Episode 35- Closing Out 2025

Welcome to What's Broken in GTM and How to Fix It with Louis Fernandes and Simon Daniels. Each week, together with occasional guests, we explore the challenges that face go-to-market leaders in SaaS scale-up businesses and suggest solutions to common issues.

Louis announces the new website for his consultancy business Magnitude 10 Associates and invites feedback on his web coding handywork! In addition to outlining his offerings GTM advisory, strategy, sales enablement, and propositions, Louis is also building out the site with back issues of the What's Broken in GTM blog together with episodes of the podcast. Over time, this should become a pretty handy resource for all things go-to-market`

This week we look towards the end of the year and discuss how to successfully close out 2025. Here’s the TL;DL (“Too Long; Didn’t Listen) in case you don’t have time for the whole episode: In that final stretch of Q4, every SaaS revenue leader feels the tension between managing the number and leading the team. The instinct is to double down on inspection. More meetings, more dashboards, more pressure. But the leaders who actually land the year successfully don't manage harder, they lead better.

Listen on as Louis and Simon emphasise that finishing Q4 strong is less about frantic activity and more about disciplined leadership. Panic-driven over-inspection undermines trust and creates chaos, while maintaining cadence, clarity, and confidence ensures stability. Leaders should focus on proactive deal management – rigorous qualification, stakeholder engagement, and clear action plans – without abandoning established processes. Enablement and RevOps must support consistency rather than last-minute fixes, and frontline managers should model calm, composed behaviours. Ultimately, how teams are led in Q4 shapes organizational culture for Q1: fear breeds dysfunction, while confidence builds momentum. Success comes from leadership that prioritizes clarity, cadence, and coaching over heroics.

Read more on this topic in the corresponding edition of Louis’ What's Broken in GTM and How to Fix It newsletter.

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