If you lead sales or customer success for a B2B company, you know the handoff from “closed/won” to “successfully onboarded” is where the wheels often come off. Maybe you’re tired of lost emails, missed steps, or endless spreadsheets. Maybe you’ve heard about Baton and other go-to-market (GTM) platforms promising to fix onboarding, but you’re not sure which one will actually make your life easier.
This guide is for you. I’ll break down Baton and other leading B2B GTM platforms — what they do well, where they stumble, and what actually matters when you’re trying to streamline sales-to-customer onboarding. No fluff, no vendor hype, just the real stuff you need to know.
Why Streamlined GTM and Onboarding Matters
Let’s get real: most B2B customer onboarding is still a mess. Deals close, then… confusion. Who owns what? Are we waiting on the customer, or is someone on our side dropping the ball? Projects slip, customers get frustrated, and renewals get harder.
A good GTM platform should:
- Make handoffs clear (no more “who’s got the ball?”)
- Keep both sides on the same page without 12 back-and-forth emails
- Give visibility for managers (so you spot issues early, not after it’s too late)
- Cut manual busywork
But not all platforms are created equal — and “all-in-one” solutions often end up doing everything kinda badly.
What Is Baton (and Who Else Is in the Game)?
Baton bills itself as a purpose-built platform for customer onboarding and project delivery. It’s not trying to be your CRM or run your whole tech stack — just to nail the onboarding/project handoff piece.
Other tools that get compared in this space:
- Rocketlane: Similar focus, but with more emphasis on “project management plus onboarding.”
- GuideCX: Known for customer project transparency and automation.
- Monday.com and Asana: General work/project management tools, often hacked into onboarding use.
- Salesforce (with add-ons): Can be made to do onboarding, if you like building things from scratch.
- Trello, ClickUp, Airtable: The “we’ll make it work” crowd. Cheap, flexible, but not really purpose-built.
Let’s dig into how these actually stack up for B2B GTM and onboarding.
Platform-by-Platform: Where They Shine, Where They Don’t
Baton
Strengths: - Purpose-built for onboarding: Not a bloated PM tool. It’s focused on customer onboarding and implementation projects, period. - Customer-facing collaboration: Customers can see what’s happening, check off tasks, and communicate without needing to create another login. - Templates and repeatability: You can actually standardize onboarding, not reinvent it every time. - Integrations: Solid hooks into Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, and others — without “consulting project” setup.
Weaknesses: - Not a full project management suite: If you want to run engineering sprints or marketing campaigns, look elsewhere. - Some learning curve: Not as dead-simple as Trello for total newbies. But it’s not rocket science.
Use if: You want to nail onboarding and handoffs, have repeatable processes, and don’t want to fight your tools.
Rocketlane
Strengths: - Broad onboarding/project management: Good if you want to manage all customer-facing projects in one place. - Client portals: Lets customers see progress and collaborate (but can be a bit clunky for non-tech clients). - Time tracking and resource management: If you care about billable hours, this is a plus.
Weaknesses: - Can feel heavy: Lots of features = more setup and noise if you just want onboarding. - Usability: Some users report a steeper learning curve, especially for clients.
Use if: You’ve got a complex onboarding process, multiple teams involved, or need more detailed PM features.
GuideCX
Strengths: - Automation: Sends reminders, nudges stakeholders, and keeps everyone moving. - Customer visibility: Strong focus on keeping customers in the loop without overwhelming them. - Reporting: Managers get a decent view of project health.
Weaknesses: - Interface feels dated: Not as slick as some newer tools. - Customization: Not as flexible for complicated workflows.
Use if: You want to automate simple, repeatable onboarding and need to keep customers engaged without a lot of manual chasing.
Monday.com, Asana, and Friends
Strengths: - Flexibility: You can build almost anything with these. Boards, automations, dashboards, you name it. - Familiarity: Lots of teams already use them for other stuff.
Weaknesses: - Not built for onboarding: You’ll spend time customizing, and you’ll hit limits fast (especially for customer collaboration). - Manual work: You’re on your own for templates, reminders, and reporting. - Customer experience: Hard to give customers a good, guided experience without lots of wrangling.
Use if: You’re small, budget-focused, or already deep in these tools — but expect to cobble things together and revisit later.
Salesforce (with Add-ons) and DIY Solutions
Strengths: - Endless customization: If you’ve got time, money, and an admin, you can build whatever you want. - Centralizes data: If your whole org lives in Salesforce, this can make sense.
Weaknesses: - Expensive and slow: Custom builds take ages and rarely work smoothly out of the gate. - Not user-friendly: Your customers don’t want to log in to Salesforce, trust me. - Ongoing maintenance: You’ll need a real admin, not “someone who’s good with spreadsheets.”
Use if: You’re enterprise-sized, have deep pockets, and can dedicate real resources to building and maintaining your process.
What Actually Matters When Picking a GTM Onboarding Platform
Ignore the feature checklists for a second. Here’s what makes the real difference:
- Speed to Value: Can you get this running quickly, or will you spend two quarters “implementing”?
- Customer Experience: Is it easy for your customers to engage, or are you making them jump through hoops?
- Repeatability: Can you standardize onboarding, or is every project a one-off?
- Visibility: Can managers actually see what’s going on, or are you still asking for status updates?
- Integration: Does it play nice with your CRM and comms tools, or are you duplicating work?
- Adaptability: Can you tweak your process as you learn, or are you stuck with what you set up the first time?
Pro tip: If a vendor can’t show you a live demo with your use case in under an hour, move on.
Common Pain Points (and Which Platforms Actually Fix Them)
Let’s get brutally honest about the headaches, and who can help:
1. Missed Hand-offs and Confusion
- Baton, Rocketlane, GuideCX: All solve this with clear task ownership and timelines. DIY tools… not so much.
2. Endless Chasing of Customers for Info/Approvals
- Baton: Lets customers interact without forcing them to “become a user.” GuideCX automates reminders. Monday/Asana require a lot of manual workarounds.
3. No Visibility into Project Status
- Baton and Rocketlane: Good dashboards and health indicators. Monday/Asana can do this, but only if you set it up from scratch.
4. Every Onboarding Is Different
- Baton, Rocketlane: Templates and workflows keep you from reinventing the wheel. Monday/Asana… bring your own templates (or keep using Google Docs).
5. Integration Headaches
- Baton: Solid, pre-built integrations with major CRMs and comms tools. Salesforce is… Salesforce (bring your checkbook). Monday/Asana have integrations, but often require fiddling.
What to Ignore (Seriously)
- “AI-powered everything”: Most of this is just rules-based automation. Helpful, but not magic.
- Huge feature lists: Focus on what you’ll actually use. Ninety percent of features in all-in-ones go untouched.
- “White glove onboarding” fees: If you need a vendor to walk you through every step, the tool’s probably too complex.
- Hype about “seamless collaboration”: If your customers don’t want to log in, they won’t. Look for tools that don’t force them.
Keep It Simple, Iterate, and Don’t Overthink It
If you take nothing else away: pick something that solves your actual bottlenecks, not what looks good in a demo. Don’t buy for your “future state” unless you’re already there. Most teams get more value from a basic, repeatable process than from fancy dashboards.
Start small. Get your first 5-10 onboardings running smoothly. Tweak as you go. And remember: the best GTM platform is the one your team (and your customers) will actually use.
Good luck, and don’t let the software vendors tell you it should be harder than it is.