Transforming a Lean Sales and Marketing Team: My Daily and Weekly Playbook  

By Matt Slonaker, Founder of M. Allen  

 

Running my own practice and acting as a fractional CRO for B2B fintech and SaaS-focused firms with a team of fewer than 10 full-time employees is no small feat. As the Founder of M. Allen, I’ve learned that transforming a sales and marketing organization at this scale requires relentless focus, smart prioritization, and a rhythm that keeps us aligned and moving forward. With limited resources, every hour counts, and every action needs to drive us closer to growth—whether that’s landing new clients, keeping existing ones happy, or sharpening our edge in a crowded market.  

 

Over the years, I’ve honed a daily and weekly checklist that’s become my playbook for steering our small but mighty teams.  It’s practical, repeatable, and designed to balance the urgent (closing deals) with the essential (building a scalable foundation). Here’s how I break it down—and how I spend my time—to transform our sales and marketing efforts. Feel free to steal this if you’re in a similar boat!  

 

 

 

My Daily Checklist: Keeping the Engine Running  

I aim for a 6-8 hour workday packed with high-impact tasks. With a lean team, we all wear multiple hats, so this routine keeps us focused and nimble.  

 

1. Review and Respond to Leads/Inquiries (30-45 minutes) 

   Every morning, I dive into our CRM—whether it’s HubSpot or Salesforce—and check inbound leads from the website, emails, or demos requested overnight. I prioritize based on potential deal size or how well they match our ideal customer profile (ICP). My rule? Urgent inquiries get a response within two hours. Speed matters in B2B SaaS—those early touchpoints can make or break a deal.  

 

2. Sales Outreach (1-1.5 hours) 

   I block off time to hit the phones or inbox, targeting 10-15 prospects from our ICP list. I’m big on personalization—grabbing insights from LinkedIn or a company’s latest news to make my outreach stick. Every call or email gets logged in the CRM with next steps. It’s grunt work, but it keeps our pipeline alive.  

 

3. Content and Campaign Check-In (45 minutes)

   I peek at our active campaigns—think email drips or LinkedIn ads—and tweak them based on what’s working. Low open rates? I’ll rewrite a subject line. High clicks? I’ll double down on that message. I also queue up a couple of social posts for LinkedIn or X to keep us visible. Marketing’s our megaphone—it’s got to hum every day.  

 

4. Team Sync (15-30 minutes) 

   I pull the team together for a quick stand-up—sometimes over coffee, sometimes on Zoom. We share wins (like a demo booked), flag blockers (like a stalled deal), and align on the day’s priorities. With fewer than 10 of us, staying in sync is non-negotiable.  

 

5. Customer Follow-Up (1 hour)

   I carve out time to check on existing clients—how’s onboarding going? Any upsell potential? If a support ticket’s escalated, I’ll jump in to smooth things over. Happy customers don’t just stick around—they refer us to others, which is gold in SaaS.  

 

6. Self-Education/Research (30 minutes)

   I end most days with a brain boost—reading up on fintech trends, competitor moves, or brushing up on a sales tactic like handling objections. In a fast-moving space like ours, staying sharp isn’t optional.  

 

 

My Weekly Checklist: Building for the Long Haul  

On top of the daily grind, I layer in these weekly priorities—about 20-25 hours total, spread across the week. This is where we zoom out, refine, and push the needle on transformation.  

 

1. Pipeline Review and Forecasting (1.5-2 hours) 

   Midweek—usually Wednesday—I dig into our CRM to see where deals stand. What’s moving? What’s stuck? I forecast revenue for the next 30-60 days and assign action items to unblock stalled opportunities. It’s our reality check to stay on track.  

 

2. Marketing Strategy Session (1-1.5 hours) 

   Monday mornings, I huddle with the team to plan the week’s content—a blog post, a webinar, maybe a case study. We review KPIs like website traffic or cost-per-lead from ads and brainstorm one big swing, like a partner webinar. It sets our marketing rhythm for the week.  

 

3. Prospect Research and List Building (2 hours) 

   I split this across Tuesday and Thursday—about an hour each day—hunting for 20-30 new prospects who fit our ICP. Tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator or ZoomInfo help me build a targeted list, segmented by pain points or industry. It’s fuel for our outreach engine.  

 

4. Demo/Close Prep (2-3 hours)  

   By Thursday or Friday, I’m prepping for demos or pitches—customizing slides, rehearsing tough questions with a teammate, and following up on proposals. Closing deals before the weekend feels like a win every time.  

 

5. Customer Success Check-In (1-2 hours)

   Mid-to-late week—say Wednesday or Friday—I review churn risks using usage data or support tickets. I’ll hop on calls with key clients to hear their feedback and pitch upsells. Those insights? They go straight to marketing and product to sharpen our game.  

 

6. Process Optimization (1-1.5 hours)

   Friday afternoons, I reflect: What’s one bottleneck holding us back? Maybe lead handoffs are slow, or email open rates stink. I propose a fix—like automating a CRM step or A/B testing a campaign—and we test it the next week. Small tweaks compound into big wins.  

 

7. Team Training or Skill Share (1 hour) 

   Whenever we can squeeze it in—often over Friday lunch—we rotate sharing a tip or tool. One week, it’s a CRM hack; the next, it’s a SaaS sales webinar we watch together. Upskilling our small crew keeps us punching above our weight.  

 

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How This Works in Practice  

With fewer than 10 FTEs, we’re lean by necessity—marketers nurture leads, salespeople pitch content ideas, and I’m often in the weeds with both. We lean on affordable tools like HubSpot Free, Google Analytics, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator to automate what we can. Every week, I track a handful of metrics—new leads, conversion rates, deal velocity, churn—to see what’s moving the needle and adjust our time accordingly.  

 

This playbook isn’t static. As M. Allen and client(s) grows, I’ll Delegate more daily tasks—like outreach—to free up bandwidth for strategy. But for now, it’s how I keep our sales and marketing humming, balancing the hustle of today with the transformation we need for tomorrow. If you’re leading a small B2B fintech or SaaS team, give it a spin—let me know how it works for you!