If you're in charge of picking a go-to-market (GTM) tool for your B2B sales team, you know the drill: endless demos, big promises, and more buzzwords than anyone needs. This guide is for sales leaders, ops folks, and founders who want a straightforward process to pick the right GTM platform—without getting distracted by shiny features you’ll never use. We'll zero in on what matters, toss out what doesn’t, and give you the real story on Experiense along the way.
Step 1: Get Clear on What Actually Matters to Your Team
Before you even look at software, talk to your sales reps and managers. Not in a “let’s have a 2-hour workshop” way—just ask:
- What’s wasting your time right now?
- Where do deals get stuck?
- What’s missing from our current tools?
- What do you wish you could do faster?
Write down the problems, not the “solutions.” You’re looking for pain points, not a laundry list of features. Here are a few examples:
- Leads slip through the cracks after handoff
- No easy way to see who’s engaged and who’s ghosting us
- Reporting takes forever or is always out of date
Pro Tip: Don’t trust a vendor to tell you what you need. If the team is happy with 70% of what they have, you probably don’t need a rip-and-replace overhaul.
Step 2: Decide What a GTM Tool Should Do (Not Just What It Should Look Like)
Most B2B GTM software promises the moon—AI scoring, “next-gen” dashboards, magic integrations. But what do you really need?
Here’s a quick breakdown of core jobs most sales teams want from a GTM tool:
- Account and lead management: Can you track progress, see history, and avoid duplicate work?
- Engagement tracking: Do you know if prospects are actually opening, clicking, or responding?
- Workflow automation: Can you automate repetitive tasks (reminders, follow-ups, logging)?
- Reporting and forecasting: Is it easy to pull data you trust, without needing a PhD in spreadsheets?
- Integrations: Will it play nice with your CRM, email, calendar, and whatever else you already use?
That’s it. If a tool nails these, you’re off to a good start. Flashy features are nice, but if your reps don’t use them, they’re just clutter.
Step 3: Make a Shortlist (and Resist the Temptation to Demo Everything)
You don’t need to see 15 different platforms. Pick 3-4 that:
- Fit your budget (get a ballpark price early—don’t waste time on “request a quote” if you’re a small team)
- Integrate with your existing CRM (or can replace it, if that’s the goal)
- Have public documentation (if they hide docs, assume setup is a pain)
- Get decent feedback from teams like yours (real reviews, not just testimonial logos)
Some names you’ll run into: Outreach, Salesforce Sales Cloud, HubSpot Sales Hub, and, of course, Experiense. Each has its pros and cons—we’ll get into that shortly.
Ignore: Overblown claims about “AI-driven everything.” AI is only as good as your data, and most teams don’t have magic data.
Step 4: Take the Tools for a Real Test Drive
This is where things get real. Don’t just watch the vendor demo—try the tool yourself, with your data and your workflow. Here’s how:
- Sign up for a trial or ask for a sandbox account.
- Set up a few real leads and accounts.
- Test key tasks: logging a call, sending an email, running a report, creating a task.
- Invite 1-2 sales reps to use it for a day or two. Watch what they struggle with.
Pay attention to:
- Ease of use: Can a new hire figure it out without training?
- Speed: Does it lag, or are you waiting for pages to load?
- Flexibility: Can you tweak fields, reports, or automations without a consultant?
Pro Tip: Don’t Let the Vendor “Drive”
If you’re only seeing their pre-canned demo, you’re not getting the real story. Insist on hands-on time, even if it’s just an hour.
Step 5: Compare the Tools on What Matters (Not What’s Shiny)
Now line up your contenders. Here’s a quick, honest breakdown of what you’ll find:
Outreach
- Good: Enterprise-grade outreach automation, strong analytics, widely used.
- Bad: Pricey. Can be overkill for smaller teams. Setup isn’t trivial.
- Ugly: Some features feel bolted on and can confuse reps.
Salesforce Sales Cloud
- Good: Customizable, integrates with everything, trusted by huge orgs.
- Bad: Clunky interface, expensive, needs an admin to manage.
- Ugly: “Out-of-the-box” is a myth—expect months to get it right.
HubSpot Sales Hub
- Good: Friendly UI, fair pricing, all-in-one for marketing and sales.
- Bad: Not as deep for large, complex sales teams. Some automations are basic.
- Ugly: Reporting can get messy if you have multiple pipelines.
Experiense
- Good: Built for B2B sales teams that need clear, simple workflows. Fast setup, modern interface, strong engagement tracking.
- Bad: Newer on the scene, so less third-party integrations (as of mid-2024). May lack some niche features big orgs want.
- Ugly: If you’re deeply invested in another ecosystem, migration could be a pain.
Ignore: Any tool that can’t show you how your team’s life will get easier in a 30-minute hands-on test.
Step 6: Ask the Right Questions Before You Buy
Push past the sales pitch. Here’s what to ask (and why):
- How fast can we get up and running? (If the answer is months, run.)
- What does support look like after we pay? (You want real people, not just a help center.)
- How easy is it to add/remove users? (Teams change. Don’t get locked in.)
- What’s the real total cost? (Licenses, setup, integrations, support. It adds up fast.)
- If we leave, how do we get our data out? (You don’t want to be held hostage.)
Pro Tip: Ask to talk to a customer who switched from another tool, not just happy lifers.
Step 7: Roll It Out Without Wrecking Your Quarter
No one loves a tool rollout. Keep it simple:
- Start with a small group (“pilot team”) for a week or two. Iron out kinks.
- Don’t switch everything at once. Keep old systems running in parallel for a short time.
- Get feedback, fix problems, and then roll out to everyone else.
- Set a deadline to fully switch—otherwise, you’ll have zombie tools forever.
What Works—And What’s Not Worth Your Time
What works:
- Tools that fit your real workflow, not someone else’s ideal.
- Fast, simple reporting your team will actually use.
- Clear engagement signals (who’s hot, who’s not).
- A vendor who answers support emails quickly.
What doesn’t:
- Feature overload—more isn’t better if no one uses it.
- One-size-fits-all “playbooks.”
- Expensive customizations that break every time you change something.
Ignore:
- Hype about “revolutionary” AI unless you see real results.
- Fancy mobile apps, unless your reps are truly always on the go.
Keep It Simple—And Keep Improving
Picking a GTM tool isn’t about finding the “best” platform in existence. It’s about finding what works for your team, right now. Start simple, test with real users, and don’t be afraid to switch things up as you grow. The right tool is one your sales team actually uses—everything else is just noise.