PE-Backed CRO Shares the Exact Forecast Ritual That Fixes Pipeline
If your forecast feels like a wish, this one is for you.
I sat down with John Allen, CRO at G&A Partners, to unpack the operating system behind a team that hits without drama. John runs a big org. Multiple layers. National footprint. Private equity partner. And he still carries a small bag so he never loses the feel of the market.
Here are the plays worth stealing.
1) Treat the forecast like a product
They instrumented forecasting with BoostUp, then made it a weekly workout. Reps, regions, RVPs. What moved. Why it moved. What is stuck. What removes the block today. That tempo gives you signal early enough to act, not just report.
Steal this
Put one recurring meeting on the calendar that exists only to change probabilities and destroy risks. Anything that does not move a deal forward gets cut.
2) Leaders must be useful
John audits calendars and outcomes. Leaders who never join calls lose the room. Leaders who “super rep” cap their own scale. The job is coaching, internal navigation, and raising the team’s ceiling.
Steal this
Ask every rep, “What are you working on with your manager right now to get better?” If you get blank stares, you have a leadership problem.
3) Hire with a scorecard, not vibes
They source proactively, then run three screens: sales acumen, DISC, and a cognitive assessment. Patterns show up. Many top reps index D and I. Some outliers crush with S or C because they run clean process and convert high.
Steal this
Document the common traits of your top 20 percent. Hire to that pattern. When an assessment screams “no,” believe it.
4) Keep the door open and the bar high
Accessibility matters. John interviews most hires, welcomes them personally, shows up in Monday training, and meets with a rotating council of top reps. That creates psychological safety and real-time feedback. It also makes accountability land clean.
Steal this
Set up a monthly top-rep council. One topic. One blockage to remove. Report back what changed.
5) Scale by raising rep productivity first
Headcount is not the only lever. John is pushing more qualified demand through marketing, SDR coverage, and targeted AI trials. The goal is simple. More meetings with accounts that have a real propensity to spend.
Steal this
Before you add reps, ask how to increase ASP, win rate, and meeting quality with the team you already have.
Bottom line
Simple, boring, and brutally consistent wins. Forecast clean. Coach for impact. Hire with data. Listen to the field. Then pour fuel where ROI is highest.