September 27, 2025 | Read online
This week, I had the chance to speak at Pavilion’s GTM Summit, and for the first time, I delivered a keynote I’ve been thinking about for a while. It’s called “Anything But Predictable,” and it’s a breakdown of how I believe the Predictable Revenue model broke sales and where we go from here.
The audience had a bunch of friendly faces so it was a good venue to test this out, but the feedback was real. A lot of heads were nodding. So I figured I’d share it here to keep the momentum going and get more of your thoughts. Because if we don’t fix this now, I don’t think the next generation of sellers has a chance.
Here’s the gist of what I shared, and why I think this new model matters.
I’m positioning 2010-2022 as the Golden Age of Sales.
Money was free, tech stacks ballooned, ROI didn’t matter and there was a grow at all cost mentality. Predictable Revenue was the playbook. And yeah, it worked….for the business. But I personally think it broke sales.
It created a machine that was anything but customer-centric. Three handoffs before a buyer gets real value? SDRs asking generic BANT questions, adding almost no value. AEs repeating the same questions and droning through canned demos. SEs needing to qualify again to figure out what the client actually needs. CS picking up the pieces post-sale. Massive discounting. Rinse, repeat.
That system didn’t care about the buyer. It barely cared about the rep.
Now? Interest rates are up, budgets are tight and AI is here.
The same old sales process doesn’t hold up anymore.
Buyers have more power than ever, and more tools. I tell every rep and sales leader I know who doesn’t think they are in trouble to go ask ChatGPT about your own solution and act as if you're the buyer. You’ll get more value in five minutes than most reps deliver in a full sales cycle.
I’ve stopped worrying about all these sales automation tools replacing reps and now am far more worried about the customer waking up and realizing they don’t need (the majority) of us to get what they need when they need it.
This is why I don’t think we’re in trouble, I know we are.
But this isn’t a scare tactic. It’s a wake-up call.
Because it doesn’t have to be this way. We need to stop over-sciencing sales and start teaching the fundamentals again.
We turned SDRs into robots and now they’re being replaced by them but it’s not their fault. We trained them on process and tools, not how to actually sell.
Let me be clear: I still believe in the science of sales. But science should support the art. Not erase it.
The data proves what I’m seeing everywhere:
- Cold call connect rates are below 5%
- Less than 2% positive response rate on cold emails
- Fewer than 40% of qualified calls turn into proposals
- Fewer than 40% of proposals close
- SDRs hit quota just 60% of the time
- SDRs don’t even stay at their company for more than 1.6 years
- Less than 50% of SDRs move into the AE role
(btw, if you want to see the research on this and the details of the analysis I did on this send me a DM and I’ll send them to you)
And yet we keep hiring SDR teams using the same broken model. That’s the definition of insanity.
Here’s the shift we need: We need to bring back full-cycle sales reps, powered by AI and real-time signal data. Think Minority Report for GTM. But to make that work, reps need context, experience, business acumen.
So where does that come from? Especially if AI is replacing the majority of the entry-level work and colleges aren’t teaching any of this?
Think about it. None of the main GTM roles are really taught in college. The only one that has a real degree is Marketing. I got my degree in Marketing and as soon as I got into the real world I realized none of what I learned was applicable. Even though Sales degrees are starting to become more prevalent they are still only a fraction of schools in the country to offer Sales Majors. And RevOps? I don’t even think colleges know what that even means.
This is why I think we need to take it upon ourselves as businesses to build it so we can give these kids (and our businesses) a chance.
I’m proposing a new role: the GTM Generalist/GTM Specialist.
Here’s how it would work.
Year 1: GTM Generalist - You’re an apprentice to a full-cycle rep. You spend one day each with sales, marketing, RevOps, CS. You support, learn, and observe. It’s a salaried role. No comp pressure. Pure learning.
Year 2: GTM Specialist - You specialize. Sales, marketing, RevOps—whatever you lean into but you’re still being exposed to all the different roles and working with the full cycle rep. Your comp then improves and could include a quarterly bonus tied to team outcomes.
Year 3, you’re full-time in the role that fits best.
This structure solves a few things:
- It builds business acumen from day one
- It aligns departments through shared exposure
- It removes pressure to perform before reps are ready
- It improves quality, reduces churn, and creates better alignment across GTM
I’m not saying this is the answer. But it’s the direction I think we need to move in and quite frankly, I don’t think we have a choice because the old way is just not working any more.
If you’re a sales leader and this resonates, I’d love to talk. Email me.
And if you’re a rep trying to future-proof yourself, I’ve got you too. I’m running 1:1 coaching and training focused on getting back to fundamentals, building business acumen, and learning how to work with AI instead of against it.
Let’s figure this out together.
#MakeitHappen
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