Synapse
Internal Initiative · July 2026

Commercial Activation

Turning Synapse from a founder-led sales operation into a team-owned revenue engine — built on the EOS mechanics we already run everywhere else in the business.

Prepared for: All Team Owner: Bobby Deraco Six Initiatives · One System
Synapse Marketing Solutions01 / 10
Commercial Activation · Why We're Doing This

Team —

Sales at Synapse still lives too much with me and a handful of leaders. Production sees sales as someone else's job, and revenue visibility is episodic rather than rhythmic. All three goals of this initiative — deeper team engagement in sales motions, hitting our monthly and quarterly revenue targets, and eliminating friction between Production and Sales — point at the same root cause: a lack of shared ownership and shared visibility. Commercial Activation is how we turn Synapse from a founder-led sales operation into a team-owned revenue engine, using the EOS mechanics we already run everywhere else in the business.

Each piece of this initiative has a distinct job:

Sales Meetings are the heartbeat. We'll run them L10-style in Ninety.io because we already have the muscle memory — scorecard review, accountability, IDS on stuck deals, cascading to-dos. Strategy and Programs will be in the room alongside ELT, because that's the mechanism for "win together, one team." When Production sits in pipeline reviews, upsell signals in their accounts become their opportunity, not an interruption. Client Health flags are where renewals and expansion get surfaced.

CRM discipline makes the meeting real. The meeting is only as good as the data feeding it. Entering opportunities at the early stages is what makes pipeline review and future-month forecasting substance instead of theater. Activity-based KPIs give us leading indicators so we manage inputs, not just lament outputs at month-end.

KPIs and non-billable hours make it stick. Putting sales KPIs on scorecards makes engagement measurable. Carving out non-billable hour categories for estimating and SOW development removes the structural excuse — no one should be penalized on utilization for helping us sell. This fixes an incentive contradiction we've lived with too long, and distinct N/B codes will finally show us the true cost of sale per engagement.

The Revenue Team buildout creates capacity. Lead Gen feeds the top of the funnel so our weekly meetings review new pipeline, not the same stale opportunities. A Client Services leader owns the expansion and renewal motion — where most of our near-term revenue upside lives given the strength of our client roster.

Finance meetings create understanding. Ops leaders who understand margin, revenue recognition, and NOI stop seeing revenue goals as arbitrary numbers. Financial literacy makes the go-get number meaningful — people can connect pipeline to P&L.

The Bonus Pool Dashboard answers "why should I care." It closes the loop: sales activity drives revenue, revenue funds the pool, the pool pays out to the team. Without it, everything above reads as more work. With it, it reads as shared upside.

The system in one sentence: the meeting creates rhythm, the CRM creates truth, the KPIs and non-billable hours create accountability and remove friction, the new roles create capacity, finance training creates understanding, and the bonus dashboard creates motivation.

— Bobby

The Goals
GOAL 01

Shared ownership of revenue

Every team member actively participates in sales motions, prioritizing client upsells and renewals — where our nearest-term growth lives.

GOAL 02

Predictable revenue performance

Consistently hit monthly and quarterly revenue targets through disciplined pipeline management and forecasting.

GOAL 03

One team, one goal

Eliminate the Production-vs-Sales divide. Production insight fuels sales; sales wins fund the whole team.

Commercial Activation02 / 10
The System at a Glance

Six pieces, one engine

01 · Sales Meetings
Rhythm

A weekly heartbeat where revenue is everyone's business — visible, discussed, acted on.

02 · CRM Discipline
Truth

One source of truth for every opportunity, stage, and follow-up. Bad data means a wasted meeting.

03 · KPIs & N/B Hours
Accountability

Sales engagement becomes measurable — and no one is penalized on utilization for helping us sell.

04 · Revenue Team
Capacity

Dedicated horsepower: one role feeding new business in, one growing what we already have.

05 · Finance Meetings
Understanding

Leaders who understand the P&L stop seeing revenue goals as arbitrary numbers.

06 · Bonus Dashboard
Motivation

The line of sight from your contribution to shared upside — the "why should I care" answer.

Commercial Activation03 / 10
Initiative 01 New Initiative

Sales Meetings

What: A weekly 60-minute sales meeting, run L10-style in Ninety.io — Strategy, Programs, and ELT in the room. Early week, so actions drive the week rather than recap it.

Agenda · 60 Minutes
  • Check-ins & Sales Wins (5 min) — celebrate wins, build momentum
  • Numbers Review (10 min) — current month revenue, pipeline, go-get number, forecast
  • Pipeline Review (20 min) — what moved, what's stuck, what's next
  • Client Health & New Business (15 min) — flags, upsells, renewals
  • Tasks & Follow-ups (10 min) — every action gets an owner and a due date
Why It MattersThis meeting is the heartbeat of Commercial Activation — a weekly rhythm where revenue is everyone's business.
Action Items
  1. Lock the meeting slot (Tue PM or Wed AM) and send the recurring inviteOwner · Brian
  2. Build the agenda and scorecard in Ninety.ioOwner · Brian
  3. Assign a meeting facilitator and a scorecard ownerOwner · Bobby
  4. Run the first meeting; debrief after weeks 1 and 4 to tune the agendaOwner · Bobby
Commercial Activation04 / 10
Initiative 02 Current Rock · In Progress · In Place by July 31

CRM

What: Make the CRM the single source of truth for all sales activity — every opportunity, every stage, every follow-up. If it's not in the CRM, it doesn't exist.

Three Commitments
  • Early entry. Opportunities go in as soon as they're identified — not when a proposal goes out
  • Activity KPIs per person. Proposals sent, sales meetings held, revenue closed — we manage inputs, not just outcomes
  • Pipeline hygiene. Stages move promptly, follow-ups are logged, stale deals get updated or closed
Why It MattersThe CRM feeds everything else — the meeting, the scorecards, the forecast, the bonus dashboard. Discipline here is non-negotiable.
Action Items
  1. Roll out the CRM to the teamOwner · Brian
  2. Train the team — early-stage entry standards, pipeline stages, follow-up loggingOwner · Brian
  3. Communicate CRM expectations to the team: early entry, movement, follow-up loggingOwner · Brian
  4. Set up weekly CRM hygiene reporting to feed the sales meetingOwner · Brian
Commercial Activation05 / 10
Initiative 03 Current Rock

Sales KPIs & Non-Billable Hours

What: Make sales contribution measurable — and remove the utilization penalty for supporting sales.

Two Commitments
  • Sales KPIs on scorecards. Each leader's weekly scorecard includes sales metrics pulled from the CRM — engagement becomes an expectation, not a favor
  • Protected N/B hours for sales support. Allocated hours for estimating, SOW development, proposal support, and pipeline calls — with distinct time codes so the work is visible
Why It MattersToday, a leader who spends five hours building an estimate takes a utilization hit. That's an incentive contradiction — this fixes it, and gives us real cost-of-sale data per engagement.
Action Items
  1. Select the activity KPIs to track per person (proposals, sales meetings, revenue)Owner · Bob
  2. Add sales KPIs to leader scorecards in Ninety.ioOwner · Bob
  3. Set the N/B hour allotment per leader for sales supportOwner · Brian
  4. Create distinct N/B time codes for sales support activitiesOwner · Felicia
Commercial Activation06 / 10
Initiative 04 Lead Gen · Current Rock

Revenue Team Buildout

What: Add dedicated capacity so revenue generation doesn't depend on leaders selling in the margins of delivery work.

Two Roles
  • Lead Gen role. Owns top-of-funnel — prospecting, outbound campaigns, qualifying new opportunities. Keeps fresh pipeline flowing into the weekly meeting
  • Client Services leader. Owns the expansion motion — renewals, upsells, and account health across the roster. Our nearest-term revenue upside lives here
Why It MattersRhythm without capacity just makes everyone busier. These roles give the system dedicated horsepower: one feeding new business in, one growing what we already have.
Action Items
  1. Finalize the Lead Gen role description and advance the hireOwner · Brian
  2. Define the Client Services leader mandate — renewals, upsells, account health ownershipOwner · Bobby
  3. Hire Client Services LeaderQ3 Rock
Commercial Activation07 / 10
Initiative 05 Current Rock

Finance Meetings & Training

What: Build financial literacy and rhythm across leadership so revenue goals connect to the P&L — not just a number handed down.

Four Commitments · Three Audiences
  • ELT — full finance review (P&L, margin, NOI, forecast vs. actual), monthly
  • All leaders — finance update on headline numbers and progress to goals, monthly
  • Ops leaders — deeper-dive finance review on their areas, quarterly
  • Ops leaders — finance training (margin, utilization, revenue recognition), delivered before updates and reviews commence
Why It MattersLeaders who understand how the business makes money stop seeing revenue targets as arbitrary. The go-get number becomes meaningful when people can connect pipeline to P&L.
Action Items
  1. Schedule monthly ELT finance reviews (recurring)Owner · Bob
  2. Build the monthly finance update format for all leadersOwner · Bob
  3. Develop and deliver Ops leader finance training — before their first quarterly reviewOwner · Bob
  4. Schedule quarterly Ops finance reviews (recurring)Owner · Bob
Commercial Activation08 / 10
Initiative 06 New Initiative

Bonus Pool Dashboard

What: A simple, always-visible dashboard showing how the bonus pool is funding — and how team contributions drive it.

Two Commitments
  • Show the money. Current pool funding, progress toward full funding, and the revenue/profit thresholds that drive it — updated weekly so the team trusts the numbers
  • Connect the dots. Sales activity → revenue → pool funding → team payout. When you flag an upsell or support a proposal, you see how it moves a number you care about
Why It MattersInitiatives 1–5 ask the team for more. The dashboard is what makes all of it read as shared upside instead of added work — it's the motivational engine of Commercial Activation.
Action Items
  1. Define the bonus pool funding formula — simple enough to explain on one slideOwner · Bob
  2. Design and build the dashboard: funding progress, thresholds, line of sight to contributionOwner · Bob
  3. Establish the weekly update cadence for the dashboardOwner · Bob
  4. Launch with a team-wide walkthrough of how the math worksOwner · Bob
Commercial Activation09 / 10
Win together. One team.
Commercial Activation · July 202610 / 10
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