If you’re part of a revenue team—sales, marketing, customer success, or ops—you know that picking B2B go-to-market (GTM) tools is rarely as easy as it sounds. There are a million options, all promising “seamless collaboration” and “accelerated revenue.” You want tools that help actual humans work together, not just another dashboard no one checks or a project that fizzles after rollout.
This guide is for folks who want to cut through the noise and find software that really helps collaborative teams hit targets. No fluff—just a step-by-step approach that saves time, headaches, and money.
1. Get Clear on the Real Problems You Need to Solve
Before you even look at a product site, get brutally honest about your pain points:
- Are deals falling through the cracks because info is scattered?
- Are handoffs between sales and CS causing headaches?
- Is your team spending more time updating tools than actually selling?
Tip: Write down your top 2-3 collaboration headaches. Keep this list handy—it’ll help you cut through vendor hype later.
What to ignore: “Industry best practices” that don’t fit your actual workflow. You can always tweak a process, but if a tool needs you to change everything you do, it’s probably not worth it.
2. Map Out Who Actually Needs to Use the Tool
A lot of GTM tools fail because only one team cares, and everyone else ignores it.
- List the teams involved: Sales, Marketing, CS, RevOps, Product? Be specific.
- Figure out their daily work: Will they really log in, or will this tool just add noise?
- Find your skeptics: Someone will grumble—better to find out now than after you buy.
Pro tip: Talk to a rep from each team for five minutes. Ask, “What would make your life easier?” and “What tools do you actually use today?”
3. Make a Shortlist Based on What Really Matters
Now that you know your problems and who’s involved, filter out the noise.
Criteria to focus on: - Ease of use: If you need three days of training, pass. - Plays well with your other systems: Integrations with CRM, Slack, email, etc. - Collaboration features: Not just chat—a real way to work together on deals, share notes, or assign tasks. - Transparency: Can everyone see what’s happening, or do you get data silos?
Ignore: - Over-the-top AI promises (“Our tool predicts your next deal!”) unless you see it work in your world. - Fancy dashboards that look good in demos but are useless day-to-day.
If you’re considering something like Prelay, look closely at how it manages team collaboration around complex deals—not just pipeline tracking.
4. Test with a Real-World Use Case (Not a Demo Script)
Here’s where most teams go wrong: they watch a vendor demo, see a perfect scenario, and assume it’ll work for them. It rarely does.
- Pick a recent deal or project: Run it through the tool as if your team were using it for real.
- Invite skeptics: Get honest feedback, not just from the tool’s champion.
- Look for friction: Where do people get stuck, lost, or frustrated?
- Time it: Do updates or collaboration tasks take longer than your current process?
Stuff to watch for: - Is the tool making your process easier, or just different? - Are you creating a new source of truth, or another place for info to get lost?
Tip: If you can’t get a hands-on trial, that’s a red flag.
5. Ask the Right Questions About Integration and Data
You’ll regret a tool that “sort of” syncs with your existing stack.
Key questions: - Does it really integrate with your CRM—and if so, how? (Read the fine print.) - Can you export your own data easily? - What happens if you want to switch tools later? - How fast do integration fixes or updates happen?
Don’t take “we have an API” as a complete answer. Ask for specifics, or better yet, test it with your own systems.
6. Check for Transparency, Not Just Reporting
You want a tool that makes collaboration visible, not just another reporting layer.
- Can everyone on the deal team see updates, blockers, and next steps?
- How easy is it to loop in an exec or specialist when needed?
- Are communications and notes tied to the actual deals, or spread across email and Slack?
If people still resort to side chats or spreadsheets, your “collaborative” tool isn’t working.
7. Get a Realistic Picture of Support and Change Management
Even the best tool fails if no one supports it after launch.
- Who handles support—email, chat, or “open a ticket and wait”?
- Do they have actual humans who help, or just a knowledge base?
- How often do they release updates, and do those updates actually fix things you care about?
Pro tip: Ask to talk to a current customer, ideally one who started small and expanded.
8. Price: Look Past the Sticker
Lots of GTM tools look cheap at first, then pile on costs.
- What’s included in the base price? (Users, integrations, support?)
- How does the price scale as your team grows?
- Are there “gotcha” fees for onboarding, custom integrations, or data exports?
Don’t be afraid to negotiate. If the vendor won’t talk about pricing openly, walk away.
9. Make a Decision—and Keep It Simple
Once you pick a tool, don’t try to boil the ocean with a huge rollout.
- Start with one use case or team.
- Measure if it actually solves the problems you listed in Step 1.
- Adjust, expand, or ditch it if it’s not working.
Remember: no tool will magically fix broken processes, but a good one makes it easier for people to work together and hit goals.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
There’s no perfect tool, and you’ll never cover every edge case up front. The best teams pick something that solves their biggest pain point, get it running fast, and adjust as they go. Don’t get paralyzed by options or promises—focus on what actually helps your people work better together. That’s the only “best practice” that matters.