Gtm leadership skill

Crisis leadership disclaimer: GTM/founder crisis playbooks in this skill are not legal advice. Security breach notifications, regulatory inquiries, and liability language → counsel + deal-desk/references/legal-gtm-playbook.md (Pattern 29) before external statements.

GTM Leadership

Overview

Revenue leadership is not "hit the number and yell louder." GTM leaders hire the machine, design comp that produces the right behavior, coach through difficult truth, and remove people who poison velocity — fast enough to protect the team, slow enough to be fair. The mistake: firing without a documented system, or avoiding hard conversations until a quarter is lost.

This skill is the people operations layer for GTM leaders: hire decision framework, performance and termination conversations, comp approval, and when to exit a leader. Comp strategy (canonical) → executive-compensation/references/gtm-compensation-strategy.md (Pattern 35). IC bands + JDs → gtm-role-descriptions. Interview scorecards → hiring-by-role. Hire sequence → sales-team-building.

When to Use

• "How do I fire a sales rep / AE / SDR?"
• "When should I fire my VP Sales?"
• "Script for difficult performance conversation"
• "PIP for underperforming AE"
• "How to tell someone they're not hitting quota"
• "Approve a comp plan for my team"
• "Evaluate CRO / VP Sales candidate"
• "Conversation about forecast sandbagging"
• "Employee resigned — what do I do?"
• "Exit interview questions"
• "Counter-offer when rep quits"
• "Security breach — what do we tell customers?"
• "Outage war room — who owns what?"
• "Draft holding statement / crisis comms"
• "Layoff communication plan"
• "Bad press going viral — CEO response?"

Do not use for legal termination requirements alone — load employment-compliance. Do not use for statement liability review alone — load deal-desk → legal-gtm-playbook.md. Do not use for buyer-side indecision — load buyer-indecision (JOLT).

Authoritative Foundations

• Mark Roberge. Hire for traits (Coachable, Curious, Prior success, Intelligent, Work ethic); train for skills. Mis-hire cost compounds — use structured scorecards, not gut. Ramp is a curriculum, not sink-or-swim.
• Jason Lemkin (SaaStr). Founder closes 10–20 deals before first AE. VP Sales after ~$2M ARR with reps at quota. Rushed leadership searches (30 days) produce attribution-error hires — "scaled X to Y" at wrong stage.
• Kim Scott — Radical Candor. Care personally + challenge directly. Difficult conversations use Behavior → Impact → Ask. Ruinous empathy (avoiding truth) kills sales teams faster than one bad quarter.
• Bridge Group / Pavilion. Quota:OTE ~5:1 for ICs; OTE ≤20% of year-1 quota. CRO comp increasingly gated on ARR + NRR + efficiency — not bookings alone.
• Winning by Design REKS. Before firing IC: diagnose Results → Efforts → Knowledge → Skills. Wrong layer = wrong fix (training vs territory vs fit).
• Patty McCord — Powerful. Talent density: keep people who make others better. Fire brilliant jerks and passive resistors — culture fit is performance.
• Marc Benioff — V2MOM. Annual Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles, Measures aligns the revenue org to company strategy — not vanity OKRs. Publish internally; cascade quotas from Measures. Load references/benioff-v2mom-guide.md.
• Force Management — Cross-Functional Alignment Cadence. Weekly pipeline + handoff hygiene; monthly GTM scorecard (Sales + Marketing + CS); quarterly territory, quota, and pod economics true-up. Reporting structures by ARR stage and span of control (6–8 ICs per manager). See references/force-management-playbook.md.
• John McMahon — The Qualified Sales Leader. 5× CRO; Snowflake/MongoDB board. MEDDICC as shared operating language; inspect what you expect in weekly 1:1s (deal evidence, not rep confidence); hire managers before rep waves; 5-quarter board model with productivity-per-rep and new-logo vs expansion mix. Anti-patterns: happy ears, lone wolves, premature scale. Canonical → references/cro-enterprise-strategy.md (Pattern 31).
• Frank Slootman — Amp It Up. Snowflake CEO era: align sales comp to consumption (not bookings on usage-based revenue); unified exec metrics; industry GTM pods; deployment velocity over CS bureaucracy. Case study section in cro-enterprise-strategy.md.
• Databricks hybrid GTM (Ghodsi / Gabrisko). PLG for acquisition, enterprise field for scale — complementary layers. Technical sellers run POCs; consumption (DBU) pricing matches cloud buyer mental models. See cro-enterprise-strategy.md.
• Jason Lemkin — crisis stakeholder trust. Never skip monthly investor updates in bad months; explain stumbles before they hit MRR; own mistakes fast. Source: Handling Bad News. Pairs with investor-updates and Pattern 33.
• Laurie Ruettimann — workforce crises. Layoffs: early-week notification, written summary, HR/legal script — no ad-lib. Internal comms stay frequent and human. Source: Approach Layoffs.

Step-by-Step: Crisis Leadership (Executive)

Canonical: references/crisis-management-playbook.md · Pattern 33 in using-gtm-skills

1. Classify severity (1–4) — escalate up when uncertain in the first hour
2. Stand up war room — IC (eng), comms lead, CS captain, legal (Sev 3+), CEO voice (Sev 2+)
3. First 60 minutes — internal facts doc → holding statement → status page if customer-visible → internal memo before social
4. Audience order — employees → affected customers → investors (Sev 3+) → press only if public
5. Apology framework — Acknowledge → Own → Act → Follow up (counsel reviews Sev 3+)
6. Post-crisis — blameless post-mortem; retention vs 90-day baseline; quarterly tabletop

Preparedness (before crisis): references/crisis-preparedness-checklist.md
Statement shells: templates/crisis-holding-statement.md, crisis-customer-email.md, crisis-internal-memo.md
PR expert context: references/saas-pr-crisis-experts.md
Breach path: references/gtm-data-exchange-playbook.md, gtm-security-hygiene-basics.md

Step-by-Step: Annual GTM Alignment (V2MOM)

Before Q1 hiring and comp finalization:

1. Read company vision — draft GTM Vision (1–2 sentences)
2. Define Values that constrain behavior (trust, forecast honesty, customer success)
3. List Methods (prioritized plays) with owners — POD launch, CS expansion, etc.
4. Surface Obstacles honestly — ramp gaps, tooling debt, ICP confusion
5. Set 5–8 Measures with baseline → target — ARR, NRR, forecast accuracy, hygiene
6. Cascade to manager V2MOMs; quotas must trace to Methods

Template: templates/v2mom-gtm.md
Enterprise CRM tie-in: crm-toolkit → benioff-enterprise-playbook

Step-by-Step: Hire (GTM Leader Lens)

Phase 1 — Role and Timing

Hire	Minimum Trigger	Expert Anchor
First AE	Founder closed 10–20 deals; playbook exists	Lemkin, Roberge
SDR	AEs need pipeline; not before AE motion works	sales-team-building
Player-coach mgr	2+ AEs; one at quota 2 quarters	WbD POD
VP Sales	$5M+ ARR, proven AE productivity	Betts, Pavilion
CRO	$15M+ ARR; unified revenue P&L	Pavilion CRO Council

Full JD + comp → gtm-role-descriptions. Interviews → hiring-by-role.

Phase 2 — Leader Hire Scorecard

Use templates/hire-decision-scorecard.md. Weight:

Criteria	Weight	Evidence Required
System-building (not heroics)	30%	Built comp, ramp, forecast cadence — not inherited
Stage-fit	25%	Same ACV/motion/ARR band as you
Quota attainment history	25%	Last 4 quarters % — numbers, not stories
Culture / coaching	20%	Backchannel refs from direct reports

Red flags: Blames team in references; no documentation of methodology; only "scaled" at one lucky segment.

Phase 3 — Offer and Comp Approval

Pick role-specific comp template from gtm-role-descriptions (SDR, AE, manager, VP/CRO). Strategies in gtm-role-descriptions → saas-comp-strategies.

Leader approval checklist:

• Quota:OTE ratio defensible (Bridge Group)
• Ramp documented for new hires under this leader
• Clawbacks and draw terms clear
• Behavior incentives match strategy (quality vs volume)

Step-by-Step: Coach Before Fire (IC)

Phase 4 — REKS Diagnosis

Before PIP or exit, run REKS via sales-coaching (reks-diagnostic + coaching-plan-30-day templates):

Layer	Question	Fix If Gap
Results	Attainment % last 4 quarters?	Territory? Quota?
Efforts	Activity and pipeline coverage?	Coaching, discipline
Knowledge	Knows product, ICP, process?	Enablement
Skills	Discovery, demo, negotiate?	Role-play, shadow

If Results fail after Efforts/Knowledge/Skills are adequate → fit issue, not training.

Phase 5 — Difficult Conversation (Radical Candor)

Structure every hard conversation:

1. Prepare: Facts only (CRM, attainment, call recordings). No labels.
2. Open: "I want to talk about [specific metric/behavior]."
3. Behavior → Impact: "When you [X], the impact is [Y]."
4. Ask: "What's your read? What would you change?"
5. Agree: Written next steps + date.
6. Document: Same day in HR file / manager log.

Templates: templates/difficult-conversation.md, templates/performance-pip.md.

Topics GTM leaders avoid but must have:

• Quota miss pattern (3+ weeks pipeline hygiene)
• Forecast sandbagging / optimism
• Toxic behavior toward SDRs or CS
• Skipping CRM / methodology
• Comp plan gaming (bad-fit deals for commission)

Step-by-Step: Fire (IC or Leader)

Phase 6 — When to Terminate

IC sales (AE/SDR): After documented PIP (typically 30–60 days) OR immediate for integrity violations (falsified pipeline, harassment, policy breach). QuotaSignal: AE mis-hire total cost ~$484K over 24 months — delay is expensive.

Sales leader (VP/CRO): Two grounds (Rose Garden / operator consensus):

1. Missed targets with no credible system improvement after 2+ quarters
2. Culture damage — team attrition, blame shifting, toxic environment

CRO churn cycle: firing for output without fixing role design repeats failure. Evaluate: did they build forecast discipline, comp, ramp — or inherit?

Phase 7 — Termination Execution

1. Legal: HR + employment-compliance — documentation, timing, severance
2. Meeting: Short, factual, no debate. Same day remove system access.
3. Script: templates/termination-conversation.md
4. Team comm: Same day — what changes, interim owner, no gossip
5. Pipeline: Manager owns all opps within 24h; reassign in CRM

Never: Surprise firing without prior documented feedback; firing in public; letting leader "resign" without addressing team impact when culture was toxic.

Step-by-Step: Resignation (Voluntary Exit)

Load references/resignation-playbook.md — distinct from termination.

Phase 8 — Employee Gives Notice

1. Receive with dignity (Kim Scott) — thank them; don't guilt or panic-counter
2. Confirm last day — per policy; extend only for critical customer handoff
3. Same-day CRM — reassign all opps within 24h (Lemkin pipeline rule)
4. Handoff doc — templates/resignation-handoff-checklist.md
5. Team comm — factual; interim owner named
6. Counter-offer — only if you would change comp/role without resignation threat

Script: templates/resignation-conversation-script.md

Phase 9 — Exit Interview & Learnings

• HR or skip-level runs templates/exit-interview-questions.md — not manager
• Aggregate themes quarterly; feed onboarding fixes → revenue-team-onboarding
• Document boomerang eligibility

SaaS Comp Strategies (Leader View)

Leaders approve comp — templates in gtm-role-descriptions:

Strategy	When	Risk
Linear 50/50 AE	Default SMB/mid-market	Pays volume over quality
Accelerated 100–120%+	Growth mode	Mercenary short-term deals
SDR on SQO not dials	Outbound quality	Under-activity if threshold low
CSM on NRR not tickets	Expansion motion	Ignores logo churn if GRR weak
CRO gated ARR+NRR+EBITDA	Scale stage	Complexity; needs RevOps model

Full reference: gtm-role-descriptions → saas-comp-strategies.

GTM Project Team Design

For launches, migrations, and QBRs — not line-management org charts — load gtm-operations → references/team-design-gtm-projects.md.

Concept	Leader action
DRI	Name one person per project; exec sponsor = Informed unless escalation
Launch pod	Temporary 4–8 week matrix: ops + creative + enablement; AEs stay on quota
Span of control	RevOps IC: 2–3 active projects max; dedicated PM: 4–5
RACI	Sign charter before kickoff — gtm-operations/templates/raci-matrix-template.md
Ongoing alignment	Monthly GTM scorecard — references/force-management-playbook.md

Hiring a RevOps project manager: RevOps Co-op guide.

Output Format

Deliverable by request type:

• Hire: scorecard + comp template + JD cross-ref
• Coach: difficult conversation script + REKS diagnosis
• PIP: 30–60 day plan with weekly milestones
• Fire: termination script + team comm draft + pipeline reassignment checklist
• Resignation: handoff checklist + manager script + exit interview set

Quality Check

• Facts documented before emotional conversation
• REKS or leader scorecard completed before exit decision
• Radical Candor structure (care + challenge), not obnoxious aggression
• Comp approval uses Bridge Group ratios
• employment-compliance consulted for termination
• Team and pipeline handoff planned same day as exit

Common Pitfalls

1. Ruinous empathy. Avoiding quota truth until Q4. Fix: weekly pipeline reviews with documented feedback.
2. Firing the number, not the system (leaders). Replace VP without fixing role scope. Fix: hire for system-building; 2-quarter runway.
3. No PIP paper trail. Legal and moral risk. Fix: written expectations + dates.
4. Comp plans that reward bad revenue. Bookings without NRR. Fix: clawbacks, CRO gates at scale.
5. Backchannel skip on leader hires. Supervisors lie. Fix: 2+ direct report refs.

Step-by-Step: CRO 90-Day Plan (Enterprise)

Load references/cro-enterprise-strategy.md for full checklists. Summary:

Phase	Focus
Weeks 1–2	Forecast audit (4 quarters); MEDDICC CRM coverage
Weeks 3–4	Weekly inspection live; top slipping commits coached
Weeks 5–6	Territory fairness; manager span 6–8 ICs
Weeks 7–8	Comp audit — bookings vs consumption vs NRR
Weeks 9–12	Board 5-quarter model; hiring vs productivity curve

Board metrics: Tie to gtm-metrics → public-company-gtm-metrics.md and Meritech at $100M+ ARR.

Execution Artifacts

• references/framework-notes.md — Framework index and authority routing
• templates/output-template.md — Primary deliverable shell
• scripts/check-output.py — Validates hire, coach, PIP, fire, resignation, and crisis deliverables
• references/crisis-management-playbook.md — canonical crisis home (severity matrix, war room, channels)
• references/crisis-preparedness-checklist.md — contact tree, status page, tabletop cadence
• references/saas-pr-crisis-experts.md — Lemkin, Highwire, Offleash, Ruettimann
• templates/crisis-holding-statement.md · templates/crisis-customer-email.md · templates/crisis-internal-memo.md · templates/crisis-faq-for-support.md
• references/cro-enterprise-strategy.md — canonical CRO home (McMahon, Snowflake, Databricks)
• references/expert-frameworks.md — GTM leader experts map
• references/team-design-gtm-projects.md — DRI, launch pods, project span of control
• references/force-management-playbook.md — Repo root: alignment cadence, reporting structures, pod economics
• references/benioff-v2mom-guide.md — V2MOM planning system
• templates/v2mom-gtm.md — annual GTM alignment template
• templates/hire-decision-scorecard.md
• templates/difficult-conversation.md
• templates/performance-pip.md
• templates/termination-conversation.md
• references/resignation-playbook.md — voluntary exit, counter-offers, handoff
• templates/resignation-conversation-script.md — manager receiving notice
• templates/resignation-handoff-checklist.md — pipeline + account transfer
• templates/exit-interview-questions.md — HR / skip-level exit interview

Related Skills

• gtm-role-descriptions — JDs, comp plan templates, org charts
• sales-team-building — Hire sequence, PODs, comp models
• hiring-by-role — Interview scorecards
• team-management — 1:1s, OKRs, delegation (general management)
• sales-coaching — REKS, deal coaching
• employment-compliance — Legal termination requirements
• buyer-indecision — JOLT for stuck deals (buyer side, not HR)
• investor-updates — investor/board comms during Sev 3+ crises
• customer-marketing — reputation, negative reviews, advocacy pause rules
• cs-playbooks — customer-facing incident comms and FAQ handoff
• deal-desk — legal-gtm review before external statements (Pattern 29)