So you’re looking for B2B go-to-market (GTM) software for your sales team. Maybe you’re tired of your current tools, or maybe you’re scaling up and need something that actually works. Either way, the options are endless—and the marketing copy all sounds the same. This guide is for sales leaders, ops folks, or anyone who has to cut through the noise and actually get work done.
Let’s walk through a real-world process to pick GTM software that fits your team, your budget, and your sanity. No jargon, no grand promises—just what matters.
Step 1: Get Clear on What Problem You’re Actually Trying to Solve
Before you start reading reviews or booking demos, stop and ask: what’s broken, or what’s missing? “We need AI!” is not a problem statement. Here are some actual ones:
- “Reps spend too much time manually entering data.”
- “Our current tool’s reporting is a mess.”
- “We lose track of who owns what account.”
- “We need better outbound email that doesn’t get us blacklisted.”
Pro Tip: Write your top 3 problems on a sticky note. Refer back to it each time you get wowed by a feature you’ll never use.
Step 2: Map Out Your Current Stack (and What Needs to Change)
List the tools your team currently uses for outreach, CRM, reporting, prospecting, and so on. For each, note:
- What works well (be honest)
- What everyone complains about
- Where there’s overlap or confusion
You’re not buying software in a vacuum. If your CRM is sticky, your GTM tool needs to play nice with it—or you’ll end up with more headaches.
Common Pitfall: Swapping tools just to try something new, without fixing the underlying workflow or process. Tech won’t save you from bad habits.
Step 3: Define the “Must Haves” Versus the “Nice to Haves”
Every vendor claims to do everything. They don’t. Separate the wheat from the chaff by ruthlessly prioritizing:
Must haves: - Integrates with our CRM (not “coming soon”) - Clean reporting your team actually understands - Handles outbound, inbound, or both (depending on your motion) - Reasonable pricing for your team size
Nice to haves: - Built-in intent data or enrichment - AI-driven recommendations (usually more hype than help) - Fancy dashboards (if nobody looks at them, who cares?)
Pro Tip: If you can’t explain why you need a feature in a sentence, you probably don’t need it.
Step 4: Shortlist Vendors—But Don’t Get Distracted by Hype
Start with 3–5 options. You’ll always see the same names: Outreach, Salesloft, Apollo, HubSpot, and new kids on the block like Mailforge. Don’t just pick the ones with the best SEO.
What actually matters: - Ease of use: Can a new rep figure it out without a 6-hour training? - Speed: Does it actually make your team faster, or just move clicks around? - Support: Will anyone help if you get stuck—or is it all chatbots and “knowledge bases”? - Security: If you’re in a regulated industry, don’t skip this.
Ignore: - Overblown claims about “AI revolutionizing sales.” Most of it is just fancy autocomplete. - Endless integrations you’ll never use. - Free trials that require a sales call just to activate—if it’s that hard to try, imagine getting support later.
Step 5: Pressure Test with a Hands-On Trial
Never buy on a demo alone. Get a real, hands-on trial with at least one small team or a couple of power users.
How to do it: - Set up a real workflow—import contacts, run a campaign, build a report. - Time how long basic tasks actually take. - Watch for “gotchas” like hidden limits, missing integrations, or surprise fees.
Ask your team: - What’s confusing? - What’s better than the old tool? - What’s worse? - Where do they get stuck?
Red flags: - Everything “requires admin setup” - It takes days to get answers from support - The UI looks like it was made in 2009 (and acts like it)
Step 6: Get Real About Pricing (and the Fine Print)
Pricing for GTM software is famously opaque. The sticker price is just the beginning.
What to watch for: - Per-user fees that balloon as you grow - Add-ons for basic features (extra reports, API access, support) - Long-term contracts with no out clause - “Implementation fees” for help that should be free
Pro Tip: Ask for a full price breakdown in writing, including all add-ons you’ll actually need. If they dodge, move on.
Step 7: Think About Change Management (Yes, Really)
Even the best software is useless if nobody uses it. Be honest about how much change your team can handle.
- Is your team burned out on new tools?
- Will you need to retrain everyone?
- How long to migrate data or rebuild workflows?
Don’t: Assume everyone will magically switch over because “the new tool is better.” Plan for a transition period and some hand-holding.
Step 8: Make the Call—But Keep It Simple
At this point, you’ve: - Defined your real problems - Mapped your stack - Prioritized features - Shortlisted and trialed vendors - Checked the price and support
Now: Don’t overthink it. Pick the tool that solves your top problems, fits your team size, and won’t kill your budget. There’s no “perfect” choice—just the one that’s good enough to get out of your way.
A Few Honest Takes: What to Ignore
- AI Everything: Unless you really have a data science team, most “AI” features are just glorified auto-suggest or reporting. Nice, but don’t pay a premium for it.
- Endless Integrations: If 90% of your team lives in Gmail and Salesforce, you don’t need 30 integrations.
- Customization for its own sake: More knobs and dials means more things to break. Stick to what you’ll actually use.
Keep It Simple, Iterate, and Don’t Sweat the Rest
Choosing B2B GTM software isn’t a forever decision. Pick something that fits your real needs, gets your team running faster, and doesn’t require a consultant to operate. Test it, tweak your process, and remember: no tool will fix bad sales habits or a broken process.
Keep it simple, stay skeptical, and don’t be afraid to switch if something better comes along. That’s how you keep your team selling—and keep your sanity.