If your inbox is overflowing with “revolutionary” sales tools that all promise to fix your go-to-market process, you’re not alone. There’s a lot of noise out there—especially if you’re looking at B2B GTM (go-to-market) platforms. Whether you’re thinking about Aptiv or one of its many competitors, the real challenge is sorting out what actually helps your sales team work smarter—not just what looks shiny on a landing page.
This guide is for sales leaders, ops folks, and anyone who has to actually use this stuff. We’ll cut through the fluff and get to what matters when you’re comparing Aptiv to other B2B GTM software.
1. Get Clear on Your Actual Sales Process (Before You Demo Anything)
Most platforms promise to “streamline,” “automate,” or “integrate” your sales process. But their definition of “sales process” might not match what actually happens in your company.
Start by mapping out your real sales workflow: - Where do leads come from, and how do they move through the funnel? - What tools do your reps already use (CRM, email, chat, quoting, etc.)? - What manual steps chew up the most time or create mistakes? - Where do things fall through the cracks—handoffs, follow-ups, approvals?
Pro tip: Write this out on paper or a whiteboard. Don’t just mentally “know” it. You’ll spot more gaps (and avoid chasing features you don’t need).
Why this matters: If you buy a platform that’s great at outbound prospecting but your real pain is quoting and proposals, you’re solving the wrong problem.
2. Make a Shortlist of What Actually Needs Fixing
Now that you know your workflow, list your top 3–5 must-fix problems. Be specific. For example: - “Updating Salesforce takes too long and reps skip steps.” - “Our quoting process is manual and error-prone.” - “Marketing passes us junk leads, and we waste time qualifying.”
Ignore vague goals like “we want better visibility” or “we want to be more data-driven.” These sound good but don’t help you compare products.
3. Compare Aptiv and Other Platforms on These Key Areas
Let’s get into how to actually stack up Aptiv against the competition. Here’s what to look at (and what to ignore):
a) Core Features vs. Add-Ons
- Focus on the basics: Can it really do what you need, cleanly and reliably? Don’t get distracted by AI widgets or dashboards you’ll never use.
- Look for friction points: Is it easy to enter data? Can you automate the painful manual tasks you listed above?
- Check for “feature bloat”: Some platforms do everything—badly. You want depth, not just a big menu.
b) Integration (Will It Play Nice with Your Stack?)
- The reality: Most B2B sales teams live and die by their CRM, email, calendar, and maybe a quoting tool.
- Questions to ask:
- Does it have native integrations with your main tools, or will you need to build workarounds?
- Can you get data in and out easily, or will your ops person hate you?
- Ignore: Claims that “we integrate with 5,000 apps via Zapier.” If you need to use Zapier for core functions, that’s a red flag.
c) Usability for Real People
- Demo with your actual users. Sales reps will figure out a workaround if something’s clunky, but that leads to bad data and dropped deals.
- Look for: Clean interface, minimal clicks, obvious next steps. If it takes more than 20 minutes to onboard a new rep, that’s a problem.
- Ignore: Fancy UI animations or “gamification.” You want something your least tech-savvy rep won’t curse at.
d) Automation and Workflow
- Does it actually automate the steps that waste your time? E.g., auto-logging calls, routing leads, sending follow-up emails.
- Can you customize workflows without a developer? Some platforms are rigid or need expensive consulting.
- Watch for: Platforms that claim “end-to-end automation” but only automate trivial stuff.
e) Analytics and Reporting
- What matters: Can you quickly answer real questions, like “Which deals are stuck?” or “Who’s dropping the ball?”
- Avoid: Overblown dashboards. You want actionable insights, not just charts for the sake of charts.
f) Pricing (and the Stuff They Don’t List)
- Ask for a real quote: Many B2B platforms hide pricing behind “contact us.” Push for the all-in monthly cost, including required add-ons and support.
- Beware: Long contracts, user minimums, and surprise fees for “premium” features you thought were standard.
4. Test with a Real-Life Use Case (Not a Polished Demo)
Vendors love to show you a slick, pre-loaded demo account. Insist on a trial with your own data and a real scenario: - Set up one full sales cycle—import leads, assign reps, track progress, generate a proposal or contract, and close the deal. - Watch for where things break or slow down. Every platform looks great until you hit your company’s weird edge case. - Have your actual sales reps use it, not just your ops team or an admin.
Pro tip: Keep notes on what feels clunky or confusing. These pain points only get worse over time.
5. Check References—But Ask the Right Questions
Vendors will give you their happiest customers. That’s fine, but dig deeper: - Ask references what didn’t go well. - What do they wish they’d known before buying? - How long did onboarding really take? - What do their reps complain about?
If a customer says, “We love it, but we only use 10% of the features,” ask why.
6. Evaluate Support and the Company’s Trajectory
- Support: Can you get help quickly when something breaks? Is there a real person to talk to, or just a help center?
- Company stability: Is this a fly-by-night startup, or a company with real customers and a track record? If they’re burning cash or pivoting every six months, that’s a risk.
- Product roadmap: Are they investing in the features you care about, or chasing trends?
7. Make the Call—And Keep It Simple
Pick the platform that solves your top problems with the least fuss. Don’t over-optimize for edge-case features you “might” need someday.
Pro tip: You can always add more tools or upgrade later. Getting stuck in decision paralysis helps nobody.
Honest Takes: Aptiv vs. The Rest
- Aptiv: Tends to market itself as an all-in-one GTM platform. If your pain points match what they actually solve—like workflow automation or pipeline management—they’re worth a real look. But don’t buy in just because they promise to “transform your sales process.” Test it against your real use cases.
- Other platforms: Some specialize (e.g., Outreach for outbound, Clari for forecasting, HubSpot for all-in-one CRM). Specialized tools can go deeper, but you may need to stitch systems together.
- Biggest pitfalls: Overbuying, underusing, or picking based on who had the slickest demo.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Don’t sweat getting this perfect on the first try. The sales software market moves fast, your process will change, and no platform is magic. Pick what solves your biggest headaches today, get your team using it, and adjust as you learn.
If you’re methodical about what you need (and ignore the hype), you’ll save money, avoid buyer’s remorse, and actually make your sales team’s lives easier. That’s the whole point.