In this article
Hey there Croners!
Welcome back to The Prospecting Masterclass, a series by Crono where we sit down with the sales leaders, BDR managers and revenue practitioners actually running the plays, to extract the mindsets, methods and metrics shaping modern B2B prospecting. We bring you insights and tips from the brightest minds in sales.
Volume-based prospecting used to work. Not anymore.
In this episode of The Prospecting Masterclass, we sit down with Filippo FIori, VP Sales Southern Europe at Partoo, the global scale-up now operating in 150 countries. After a decade spent scaling sales orgs across the French Tech ecosystem (ClickandBoat, Meero, Partoo) and building Italy into a sustainable growth market, Filippo now leads Partoo’s most strategic region, spanning Iberia, Portugal, and Italy.
In this conversation, he breaks down why single-threaded cold outreach is dead, what a strict 30-day territory takeover playbook actually looks like, and why your existing customer base, not your outbound list, might be your fastest growth lever. If you’re still measuring prospecting success by volume, this interview is your wake-up call.
Filippo, let’s start with your story. Tell us a bit about your journey and what brought you into the world of sales?
My career in sales actually started in a completely unexpected way. I didn’t plan it out in a classroom; instead, it was triggered by a strong desire to challenge myself, get out of my comfort zone, and build an international experience. That drive led me to pack my bags and move to Paris.
Landing in Paris immediately immersed me in a highly dynamic, multicultural environment right at the heart of the booming French Tech startup ecosystem. It was an incredible school of agility and fast-paced execution. That is where my journey with ClickandBoat, Meero and Partoo began nearly a decade ago.
Over the last ten years, I’ve had the privilege of scaling alongside the businesses. I saw Partoo transform from a local player into a global scale-up operating in 150 countries. After structured years spent building and leading the Italian market to sustainable growth, I have recently been promoted to VP Sales Southern Europe.
Today, I oversee our most strategic regional organization, encompassing core markets like Iberia, Portugal and Italy.
Prospecting has changed dramatically in recent years. What are the biggest mistakes sales professionals still make today when trying to generate new opportunities?
The absolute biggest mistake today is relying on volume over selectivity, treating prospecting as a pure numbers game. In the current European macroeconomic landscape, budgets face heavy internal scrutiny, decision-making processes are longer, and buyers are deeply risk-averse.
Across Southern Europe, I consistently see three critical operational errors:
Failing to engage the actual Economic Buyer: Teams often rely too heavily on a single ‘Champion’. Today, decisions are strictly collective. If you aren’t multi-threading and establishing direct or indirect access to the Economic Buyer early on, the deal will stall in the final stages.
Selling features instead of executive impact: Modern prospecting requires a value-based approach. Buyers don’t care about software configurations; they care about traffic uplift, operational cost reduction, or customer care efficiency.
Navigating blindly without territory control: Many salespeople create pipeline that simply won’t convert because they don’t apply a strict Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). True commercial excellence requires focusing exclusively on high-value accounts that can afford your solution and have a clear, quantifiable pain point.
If you joined a new company tomorrow with zero pipeline, what would your first 30 days of prospecting look like?
I expect every salesperson in my organization to act as the CEO of their own territory. If I were in their shoes with zero pipeline, my first 30 days would follow a highly strategic, structured playbook:
Days 1–10: Strictest ICP & Competitor Audit. I would analyze regional data to build a strict Territory Plan. I would isolate the top industries with the highest revenue per point of sale (such as Large Retail, Automotive, and Luxury Fashion) and design a dedicated ‘Steal Strategy’ targeting legacy competitors with known vulnerabilities in support, pricing, or product rigidity.
Days 11–20: Territory Architecture & Partner Ecosystems. I would map out the top 50 high-value regional targets capable of driving large deals. Crucially, I wouldn’t go at it alone; I would immediately map the local partner ecosystem, building alliances with key digital agencies and System Integrators (like Accenture) to bypass legal friction and multiply market reach.
Days 21–30: High-Intensity Execution. I would execute focused, multi-channel Account-Based Marketing (ABM) campaigns. I would strictly protect dedicated, uninterrupted blocks of time, exactly like our corporate PG Tuesdays routine, to execute highly personalized outreach tailored to multiple stakeholders simultaneously.
What's one prospecting tactic that used to work exceptionally well but has lost effectiveness over the last few years?
A few years ago, a generic, mass-automated email sequence could easily secure enough first meetings (M1s) to sustain a pipeline. Today, that approach is dead. Volume-driven selling now only creates waste and forecast volatility.
Corporate decision-makers are suffering from severe digital fatigue, and spam filters are tighter than ever. If an outreach looks automated, is single-threaded, or focuses on product features rather than the prospect’s specific corporate metrics, it gets completely ignored.
Not sure where to start?
Start with the Playbook.
Download our free Sales Playbook 2026 and learn how top B2B teams structure their outbound process.
BANT, SPICED & MEDDPICC frameworks- 30+ ready-to-use sales templates
- 2026 outbound & pipeline benchmarks
Don't sell the product. Sell the change the product makes possible.
Build the process before the pipeline.
On the other hand, what's an underrated prospecting approach that more sales teams should be adopting right now?
Intentional, Action-Driven Customer Expansion combined with a ‘Worldwide Rush’ motion.
In a mature SaaS market, your existing customer base is your most scalable revenue engine. The most underrated approach is moving away from waiting for renewal cycles to pitch new products. Instead, sales teams must build a pre-sale and post-sale expansion plan from day one.
Furthermore, on accounts with an international footprint, every single contract signature, opened opportunity, or major milestone must trigger a systematic ‘Worldwide Rush’.
If we successfully land a major logo or subsidiary in France or Italy, we must instantly leverage that trust to activate outreach into their headquarters and subsidiaries across Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. Capitalizing top-down on global framework agreements is both our strongest defensive play and our fastest growth lever.
If you could give only one piece of advice to someone starting their career in sales today, what would it be?
First one is: Be your true self. Sales is about consistency and you can’t show up every day pretending to be someone else.
Second one is: Shift your mindset from being a vendor who pushes products to a business consultant who orchestrates complex outcomes.
In the era of AI and software commoditization, buyers do not need salespeople to explain features.
They need experts who understand their P&L, master rigorous qualification methodologies like MEDDIC, and possess the strategic curiosity to guide a fragmented buying committee through a complex corporate transition. True commercial excellence is taking absolute ownership and accountability for your territory.
Complete this sentence: "The future of prospecting belongs to those who..."
The future of prospecting belongs to those who reject the illusion of volume, mastering the execution of targeted, value-driven, multi-stakeholder enterprise cycles.
Not sure where to start?
Start with the Playbook.
Download our free Sales Playbook 2026 and learn how top B2B teams structure their outbound process.
- BANT, SPICED & MEDDPICC frameworks
- 30+ ready-to-use sales templates
- 2026 outbound & pipeline benchmarks
Don't sell the product. Sell the change the product makes possible.
Build the process before the pipeline.
