most powerful part. Their clients felt better understood. Why? Because they were being served at the right time, with the right measure. The outreach was relevant, not just relentless.

The CEO who told me data couldn't work is now one of its biggest advocates.

🚀 Boosting B2B Revenue & Retention with AI | Co-Founder & CEO at bont | Investor & Advisor

The worst advice in B2B sales?
“Just keep chasing.”

I hear it constantly. It's the go-to advice from managers who mistake activity for progress.
And our data shows it's detrimental to revenue.

We analyzed thousands of sales sequences inside bont.
The pattern was brutal: Chasing a customer who isn't ready doesn't create urgency.
It creates annoyance. And kills potential deals.

This is what gut-driven chasing looks like in the data:

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗽

→ Follow-up #7 to a prospect who hasn't opened an email in 6 weeks.
→ The "just checking in" call after 30 days of total silence.
→ Pitching features when their only signal was a single whitepaper download.

It's wasted effort, based on a playbook from 2015.

Chasing only works at one specific moment:
When the buyer is already moving.

Top performers don't chase blindly. They track buyer movement.
They see the signals—the pricing page visit, the case study download, the renewed email engagement—and they act on 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵.

Stop chasing every lead.
Start chasing the right signals.

Your pipeline review isn’t a review. It’s a weekly ritual of optimism.

Everyone shows up with “updates.”

Stages move.

Next steps get typed.

And the forecast still misses.

Because most pipeline reviews track seller activity:

Logged call ✅
Sent follow-up ✅
Did the demo ✅
Updated stage ✅

None of that proves the buyer moved.

So you end up with motion that looks like progress.

And a pipeline that feels “full”...

While the deal is quietly dying.

If you want a pipeline review that predicts revenue, stop asking:

“What did we do this week?”

Start asking:

“What did the buyer do that proves this deal is alive?”

Here are 3 buyer movement signals that matter more than any CRM stage:

Stakeholders expand
A new person shows up without you begging for it.

Buyer effort increases
Security review. Implementation questions. Document requests. Timeline details.

Buyers don’t do work for deals they don’t plan to close.

Time compresses
Meetings get scheduled faster. Next steps get tighter.
Urgency shows up in calendars before it shows up in words.

Quick rule for your next pipeline review:

If none of these 3 buyer movements happened in the last 14 days...

It’s not pipeline.

It’s hope.

What’s the clearest buyer movement signal you trust more than stages?

We're training B2B sales leaders for a job that won't exist in 5 years.

Most sales leaders today are professional data archeologists.
They dig through reports.
They try to spot patterns in messy CRM data.
They spend their week chasing reps to translate "this feels strong" into a real forecast.

This is not leadership. It's manual analytics. And its days are numbered.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁

In the near future, the sales leader will not 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦 insights.
They will be delivered by AI.

- The most realistic forecast.
- The next best actions for a stalled deal.
- The hidden risks across the entire customer portfolio.

AI will handle the "what" and "why." The leader's job is to act on it.

Their role will no longer be running reports and trying to understand the dynamics behind them.
AI will deliver those dynamics.

The sales leader of tomorrow isn't a better report-runner.
They're a commander who receives perfect intelligence and focuses only on making the right strategic moves.

Forecast accuracy isn’t a sales problem. It’s a data model problem.

Most CEOs think bad forecasts come from bad reps.

They don’t.

They come from a broken model.

Because the model most companies use is this:

Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
“Commit”

That’s not forecasting.

That’s storytelling.

Here’s why stage-based forecasting keeps failing:

Stages are opinions
“This is a Stage 3.”
Translation: I feel good about it.

Stages are lagging indicators
By the time you move a deal to “late stage”, the buyer already decided.

You’re just updating the CRM after reality happened.

Stages are easy to game
When pressure goes up, stages magically go up too.
Not because deals are healthier.
Because humans don’t like bad news.

The fix is boring, but it works:

Stop forecasting with stages. Start forecasting with signals.

The signals that actually predict outcomes are not “how confident your rep feels.”

They’re observable buyer behavior:

Signal #1: Momentum
Time between touchpoints is shrinking (alive) or expanding (dying).

Signal #2: Stakeholder health
More real stakeholders showing up (alive).
Fewer showing up (dying).

Signal #3: Buyer effort
Docs requested. Security reviews. Implementation questions.

Buyers don’t do work for deals they don’t plan to close.

Signal #4: Champion risk
Silence. Delegation. “Let me loop in...”
Or the classic: job change during the cycle.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

If your inputs are wrong, your forecast will be wrong.

Not sometimes.
Every time.

Quick deal-health rule for sales leaders:

If 2 of these 4 signals are missing by day 30, stop calling it “real pipeline”:

Momentum is not increasing
Stakeholders are not expanding
Buyer effort is not showing up
Champion risk is rising
Downgrade it.

Or kill it.

A fast “no” saves you a quarter.
A slow “maybe” destroys it.

What’s one signal you trust more than a CRM stage? 🎯

Most inbound doesn’t go cold.
It gets mishandled.

The usual pattern:
Reply comes in → rep sends calendar link → silence → “just checking in” → dead.

One KPI changed everything for us: time to demo.

Before we optimized, it took ~20 days on average to get from inbound to demo.
Afterwards, we cut it to ~10 days.

We booked fewer demos, but they had real interest:
Conversion went from 15% to 33%.

Here’s what worked: a simple 72-hour protocol that forces clarity fast.

Hour 0–12: Confirm the problem
One question:
“What made this urgent this week?”

Hour 12–36: Send a value drop
One short, relevant insight that helps a Head of Sales make a decision.

Hour 36–72: Send the breakup
“Looks like timing isn’t right. I’ll close this out. If it becomes a priority, reply with ‘restart’ and I’ll make it easy.”

That last message works because it removes pressure.
Serious buyers hate being chased. They like choosing.

Do you track “time to demo” today? If yes, what’s your current average? If not, why not?

Most B2B SaaS teams are drowning in sales data.

Everyone talks "data-driven," but almost no one knows what to do with the numbers.
So they collect everything, act on nothing, and confuse activity with progress.

Here's the real problem:
Too much data, not enough focus.

You want to fix this in one week? Here's how:

Step 1: Pick three questions that actually matter.
- Where are deals stalling?
- What activities move deals forward?
- What signals show a buyer is serious?

Step 2: Cut every metric that doesn't answer those questions.
No exceptions.

Step 3: Make these your north star.
- Every meeting revolves around them
- Every dashboard spotlights them
- Every conversation starts with them

Suddenly the fog lifts.
You see patterns, not just numbers.
Your team acts with purpose, not just reports for the sake of reporting.

Most teams drown in data.
The best interrogate it and demand answers.

Your sales playbook is probably useless.

I was asked about the most counter-intuitive insight I've found in our data at bont.
It’s not some obscure metric.
It's this: Standard playbooks don't work.

In fact, the more rigid the playbook, the worse the performance.
It's a brutal pattern. Sales leaders invest months building the "perfect" process, only for it to gather dust.

Here's the core problem.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗽

Your playbook tells a rep what to do on Day 7.
But it has no idea what the buyer did on Day 6.

It’s a map drawn last year for a landscape that changes every hour.

Playbook Thinking:
"My sequence says to send the case study now."
"The champion fits Persona A, so I'll use Pitch A."
"It's been 5 days, time for the 'gentle nudge' email."

This isn't selling. It's paint-by-numbers.

The most effective teams have stopped trying to follow a static script.
They think on data, signals, and information.

Signal-Based Thinking:
"The champion just re-watched our integration demo. I'm calling their Head of IT."
"They downloaded a competitor comparison guide. My next email will focus on our key differentiator."
"Their engagement dropped 2 days after the proposal. The deal is stalled. I need to find out why."

Stop forcing your team to follow a rigid process.
Start teaching them how to read the signals.

Most pipeline reviews are just wishful thinking.

Reps cling to deals they "feel good" about.
Managers trust gut instincts and happy talk.

But deals don't die overnight. They leave clues.

AI doesn't care about hope or stories. It watches the signals:
No recent activity
Weak buyer engagement
Skipped steps in the process
Slipping deadlines

Here's what AI sees in real client pipelines:
35 percent of deals are magically set to close on the last day of the current or next month.
Even in November, you'll spot deals marked for a heroic close on December 31.
Apparently, Santa delivers contracts too.

Pattern: end of month fantasy land.
Reality: most of those deals are already dead.

AI catches these games in real time, while everyone else keeps chasing ghosts.

You want a cleaner, more predictable pipeline?
Let AI show you what's dead weight.
Then act on it.

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Leading InnoGrant Advisors, our team excels in driving growth for a diverse clientele, ranging from large enterprises to startups/SMEs. Our strategic focus lies in R&D innovation, marketing, and commercialization, ensuring that clients' positioning is robust and their partnership and funding strategies are meticulously crafted. With a deep understanding of the European and DACH region's funding landscape, we offer 
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LONGEA Nutrition Systems

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I am an accredited Innosuisse innovation mentor and funding expert at Swiss and European levels. 
Swiss SMEs with less than 250 FTE and with an innovation idea can apply for Innovation Mentoring vouchers and get support from me for free, up to 7k support. Apply on www.Innolink.innosuisse.ch and chose me Agnes Zoller as your innovation mentor to help you evaluating the idea and guide you trhough funding process, significantly increasing your chances for funding - both Swiss and European.

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Connecting Science & People to Capital | Business Innovation | Funding |>€200M | Chemicals, Life Sciences, MedTech & DeepTech | VC - M&A Scouting | CEO InnoGrant | EIC Venture Builder | Innosuisse Mentor | Board Member

I am a scientist-turned global innovation executive, business strategist, mentor and board member. My experiences as corporate leader, entrepreneur and business owner in various industries such as chemicals, materials, life sciences, pharma, biotech to venture capital give me unique perspectives to effectively solve nowadays societal, environmental and business challenges. 

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Agnes Zoller, PhD

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