Transcript excerpt from a YouTube video by Jason M. Lemkin about the importance of closing deals and the urgency of end-of-quarter sales. The speaker uses an anecdote of a VP asking for a favor to close a deal by December 31 to hit numbers, then asks what metrics founders should watch and why.
As founders, we don't want to lose the deal. Right. As a CEO, you get nervous. You know what a VP of sales does? They call up on December 29th. Linda, think this pilot's been so great. I hope. Have we done everything that you want? Did we do everything you needed in the pilot? Yes. Brendan, you did a great job. Is there anything else that I can do for you? No, we're in good shape. Can you do me one favor? Can we just get the deal done on December 31st so that my team can hit their number? They'll do it if you do. If someone really does you a favor in the world and you ask for one favor back and you're going to buy the product anyway and they ask for a small favor, will you do it? It you're going to see a bump in sales, aren't you? Yeah. And then they've moved to quarterly or annual numbers, and there's just not that many urgencies when it turns out there's 22 VPs at Salesforce in the same role. It's competitive, but it's not the same urgency. What are some of the most important metrics that we as founders need to watch and why?
