Manuel Hartmann

Founder & CEO@SalesPlaybook | Build & scale B2B sales without trial & error

Transforming B2B SaaS Sales in the DACH Region

With over 5 years of experience, I built SalesPlaybook from CHF0 to 30k MRR in under 18 months and scaled it to a 7-figure annual revenue with fewer than 6 FTEs. I’ve supported 300+ B2B SaaS and Professional Service Entrepreneurs to:
- Achieve EUR 0-10 Mio. ARR in under 3 years profitably
- Accelerate ARR growth by over 5x from 0-1 Mio. in less than 18 months
- Close 10-50x larger deals through Message-Market-Fit & Value Selling
- Implement & optimize HubSpot Sales Hub & Outbound Sales from scratch

Career Highlights:
- 2009: Launched sales career with 3-figure NPO donations
- 2012: Reached 6-figure sales with sportscars@Tesla
- 2014-2016: Led 7-figure CRM transformations@Accenture
- 2017-2019: Managed 5-figure AI SaaS@Onedot
- Present: Driving 5-figure deals@SalesPlaybook

What I Offer:
- Pipeline Generation: Developing and executing strategies to build robust sales pipelines.
- Sales Enablement: Equipping sales teams with the tools and training needed for success.
- HubSpot Services: Comprehensive implementation and optimization of HubSpot CRM

Personal Interests: 
- I’m an avid UFC fan, active (kick)boxer, snowboarder, and musician (piano + e-guitar). 
- I enjoy taking on challenges like writing a book in under 30 days or completing 1,000 push-ups

Education: Master’s Degree in Business Innovation from HSG with MBA Exchange in Canada

Let’s connect if: 
- You're a B2B entrepreneur looking to scale sales quickly, efficiently & without 6-figure mistakes
- You identify as a Top 1% talent on hunger & drive, urgent curiosity, intelligence & integrity

Founder & CEO

Join 220+ customers to build & scale sales with the #1 B2B SaaS Startup Sales Journey Partner in DACH.

All the expert sales help you need to fast forward your B2B SaaS Startup.

👉 Book a 1:1 Sales Assessment Call: https://thesalesplaybook.com/bookacall
👉 Get proven hands-on sales resources: https://thesalesplaybook.com/resources
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Track Record:
❖ 0-2M booked ARR in <15 months by finding message-market-fit in <9 months (boostbar)
❖ 0-7 figure ARR in <12 months by hitting message-market fit, setting up outbound sales engine & more (Kyan Health)
❖ 0-7 figure ARR in <18 months by hitting message-market-fit, building outbound sales & training first sales hires (Archlet)
❖ >10 projects to 50+ subscriptions to exit after building outbound sales from 0 (Airica)
❖ 0-2M+ ARR in <18 months by building a sales team from scratch (rready)
❖ 5x MRR by building scalable sales & hiring first sales rep (Turbit)
❖ Ramp 5 SDRs to quota in less than 3 months (Beekeeper)
❖ 4x annual revenue after closing 700k deal with Fortune 500 company by leveraging value-selling (novoMOF)
❖ 2x MRR in 6 months by niching down on Ideal Customer Profile (Houston & Ko)
❖ 370k+ deal closed through hands-on support, approaching 7-figure revenue (56k.Cloud)
❖ 2x ARR in 9 months by 10x'ing ACV by 10x, winning 100K+ deals & hitting 90% reply rates (Classtime)
❖ 2x MRR in 3 months, from 5-10k deals to EUR 150k contract, hitting 30% booking rates (wowflow)
❖ 2x MRR in 6 months from group coaching sessions & more (Houston & Ko)
❖ 250k ARR deal closed by changing their positioning & negotiation approach (Linimex)
❖ <5% to 80% opening and 30%+ reply rates on scalable outbound sales (TRESIO)
❖ 2x MRR in 6 months by niching down on Ideal Customer Profile (Houston & Ko)

What happened when the Founder CEO of a 7-figure agency (me) has been on paternity leave for 10 weeks straight...

First, finishing Q4 >10% ABOVE ambitious booking targets.
With me gone for all of November + December 2025.
Yes, I wrote a 10 page Sales Enablement GDoc.
No, it was not what helped most to succeed.
What really helped was qualified pipeline.
And indeed a rockstar team of "Drivers".

Second, "Drivers Only" is 1 of our 3 Core Values.
It includes to take charge, to lead, to take action.
Every single team member did that, proactively, WITHOUT ME.
Or my huge ego aside, probably a lot more than with me working.

Third, it proved that SalesPlaybook is resilient and operating well.
"If the company needs you all the time, it is not worth much".
(Most agencies work only if the founder works.)
Wise words from our board a while ago.
Glad we're directionally correct here.

Fourth, it seems it gave both the team and me perspective.
That "Manu & Manual processes" do not matter THAT much."
That the team is allowed, able & willing to take decisions alone.
That I contribute positive impact, but it is not critical for survival.

Thank you Florian Lussi Miltos S. Erik Steffen Eric Mattner Erik Plischke Luke Schneider Diego Sosa Fabian Geissler Matteo Treichl Christoph Karger Alen Cerovina Constantin-Alexandre Papadopoulos Jan Fischer for making the above happen + also Jeremias Meier Patrick Trümpi Lars Mangelsdorf Julius Göllner Timo Mueller for your support.

Now truly looking forward to scale sales quickly again here.
I've never been more confident in SalesPlaybook success.
Still Day 1.

Helping DACH B2B software firms to scale sales quickly, efficiently & without 6-figure mistakes with done-for-you pipeline generation, fractional sales & HubSpot services.

After 3 years on Salesforce, this B2B software firm completely moved to HubSpot for Marketing, Sales & Customer Success in <3 months.

Like most companies, they were hesitant at first.

Because CRM migrations are notorious for:
- Misaligned processes with low adoption
- Broken data and data quality issues
- Low adoption and frustrated teams

Here’s what the client appreciated with SalesPlaybook
- A structured, hands-on migration approach from start to finish
- Clear mapping and adaptation of Salesforce processes into HubSpot
- Deep HubSpot, Software & GTM expertise, not generic CRM consulting

CRM migrations do not work with "good morning, go-live & goodbye."
They require onboarding, training, and continuous optimization.
So revenue teams do not get a new CRM.
They get to buy back their time.
And scale sales quickly.

One line from the client that stuck with me from this 5-Star Review:

“We switched to HubSpot and are not looking back.”

I have never seen a CxO say "I miss Salesforce...".

👉 “Considering a Salesforce → HubSpot switch this year?”

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How to grow impressions by +8‘000% & members reached by +15‘000%:


Post 0 for 10 weeks while on paternity leave. 

Then post reasonably valuable content. 

Sounds feasible for most CxOs here. 

Just not happening a lot.

Due to capacity or fear. 

👉 Share below?

Vertrauen im Vertrieb ist die neue Währung. Nicht Technologie. Nicht Budget.
Wer in B2B "kaufen lassen" will in 2026, muss eines verstehen:
Ohne Vertrauen kein Meeting. Ohne Meeting kein Umsatz.
Das gilt in DACH noch 10x mehr als in den USA.
Hier ein paar unbequeme Wahrheiten:

1. Kunden, die Dich nicht kennen, kaufen nicht.
- Vertrauen ist die Eintrittskarte in den Entscheidungsprozess.
- >70% der B2B Software-Deals scheitern nicht an der API-Doku.
- Sondern am als zu hoch empfundenen Risiko des Buying Centers.

„𝘞𝘦𝘯𝘯 𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘢𝘴 𝘬𝘢𝘶𝘧𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘩𝘵 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘧  𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘬𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘯 𝘑𝘰𝘣 𝘮𝘦𝘩𝘳.“ 
Das ist die stille Angst auf der anderen Seite.
Nicht, ob Du jetzt CHF 30 oder 50k willst.

2. Vertrauen ≠ Reichweite.
- Niemand kauft, weil Du "laut, VC-backed & 10x" bist.
- Kunden kaufen, weil Du ihr Problem besser löst als sie selbst.
- Dafür brauchst Du Relevanz und Tiefe, nicht Likes & Clickbait.

3. Vertrauen muss skalierbar werden.
- Heute: LinkedIn Content, Case Studies, E-Books.
- Früher: Persönliche Beziehungen, Netzwerke, Messen.
- Auch Heute: Software + AI, um früher zeitlich möglich zu machen

Wenn Du Aufbau & Skalierung von Vertrauen heute nicht systematisiert?

Kannst Du morgen im 2026 Sales nicht skalieren ("ohne sauteure Leute").

Most "AI GTM B2B SaaS" in 2026 is too much, too confusing.
Ocean.io is one of the few that consistently just f***ing works.

I've been 10+ years in the GTM Tooling space (Salesforce in 2012...).
But I struggle to understand what "the market leaders" do.
Salesforce, Apollo, Gong, ZoomInfo, 6Sense etc?
Those stopped working for <500 FTE firms.

Here’s why I love "niche" solutions like Ocean.io :

It does ONE job really, really well:

“Show me companies that look like my best customer.”

That’s it. Not 14 features, 9 use cases and 3 clouds.

If let's say Personio is your #1 customer. 
Just type in Personio. Get 14,000 lookalikes.
Filter for DACH + 50–200 FTEs. Get 60 real prospects.

That’s who you should call in January 2026.
Not some inflated number from an SDR scraping LinkedIn.

We do not need more "GTM Tech."

We need a few tools that help us execute.

Daniel Ryan 🐨 is also one of the friendliest humans I know.
So just chat him up if it seems useful?

("Disclaimer": Yes, we use ocean.io with almost all our clients.)

Switzerland "Scaled paternity leave 5x" in 2021.
From 2 to 10 days for dads welcoming a new family member... 😐️ 
Don't know how this is supposed to welcome a new family member. 

For context, I took 10 weeks off from late October 2025 to early January 2026.
(That is still <50% of what my wife has been taking off for both our sons!)

As a Founder CEO of a 7-figure agency, I "get" some of the concerns.

1/ "But the company needs me to run the firm."
SalesPlaybook is still at <20 FTEs, so yes, a challenge for small firm.
But even more motivation to "raise" your team to function without you?
And for the 2025-minded ones - is this not the same for women as well?

2/ "The dad can anyways contribute 0 to the family in the first months."
I completely disagree here - even if it is "unpleasant & inconvenient".
Yes, I don't give milk (Matteo argues my boobs are too small.)
Yes, I can even give milk via a bottle, and carry Alessio.
But most of all, I can help my spouse to recover well.

3/ "Clients want to see the Founder CEO all the time".
Honestly, not at all in my experience - with a great team.
"How can I get less Manu & more Luke", one client asked me.
"Just sign this 6-figure quote here & you're great to go."
The client DID sign the 6-figure deal on the spot.
Still want to have lunch with him.
Because I want, not need to.

4/ "But it has always been that way - women nurture, men work".
Now you lost me, like completely. Common, it is 2026 now. 
Even if Switzerland only approved women to vote in 1971.
Besides losing out on 50% of the potential workforce.
Every human deserves to fulfill their work potential.
If the person wants & commits to it indeed.

Now if you are an (aspiring) young dad reading this:
- I do not judge you if you work 7 days a week, 8am-10pm
- I do not judge you if you do not work at all and stay home
- Just please don't claim "I'd love to, but.......<excuses 1-4>?

Zylon had 39k+ GitHub stars in <2 years with PrivateGPT.
Backed by top-tier VCs, but without a revenue engine.
Here's step-by-step how they fixed it to 5x revenue.

1. Built their first enterprise sales motion
- ICP: NOT (anymore) "everybody that cannot use ChatGPT"
- 3-5 Specific niches: Credit unions, local banks, academia
- Clear buyer journey stages, fast follow-ups, playbooks
- Hands-on sales call reviews & coachings from experts

2. Converted traction into pipeline
- Increased sales velocity with improving message-market-fit
- From “GitHub stars” to "great enterprise contracts"
- Matured early inbound into recurring customers

3. Professionalized LinkedIn Brand Building
- Go from posting 2x/month to 2x/week
- Founder-first Point of Views from real experience
- Viral hits with > 1 Mio. impressions & 1'000+ engagements

4. Prepared & hired their first GTM professional
- Invested a lot into "Right Person, Right Seat, Right Enablement"
- Found & hired a top sales rep that "did it before" in their field
- Helped founders be ready to delegate without losing control

Look, there is no "Silver Bullet" to scale sales quickly in 2026.
But there is a right sequence of doing the right things right.
But here from Iván himself sharing his thoughts?
https://lnkd.in/ep6k9r3b

Founder @ Slyleadz | I help startups build cold outbound systems that generate qualified meetings | 💌 slyleadz.us

STRUGGLING TO FILL YOUR PIPELINE WITH QUALIFIED LEADS?

I've been there. After testing 1000+ outreach campaigns, I cracked the code.

Now, I help B2B companies build outbound systems that:
→ Generate 20-30 qualified meetings/month
→ Convert cold prospects into warm conversations
→ Scale predictably without the spam tactics

Our secret?
- Multi-channel outreach that actually works
- AI-powered personalization at scale
- Follow-up sequences with 40%+ response rates
- Data-driven targeting that finds your ideal customers

Recent wins:
→ Helped a SaaS startup book 100+ demos in 60 days
→ Built a 7-figure pipeline for a tech company in 90 days
→ Generated 500+ qualified leads for enterprise clients

Want to stop guessing and start closing?
Book a strategy call: calendly.com/slyleadz/slyleadz-15-minute-meeting-clone

Nick Palasz

7 days to build a campaign and only 30 seconds to discover the contacts are stale

Let’s talk about the part nobody budgets for

We optimize messaging, channels and deliverability
then launch into humans that don’t actually exist

Let me ask you something:

How much of your outbound time is spent persuading buyers vs confirming they’re still at the company?

Here’s what slows the entire machine down:

Before anyone gets contacted, reps are:
 – Checking job changes
 – Verifying emails
 – Hunting for mobiles
 – Filtering who’s even in-market
 – Re-uploading CSVs just to see what’s missing

None of that creates pipeline

It just delays the conversations that do

Outbound isn’t bottlenecked at the mailbox
It’s bottlenecked at the contact layer

Here’s the fix…

Start with reachable humans not approximations

For this I use Prospeo.io to:
 → Search ICP
 → Filter buying signals (funding, hiring, tech stack, revenue)
 → Export verified email + mobile
 → Push directly into Smartlead, Instantly.ai, Salesforce or HubSpot

One upstream change makes downstream way less dramatic

We met 3 seconds ago, breathe

Outbound really skips every social step humans normally respect

No introductions
No context
No warmup conversation

Just a confident calendar request
And the assumption we’re already in a working relationship

Meanwhile I’m still trying to figure out who you are
What you sell
And how we arrived at “Thursday at 2pm?”

Sales has its own laws

And none of them involve pacing 😂

Follow Nick Palasz for more outbound anthropology disguised as professionalism

Who invented this sales advice anyway?

Because the execution never matches the brochure

- "Add value" turns into repeating yourself slower
- "Be consultative" becomes three warm-up questions
- "Personalize it" quick LinkedIn scroll and vibes
- "Follow up” means annoy vs disappear roulette
- "New angle" is just rewriting the first sentence
- And "trust the process" assumes there is a process

On paper it all makes sense

But the part where real buyers exist changes everything

P.S. What’s the worst sales advice you’ve ever gotten? 👇

sales advice we have all heard of

Peace lasts about eleven seconds in this profession

There’s always that brief window where you forget pipeline exists

You’re sipping coffee
Enjoying the sun
or pretending to be a normal civilian

Then pipeline quietly taps you on the shoulder
Asks you why opportunities are down
and whether you’ve considered sending 40 more emails today

It’s nothing personal
Just the ongoing negotiation between hope and math
that every rep experiences in silence

Pipeline doesn’t care about vibes
It only cares about coverage

Follow Nick Palasz for more sales psychology we didn’t exactly sign up for

What if the Friends cast ran your cold outreach again?

Outbound would be a lot less sales motion and more emotional damage control

Joey targets for vibes
Chandler follows up for jokes
Ross pivots for sport
Rachel soft-closes forever
Monica survives via process
Phoebe multi-threads like CIA

P.S. There’s a bonus character at the end 👀 swipe to check it out

If the friends cast did cold outreach pt2

10 SDRs, 870 lost hours and zero pipeline…

This is what nobody's talking about

Let me ask you something:

What do your SDRs actually do all day?

If you say ‘send emails and book meetings,’ you're only half right

The other half says they're stuck in spreadsheets

Here is reality

Before your rep can even send one email, they're:
-Hunting down contact info
-Validating job titles
-Checking if emails are real
-Finding phone numbers
-Updating CRM fields

It feels like work, but let's be honest, none of it creates pipeline

One SDR loses about 87 hours a month doing this
You have 10 SDRs… that's 870 hours gone

Here is the fix…

Stop letting reps enrich data manually

Fix the data layer before outreach ever starts

Automate the boring stuff and that's where automation actually matters

Enrich and verifiy using Lusha's API and connectors

Then let Make handle the boring logic (routing, scoring, updating CRM, triggering sequences) automatically, so nobody has to stop mid outreach to fix data

That’s how you turn those 870 lost hours back into pipeline without hiring another SDR.

If your reps are spending more time prepping than selling, you’re scaling frustration not pipeline.

P.S. What’s stealing your team’s time right now: data work or actual selling?
#Lushapartner

Brand partnership • Founder @ Slyleadz | I help startups build cold outbound systems that generate qualified meetings | 💌 slyleadz.us

How sdrs lose 87 hours/month to manual enrichment

Modern sales reps wear too many hats

At this point the job description needs a sequel

-Research agent
-Personalization agent
-Cold email agent
-Meeting prep agent
-Deal monitoring agent
-List builder agent
-Follow-up agent

All of this is done by one rep who didn’t sign up for half these tasks but still shows up and finds a way to make it work

P.S. What hat should reps stop wearing? 👇

Follow Nick Palasz for more

5 pre launch checks for your next cold email campaign

If you are sending emails without any safety measures… this is for you

I’ve experienced lots of issues while running email campaigns including
- Domains getting flagged
- Replies are stuck
- Campaigns burning out in 2 weeks

Everything would be decent, but the setup? Completely overlooked.

So I worked on some safety measures

Here they are…

1. Infrastructure Check

Make sure you're not using your primary domain, Gmail workspaces, or random SMTP boxes.
One mistake and your main brand email is done. You need dedicated mailboxes built for outbound. Maildoso helped me with it

2. Domain + DNS Check

Verify DNS propagation, correct records, no blacklists, and zero abuse history before sending
Because anti spam systems are watching from day one

3. Volume & Ramp Check

Start at 10 emails per mailbox on day 1, then slowly increase them
Sending a massive volume can trigger spam filters

4. Targeting & Relevance Check

Confirm you're emailing the right ICP with messaging that actually fits their world.
Deliverability means nothing if you're hitting the wrong person.

5. Sequence & CTA Check

Keep your CTA simple, don't pitch in email #1, and format for mobile readability.
People like to skim emails.

Cold email isn't complicated but it does require respect for the basics

Let Maildoso handle the infrastructure and make sure your campaign setup doesn't damage what the tech is built to protect

Run these checks, then hit send with confidence

January is just December’s revenge tour 😅 

Because now you’re chasing every prospect who confidently said “circle back next year” like they were making actual plans with you

But fast-forward to the new year and suddenly:

-Budgets are “still being finalized”
-Priorities got “reshuffled”
-And half the deals quietly migrated to Q2 without informing anyone

Reps are basically DM’ing ghosts
Leaders are refreshing dashboards like it’s a coping mechanism
And buyers are still “waiting on finance” because apparently finance runs the entire universe

P.S. What excuse are your buyers using this month?

SDRs are the power grid of the revenue org

Ask any AE
Nothing downstream works without upstream energy

Research → sparks
Support → stabilizes
Training → compounds
Quick wins → boost morale
Resilience → sustains output

You don’t get predictable revenue without powered pipeline, and you don’t get pipeline without SDR energy

When leaders invest here, everything downstream benefits

Follow Nick Palasz for more

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