Hey Reader,

Welcome to The Middle, your midweek rundown of the most interesting things we've read this week.

We’re officially one week out from “Summer” - time sure does fly.

Speaking of which, we’ve got a webinar coming up…TODAY at 12pm ET.

Would love for you to be there. We’re going to cover The Big 3 of Subscription Revenue (ARR, GRR, NRR).

​Sign up here (and yes, we’ll send out the recording)...

Jeff​

Don't forget about CHURN

David Spitz, SaaS investor and metrics guru, has been playing detective and rifling through quarterly filings for public SaaS companies.

​What’s he on the hunt for?​

Understanding why these Executives spent a median of ~$2.40 Sales & Markeeting per $1 of Net New ARR in 2023, up from ~$1.50 in 2021.

Here’s the lead in to his post…

What he goes on to highlight through his detective work: many public software companies are hiding low gross revenue retention in their net revenue retention number.

High churn rates indicate dissatisfaction or even loss of product-market fit, which can stifle growth and erode revenue over time. His inclination (and mine) is that companies would be better served to focus on reducing churn than increasing NRR.

In laymen’s terms: GRR is a mess and companies are overspending on sales & marketing to try and take care of the leaky bucket. That’s not a game you want to play over the long-term.

Spammy sales reminders

Sales tactics could be debated until the cows come home, but when DemandJen writes something, there’s not much to debate.

She shared a screenshot of her junk folder (tons of spammy sales messages)….

She shared 5 tips to avoid when sending sales messages — my eyes were drawn to:

The words “reminders are for things we have agreed to do” are still ringing in my head as you read this.

Think about all of the interactions that your customer has with your business — and just how much of it have they agreed to?

Your best customers are most-likely the ones who are invested equally in the partnership. They’ve prioritized the initiative, rallied resources and are charging ahead. If your customer needs too many “gentle reminders,” you should mark them as a churn risk.

Pro vs. Amateur

Sahil Bloom, a respected voice in business culture, recently outlined ten critical differences between amateurs and professionals.​

Sometimes these types of lists can be superfluous but I found the ending to really hit home for me:

Having goals is essential - it provides a vision to the future and gives you a sense of purpose. But without the right processes in place, those goals can become unreachable.

How will you reach the desired goal... that has seemingly become lost in a prove it to me now culture.

Professionals understand that consistent, disciplined processes lead to sustainable success.

As a leader, that is where your focus and attention should be directed.
Consistency is underrated, yet that's where leaders get an edge.
And that edge is where leaders win over time.