If you’re in charge of picking go-to-market (GTM) software for a B2B company, you know the drill: endless vendor pitches, slick demos, and a dizzying list of “must-have” features. But what’s hype, and what actually helps your sales and marketing teams work smarter? This guide is for folks who want straight answers—not buzzwords—when evaluating GTM platforms. We'll break down the features that matter, what to skip, and how Common Room holds up in the real world.
Why Picking the Right GTM Software Actually Matters
Let’s be real: Tools don’t magically fix broken processes. But pick the wrong GTM platform, and you’ll spend more time fighting your software than landing deals. Good GTM software should help you:
- Find and prioritize leads that actually convert
- Spot signals that a company’s ready to buy—not just “engaged”
- Give your team usable, trustworthy data
- Play nice with the other tools you already use
- Cut out busywork so people can focus on the real stuff
A lot of vendors promise all this. Most fall short somewhere. Here’s how to see through the noise.
The Features That Matter (And the Ones That Don’t)
1. Data Quality and Integrations
What’s Essential
- Real integrations: Your GTM tool should connect directly to the sources you care about—CRM, product analytics, community tools, email, and social. CSV uploads and half-baked “connectors” don’t count.
- Data hygiene: It should reliably dedupe contacts, match accounts, and keep records current. Garbage in, garbage out.
What to Ignore
- “We integrate with 100+ platforms!” Quantity means nothing if the connections are shallow. Test with your actual data.
How Common Room Measures Up:
Common Room focuses on deep integrations, especially with community platforms, social, and CRMs. Its deduplication is solid, and it enriches profiles automatically. But, if you’re using niche, old-school tools, check compatibility first—its focus is more on modern SaaS stacks.
2. Signal Detection and Lead Scoring
What’s Essential
- Customizable signals: Can you define what a “hot lead” looks like for your business, or are you stuck with generic metrics?
- Behavioral triggers: You want to track actions that actually predict buying—product usage spikes, key roles showing up at events, or sudden community activity.
What to Ignore
- Vague “AI-powered insights.” Unless you can see and tweak what’s under the hood, you’ll end up chasing ghosts.
How Common Room Measures Up:
Common Room’s signal detection is one of its strengths. You can set up custom triggers based on a mix of product, community, and social signals. The UI makes it easy to see why someone is being flagged, not just that they were. The only downside: if your GTM motion is 100% traditional (cold outbound, no community), you might not get the full value here.
3. Account and Contact Enrichment
What’s Essential
- Automatic enrichment: You shouldn’t have to manually Google people or companies. Your tool should fill in missing info (titles, company size, tech stack) for you.
- Up-to-date data: Outdated data kills productivity. Make sure enrichment is ongoing, not a one-time boost.
What to Ignore
- Fluffy “company insights.” If it doesn’t help you qualify or route leads, it’s just noise.
How Common Room Measures Up:
Enrichment is built-in. Common Room pulls in public info, social handles, and community engagement data, and ties it to accounts and contacts. The coverage is good for tech and SaaS—less so outside that world.
4. Segmentation and List Building
What’s Essential
- Flexible filtering: Can you slice and dice by firmographics, behavior, intent, and custom fields?
- Save and share views: Building a segment should take seconds, not hours, and you should be able to share it with your team.
What to Ignore
- Static lists. You want dynamic segments that update automatically.
How Common Room Measures Up:
Segmentation is a strong suit. You can build dynamic lists combining any data point Common Room tracks, and set up alerts for new matches. Sharing with teammates is straightforward. If you’re used to wrestling with your CRM’s filters, this will feel like a breath of fresh air.
5. Workflow Automation
What’s Essential
- Automated routing: Hot leads should go to the right person instantly, without someone manually assigning them.
- Integrations with messaging tools: Can you trigger Slack, email, or CRM updates automatically?
- Bulk actions: Can you tag, assign, or message groups of contacts with a couple of clicks?
What to Ignore
- “No-code workflows” that are just glorified notification rules. Real automation should save you time, not just add more alerts.
How Common Room Measures Up:
Common Room lets you set up automations for enrichment, alerts, and routing. It’s not a full-on marketing automation platform (don’t expect complex drip campaigns), but for GTM and sales workflows, it covers the bases. Bulk actions are there, and Slack integration is particularly smooth.
6. Reporting and Attribution
What’s Essential
- Clear dashboards: Can you see which sources, campaigns, or channels are producing real pipeline?
- Attribution that makes sense: Multi-touch is ideal, but even a simple “first touch/last touch” should be transparent and customizable.
What to Ignore
- Overly complex dashboards. If you need a PhD to read them, your team won’t use them.
How Common Room Measures Up:
Reporting is straightforward—you get clear visuals on where leads come from and which channels are actually working. Attribution is simple and focused on engagement, not just clicks. If you need advanced funnel analysis, you’ll want to supplement with your BI tool.
7. User Experience and Admin Controls
What’s Essential
- Easy onboarding: Can your team get value in days, not weeks?
- Permission controls: Not everyone should see everything. Simple role-based access is a must.
- Fast, responsive UI: Nobody wants to wait 10 seconds for a search to load.
What to Ignore
- “Gamified” UIs. People want to get work done, not collect badges.
How Common Room Measures Up:
Common Room’s interface is modern and fast. Onboarding is quick—most folks are up and running within a day or two. Admin controls are there, but not overly complex. If you have a massive, global team with lots of permission layers, you may need more granularity than what’s built-in.
What About Price, Support, and Hype?
A good GTM platform won’t save a bad process, but a bad tool can make a good team miserable.
- Pricing: Common Room’s pricing is mid-market—not the cheapest, but you get what you pay for. If your team is under 10 people and just starting out, it might be more than you need.
- Support: Docs are clear, and support is responsive. Don’t expect white-glove hand-holding, but you won’t be left hanging either.
- Hype filter: Common Room is strongest for companies that care about community, product-led growth, or social selling. If you’re 100% focused on cold outbound, other tools might fit better.
Pro Tips for Evaluating GTM Software
- Run a live test. Don’t buy off a demo—throw your messy real data at the tool and see what breaks.
- Check the hidden costs. Integrations, API access, and extra seats can add up.
- Talk to real users. Not just reference customers—find a peer who’s not on their marketing site.
- Start small. Pilot with one team before rolling it out company-wide.
Keep It Simple, Iterate, and Don’t Buy the Hype
Picking B2B GTM software isn’t about having the longest feature checklist. It’s about finding a tool your team will actually use that helps you close more deals with less hassle. Focus on the features that drive results, ignore the shiny distractions, and don’t be afraid to walk away if something doesn’t feel right. Start small, learn fast, and tweak as you go. That’s how you’ll actually win.