Is your company into UFC & MMA? No? You could’ve had me fooled. That last QBR sure looked more like a slugfest than a productive strategy meeting. And everyone walked away with a lot more finger-pointing and questions than answers.
Picture the QBR where Marketing looks smug, Sales looks defensive, and RevOps is getting heart rate alerts on their Apple Watch.
“Sales isn’t following up fast enough.”
“Marketing is passing trash.”
“Has anyone even looked at attribution?”
Let’s be real: It may seem convenient to shift blame to sales, but Sales isn’t your pipeline problem. Your entire GTM is. The house is on fire, and you’re trying to douse the welcome mat.
This is your wake-up call.
You Don’t Have a Pipeline Problem. You Have a GTM Problem.
Fair warning. This blog article is going to feel like you’re going twelve rounds with The Mountain from Game of Thrones. I thought about pulling some punches, but I said F it. You deserve to hear the truth you’ve been ignoring from the tallest rooftop with the loudest microphone because your GTM needs it. But I promise you, I PROMISE YOU, make it to the end and you will see real solutions and light at the end of the tunnel. The clouds will part, the heavens will open, and you and your team will see how you need to pivot.
Welcome to the heartbreak club. Let’s shatter a few illusions while we’re here.
GTM ≠ throwing random, uncoordinated tactics on the wall in the hopes that something sticks.
GTM = a coordinated effort across brand, demand, and delivery. It’s alignment. It’s choreography. It’s ballet. It’s shared context, not silos. Has your GTM felt like that in a while? How about ever?
You’d be surprised how many B2B tech teams do marketing like this:
- One blog post, written in isolation and posted without any other teams knowing about it.
- A paid campaign running with absolutely no context, no communication with Brand on whether the things they’re saying in their ads are even aligned.
- A Hail Mary webinar that lands 14 registrants, 3 of whom are no shows, and not a single one of whom converts.
Without a unified GTM strategy:
- Campaigns don’t connect.
- Teams operate in silos.
- The brand sounds like five different people wrote it. (Because they did.)
The result? No orchestration = no pipeline = no mercy from Sales. In fact, Sales is waiting for you in the back alley, ready to fight. With a bat.
Your Sales Team is Drowning in MQLs With No Map
You want to know why Sales is frustrated?
Because instead of clarity, you’ve handed them chaos, and are expecting them to turn radioactive waste into wine. You haven’t checked what’s going on under the hood despite every light on your dashboard lighting up like the Fourth of July. Your expectations are unrealistic because your GTM doesn’t lead with a strong Brand story, is uninteresting in practice amidst a sea of same-sounding competitors, and no amount of “No, it’s not,” is going to change any of that.
Hey, we’re just the messenger here.
“Here’s 147 people who downloaded our gated checklist from 2021. Good luck with that.”
Your Sales Team
Marketing is passing over MQLs like they got a great deal on a liquidation sale. Sales is treating them like they’ve been handed a bag of rocks.
Why?
Because nobody knows:
- Why these people converted
- What matters to them
- What action they’ve taken beyond clicking a button
- Whether they actually care or were just bored on a Tuesday afternoon
Handing over MQLs with zero context is like throwing someone into the ocean with a GPS and no boat.
Your Sales team is trying to navigate with broken compasses, and somehow, you’re shocked they didn’t “close faster.”
What a Real GTM Strategy Actually Does
Let’s imagine a world where your GTM doesn’t feel like the aftermath of an unfair matchup during UFC 305.
A strong GTM strategy:
Aligns teams around a very, very strong, emotive brand that wasn’t just built off of vibes and good guesses
We’re not talking “We have brand guidelines” strong. We’re talking identity, personality, clear positioning: brand with soul.
Good design is table stakes. The question is: What has your messaging done for you lately?
Aligns teams around shared definitions of success
Numbers don’t mean anything if everyone is measuring different ones. Synergy (mmmmm) happens when teams don’t just hit goals, but understand why they matter.
Builds a clear bridge from awareness to revenue
Not a bridge built on a hunch of how your audience moves to buy. A strategic plan rooted in how your audience actually thinks, breathes, compares and behaves IRL, not just what that funnel webinar you attended says you should do.
Tells Sales why someone is in the funnel, not just that they are
“Hey, they’re MQL-qualified,” isn’t helpful.
“Here’s what they read, what they clicked, how they like their coffee in the morning, and what they care about,” is.
Uses data to prioritize, not just present
Dashboards are cute. But if they don’t help you make decisions, they’re just expensive decorations. The best GTM strategies build a culture around turning insight into action. That’s how you win quarters market share.
The Moment You Stop Pointing Fingers and Start Owning the GTM
Hey, it’s me! I’m you from the other side of this all. It was a tough pill to swallow, but I took ownership over the current state of our GTM and everything changed.
I know I’ve been a little heavy-handed with this rebuke, but if I don’t do it, your customers will, and your team turnover will continue. We can go out for a beer after this.
But this is the turn: what life could look like with a real GTM plan and you finally stop playing GTM blame bingo:
- RevOps gets cleaner handoffs.
- Sales gets actual context and buying signals.
- Paid Media sees wins that feel like less of a fluke.
- Marketing stops throwing spaghetti at the wall and calling it strategy.
- You stop giving eulogies for missed quarters.
You don’t need more MQLs.
You need a map.
You need a plan.
You need a real GTM.
