Most B2B GTM strategies are built to impress….but not actually work.
You’ve got fancy funnel diagrams and a tech stack that costs more than a small yacht, but what you don't actually have is a strategy. You just have a collection of disconnected tactics.
Let’s break down exactly why this happens, and more importantly, how to fix it and build a GTM system that actually drives revenue growth.
TL;DR: Why Most B2B GTM Strategies Fail (and How to Fix Yours)
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You're tracking leads, not revenue. Most teams optimize for handoffs, not outcomes. Shift your metrics from MQLs to pipeline, revenue, and retention.
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Your GTM ends at Closed-Won. Post-sale stages like onboarding, adoption, and expansion must be operationalized in your CRM, not treated as afterthoughts.
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Your tools aren’t talking. Great tech won’t save you if it’s disconnected. Make your CRM the single source of truth and standardize your data model.
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Your team is stepping on each other. No lead routing = chaos. Define stages like MQL, SAL, SQL and automate assignments to avoid overlap and confusion.
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Inbound and outbound are out of sync. Your GTM isn’t Allbound unless Sales and Marketing run campaigns off the same list, messaging, and timing.
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Your dashboards don’t tell the full story. Track the entire journey using the four revenue levers: Volume, Conversion, Retention, and Expansion.
GTM Strategy Fail #1: You're Measuring Leads, But Not Revenue
The Problem
Marketing says they crushed their MQL goal, but Sales says the leads are junk.
This is the oldest problem in the book, and it's a perfect example of what happens when different teams define success differently.
What’s Actually Going Wrong
Your GTM is optimized for handoffs, not outcomes.
Marketing is measured on lead volume, while Sales is measured on closed-won deals, and CS is measured on churn.
Basically, nobody’s accountable for the entire customer journey.
So you get finger-pointing instead of growth.
And the data backs it up as only 1 in 3 B2B marketers (33%) report financial-contribution metrics, like revenue from marketing-sourced deals, to senior leadership.
Instead, 58% of marketers focus reporting on leads, not revenue or closed sales. That’s a nice vanity number, but leadership doesn’t care about MQLs. They care about money.
What to Ask Yourself
Who owns revenue from first touch to renewal?
If the answer is “everyone,” then the real answer is “no one.”
How to Fix It
You need shared ownership.
Start by mapping your full revenue process, from lead to closed-won to retention. Then assign clear entry/exit criteria at each stage, and build one shared dashboard that tracks:
- Volume (Are we getting enough leads?)
- Conversion (Are they moving through stages?)
- Retention (Are they staying and growing?)
GTM Strategy Fail #2: Your B2B GTM Funnel Ends at Closed-Won. And So Does Growth
The Problem
Your team focuses on closing deals, but once a deal is marked “Closed-Won,” attention shifts to the next opportunity.
Meanwhile, onboarding drags out, product usage is low, churn goes up, and no one knows why.
What’s Actually Going Wrong
Your GTM strategy is built around acquisition, not retention or expansion.
There’s no defined post-sale process and no clear ownership once the deal closes.
That’s why nearly half (48%) of B2B marketers stop reporting at opportunity generation. They miss what happens after the sale, which is where long-term revenue actually lives.
Worse: a third of marketers (33%) don’t measure ROI at all. So there’s zero visibility into whether marketing efforts are even driving business outcomes.
What to Ask Yourself
- Do we track onboarding timelines and know what “done” looks like?
- Can we see when a customer is actively using the product?
- Do we have a consistent way to identify when a customer is ready for expansion?
If you’re unsure, your post-sale motion isn’t fully operationalized.
How to Fix It
Treat post-sale like part of your GTM strategy, not just an afterthought.
- Add clear post-sale stages to your CRM, such as:
- Onboarding started
- Onboarding complete
- Product actively used
- Expansion-ready
- Renewal stage
- Define specific exit criteria for each stage, like:
- “Onboarding complete” = kickoff call held, users added, and first usage logged
- “Expansion-ready” = consistent product usage and strong customer feedback
- Assign ownership at each step so it’s clear who’s responsible for moving the customer forward.
- Build reporting and alerts around those stages to catch problems early and surface opportunities for growth.
When you manage the full customer journey, not just the sales process, you improve retention, increase expansion, and make revenue more predictable.
GTM Strategy Fail #3: Your Stack Looks Smart, But Your System's a Mess
The Problem
You’ve invested in great tools, but you still can’t answer basic questions like:
- Where are deals getting stuck?
- What campaigns are actually working?
- Why is pipeline up but revenue flat?
In short, you have data, but no clarity around it.
What’s Actually Going Wrong
Your tools aren’t working together because they weren’t designed to….and it shows. 15.4% of companies don’t even have a defined GTM strategy, despite spending heavily on tools and tech.
Each team added platforms to solve their own problems, and now your systems are disconnected and your reports don’t tell a consistent story.
When your CRM isn’t set up as the central source of truth, your GTM strategy gets pulled in different directions and no one has the full picture.
What to Ask Yourself
- Is all of our customer data flowing into one place (usually your CRM)?
- Are fields mapped consistently between platforms?
- Can we track the full customer journey, from lead to deal to renewal, without building five different reports?
How to Fix It
You don’t need more tools. You need a connected system with your CRM at the center.
- Make your CRM the single source of truth
- Everything starts and ends in your CRM (ideally HubSpot).
- Contacts, companies, deals, and tickets should all be tracked there.
- Standardize your data model
- Clean up property names, deal stages, lifecycle stages, and lead statuses.
- Remove duplicate or unused fields that confuse reporting.
- Define clear entry/exit rules for each stage of the customer journey.
- Control your integrations
- Only sync the data you need and avoid syncing junk leads or fields you don’t use.
- Set up inclusion lists, test sync rules, and keep one-way syncs where possible to avoid conflicts.
- Build reporting into the system itself
- Use your CRM to create dashboards everyone can access.
- Track full-funnel conversion, handoff health, onboarding progress, and retention signals all in one place.
The goal isn’t just having tools, it’s having a system that tells you what’s working and what’s not.
Watch: Before you chase the next shiny AI tool, here’s a reality check from someone who’s helped companies build real systems that actually work 👇
GTM Strategy Fail #4: Your Sales Team Is Competing with Itself
The Problem
Your SDRs are booking meetings and your AEs are also reaching out to leads.
And sometimes they both contact the same person. Other times, no one follows up at all.
What’s Actually Going Wrong
There’s no clear process for who owns what.
Leads move from Marketing to Sales without clear handoff rules.
You haven’t defined who should take action at each stage, so your teams waste time and miss opportunities.
What to Ask Yourself
- Do we have clear rules for who works which leads?
- Does everyone know when it’s time to hand off a lead?
- Can we see who owns each contact or account in the CRM?
Watch: Here’s how one former SDR explains why the role is evolving and how systems thinking is turning SDRs into GTM engineers. 👇
How to Fix It
You need a simple, structured way to assign and move leads through the funnel. Here's how:
- Define lead stages
Use a clear progression like this:
- MQL = ready for SDR outreach
- SAL = accepted by Sales
- SQL = qualified and ready for the AE
Each stage should have clear criteria and a clear owner.
- Automate lead routing
Use your CRM to assign leads based on things like region, company size, or industry.
Make sure every new lead goes to the right person, automatically.
- Track ownership in your CRM
Add custom fields to show who owns each lead: SDR, AE, or CSM.
Make it easy to see who’s responsible at any moment.
- Prevent overlap
Set rules so reps don’t work the same lead at the same time.
Create alerts if a lead is already owned or being contacted.
When roles are clear and routing is automated, you’ll avoid confusion, respond faster, and close more deals.
GTM Strategy Fail #5: Your B2B GTM Teams Don’t Talk. Inbound and Outbound Are Disconnected
The Problem
Your Marketing team is running inbound plays (SEO, ads, content downloads).
Your Sales team is running outbound plays (cold emails, LinkedIn outreach, calls).
But the efforts aren’t coordinated.
You’re targeting the same accounts with different messages, or at different times, without knowing what the other team is doing.
What’s Actually Going Wrong
Inbound and outbound are being treated like separate strategies, instead of one revenue engine.
Marketing is focused on lead generation while Sales is focused on outbound meetings. Neither side is using the other’s work to be more effective.
This leads to:
- Duplicate outreach to the same leads
- Mixed messaging across channels
- Gaps in follow-up after Marketing campaigns
- Low conversion from both inbound and outbound efforts
What to Ask Yourself
- Are our Sales and Marketing teams aligned on target accounts?
- Are we designing campaigns that include both inbound content and outbound follow-up?
- Can we track how both motions influence pipeline together?
How to Fix It
“Allbound” means your inbound and outbound strategies are fully connected, driving toward the same goals, using the same messaging, and supporting the same accounts.
Here’s how to make that happen:
- Align on who you’re targeting
Build one shared list of target accounts based on ICP, firmographics, or intent data.
Both Marketing and Sales should work from this list.
- Create shared campaigns
Plan campaigns that combine content and outbound together.
Example:
- Marketing creates a downloadable guide or webinar.
- Sales uses that asset in outreach, before and after the event.
- Follow-up is structured across both channels.
- Use unified messaging
Sales emails, ad copy, website content, and nurture emails should all reinforce the same value proposition.
- Track pipeline holistically
Stop measuring just MQLs or outbound calls.
Instead, track total pipeline influenced by both inbound and outbound together.
When inbound and outbound are treated as one strategy, Allbound, you get more engagement, better follow-up, and a stronger return on your GTM investments.
GTM Strategy Fail #6: Pretty Dashboards, Broken B2B GTM System
The Problem
Every team has dashboards.
Marketing uses them to track leads, Sales uses them to track pipeline, and CS tracks renewals in them.
But when someone asks, “Where are we losing revenue?”, no one seems to know.
What’s Actually Going Wrong
Marketing might hit their lead goals….but those leads don’t actually convert.
Sales might close deals….but those customers end up churning.
The main issue = No one’s looking at the full journey.
What to Ask Yourself
- Can we follow a lead from first touch to renewal in one report?
- Do we know which campaigns or channels actually bring in good customers?
- Can we use our data to decide what to fix next?
If not, your reporting isn’t helping you grow.
How to Fix It
Focus on what actually moves revenue.
- Use the Four Levers of Revenue Growth
Build your reporting around these core areas:
- Volume – Are we getting enough qualified leads?
- Conversion – Are leads turning into closed deals?
- Retention – Are customers staying long enough to be valuable?
- Expansion – Are they buying more over time?
- Track the whole journey
Set up reports that follow a customer from first interaction to renewal.
That way, you can see where things break down and where to improve.
- Share one dashboard across teams
Everyone should see the same data.
When the whole team looks at the same numbers, it’s easier to work together.
- Use reports to take action
Don’t just report on what happened. Use your data to decide what to do next.
If conversion is low, fix the handoff. If retention is weak, improve onboarding.
Your GTM Isn’t Broken. It’s Just Unstructured
Most B2B teams struggle with the same issues:
- No clear ownership
- No post-sale process
- Tools that don’t talk to each other
- Confused outreach
- Too much reporting, not enough insight
The good news? All of these can be fixed.
Here’s where to start:
- Map your full revenue journey
Go beyond the funnel. Include every stage: marketing engagement, sales handoff, onboarding, adoption, and renewal. Make sure each has defined entry and exit points.
- Assign ownership across the lifecycle
Make it clear who owns each stage. If everyone owns it, no one does.
- Clean up your CRM and workflows
Remove clutter. Standardize properties. Make sure your tools are connected to one source of truth.
- Align inbound and outbound under one campaign plan
Run joint campaigns. Same target list, same messaging, shared goals.
- Track fewer metrics, but better ones
Use the Four Levers of Revenue Growth (Volume, Conversion, Retention, Expansion) to guide what you measure and what actions you take.
- Review GTM performance as one team
Stop holding separate meetings with different dashboards. Look at the entire system together so you can fix issues at the source.
Want a B2B GTM strategy that drives revenue growth, not just reports?
Start with a simple HubSpot audit to fix the root issues in your GTM motion.