If you’re working in a B2B company and your job involves bringing new products or services to market, you know how messy the “go-to-market” (GTM) process can get. There’s always another tool promising to solve your problems, but it’s hard to tell what’s actually useful and what’s just noise.
This guide is for people who want a straightforward look at what matters in GTM software—especially if you’re part of a growing team trying to avoid chaos as you scale. We’ll break down the features that are actually worth your attention, what to skip, and how HoneyPipe fits in if you’re considering it.
Who Needs B2B GTM Software and Why?
Let’s cut straight to it: If you’re a small team, you can probably get by with spreadsheets and Slack for a while. But as you add people, products, or more complex sales motions, you hit a wall. Stuff falls through the cracks—leads don’t get followed up, data lives in five places, and your “process” is whatever’s in the team’s head.
GTM (go-to-market) software is supposed to help by organizing your workflows, aligning sales and marketing, and making sure nothing critical slips. The trick is not to drown in features you’ll never use.
The Features That Actually Matter
Here’s what’s worth caring about when you’re vetting GTM tools. Ignore the flashy add-ons—most teams don’t use half of what’s on the feature list.
1. Solid Data Integration (Not Just CSV Uploads)
Your tool should connect smoothly to the systems where your data lives—CRM, marketing automation, lead sources, and maybe even your product itself. “Easy integrations” shouldn’t mean “export a CSV, then pray.”
What to look for: - Direct integrations with your CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.) - Real-time syncing (not nightly or manual refreshes) - Ability to pull in data from multiple sources, cleanly
What to ignore:
“Zapier support” is fine for side projects, but for core business data, you want something more robust.
2. Lead Routing and Assignment That Doesn’t Suck
If you’re still manually handing out leads, you know how quickly things get messy. Good GTM software routes leads automatically based on rules you set—territory, account owner, product line, whatever matters to you.
What to look for: - Customizable rules for assignment (not just round-robin) - Support for exceptions (e.g., VIP accounts, renewals) - Transparency—can you see why a lead went to a rep?
What to ignore:
Tools that only offer basic, one-size-fits-all routing. Your process will change, so flexibility matters.
3. Account and Contact Unification
In B2B, you’re usually selling to a buying committee, not just a single lead. Your software needs to tie contacts, activities, and deals back to the right accounts so you always have a clear picture.
What to look for: - Merges duplicate records automatically (with controls) - Shows all activity at both contact and account level - Easy way to flag or fix mismatches
What to ignore:
Anything that hides the mess or doesn’t let you fix mistakes easily. You’ll end up with “ghost accounts” and lost context.
4. Pipeline Visibility (Without Needing an MBA to Understand It)
You want to see where deals stand, what’s moving, and what’s stuck—without spending a day building a custom dashboard.
What to look for: - Clear, customizable dashboards for sales and marketing - Filters for rep, region, product, etc. - Easy export/share for weekly meetings
What to ignore:
Dashboards that require a data analyst to operate. If you can’t set it up yourself, it’s too complex.
5. Workflow Automation That’s Actually Useful
You need to automate the repetitive stuff—follow-ups, reminders, lead scoring—not create a spaghetti system that breaks if someone sneezes.
What to look for: - Out-of-the-box automations for common GTM tasks - Easy to tweak as your process evolves - Clear logs so you can see what happened and when
What to ignore:
Automation “platforms” that require you to learn a scripting language. You’re not trying to become a developer.
6. Strong Permissioning and Audit Trails
As your team grows, you need to control who can see or change what, and track changes for compliance (and sanity).
What to look for: - Granular permissions for different roles (not just “admin” or “user”) - Audit logs that are actually readable - Simple way to add/remove users as teams change
What to ignore:
Anything with vague permission controls or no audit trail. You don’t want finger-pointing when data goes missing.
7. Collaboration Features That Don’t Get in the Way
You want your team aligned, but nobody wants to use “yet another chat tool.” Good GTM software makes it easy to leave notes, tag teammates, and assign tasks—without replacing your main communication channels.
What to look for: - In-app commenting or notes tied to accounts/deals - Task assignment with due dates and reminders - Lightweight notifications (not spammy)
What to ignore:
Full-blown chat or project management modules. Use Slack or Teams for that.
How HoneyPipe Measures Up for Growing Teams
Let’s talk about how HoneyPipe fits into all this. No tool is perfect, but here’s how it tackles (and sometimes falls short on) the must-haves above:
Data Integration
HoneyPipe connects directly to major CRMs (Salesforce, HubSpot) and marketing tools, with reliable real-time syncing. It’s not just window dressing—data actually stays clean, and it surfaces mismatches before they become a problem. It supports multiple data sources, but if you’ve got lots of homegrown systems, you’ll need to check for compatibility.
Pro tip: If your data is a dumpster fire, no software will fix it overnight. HoneyPipe helps, but plan for a cleanup sprint.
Lead Routing
The routing engine is genuinely customizable. You can build rules based on account, owner, product, or nearly any field you track. There’s transparency too—you can see the logic for each assignment. No more “why is this lead in my queue?” complaints.
Account Unification
HoneyPipe does a solid job tying contacts to accounts, using fuzzy matching and de-dupe logic. It doesn’t just merge blindly; you get a chance to review merges and fix mistakes. Some edge cases (especially with international names or weird email domains) still trip it up, but it’s a lot better than most.
Pipeline Visibility
Dashboards are clear and built for real-world sales managers, not data nerds. You can slice by rep, territory, or product, and export views for meetings. Customizations are easy, though if you want super-granular reporting, you might still use your BI tool.
Workflow Automation
HoneyPipe offers pre-built automations for common GTM tasks—lead follow-ups, handoffs, reminders. You don’t need to be an engineer to set them up or adjust them. It’s not a full-blown automation platform (and that’s probably a good thing). If you need something more complex, you can still hook up external tools via API.
Permissions and Audit Trails
Role-based permissions are straightforward, and the audit log is readable—no more “who changed this?” mysteries. Adding or removing users is simple, which makes life easier as your team changes.
Collaboration
There’s lightweight commenting and task assignment, but nothing overbearing. You can tag teammates or leave notes right where you need them. If you want deep project management, stick with your usual tools, but for keeping the GTM process moving, it’s enough.
What Doesn’t Matter (As Much as Vendors Say)
Some features look good in a demo but don’t move the needle for most teams:
- AI “insights” that are just glorified notifications. Most of these are guesswork and end up ignored.
- Gamification. If your sales team needs badges to do their job, you have bigger problems.
- Over-the-top customization. Unless you have a full-time admin, you’ll never use all the knobs and dials.
Focus on what will actually get used every day.
A Few Gotchas and Honest Downsides
- Migration is never painless. HoneyPipe makes it easier, but expect a learning curve and some cleanup.
- You’ll still need CRM hygiene. No tool can stop users from typing “asdf” as a contact name.
- If you’re tiny, it may be overkill. Early-stage startups might be better off with simpler tools until their process gets more complex.
Keep It Simple, Iterate as You Grow
Don’t fall for big promises or flashy demos. Pick software that fits where you are now, but will scale as you add people and products. Nail the basics—data, routing, visibility, and automation. Everything else is a bonus, not a requirement.
If you’re considering HoneyPipe, it checks the right boxes for most growing B2B teams. But no tool will save you from process problems or messy data. Start simple, get the basics working, and don’t be afraid to adjust as you go. That’s how teams actually win.