The 2025 $10M ARR Sales Playbook

$10 Millions ARR Sales Playbook

If youre stuck in the $3$7M ARR “pipeline wall,” its usually not effort. Its not having a simple system. Heres the version Id hand a founder + GTM team to get to $10M with less chaos.

1) Qualify fast

1. Write down what counts as an SQL (one sentence).

2. Make these required to move stages: Budget, Timeline, Decision-maker, Pain, Decision process.

3. Use basic lead scoring (high intent up, low fit down).

4. If theres no budget, urgency, or decision-maker: move on.

2) Respond fast to inbound

1. SLA: respond to inbound SQLs in under 5 minutes.

2. Automate routing + alerts so leads dont sit.

3. Track time-to-first-touch weekly.

3) Ask better questions (talk less)

1. Target: rep talk time under 48%.

2. Run discovery like this:

   1. Authority + Outcome (what “success” looks like)

   2. Situation (whats happening now)

   3. Problems (what breaks + what it costs)

   4. Budget + Vendor process

3. Review 5 calls/week per rep. Coach one thing at a time.

4) Sell the future, not the feature list

1. Add 2 fields to every opp: Future State + Cost of doing nothing.

2. Ask: “What happens if you do nothing for 90 days?”

3. Build the business case before the demo.

5) Follow up with a plan

1. Build a 1012 touch cadence (email + call + LinkedIn).

2. Space touches intentionally (start with ~3 days).

3. Every touch adds value: insight, proof, teardown, or a clean yes/no.

6) Run multiple motions

1. Split: Inbound, Outbound, Expansion, Partner.

2. Separate pipelines/stages by motion.

3. Benchmark each motion by conversion, cycle length, ACV.

7) Make the CRM real

1. Audit the stack quarterly. Cut whats unused.

2. Write stage definitions in plain English.

3. Report on stage conversion, not “total pipeline.”

8) Hire for the system

1. Interview for the basics: qualification, discovery, deal clarity.

2. Onboard to stage mastery.

3. Red flag: someone cant explain why a deal is in a stage.

9) Weekly discipline

1. Pipeline review: kill weak deals, tighten next steps, confirm decision process.

2. Call review: 5 calls/rep, 1 coaching theme.

3. Monthly: update the playbook based on whats actually converting.

4. Forecast weekly, measure lean and hard

5. Automate tools consciously

Sales isn’t persuasion. It’s reducing risk so fast the buyer feels like “yes” is the obvious move.

If you’re hitting a pipeline block on the road to your next $10M, book a strategy call and we’ll map the fastest path to unblock it, live, collaborative, inside Zero to Millions Club.